Rusty hatch

[MD]

Always a snag isn't there ?!!
If you literally cannot find the missing stainless cover strips to complete the  job and you are not too precious about it, consider a rubber surround like in the later models.

[festy]

I found another side and corner piece yesterday in a different spot to where I found the first bits, so I'm sure the rest is buried in my garage somewhere.

[festy]

With the repairs to the hatch done, I started on the spare wheel well rust today.
This car has been mostly undercover for the ~25 years I've owned it, but for the last decade or so the rear end has been exposed to the weather - so plenty of rust but only from the rear wheels back.

The highlight of my day was working out an easy way to reproduce the drain holes in the bottom of the spare wheel well.
I was initially considering trying to form the lip along a straight edge of sheet metal with the bead roller, then go nuts with the shrinker/stretcher to try and form the straight edge into a circle.
But based on my experience with the shrinker/stretcher I gave myself a 0% chance of pulling that off.

After a bit more head scratching, I found a bearing race off a Patrol front outer wheel bearing (a bit like a really strong ~80mm ID egg ring) and a short piece of ~70mm diameter round steel bar, and used them together as a dimple die in my press. Then finished it off with a hole saw.
For less than 5 minutes work, I'm pretty happy with the result  



   

[festy]

A bit more progress today - all the rust around the drain hole was cut out, the replacement trimmed to size, then welded in.




I also found a decent crack a few inches long in the boot floor above the rear right hand tank mount so welded that up and plated it just to be sure, I don't want the tank falling out on me.


Next up....

wish me luck 

[MD]

festy, you started with a hole and you have finished with a hole. I even checked on my AI calculator and it told me -1hole + 1= same hole. I think the fault might lie with your welder. Is it plugged in ?   

[poohbah]

Interested to see how you go with the rear valence Festy - mine is gone in exactly the same spot. Started out as what I thought was just a few rust bubbles - when I started peeling it away it was totally gone.

[festy]

festy, you started with a hole and you have finished with a hole. I even checked on my AI calculator and it told me -1hole + 1= same hole. I think the fault might lie with your welder. Is it plugged in ?   

Ahh, but it's all about the quality of the hole. not the quantity 

But speaking of hole quantity, I've got one less now:


Not perfect, but not too bad either


This straight section was pretty easy, just one bend and a rolled lip. The corner piece is going to be a bit trickier though.
I'll probably have a crack at making it from a single piece (with lots of stretcher work for the curve) but I think it'll end up needing 2 or 3 pieces.

[MD]

I have been giving this matter considerable thought and in a spirit of neighbourly assistance, you know, leaning on the fence stubby in hand kind of wisdom sharing.

I don't think you have a corrosion problem at all. You car is the victim of a savage and ferocious termite attack. You don't need a welder, what you need is a can of Mortine.

What a revelation! I feel guilty that I haven't revealed this to you earlier.

The Forum could do with more wisdom sharing me thinks.

[Craig_m67]

Is that the same some sort of double skinned carefully engineered rust trap arrangement that Alfa also used in the AlfaSud (firewall ffs).. same period I guess.

Poohbahs example looks to be foreshadowing...

[festy]

I have been giving this matter considerable thought and in a spirit of neighbourly assistance, you know, leaning on the fence stubby in hand kind of wisdom sharing.

I don't think you have a corrosion problem at all. You car is the victim of a savage and ferocious termite attack. You don't need a welder, what you need is a can of Mortine.

What a revelation! I feel guilty that I haven't revealed this to you earlier.

The Forum could do with more wisdom sharing me thinks.

So I'm wasting my time patching up the rust, unless I can kill the queen?
Maybe I need to invest in an echidna...

Is that the same some sort of double skinned carefully engineered rust trap arrangement that Alfa also used in the AlfaSud (firewall ffs).. same period I guess.

Poohbahs example looks to be foreshadowing...

Yeah they all rust out at that spot. In what I assume was an attempt to stop water/debris/random odds and ends carried in the boot from ending up in that crevice, they filled the whole thing with seam sealer.
Which probably worked ok until the very first bit of body movement allowed water to seep past, but then get trapped behind it.
Lucky these don't have a reputation for the hatches leaking and letting water into the boot I guess  

[festy]

Maybe a one-piece patch for the left hand section isn't out of the question 
I made a rough paper template, then copied that onto sheetmetal and sketched out approximately where the bend needs to be


I ran it through the bead roller with a tipping die a few times to form a crease.
Because the crease isn't a straight line, the sheet was already starting to warp along its length by the time I got this small amount of bend in it


But almost as soon as I started with the stretcher around the curve, it began springing into roughly the shape I wanted.
A few more passes through the roller, a bit more stretching, hammering, trimming etc and it started looking like it might not be a complete disaster



Still lots more work needed before it will fit, but so far its taking shape ok.

[poohbah]

wow I'm really impressed mate.

Also - housekeeping question. Is there any need to drop the tank before welding near it (assuming your tank is neither leaking nor "fumey")?

[bazzbazz]

Also - housekeeping question. Is there any need to drop the tank before welding near it (assuming your tank is neither leaking nor "fumey")?

Having "flashbacks" are we? 

[festy]

I'd be very nervous welding this close to the tank.
To be honest, if it was just one small repair patch then I might be tempted to leave the tank in - but it only takes 4 bolts and a couple of hose clamps and connectors to drop the tank out so I would strongly suggest removing it.

I pulled the tank out of this car 10 or 15 years ago because it leaked thanks to a small crack in the bottom, and replaced it with a small plastic fuel cell in the boot when I converted to EFI.
But as part of potentially returning it to a road car I'll have to swap back to an OEM tank so I pulled the fuel cell, surge tank, pumps etc out of the boot and thought I should take this opportunity to fix all the rust now before installing the fuel system.
 

[poohbah]

cheers Festy, that's kind of what I'd assumed, but I have seen some conflicting advice about it.

I'm only planning MIG welding, but probably better safe than sorry (yes Bazz ... I'm still a little gun shy)