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Pettifordo

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Posts posted by Pettifordo

  1. 1 hour ago, AlanT said:

    Very brave of you to do this repair

    It was really a series of events that got me here - I figure worst case I can get a replacement bonnet.

    The rest of the bonnet was ok so it seemed a shame to junk it, I was lucky enough to find the replacement nose on e-bay when enquiring about a 2nd hand bonnet - so that was £40 and the strengthener was £60

    That needed some repairs doing which was good for my welding skills.

    Parts wise I think I’m probably £150 all in plus I don’t want to think of how many hours 😱

    I’ve enjoyed getting it all fitted and took advice from here about welding slowly, but I did end up with more of a dip than I was expecting - I think my mistake was to weld the ends and the middle, moving about (between sips of tea) so the panel didn’t get too warm. If I did it again I would just start in the middle and work out (taking even more time between welds) as I think this would have reduced distortion.

    The net result is I’m honing my filling skills which were last practiced on a 1973 Vauxhall Viva in 1985 🙂

    The flexible sanding block has been really good / I hesitated at £14 but for curved surface it has been really good with the 80 Grit sand paper (£12 for 5m of hook and loop paper) cutting the filler nicely plus some 240 Grit to finish it.
     

    Lets hope the results aren’t too bad - I think that once you have a hole you can always “see it”.

    The filler is quite thin and a tape on it still gives a good metallic ring. The underside looks clean and with some seam sealer “it won’t notice 🤣🤣🤣

  2. IMG_7285.thumb.jpeg.f5404fc39d37abfdd7d9ead63d57d922.jpegI’m having fun with plod !

    I took off most of the first go and purchased a flexible sander - https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/abrasives/sanding-discs/flexible-long-bed-hand-sanding-block-70-x-400mm/p/ZT2443508S

    Now on to the 3rd coat of filler 🤔🤔

    it looks like quite a large area but it is actually quiet thin, just want to feather the edges so the join is “hidden”.
     

    I think it will end up looking ok and at least this filler is over good metal instead of rust - although I do feel I have kind of just moved the filler from being on the nose to being on the bonnet 🤣🤣🤣🤣

    • Like 1
  3. 5 minutes ago, dannyb said:

    retaining  rims are too far out.

    Do you think I have fitted them the wrong way round ? The lamp felt loose when I had it the other way round 😩

    The cowling is fowling on the shaped flange at the top of the bowl - assuming that is the top 🤣🤣🤣

    I wish I had paid more attention when taking it apart !

  4. I’m having some issues fitting some Lucas replacement headlamp bowl I bought from Rimmer Bros - They seem to fit ok until I try to attached the headlamp cowl which doesn’t seem to fit.

    Anyone else had this problems ? Rimmer Bros said it was the right part. This was the part number - 7H6838KLUCAS

    image.thumb.jpg.0f538b36435dd126929d9b802a4d84a2.jpg

  5. 9 hours ago, Josef said:

    avoided major distortion?

    I think I’ve avoided the worst of it - it dips a bit in the middle which is disappointing. In hindsight I think I may of had the clamps too tight so “nothing could move” or perhaps I should have started in the middle and worked out, removing clamps as I went. What I actually did was to weld between the clamps moving as far apart as possible between welds, then remove the clamps (one and a time) and joined up the weld. I also had a piece of copper clamped behind the weld to a) spread the heat and b) mean I could be more confident of not blowing through.

    The dip is about 5mm in the middle third of the bonnet.

     

    I’m pondering if I should try to metal bash it up or leave well alone and fill the dip. I’m concerned that bashing will break the weld, but also want to deliver as good a finish as possible.

    It feels really solid and is well aligned at the front.

    Its 200% better than the filler and rust that was there.

     

     

  6. Had a few free mins this PM so I decided to cut out the filler

    IMG_6307.thumb.jpeg.2d1c75629f1ecc267a20b6d59732dd59.jpeg

    I can imagine with a nice chrome grille it might look nice and cooling would be a breeze 🤣🤣🤣

    Some nice plates welded in from the PO

    IMG_6308.thumb.jpeg.e21e4a76e633fac935bddb7c0075abf7.jpeg

    Test fitting of the new nose looks good.

    IMG_6312.thumb.jpeg.c5e5ca4ad1e3124be29c6af86b26db80.jpeg

    Now I think I have done as much as I can do without stripping the front of the car so I can access the strengthen plate underneath / it isn’t too bad but having got this far it seems a shame not to replace that - I think I can honestly say that once this is done the car will be “filler free” - except where I have used it to close joints and tidy bits up - so used to smooth things out and not as a structural component 🤣🤣🤣

     

    • Like 2
  7. Now patched both end and the small holes.

    IMG_6297.thumb.jpeg.6c536e574eba5e4d06f41008ffce6c33.jpegIMG_6296.thumb.jpeg.0ec1d1d0f29f6ae860d0ef853dd9b9d4.jpegIMG_6294.thumb.jpeg.94c41f65ae7282bcb0da5d4914cacadb.jpegIMG_6293.thumb.jpeg.450ddc6354c3a859b8f2146dfe01b5a9.jpeg

    Will need some more finishing but happy with the result.

    Next I have to strip the front off the car.

    I think I will keep the bonnet on the car for the welding on with a brace across the 2 bonnet supports to make sure nothing moves as I cut out the front part of the bonnet and the support underneath.

    I think I can get to all the spot welds holding it on 🤞🤞🤞

    • Like 1
  8. Today was getting all the rust off the “new” nose for the bonnet.

    I had to drill through from under the lip to get the spot welds so now have holes along the bottom, but I plan to use those to weld it to the new bottom plate I have.

    IMG_6285.thumb.jpeg.bd423f5d854725158072d63d430c2055.jpegIMG_6286.thumb.jpeg.4756f1e63ae63e5b2c51d9a621e4a247.jpegIMG_6288.thumb.jpeg.caf8907bad6f6f301c2fb1dacb42d75b.jpegIMG_6289.thumb.jpeg.461f20f1ab0cf224b8acccea420d7f9d.jpegIMG_6292.thumb.jpeg.6817904cd9f297e8e576736d9ecfa7ed.jpeg

    The rest isn’t too rusty and I’m confident I can butt weld at the end and then fill the holes with copper behind the weld area 👍

    It took me 2.5 hours to get it to the stage where I could test fit and it will just cover the filled bit - phew. If the metal is thin on the left hand side I might have to fab another patch.

    IMG_6291.thumb.jpeg.e6b916a0b044db8f01542e58ebf2f3be.jpeg

    Next weekend I will weld in the patches and fill the holes.

     

    • Like 2
  9. 10 hours ago, Josef said:

    don’t weld the whole thing in unless you really have to

    I thought that welding the whole repair section in would provide better structural integrity and a nice smooth edge to the front of the bonnet - but I need to think about the distortion.

    I’m going to see my welding expert next week to see what he thinks - he mentions “cold welding” it with TIG….so perhaps I can pay him to do it ?? Or is that cheating 🤣🤣

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