Rear Bulkhead and Spring Hanger In!

Had a really good evenings work as have welded in the spring hanger to the rear bulkhead. Had to make sure this went in perfectly, so was taking measurement after measurement and then measuring again. 

Bulk Head Test Fitting

So this evening I have started to prepare for the fitting of the rear bulk head. I am certainly going to take my time here as there are some many sections coming together in one small area. I need to get it right, so no guess work!

I am cutting the new panels to fit as best as I can, using the measurements that I took before and from the left hand side of the chassis. What has come out from this is that it certainly looks like it will all be ok.

Hopefully my next post will see some panels welded in! I do have plenty of rust treatment to finish off first.

Progress!

So for the time being I have stopped working on the wheel arch as I have finished enough to move on to the rear bulk head. I will come back to this when I have finished the front section of the chassis.

I have sprayed the metal with a zinc based welding primer to stop the rust from forming which has been completely covering all bare metal overnight in this recent terrible weather.

So now I can move on to the rear bulk head to I needed to plan how it will all fit together, so some more test fitting took place this evening.

It is quite a relief to see the purchased repair panels fit well to my bespoke ones. Especially considering I had no plans and most of it was guess work!

Wheel Arch Repairs Continued

I think progress is going to happen on a much quicker pace from now on. It's a bit like decorating a room. You have to do the preparation first before starting on the big jobs. All those little jobs have to be sorted first.

I decided to purchase a 10 litre gas bottle of Argon / Co2 mix that cost me £115, but I will get back £55 when I return the bottle itself. This has made a huge difference in having a good steady supply of gas at all times. 

It seems that in order to get the rear bulk head, floor and sills in place I have to sort out half of the wheel arch and other small detailed parts in this area. 

Tonight was welding in another section of the inner wheel arch using the repair that I had made a couple of weeks ago.

To get this perfectly in line with the main inner arch would take a good accurate weld!!

It all seems good from most angles so just need to tidy up this weld joint and then I'll match up the curved section.

I think I've got it!!!!

I was just looking back to when I made my first custom panel for the wheel arch and started to try welding it in...that was 3½ weeks ago!! During that time, without knowing it I taught myself to weld. I made so many mistakes, probably mostly schoolboy errors like to keep trying to repair numerous blow through holes and grinding the metal down too much making the metal thin and more unstable that it ended up looking more like Swiss cheese than a repair panel.

So tonight I bit the bullet and cut out the panel and made a new one and welded it in!! Yes in one evening and not 3½ weeks, grrr!! I know I need to sharpen up my technique, but I have penetrated the metal and there are no pin holes to let the moisture through.

Sadly just as I was about to finish it off I ran out of gas. Again! So now I know I can weld well enough I am going to invest in a large bottle and stop buying the disposable ones as they just don't last ten minuets.

That small rust hole to the left of the weld will be sorted next by cutting out a small section with my draper multi-tool, shaping a piece of steel and welding that in.

Well there should be no stopping me know!!

Wheel Arch repairs

As some readers of my blog and other MG Midget restoration enthusiasts will know that before welding in the outer rear bulkhead I have to make good the wheel arch where is connects to the bulkhead, as shown here:

So where do you go from here? Well I thought I would give a step by step guide as to how I went about it.

Lucky I love these I'll be needing the cardboard!

Pressed up to left hand side which is less damaged

Drew line to highlight the edge

Measured in 1.5 cms

Followed 1.5cms gap all way round

Drew in line

Cut out

Checked shape on left hand side

Flipped over

Check curve again joining repair panel (made earlier)

New Steel

Best place for I reckon!

Mark out

Looks about right

Ready for grinding out

Nearly there

Looks good match, thanks to flap discs!

Might squeeze it in

Cuts to make flange

Flange should be ok 

Need to work out how to fill those gaps

Looking good

Think it'll fit

Little by little think I might just get there!

More metal in!!

Such a boost to start getting more new shiny metal in place. So here are some photos of the progress so far.

Blow out! No back plate

Will sort these holes out

Now started to work on the inner wheel arch.