Renault Estafette Van, Mk2 Cortina GT

Try something really thin like white spirit or paraffin.

I have been using air tools for decades, and die grinders are the one thing that seem to not last at all.

So this morning I gave the pillar another going over with the belt sander to get as much surface rust off as possible and then another coat of rust converter just to make sure. It then got a coat of weld through and the repair welded on.




I plug welded the the repair where the door seal goes first, but when I was welding the other side I heard a couple of the plug welds twang loose. I did clean the weld through off at each hole but I think the rust converter may have caused isues. So I did some seam welding to the edge of the pillar - inch weld - inch gap. As this looks like it’s going to be a complete resprayed I may take the chance to do this to all the apertures.

As we’ve got more guests in the shepherd’s hut tonight and tomorrow I wanted to get as much of the grinding done as possible before their arrival. I can then make repairs and weld them in without annoying them. This was first on the list.




Some grinder action gave this


This was a chunky patch that someone had snobbed on years ago and that I choose to ignore back in 2007


This bubble on the strut top


Was luckily just a bit of surface rust under the filler and not anything that needs cutting out



This bit needs further investigation where the inner wing meets the bulkhead. I may need to take the wing off😩

More tomorrow with a bit of luck.


Oh, I almost forgot. I think I’ve given myself arc eye in my left eyeball. I started to weld at one point with my grinding mask on and not my welding mask. What a 🛎 end.

I made a start poking around the grot on the passenger side bulkhead.


So first bonnet off


Then it’s face


Then out with the drill








And off with the wing


Revealing this

A bit of cutting








Repair to the inner door pillar



Then the outer pillar





Then the A panel

A bit more cutting


Made a repair piece



And snobbed it on


Made a new flange for the top of the A panel and tacked it on.


Fitted the wing and the wing rail panel but the repair isn’t high enough leaving a gap.

I’ve ordered a new wing rail section so I’ll remake this when I now high it’s got to be.

Scrape off black curse word and what do you find? Rot. And lots of it.

















And other side










I’ve left the upper bulkhead for now as I tried to make the panel and gave up. Too many curves going in different directions. EBay to the rescue there. The wing flitches I bought are curse word so they need to go back. They are too low compared to the original

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Off to watch Top Gun

I did Glen. The youngest wanted to watch Jurassic World, but it’s not youngest child day is it 😁

It was full of cheese but I enjoyed it. The cinema was full where it’s normally empty. That could be more because fathers day than Oscar nominations.

Quality repairs there, that should help with the shell stiffness....I'm surprised you still have the steering lock fitted though

A bit more done before work today


Made a couple of repair patches and welded them in


And all ground off

Remember the wing rail end that didn’t fit? I made my own


Mines on the left. Not as shiny, but it fits. Welded on


And ground off


Removed some grot from the wing rail too





Next I attacked the driver door pillar as I’d left the flange on when I repaired it back in the day for some reason. Now it’s grotty

Weld through primer didn’t help much











And a pic of the wing back on but only a few screws holding it that I forgot to add