1963 Singer Vogue, seeing doors in my sleep!!!

I take my hat off to you sir. Your perseverance is epic. As the saying goes - it'll be lovely when it's finished.

Probably teaching you to suck eggs, but make sure you turn your bottle off at the valve at the end of the day.
I think almost everyone has gone through an amount of gas by accidently leaving it open and then discovering the lines aren't as airtight as they seem..

Nice progress!

Also, a bag of sand as a soft anvil is helpful in forming complex curves.

If you don't have a contract with BOC and pay a rental on your bottle you are going to properly struggle to get exchange bottles - You will more than likely have to look for a new supplier - there are a couple of rent free bottle suppliers but you need to stump up a bottle deposit - suppliers below

Hobbyweld - Have suppliers in the area: hobbyweld.co.uk/find-an-agent/?lookup=fife

SGS - Have a range of suppliers: www.sgsgases.co.uk/find-a-distributor/?drts-search=1&search_keyword%5Btext%5D=&search_keyword%5Bid%5D=&search_keyword%5Btaxonomy%5D=&search_location_address%5Btext%5D=fife&search_location_address%5Bradius%5D=30&search_location_address%5Bterm_id%5D=&search_location_address%5Btaxonomy%5D=&search_location_address%5Bcenter%5D=&search_location_address%5Bviewport%5D=&search_location_address%5Bzoom%5D=

Adams Gases - Don't appear to have any agents in your area

BOC - Will have several agents around you but you will have to sign up to a rental contract


There are various online conversations / debates over who supplies the best quality gas at cheapest price - rental vs rent free etc - you can loose several hours reading them all - some are fact - some fiction - some a matter of opinion - probably the MIG welding forum is the most reliable source of gas supplier / cost information

www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/boc-ridiculous-fees.100963/#post-1562790
www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/adams-or-sgs-gas.99496/#post-1523022
www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/small-weld-deal-2019-vs-rent-free-gas.96360/#post-1479561
www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/advice-on-best-options-please-sorry.96857/#post-1459413
www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/boc-hobby-weld-price-increase-effective-january-2020.96203/#post-1445539

At the end of the day you just want a gas bottle / refill service at fair prices with the convenience that suits you but you may have to do a little spadework to source the solution - If I can offer any advice its don't go for the smaller range bottles like the 10 litre sizes - they filled to a lower pressure and will only last you a few hours of welding - you appear to still have several miles yet to complete - the more economical in your case would be the 20 litre bottles (which is what I use in a professional restoration workshop)

Good luck - Chris

Again not a lot to report, i moved to the front of car as i am waiting on my son getting back to me about a piece of plywood. I thought i might attack the front wing and wheel arch area. I bought a couple of repair panels a few years ago but the fit isn’t great. Here are the pics.














As you can see the arch is full of filler and some bodged In badly pieces of metal, the filler extends about four inches up the panel. The new panel will save a lot of time, it extends past the front of the wing so will need a bit of trimming. I hope to butt weld the new panel to the wing along the side trim line. I haven’t cut it out yet as i will need to measure it carefully first. My neighbours were sitting out in the garden today so i gave the grinder a miss. I will however get the grinder out tomorrow (no mercy).
Please feel free to comment as usual. Norman

It's worth investing in a flow tube to set up your gas, you may be using more than you need to, this is mine.




You just put the rubber bit over the nozzle and it gives you a flow rate.

I forgot the picture doh!

I haven’t done anything for a few days as i needed a break from welding. Today i got back to this section under the front wing, I expected it to be crusty just not this crusty. This is the area cleaned up as well as i could manage, access is poor.


While i was in there i coated the area with hydrate 80. I kept catching my arms on ragged edges so have multiple scratches.


This is one of the repair plates i made and i coated inside the hollow sections with weld through primer and etch primer.


This is another plate i made and here are some pics with the plates fitted.





I can’t believe that fitting these plates took all day. I will clean up the welds a bit and apply seam sealer and etch primer. I still have a couple of patches to fit in the under wing area, these will be done tomorrow.
I have the plywood referenced to in a previous post, i will need to have a good think about how to make a wooden pattern to do the rear wheelarch.
I am running short of metal again and used the side of a computer tower today. I will need to order some more metal.
That’s it for today, more updates tomorrow. Please feel free to comment as usual. All the best, Norman

By the way, on the subject of gas. I rent my TIG gas from BOC, but decided to go hobbyweld for the MIG. Smaller bottles and less pressure though, I went through 1 bottle every 2 weeks, 2 x 0.7kg spools of wire per bottle, 4 bottles in total. A Tig bottle lasts me 2 years, so I'll eventually change that to hobbyweld once mine is empty.
BOC are getting a bit expensive now even though I'm on a 'special deal'. They even charge a £10 handling fee if I pick the bottle up from their yard. The clincher for me was, now that my welding is done, I have the bottle sitting here costing me nowt, BOC is £5 per month, might be a couple of years until I use it again.
Hobbyweld is a £60 refundable deposit instead of rent so it's just like having the money sat on a shelf.

Ahem - At this rate he will have all the welding done on the complete car before you finish that oil tank