Practically Classics Forum

Then loaded up with current project I could not have picked a worse day to collect it with the rain & wind - it was a very steady 45 - 50 MPH return trip - 3 covers and loads of straps - had to come straight home due to social arrangements made by SWMBO - and was still in the doghouse when I got there - No 'Glad you got home safe honey' it was scowled 'You are late again - why do the cars always come first' comment The covers on the trailer survived the night and I took the car onwards to the workshop today

The guys at Envirostrip are a great bunch and have made a fantastic job of the shell & panels - the process has found weak areas / pinholes that would not have been found otherwise So back to the welding then - The doors require finishing and the N/S/R wing requires quite a bit of work on the leading edge - the shell & panels are treated with inhibitor as part of the process so shall be left as bare metal for now until all the welding / reshaping / lead loading & filling has been completed. Typical of what the process has uncovered are these pinholes / weak areas on the petrol tank

Cracked on with getting the NSF door finished as far as the welding / making good is required The dipping process has removed the body solder from a previous restoration and revealed the weak areas hence the plan of action in the image below New section of door skin welded in - in order to deal with the previous damage and distortion from the welding repairs I tacked several tags on to the skin to enable the slide hammer or a pair of grips to provide outward pressure on the door skin whilst it was worked with the hammer - main problem with most doors is the lack of access to the rear of the skin due to close profile of the door shell / strengthening bars etc

Door ready for body solder / filling & final shaping The awkward areas around the glass aperture which were repaired by letting in body solder and reshaping

Keith has been busy with sorting the running gear and prepping it for paint - main focus for the last couple of days has been the rear axle - the brakes have been stripped and the axle it's self checked over - we knew it to be a good unit so it just requires a good clean / repaint along with new wheel bearings and the brakes rebuilt Paint removal in progress Once cleaned up the unit was treated with a rust treatment (Rustbuster) Ready for paint prior to the bearing / brake rebuild

Work progresses with the final fettling / making good of the panels & shell N/S/R door - minor perforations to upper edge which I opted to sort with body solder - I have cleaned the area up and tapped back to good metal - rebating the area slightly - then applied the solder paste Solder paste heated and wiped clean Body solder applied Solder shaped back to profile just requires the slightest of skims with a high quality low weight body filler - Body solder / leading is a straight forward process - rather than me go into depth here there are several videos on You Tube that demonstrate the process - my tip more than anything is that you need just the right the amount of heat - too little and you will get nowhere - too much and you will have the solder running quicker than the grand national - besides adding heat distortion to the panels

This door is best out of all four of them but still had rust perforations around this waistline hole for retaining the chrome trim Quickest & easiest way of cutting back to good metal in small areas like this Cone / stepped hole cutter Repair welded in & cleaned up

This just left the dinks in the door to straighten up - some of the flanges had the odd deviation in them - worst bit was this scrape along the width of the lower skin A little work with the hammer & dolly - plus a clean up over the high spots soon brought much of the damage out Just requires rehanging to the shell for final alignment & gapping check then can be DA / keyed back ready for filling & final shaping

Keith has been progressing with work on the running gear This is all front Rear & drive line - nearly ready for paint

All painted surfaces have gone back to bare metal Which turn shows up the defects / wear These are the brake linkages (rear is hydraulic over mechanical) the wear around the cotter pins will have to be welded up and re milled Handbrake lever which has fractures around the pivot point will have to be carefully welded