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.