Making panels.......

I know I said I wouldn't and you shouldn't and it was easier and cheaper if you cost you time above 50p an hour but I doff my hat in you direction.

I still wouldn't have spent the time but as Tony said you should be chuffed with that work

hi

first panel with bends and a joggle



test fitted in the battery tray hole


bit more fettling and two drain holes then weld it in

tonybmw, bstardchild and maybachman;

Many thanks, it makes all the hard work worth while to get praise on how its turned out, but if it wasn't for the inspiration from reading this thread I would not have started and without the support on this Forum and the Mig Welding Forum I would not have achieved what I have.
I have learnt an awful lot and can now use what I have learnt to progress with the rest of my restoration project.

Subframe rebuild update:

Spent the day in the workshop fabricating the indents in the bottom plates and drilling the plug weld holes:










The indents need tidying up but I can do that at home, just wanted to get the bulk done and the holes drilled using the Anvil etc and Pillar Drill as I only have a Hand Power Drill at home.

Clean, Prime and Paint next :-)

If you want a really nice joddled edge, the Rolastep thing does it very well - a much better defined step that the one like in the link (or than my one, anyway). You still need some kind of straight edge to run it along as it's very easy to go off-course, and a 16mm ratchet spanner is useful as well. Trouble with my 'normal' joddler is that if you look at the jaws, there's quite a gap in the 'step' area which leads to quite an angle rather than an almost 90-degree step down. The rolling one is more like a hand-held bead roller so seems to be able to apply more pressure. Unless my joddler is no good of course.

I was told not to try to cool the metal down - leave it to cool naturally.

I have the same issues as you do - no matter how many times I lok through this thread for advice and inspiration, I can't get the same kind of invisible welds that Tony manages to get, as I'm scared that if I grind too much off, I'm just going to weaken the steel. One of the issues I have is when I'm replacing a flat piece of steel, once I've cut the patch it's hard to keep it completely flat. For example the bench shears curve the steel while I'm cutting it, the tinsnips put a series of bends and marks into the edge when I'm cutting it down, and no matter how much I try, I can't get it straight again, the best I can achieve is for it to be a bit wavy, perhaps in different parts than it was before. Then I figure that I'll hold it onto the original part with magnets, weld where the two are level, then once that holds it in place, attempt to level the rest of it up bit by bit. Of course, that never works because that would need the first welds to 'slide' somehow. But it's frustrating.

Krum, if you go back quite early on in this thread there is some detail on dressing the welds, grinding down and so on, but for me it's a flatness issue which means the discs aren't working against a flat surface sometimes. Of course, it works a bit better when the patch is on a curve.

I think That pin is welded to a plate what is stitch- or spot welded to doorshunt. If You take the interior panels away you may see the backside of that plate.

Like Droopsnoot says, a car glass guy can -at least should- remove Your rear window.

To doors, if it's my car, I would like to take the door apart to see how bad door are.

Start from a easy spot. Don't rush to hard spots first or You could loose Your motivation when it does not go as you plan to. I know, been there a couple times.

And if You dare to start, make the thread to Reader Rides.

-Antti

Can you not butt weld the pannel in or joddle the car body so that there isn't a rust trap J lip going up but down if you see what I mean?

Good point about the wax creeping, but the other thing to consider is if you're welding is going to possibly be porous, doing it the other way might result in the wax creeping a bit too much and coming through the painted repair later on. There's only so much you can do with these things - the "proper" repair would be to remove the old sill at the spot welds and put a new one on. Try to make sure that there's as little overlap as possible on the joddled edge might also help - that is, joddle the edge, test fit, mark where the panels overlap, and trim as close to that as possible, rather than leaving 1/4" lip.

Now, if you'd left the repair you've already done until later, you might have been able to fashion some kind of applicator (small roller, perhaps) on a stick in from the front end of the sill, apply seam sealer, then close up the front section. Perhaps too far-fetched to actually work. Do you have good access into the sill box section to get wax in there?