No it's not a new holiday destination in Spain ('Hey, Sharon, how did your holiday in Filleriffic go? Pull many blokes?'), but what the last owner of my T3 must have thought when looking at his shares in Isopon....
Now I always knew it was a solid car - there's so little 'stuff' fixed to the bodywork (interior, front end panels, dashboard etc all missing in action) that it's hard to disguise any rust. However, i knew there was a light skim of filler around the back, as at some point in the name of smoothing someone had fillered over the join between the wing and rear valance (T3 wings unbolt much like a beetles). I wanted a much more stock look and I also wanted to remove the wings to paint them, so I thought I'd just get rid of this light skim with a resin coated wire wheel thing in the drill.
Who needs wing beading? Use silicone sealer and filler on top!
Easy peasy. Just do the other side..... but what's this? Why does the filler seem much deeper, much further away from the join?
That's a good half-inch of non-metal I've hacked into there and no sign of what's below.
Now the T3 has a fresh-air system running behind here, feeding the engine from the rear wing vents so I can't get to the back of it to see what shape the panel is. But it's not looking good! I eventually, with the aid of a hammer and chisel, found the bare metal below and started working along the panel to find the real shape.....
Along the way I also found the protruding heads of 14 wood screws to help the filler stick. Photo isn't much good but that's a pretty big whack the car has taken, the filler was up to 3/4inch deep across most of the width of that section. Also notice the lower part.... if you can't find the right repair panel just cut the rough shape from tin and braize it on! That's over the top of the original panel by the way, not in place of
*sigh* so I'm one step closer to a more original car, the car is now lighter than ever, but i'm one step further away from it being finished
Anyone know how that rear panel attaches, is it a pig to replace as a whole? Might as well learn welding the hard way since I've got a 130amp arc welder sat here!
Now I always knew it was a solid car - there's so little 'stuff' fixed to the bodywork (interior, front end panels, dashboard etc all missing in action) that it's hard to disguise any rust. However, i knew there was a light skim of filler around the back, as at some point in the name of smoothing someone had fillered over the join between the wing and rear valance (T3 wings unbolt much like a beetles). I wanted a much more stock look and I also wanted to remove the wings to paint them, so I thought I'd just get rid of this light skim with a resin coated wire wheel thing in the drill.
Who needs wing beading? Use silicone sealer and filler on top!
Easy peasy. Just do the other side..... but what's this? Why does the filler seem much deeper, much further away from the join?
That's a good half-inch of non-metal I've hacked into there and no sign of what's below.
Now the T3 has a fresh-air system running behind here, feeding the engine from the rear wing vents so I can't get to the back of it to see what shape the panel is. But it's not looking good! I eventually, with the aid of a hammer and chisel, found the bare metal below and started working along the panel to find the real shape.....
Along the way I also found the protruding heads of 14 wood screws to help the filler stick. Photo isn't much good but that's a pretty big whack the car has taken, the filler was up to 3/4inch deep across most of the width of that section. Also notice the lower part.... if you can't find the right repair panel just cut the rough shape from tin and braize it on! That's over the top of the original panel by the way, not in place of
*sigh* so I'm one step closer to a more original car, the car is now lighter than ever, but i'm one step further away from it being finished
Anyone know how that rear panel attaches, is it a pig to replace as a whole? Might as well learn welding the hard way since I've got a 130amp arc welder sat here!
