948 replies to this topic

[sonscar]

Experience tells me the best way to tackle that would be make the repair to include the flange,it will be stiffer but need less weld.Good effort.Steve..

[Ben_O]

Regarding panel replacement, I understand your desire to keep as much original metal as possible but mini's rust I the seams so attempting to repair the wings for instance where its rusty in the seams is a bit futile unless you are only expecting them to be a temporary fix.

 

When going for a restoration rebuild, it's best to replace what is rusty and save the repairs for areas where you can cut all the nd stuff away and weld in fresh steel.

 

If you replace the wings, a panels and front panel on your car, this will be the perfect chance to throughly clean, repair and de-rust the inner wings before fitting the new outer panels and this will give you a much longer lasting finish providing of course you spend the time to seal up and paint all of the vulnerable areas.

 

Plenty of help and advice around so if in doubt about what to replace or how, let us know what you need.

 

As for the welding, you seem to have got the technique pretty good. If you are getting distortion, then you need to allow the panel to cool regularly between welds.

Do a handful of tack welds around the repair piece to hold it in place and then slowly fill the gaps cooling the panel as you go.

Experience will help you no end as you gather it and you will get a feel for what works best with practice.

 

Don't rush into welding the car until you are confident in your abilities otherwise you may end up beginning with satisfactory welds and finish with very good welds and then you will probably wish the welding was better on the earlier repairs.

It's all a learning curve but I'm sure you will be welding like a pro in no time.

 

Good luck

Ben

[sonikk4]

Apologies for the multiple posts, but it doesn't work when I tried to do it all in one go.

 

Admin, any tips on how to fix that?

 

Thanks.

 

Victor.

 

Mmm, not sure why you are having issues. I have gone through one of my build threads and i have multiple pictures in one particular tranche without issues.

 

What hosting platform are you using for your pictures??

[sonikk4]

Going off the back of Ben's post, i cannot recommend Frost's Cold Front enough. (but it looks like they no longer stock it although they now stock Eastmans instead but its expensive) however i have found this as well 

https://www.bes.co.u...tty-325g-23768/

 

For areas where there is a high chance of warping panels then this product helps considerably in preventing warping from occurring.

 

However its no magic bullet and you can still overwhelm the cold front / putty if you do not keep a eye out on it.

 

Now something else to consider is keeping everything clamped together. So for repairs like you have been trying to do you can use either Intergrips or magnets.

 

Intergrips require a gap of at least 1mm and this will also help to prevent puckering of the metal edges. As you weld obviously you are adding metal but also heat. This in turn expands the metal and if there is no gap, the edges will butt up hard against each other and try to form a ridge. You then knock this down with a grinder which in turn will thin the metal rather than just knocking down the weld itself. 

 

Now if you are in an area where you cannot get access to use Intergrips then this is where a magnet will come into play. I have various size ones which also help when i making more complex repairs.

 

If you have a look on Project Paddy in my signature you will see everything thing that i have talked about.

[alex-95]

Adding to the above comments, I would definitely be getting new panels if possible, When I rebuilt mine I repaired the wings and front panel, 1. it to a fair bit of time to repair and 2. look a long time to get straight/fill imperfections at the paint stage. I repaired my bonnet at the start of the build, when I was getting it ready for paint I found more rust and ended up scrapping it.

 

When welding make sure the metal is dead clean, you can see where theres a little bit of paint left where you've welded and it's given a poor wed

[Viktor]

Experience tells me the best way to tackle that would be make the repair to include the flange,it will be stiffer but need less weld.Good effort.Steve..

Thanks Steve, I think I'm learning a lot with this and will be a good base for future repairs and panel replacement. Also having a lot of fun with this.

Cheers.

Victor.

[Viktor]

Regarding panel replacement, I understand your desire to keep as much original metal as possible but mini's rust I the seams so attempting to repair the wings for instance where its rusty in the seams is a bit futile unless you are only expecting them to be a temporary fix.

 

When going for a restoration rebuild, it's best to replace what is rusty and save the repairs for areas where you can cut all the nd stuff away and weld in fresh steel.

 

If you replace the wings, a panels and front panel on your car, this will be the perfect chance to throughly clean, repair and de-rust the inner wings before fitting the new outer panels and this will give you a much longer lasting finish providing of course you spend the time to seal up and paint all of the vulnerable areas.

 

Plenty of help and advice around so if in doubt about what to replace or how, let us know what you need.

 

As for the welding, you seem to have got the technique pretty good. If you are getting distortion, then you need to allow the panel to cool regularly between welds.

Do a handful of tack welds around the repair piece to hold it in place and then slowly fill the gaps cooling the panel as you go.

Experience will help you no end as you gather it and you will get a feel for what works best with practice.

 

Don't rush into welding the car until you are confident in your abilities otherwise you may end up beginning with satisfactory welds and finish with very good welds and then you will probably wish the welding was better on the earlier repairs.

It's all a learning curve but I'm sure you will be welding like a pro in no time.

 

Good luck

Ben

Hi Ben, first of all I'm so impressed about your work, and furthermore, that you take your time to show all of us every project with plenty of photos and details. That is really helpful for people like me who are trying to do their first project, so thanks for that and keep them coming!

 

In relation to your comments, I cannot agree more and after looking at what other people said, it seems that the sensible thing to do is to replace the whole front end of my car. This scares the **** out of me (sorry for my French), but I think this is the only way of getting this done properly.

 

I will keep training with the bonnet to get more confidence with my welding and try different options with the settings of the welder. 

 

It is much appreciated your assistance and be sure I will keep asking questions along the way.

 

Thanks. Victor.

[Viktor]

 

Apologies for the multiple posts, but it doesn't work when I tried to do it all in one go.

 

Admin, any tips on how to fix that?

 

Thanks.

 

Victor.

 

Mmm, not sure why you are having issues. I have gone through one of my build threads and i have multiple pictures in one particular tranche without issues.

 

What hosting platform are you using for your pictures??

 

Hi Sonikk4, It is quite weird to be honest. It seems that the platform I'm using (Imgur) has changed recently and since then I'm having these problems. Are you using this platform as well, or any other you can reccommend?  I got pretty frustrated yesterday when trying to post my photos. Thank God I copied the post in Word before all got messed up.

Thanks.

Victor.

[Viktor]

Going off the back of Ben's post, i cannot recommend Frost's Cold Front enough. (but it looks like they no longer stock it although they now stock Eastmans instead but its expensive) however i have found this as well 

https://www.bes.co.u...tty-325g-23768/

 

For areas where there is a high chance of warping panels then this product helps considerably in preventing warping from occurring.

 

However its no magic bullet and you can still overwhelm the cold front / putty if you do not keep a eye out on it.

 

Now something else to consider is keeping everything clamped together. So for repairs like you have been trying to do you can use either Intergrips or magnets.

 

Intergrips require a gap of at least 1mm and this will also help to prevent puckering of the metal edges. As you weld obviously you are adding metal but also heat. This in turn expands the metal and if there is no gap, the edges will butt up hard against each other and try to form a ridge. You then knock this down with a grinder which in turn will thin the metal rather than just knocking down the weld itself. 

 

Now if you are in an area where you cannot get access to use Intergrips then this is where a magnet will come into play. I have various size ones which also help when i making more complex repairs.

 

If you have a look on Project Paddy in my signature you will see everything thing that i have talked about.

Hi Sonikk4, many thanks for the advice. I didn't know about the product to minimize distortion, I would definitely have a look on that.

 

Also the clamps, very important. I have some clamps, but I don't have magnets or intergrips, so I will definitely get some to support my welding.

 

I will check your project, thanks for letting me know.

 

Cheers. Victor.

[Viktor]

Adding to the above comments, I would definitely be getting new panels if possible, When I rebuilt mine I repaired the wings and front panel, 1. it to a fair bit of time to repair and 2. look a long time to get straight/fill imperfections at the paint stage. I repaired my bonnet at the start of the build, when I was getting it ready for paint I found more rust and ended up scrapping it.

 

When welding make sure the metal is dead clean, you can see where theres a little bit of paint left where you've welded and it's given a poor wed

Hi Alex, yes agreed new panels for sure! I have it clear now, this is the only way to get it done properly and for many years to come.  Good point about the paint, I will ensure to clean all the surfaces properly before welding. Thanks mate.

Cheers. Victor.

[sonikk4]

Apologies for the multiple posts, but it doesn't work when I tried to do it all in one go.
 
Admin, any tips on how to fix that?
 
Thanks.
 
Victor.

 
Mmm, not sure why you are having issues. I have gone through one of my build threads and i have multiple pictures in one particular tranche without issues.
 
What hosting platform are you using for your pictures??

Hi Sonikk4, It is quite weird to be honest. It seems that the platform I'm using (Imgur) has changed recently and since then I'm having these problems. Are you using this platform as well, or any other you can reccommend?  I got pretty frustrated yesterday when trying to post my photos. Thank God I copied the post in Word before all got messed up.
Thanks.
Victor.

I haven’t noticed any change to Imgur but later on I will do a test to see just how much I can load to the forum in one go. It may not be Imgur but the forum platform itself.

[Viktor]

So I parked the bonnet repair for now and got into the front end of my car. After considering what should be the best thing to do I decided to replace some of the panels on the front end of the car.  

 

I started by removing the left outter wing. I drilled the spot welds (with a standard bit) and then I learned that there's an especific one to remove spot welds, I might buy one of these...

 

 

Then I cut the join with the A-panel. I cannot see the spot welds here, and in any case I'm considering also changing the A-panel.

 

 

I also cut above the seam with the front end panel.

 

 

I also cut the join with the scutle panel and the wing was free, however the spot welds were still holding the panel.

 

 

So I decided to cut above the spot welds along the inner wing and got the panel out.

 

 

The small bit holding the spot welds was now much easy to remove.

[Viktor]

Things are not looking great down there. The closing panel is gone and the panel at the back (holding the vent) is also very rusted. That needs replacing / repairing...

 

 

The inner wing looks okay and solid. There's a bit of superficial rust, but no rot.

 

 

The scutle panel looks quite damaged, but I might be able to repair this corner with the scutle repair panel.

 

 

[Viktor]

Same process for the other side:

 

 

The windscreen post is quite rusted with holes. Not sure if this can be repaired...

 

 

Both outter wings out.

 

 

The inner wing on this side is also solid, with a hole at the bottom, but that can be repaired.

 

 

The closing panel is missing and the back panel supporting the vent is really damaged.

 

 

Some scrap metal ready for recycling...

 

[gaspen]

Sorry to say, but it does not seems to a good idea to drill through both panel at the spot welds. You should buy spot weld drill bit and drill only one panel - the front wings in this case. Now you have to weld in  the holes and grind back the welds on the inner wings.