1986 Rover SD1 3500SE Police Car

Nice work fella, keep at it

If you have a look on the for sale section someone was selling a single kojak light no too long ago

Couldnt find the blue light in the forsale section.

Yes rimmers have lots of parts, but not all. I might have to put an order in for the front underbelly panel, so i can get the front corners aligned

Well heres another shot of it for you! Id love to find out if the officers in the photos also drove my car.



Did some more prep work which involved drilling lots of holes for spot welding. I welded in that rad support bracket and then i painted inside the chassis rail with zinc 182, i also did the corresponding part in the inner arch. Next i offered up the parts to see how they fit together. Its all a bit wobbly, and ideally id put the bonnet on to triple check gaps etc but the brace i welded to the roof gets in the way!









I couldnt resist balancing the wing on, just for a mojo boost. Actually looks like an sd1 again.

I made a small patch for the inner arch. I used the metal folder and a chisel to get the step in it. Welded that in.







I bought a new underbelly panel for the front as the old one was smashed. I offered it up, so i could get the profile right for the last part of the inner arch. It had an ugly patch/plate over it so i cut it off and made a new but and welded that in.











The next bit caused lots of head scratching. Ive had the inner wing and outer wing balanced on the car, but not tried to get it accurate. So i thought id cut out the brace id fitted between roof and strut top, allowing me to fit the bonnet and gap it all up. The only problem is thats without that brace, the front right side of the car wants to drop and move. So i played around for a while gaining confidence that if i welded the inner wing on, id still have enough flexibility to adjust and gap the front wing later. So thats what ive done. With the inner wing on, the front of the car shouldnt droop, so i can then refit bonnet and gap wing properly.

Took ages to clean all the protective wax off the bare metal panel. I used lots of petrol and then some panel wipe. Gave it a dusting of etch primer and drilled the holes for plug welding.



Welded on with plug welds, then seam welded to the remains of the old inner wing.







Really happy with how this went. I played about with my welder settings so i got great penetration onto the inner arch flanges and it paid off. Looks neat from engine bay side and i know its very solid.



Then i gave it a quick coat of etch primer again.

Thanks Jan, yes plenty of work done, but a massive amount still to do. Just have to keep chipping away!

Did a bit more today. Fitted the new bonnet to check gaps. Its pretty good, any tighter and I'm worried the bonnet could clash and scratch the paint. Then just did prep on the wing and inner wing. All rubbed down, etch primed, primed, then a bit of U-Pol brush on seam sealer. Finally some gloss white from a rattle can. Its been tipping down with rain all day so i had the garage doors shut. Not a good idea as the fumes have given me a headache!

Thanks. I cant wait to get the wing welded on. It'll feel like a big step, as its almost 1 corner complete! I was going to do it this evening, but it still stinks of paint fumes in the garage. Ive been thinking of painting Waxoyl onto the inner wing before welding the wing on, but ive decided against this for lots of reasons, plus i managed to accidentally buy black waxoyl not the clear. Woops. The other benefit of putting the panels on is theres less to trip over in the garage. The rear quarters are massive and ive got a few dents in my ankle where i keep walking into them.