Had to do it in two pieces Murdo, it has a seam but you cant see it!
On to the other side and the surround. On the other side I had to make a new channel, this turned out to be a pain in the backside as there is a small strip folded over which contacts the boot lid seal, recreating this accurately proved a challenge.
All on and set in place. The placement of this is critical for the alignment of the rear wing, rear panel and thus boot lid otherwise the gaps wont line up.
The next job before I finish the rear wing is to repair the rear screen surround, once this is in place everything lines up much better! It also adds reinforcement for the boot surround which makes alignment easier.
Only the outer panel had rotted through in the corners, the supporting structure, boot hinge brackets and inner surround had survived well, all they needed was a de-rust and a couple of coats of UPols finest Zinc Weld through primer.
I haven't repaired the NS C post yet as I need it for alignment.
I made this!
Well, ok I didn't make it entirely, the right corner is a replacement section, the left corner I have fabricated.
Test fitted and it fits perfectly, this is what I mean about getting alignment correct.
I then just tack welded it in.
With that in I could turn my attention to the rear wing repair. It was fabricated in the same way as the OS, two sections, contoured to match the original. Matched and then tacked in at 1" intervals (Yes I really did mark 1" intervals! It makes it easier to tack in!)
I will deal with the rust repair later.
Yep, straight!
Perfect boot gaps!
I promised a wip photo! So here we are, the panel is very thin, 0.8mm so it is tacked in and an air line is used to keep the panel cool. It doesn't look pretty but the panel hasn't been damaged by heat. The flange has been both plug and spot welded for strength and the corner where it joins the screen surround has a small seam as per the original.
I also repaired the trailing edge of the C post then linished the welds, top and bottom. I use a 40 grit flap disc to knock the tops off, then a 120 grit to get everything flush finishing off with the DA.
Repaired the rust hole to finish off the wing.
There is some brazing and more linishing to be done around the rear corner but I'll do all of that together later on. I'll move on to the roof and some small patches on the C post next.
Not looking forward to this!