Horn Mounting Panel

Actually I don't think this panel is actually called the horn mounting panel. It probably has some formal name, like "Inner Sleeve Sounder Stub Flitch Panel (RHD, replaces XKC548C", at least that's what I imagine it might be called in the catalogues. But as it is a panel, and the right-hand horn mounts to it, we'll just call it the horn mounting panel.

Right, now we have that out of the way, I'll tell you a little about it and I don't think it will take very long, to be honest. When the car was stripped down I removed the left hand horn with no problems, but the nuts and bots on the right hand side had rusted solid to the body. Being a sensitive soul I wrenched them off with a mole grip, which ripped open the steel around the mounting holes. Oh dear.

So, getting bored of the longest rear wheel arch repair in history, I decided last weekend to have a go at fixing this cute little panel. Using a thin cutting disc on the grinder, I cut out a rectangle (with a bit of a spike on the end of the shape) to leave a gaping hole, the edges of which were then ground down to make them ready for welding. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this operation, but I do have some of the repair piece being held in for welding with insulating tape.

 Once a couple of tack welds were made to hold the new metal in place, it was very carefully stitched in, avoiding excessive heat build-up. The welds were then ground down using the grinder, and the Dremmel in the tight spaces.

Once the area was solid again, a paper template of the opposite horn mounting panel was made, with the holes marked on it. To transfer the correct hole geometry to the other side, the template just needed turning upside down and hey presto I had my reference points for the centre punch. A couple of quick taps followed by some work with an 8mm drill and the holes were back where they should be.

All that was then left do was add a thin skim of filler, rub it down and apply a coat of primer.

 

The pic was taken when the primer was still wet, hence the different shades.

Right, now that's done, I'll get back to fixing (sigh)  XKC190. That IS the correct catalogue number...the rear offside wing. By the way, looking at the Rimmer Bros price list these are unavailable now, with the near side listed as £525. Yikes! I'd better put the NOS one I have in cotton wool!

Rear wing, offside - Part 6

I mentioned in my last post that I wasn't too happy with the wheel arch on this panel, due to the way I welded it. Having skimmed it with filler, I ended up losing the curvature of the panel where the flare of the arch meets the lip. It just wouldn't do, so I started again.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the "during" phase, so you will have to imagine the filler being stripped out again, the welds being re-dressed and the high spots being beaten in gently with a metal beater's hammer the plastic handle of a socket wrench. This got everything to the same level - the problem I had before was that I was having to build up the filler to meet the metal high spots, which then just got sanded away again leaving me right where I started.

A nice thin skim of filler, following the curve of the panel, was applied then sanded using 120 grit paper wrapped around an aerosol can. This worked a treat and stopped the area being sanded "square" again, and helped recreate the ski-jump effect. Once I had the basic shape, a small block of wood the size of a matchbox was used as a sanding pad, to ensure that everything was flat where it should be.

A nice ski-jump effect to the outward curve

The shape of the arch still needs a bit of work to make the crescent uniform, and there is still some very small skims of filler to rub down, but it's getting there. I am happy.

Still some fettling required.

Feeling a little rejuvenated by this progress (and my goodness has it taken an age to get here...this work has really had me in the doldrums. At one point I seriously considered cutting off the whole wing and replacing it), a couple of other jobs were tackled.

The top rear of the rear wing needs blending in to the rear lamp panel, but it is ever so fiddly and one of those jobs that has to look awful before it gets better. The area concerned needs making into a gentle corner with a tiny amount of filler, but to do it the filler had to be splodged in with a view to reshaping it when it is cured. I haven't done the reshaping yet, but I guarantee that what looks like chewing gum in the photo below will look fine once sanded and shaped.

All in the name of perfection. Wrigley's eat your heart out.

Another job was to tidy up the joins oat the bottom flanges of the "A" and "B" posts, where they meet the top of the step/sill. They have been welded to the new sill and again given a light skim of filler, but in the process lost their "join line". I can't even remember if the sill finisher will eventually sit over this area, but in any case I am a stickler for detail so I chased in a couple of false joins. These areas still need a little tidying and the welds at the bottom of the "A" post (around the door aperture) require some cosmetics, but these are nice little jobs to play at compared to the nightmare of the wheel arch. I had a full head of hair when I started that job (not any more).

False seam 1

False seam 2

In a few years, someone may ask me about my overarching memory of this phase of the restoration. I could tell them about the fortune I have spent on filler, or my sleeves being soaked from dunking blocks of wet & dry in a bucket of water, or actually quite liking the smell of Halfords' high build primer. But what really sticks in my memory - and in my ears, nostrils, eyes and clothes - is the dust. Everything is covered in filler dust, including the Bond Equipe.

The Bond is covered in dust...

but the TR7 quite likes it.