1986 Porsche 911 - with added E46 M3

Hello there.

This was how I left it last night.




First thing was to take out that round platey thing.

It was a bit more awkward than I expected because there was seam sealer between the two pieces but my stainless steel slicey openy thing sorted that out.




I had a look underneath and the rust had spread under the sealant quite a way.




I've marked on top how far I need to go.




The picture doesn't really show what a horrible shape this is going to be to reproduce.

There are lots of uppy and downy bits, some of which are also curvy as well, just to make it a bit more awkward.

There is also the foldy lippy bit where it goes under the heel panel.

I tried to make a template.




The paper ended up with lots of folds and creases in it and it looked like it would be quite difficult to make a piece of metal do that without also getting folds and creases in places where we don't need folds and creases.

I looked at it for a bit and thought that maybe I could make it out of a few bits of metal and join them together.

I started making a smaller template.




I wasn't keen on that either, so I got a cup of tea and looked at it a bit more and scratched my head.


It needs a bit more contemplation because I still haven't worked out how I'm going to make it.

I am now inside the house looking at pictures of it, still drinking tea and still scratching my head.


How would you do it?


Oh, the lovely Doctor is semi-convinced that I spend most nights looking at 'Frankie Vaughan' on the internet.

She doesn't believe that anyone would just look at pictures of rusty bits of metal...


Cheers.

That's a good plan, cheers.

I think hammer forming is the way, I'm not that good at woodwork though.





I would use bits from a scrapper, Just have not had the opportunity to go and find them.



Last night was the pub quiz, we won yay!

Tonight I went into the tent with a bit of a plan.

Part one, cut out the bit.




This is what it looks like.




That is a bit bigger than the standard grommet hole.

I don't fancy trying to repair the original bit because it is a bit rusty.




This view shows the uppy downyness of it, or is that the foldy lippy bit?

I forget.




Anyway, the plan is to make a hammer form tool.

As I am not a woodwork expert I am not going to attempt to make a wooden former, I am going to mould it in fibreglass as I have done previously.

In order to take a mould of the piece, first I need to fill up the gaping hole in it.

With tape.




Like so.




Actually that was just to give me something on which to daub the fibreglass.




When it was cured it looked like this.




But the other side looked like this.




Which I sanded and shaped.




Now it was 'repaired' I had something to take a mould from for my hammer form.

Except that I didn't do that.


Because as I was sanding it I started thinking that actually, I think that it would work nicer if I was to be hammer forming into the side that I had just spent ages sanding.

That means that I really should have repaired the other side of the piece and all the stuff that I had been doing tonight was, in fact, a total waste of time.

So I wire wheeled the fibreglass down then smothered it in paint stripper.




Once I had removed all evidence of everything I had just done, I taped it up the other way round.




Then I daubed it in fibreglass again.




I stuck those two bits of scrap metal on there to give it a flattish surface to sit on when I start sanding it to shape, but that is a job for next time.


Cheers.

I think that there is a conspiracy to stop me getting anything done, on the car at least.

Friday at work everything went like a well planned military operation and I got home in very good time with lots of enthusiasm to get on with things.

A quick cup of tea then in to the shed except I got a call to go to an emergency job before the kettle had even boiled.

That meant that my early finish with lots of enthusiasm turned into a late finish with no enthusiasm left.


Saturday I had to do other far less interesting things which consumed just about the entire day.

Sunday morning I had to fix the dish washer which was far more of a pain than it really should have been.

I did get a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Last time I had laid on some goop onto the piece to repair it enough to make a mould.




That was now well and truly dried out so I was able to sand it down ready for the mould.




Once it was the right shape I covered it in packing tape.




Then I decided to give myself a bit more area to work with so I taped some cardboard around the periphery.




Once that was all ready I covered it in jam.




When it was ready, I pulled it from the piece.




It was reasonable but would need sanding down around where I had tacked the extra cardboard on.

Whilst that was going off, I made a metal frame to both support it and to give me something to clamp it into the vice with

The frame and the moulding got spooged together.




Hopefully that will hold it together when I start smashing it with a hammer.

This is what the top side looked like.





Today after work I clamped it in the vice and sanded off all the traces of where the cardboard had been stuck around the edges.




I've cut out a bit of tin to making the piece and put a couple of folds in it to get me started, and clamped it to the former.

It is clamped on to the tool, roughly marked out and now waiting to be hammered.




Tune in for even less excitement next time.

I know how exciting this is because I fell asleep half way through typing it.

Cheers.

Personally, I think that looks pretty incredible. I was concerned about the fiberglass holding up to the bashing, but this is going in my bag of tricks for sure.

Absolutely brilliant!...I'm definitely going to try this method in future. I've done almost the same process with fibre glass to make a mould. But that was to then make a positive piece out of fibre glass....not to bash a piece of steel into! From the pictures it looks like it turned out a treat....nice one 👍🏻

When dealing with corroded tinwork like SWMBO's front bumper last weekend



I always think WWTBD or 'What would Tea Boy do?' but instead of cutting, grinding, forming, fettling and welding I just fitted the pattern bumper I had hanging about so I feel a failure against your herculean efforts.

Brilliant work on the panel,
I have to echo other comments, I didn't realise that fibreglass would / could take such hammer, (pardon the pun,)
Nigel

I have one word for you Mr. Child : PUB!