Thanks jimi
So that's the 'slam-panel' of the bonnet finished. Well it's 90% finished. All the shape has been formed but it needs a bit of 'joining the dots' with the welding. I was getting a bit fed up with the pernicketiness of it so treated myself to a change of activity and cleaned all the rust off with wizzy-wheel and got some etch-primer on it.
Next thing to do was obviously start repairing the shell of the bonnet. Well the bonnet I guess you'd call it. This will be visible so I want to get the welds as invisible as possible and was stressing about how to form the curves going two ways.
Well it turned out great. Bit miffed about blowing a couple of holes, as I didn't cut back far enough to sound metal in the bits I repaired yesterday, but the shape is good.
As you may see from the earlier pics this bonnet was originally a darkish metallic blue and was sprayed in a light non-metallic blue in the 80s I reckon.
The bonnet has quite a few small dents in it as well as the corrosion at the front and the dents have all been filled and sanded to quite a high standard but I only noticed yesterday, when sanding back the paint, that the repairs were re-painted in the original colour (looks like a perfect match).
This kind of repair would be unusual on a car towards the end of its life back in the 70s or 80s so I reckon the bonnet had already rusted out at the front when the car was still quite new.
The primerless blow-over in a non-original colour is much more typical of the time I think
![](https://i.imgur.com/wUhVDNr.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/7UThyMB.jpg)
90% done and ready for some paint
![](https://i.imgur.com/BqohobX.jpg)
now to repair the bonnet proper
![](https://i.imgur.com/wbeJp2y.jpg)
quite a few holes here
![](https://i.imgur.com/nBxrxTa.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/q4g378t.jpg)
sanding shows these holes were repaired before and bonnet re-sprayed in proper colour before it got the light blue paint in later years
![](https://i.imgur.com/QMlTSQe.jpg)
cutting out holed part on corner
![](https://i.imgur.com/VltlzWF.jpg)
new bit welded in
![](https://i.imgur.com/lRqj777.jpg)
similar-sized hole on LH edge
![](https://i.imgur.com/lYo51gw.jpg)
sorted but may do it again with bigger patch
So that's the 'slam-panel' of the bonnet finished. Well it's 90% finished. All the shape has been formed but it needs a bit of 'joining the dots' with the welding. I was getting a bit fed up with the pernicketiness of it so treated myself to a change of activity and cleaned all the rust off with wizzy-wheel and got some etch-primer on it.
Next thing to do was obviously start repairing the shell of the bonnet. Well the bonnet I guess you'd call it. This will be visible so I want to get the welds as invisible as possible and was stressing about how to form the curves going two ways.
Well it turned out great. Bit miffed about blowing a couple of holes, as I didn't cut back far enough to sound metal in the bits I repaired yesterday, but the shape is good.
As you may see from the earlier pics this bonnet was originally a darkish metallic blue and was sprayed in a light non-metallic blue in the 80s I reckon.
The bonnet has quite a few small dents in it as well as the corrosion at the front and the dents have all been filled and sanded to quite a high standard but I only noticed yesterday, when sanding back the paint, that the repairs were re-painted in the original colour (looks like a perfect match).
This kind of repair would be unusual on a car towards the end of its life back in the 70s or 80s so I reckon the bonnet had already rusted out at the front when the car was still quite new.
The primerless blow-over in a non-original colour is much more typical of the time I think
![](https://i.imgur.com/wUhVDNr.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/7UThyMB.jpg)
90% done and ready for some paint
![](https://i.imgur.com/BqohobX.jpg)
now to repair the bonnet proper
![](https://i.imgur.com/wbeJp2y.jpg)
quite a few holes here
![](https://i.imgur.com/nBxrxTa.jpg)
![](https://i.imgur.com/q4g378t.jpg)
sanding shows these holes were repaired before and bonnet re-sprayed in proper colour before it got the light blue paint in later years
![](https://i.imgur.com/QMlTSQe.jpg)
cutting out holed part on corner
![](https://i.imgur.com/VltlzWF.jpg)
new bit welded in
![](https://i.imgur.com/lRqj777.jpg)
similar-sized hole on LH edge
![](https://i.imgur.com/lYo51gw.jpg)
sorted but may do it again with bigger patch