Well I've had the afternoon on the mini and managed to get a bit more done. I started by grinding up the welds on the work I did last time on the rear valance closing panel. Then a blast of primer.
Then it was on to the nearside A post/hinge panel. On the whole it's in pretty good shape considering how bad the flitch was, but I decided to chop out and replace a section around the bottom hinges holes. It was quite deeply pitted here so our with the old and in with the new.
Then after a quick tidy up with the grinder
Just the hinge holes to redrill, but luckily I remembered to make a template prior to chopping the rust out.
Next job was to mark out for my fitch repair panel and clean up the edges ready for welding.
I stripped the e coat from the panel and gave the inside a spray of zinc primer. I also sprayed all the mating surfaces and drilled out for some plug welds. Being a bit cautious I had a trial fit of the door. Just as well because the holes I had made for the bottom hinge were slightly out. Easily taken care of tho because I had only drilled a pilot hole. Just enlarged it with the step drill biased in the right direction to correct my error. With the door now fitting correctly and bolted through the repair panel, I clamped and tacked the butt joint.
Then played join the dots with the seam weld
I was quite pleased with how this turned out. I hope the other side hoes as well when I come to it. With the whole thing cleaned up , including the plug welds on the hinge pillar it looked like this.
And finally with a quick coat of primer on that's how I left it for now.
Next instalment will be doing the step. I'm a bit worried that I should have done it first but it's too late now. Lol