Body repairs

[Richard Hudson <richard.hudson@domain.elided>]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Autumn (in Europe) is once again with us. In the UK this year we
successfully bypassed summer and jumped from spring to autumn.

Anyway the road tax has run out, and the car is tucked up in the garage.
This winters project is some "minor" bodywork. The top of the car looks
beautiful but underneath is looking a bit tatty, I started last winter
by stripping all the underseal off the inner wheel arches, boot floor,
transmission tunnel and rear seat base before coating generously with
hammerite. It was while doing this that I spotted some of the dreaded
tin worm..

First place was the leading edge of the rear inner wheel arch, there is
a 4" diameter hole through which I can see the inside of the outer wing.
As it is within 6" of the rear seatbelt mounting point I intend to just
cut out the rot and seam weld a suitably shaped patch over the top. 

More serious however is the drivers side inner wheel arch which has
extensive rot on both trailing and leading edges. Is it possible to weld
in the inner wheel arch repair panel with the outer wing in place. I
hope to cut back the existing inner arch complete with its' patched
repairs then joddle and plug weld in the replacement. 

Obviously it will be a pain and fiddle to fit the repair panel in but it
will be nothing like the royal pain in the proverbial if I have to
remove the outer wing.

Next I need to concentrate on the screen pillars. PO has effected some
repairs to the base of the screen pillars but I am not confident about
the quality of work.

When I had the dash out, I could see no further rot but now I would like
to do the job properly. There are no repair panels as far as I can see
and I have heard that the area can be a pig to sort properly, I am sure
that the rot is very localised as the surrounding area is not only
magnetic but also survived the "Richard's screwdriver" test.

What gauge of steel should I use for the repair and what other tips and
tricks can anybody offer? I am going to have to remove the screen as I
want to sort out that rust bubble that keeps coming back. What sort of
nightmares am I likely to expect? I guess that I should also use a nice
zinc based primer before painting.

Lastly the sills that PO replaced have been tacked to the inner
sill/floor at their lower edges and it looks pretty messy. Should they
be seam welded, if not how far apart should the welds be? I have only
owned it for 5 years and it hasn't sagged yet but it has been one of
those jobs that I wanted to get around to.

That lot should keep my busy till spring.

Regards

Richard Hudson
73 Auto White Stag