Re: Body repairs

[Dave Biggs <D.Biggs@domain.elided>]

Richard,

> More serious however is the drivers side inner wheel arch which has
> extensive rot on both trailing and leading edges. Is it possible to weld
> in the inner wheel arch repair panel with the outer wing in place. I
> hope to cut back the existing inner arch complete with its' patched
> repairs then joddle and plug weld in the replacement.
> 
> Obviously it will be a pain and fiddle to fit the repair panel in but it
> will be nothing like the royal pain in the proverbial if I have to
> remove the outer wing.

I assume that you are talking about the rear wheel arch and that the
outer wing is OK (are you sure the outer isn't full of filler !). You
probably could fit the inner arch repair panel without touching the
outer. You may have fun separating the inner and outer without damaging
the outer.   

> Next I need to concentrate on the screen pillars. PO has effected some
> repairs to the base of the screen pillars but I am not confident about
> the quality of work.
> 
> When I had the dash out, I could see no further rot but now I would like
> to do the job properly. There are no repair panels as far as I can see
> and I have heard that the area can be a pig to sort properly, I am sure
> that the rot is very localised as the surrounding area is not only
> magnetic but also survived the "Richard's screwdriver" test.
> 
> What gauge of steel should I use for the repair and what other tips and
> tricks can anybody offer? I am going to have to remove the screen as I
> want to sort out that rust bubble that keeps coming back. What sort of
> nightmares am I likely to expect? I guess that I should also use a nice
> zinc based primer before painting.

This area is tricky to repair as there are lots of sections joined
together at this point. It's a case of cutting out the rot you can and
welding it up piece by piece working from the inside of the cavity
outwards. Use a similar thickness of plate to the originals. You can buy
replacement rain channels that go over the top. It's unusual for any
other parts of the winscreen frame to rot. Try to get the screen out
whilst keeping the trim in place !
 
> Lastly the sills that PO replaced have been tacked to the inner
> sill/floor at their lower edges and it looks pretty messy. Should they
> be seam welded, if not how far apart should the welds be? I have only
> owned it for 5 years and it hasn't sagged yet but it has been one of
> those jobs that I wanted to get around to.

Originally the outer sills were spot welded about every 2 inches to the
inner along the bottom edge but you could seam weld them. I would check
with an MOT inspector the seam welding requirements but I would say 2
inches of weld every 4 inches. Obviously don't weld up the sill drainage
points !

With regard to painting just make sure that any primer you use is
compatible with the top coat ! E.g you can't put cellulose over
hammerite.

Good luck,

Dave.

-- 
	Dave Biggs                       
	Senior Design Engineer 	
	Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Ltd, 
	Birmingham Business Park,Solihull Parkway, Birmingham, B37 7YU.
	mailto:D.Biggs@domain.elided  tel: 0121 717 6094  efax: 0121 717 6014