The Front is Nearly Done!

Having fitted the near-side front wing last weekend, this weekend was all about the nose-cone panel and then the off-side front wing.

First stop was to finish prepping the various areas, such as the inner wing and drilling/punching the holes required for plug welding.

Top edges ground down to bare metal, then painted in weld-through primer...

...ditto the front wing after drilling out the holes for plug-welding.

Next was to align the nose-cone panel with the off-side wing clamped in place, door gaps correct. By grinding a bit off the lip where the nose-cone panel is spot-welded to the upper front of the car, I got the fit about right. The main problem is that with the door-to-wing gaps correct, and the bonnet-to-gutter correct, the wings are slightly out of alignment at the front. On the near-side, the front edge of the nose-cone panel will need building up slightly to nicely meet the "point" of the front wing, and likewise on the off-side it is the point of the front wing that will need building up to meet the nose-cone. I hope that makes sense! I plug welded it anyway.

This area had to sit slightly further forward on the panel underneath it.

Once I was happy with everything, it was time to lay a seam of weld where the nose-cone panel meets the front of the car, accessable via the headlamp void. Whilst I was at it, I welded the front lower panel to the near-side wing using a combination of MIG and spot.

Nice and strong welds under the nose-cone.

Front lower panel attached at the near-side.

One of the inner front panels which locates the front lower panel was starting to split along its seam, so I welded a patch over it. It is not the kind of repair I like doing, but laying a bead of weld along the split would have burnt through and just made it bigger.

Quick repair.

Next step involved plug-welding the top of the outer wing gutter to the inner wing. I also layed a few beads of MIG here and there to add strength, although it does not look too pretty.

Front wing migged on top edge.

Once that was done, the wing was offered up and plug-welded along the inner front wing. The plugs worked well, but I started having problems with the (you guessed it!) inner wheel arch panel. These panels just don't fit right, but I also think I was to blame here. I was getting tired, so sometimes the answer is to to simply switch the MIG off and walk away.

Plugs welds looking good...

...but the inner wheel arch lip just isn't right. Time to switch off and come back next weekend with a clear head.

Front near-side wing

After three days off the day job and lots of work in the garage, one wing is finally fitted. The session started on Friday, when I did a bit more work on the screen surround repair, more of which will be in a later post. Things then went to trying to align the whole front of the car, which was not fun as it was "out" almost everywhere.

Having spent a long time getting the door-to-wing gap right with an array of shims, I was then able to fit the wing. However, the wing was sitting far too far forward and extended beyond the nose cone panel. To make matters worse the bonnet no longer fitted along the near-side wing's gutter. This was a blow. I should also say that the headlamp pods were dragged out of the shed and fitted up, to make sure that the nose still fitted. Seeing the car with winking eyes again actually lifted my spirits!

It's alive! It has been a very long time since Bessy had headlamps fitted. Ah yes, Ford Rosso Red paint, circa 1994, still in evidence on the headlamp pods.

To cut a long story short, the solution was to bolt up the bonnet to the nose cone panel, then grap the whole lot - taking the bonnet with it - and give it an almighty twist. The front right of the nose cone had to be pulled forward, whilst the front left had to be pushed back. This gave just the right amount of "fit" all round.

I decided "this is it" and got to work with the MIG and the spot welder.

Holes were punched out around the inner lip of the wheel arch, ready for plug welds to the inner arch.

It is important to me that the repair is strong, so I decided to weld the inner and the outer faces of the wheel arch to the inner. For this I punched holes at scientific intervals (i.e. every now and then) around the inner lip and plug welded them using the Portamig. I made sure to weld different areas at a time to avoid distortion. For once, this worked a treat and I was met with a very satisfying sizzle whenever the trigger on the torch was pulled.

The outer wheel arch was spot welded.

The spot welder was used to good effect on the outer edge of the wheel arch. To be honest I might as well have plug welded it, but it gave me an anoraky degree of satisfaction to know that I was welding like the factory did it. But better.

Spotted and plugged all the way round. By the way, the bit of wood is helping to keep the car supported in its plane on the spit. It is wrapped in red and yellow tape to stop me banging my head on it when it is used horizontally.

Naturally the wing was welded on the top, too, along the gutter and on the scuttle base.

So, that's one wing on. The next step is to weld up the nose cone and fit the right-hand wing. That's all folks.

Front Strap Panel

Front what panel? It's this one, XKC2976:

The bottom 3 inches or so had rotted, so some time ago I bought a new one from Rimmer Bros. The only problem was, it was a completely different shape and size to the one on my car.

It would appear that early cars used a different cross member and strap panel to the later cars, with a replacement only being available for the latter. After trawling the net and speaking with specialists, I concluded that a new strap panel for my early TR7 is impossible to source. So, I would just have to repair mine.

After drilling out the spot welds that secure it to the cross member, I removed it and cut off the rotten part. A new section was then fashioned out of some scrap steel I had in the garage and welded in:

New section (left) welded in.

I then ground down the welds and took the whole panel back to bare metal. For some reason it hasn't half been bashed around in the past and I can't imagine it was this shapeless when new? The centre ribbing has all sorts of dents and dinks.

Panel stripped of underseal and paint. Look at the dents!

When I was reasonably happy with the overall state of the thing, I painted it in zinc-rich primer. Again, the photos make it look worse than it actually is, although I have considered filling some of the dings. But somehow this seems a bit "O.C.D." as it won't really be seen, plus those dents are war wounds and a bit of me would like not to iron out ALL of Bessy's past.

The Rimmer Bros replacement panel alongside "my" refurbished panel.

If anyone would like a new, unused XKC2976 front strap panel for their late TR7, let me know.