67 Mk1 GT6 restoration

[byakk0]

Quoted from BiTurbo228

Just weighing in to say that as always I'm thoroughly impressed by your panel repairing skills. Having done a fair bit of welding pressed-steel panels recently it's an utter ballache and a real learning curve to stop them warping.

Yeah. Very impressed

Thanks. That means a lot, however the camera hides a lot! It's just my dogged determination to do it myself, making sure I do it as correct as I can--partly because I don't have the $$ to spend on someone else doing it, and partly because I want to proudly point at it and say "I did that"

I'm very much an amateur, flying by the seat of my pants, getting my info from online forums such as this one, youtube, and frequent calls to my brother who at one point did this for living. I also like the various rebuild shows and pay attention to the quick snippets that sometime show welding and metalwork techniques.

[byakk0]

I think Abby did more on my car this week than I did.
While I worked on a side project she busied herself. First off she discovered the holes for the tail lamp wires and decided to poke small items through.
Guess if I ever hear phantom noises in the backend quarterpanel I'll know the cause!
She also discovered the phillips bit fits in a phillips head screw. Something else caught her attention and she left the bit positioned as pictured above.

Soon she moved on to the drivers side. I didn't realise I left the marker in her reach.




As for me, I finished welding the top of the pass side QP and around the tail lamp. And some 40 grit on my long board made quick work of the upper sail panel, cutting right through the layers of orange filler and paint. The dent in the middle is unfortunately of my own doing a few weeks ago when I was trying to get the tailgate to fit properly. Let's just say a rubber mallet was the wrong tool.

[BiTurbo228]

Quoted from byakk0

Thanks. That means a lot, however the camera hides a lot! It's just my dogged determination to do it myself, making sure I do it as correct as I can--partly because I don't have the $$ to spend on someone else doing it, and partly because I want to proudly point at it and say "I did that"

I'm very much an amateur, flying by the seat of my pants, getting my info from online forums such as this one, youtube, and frequent calls to my brother who at one point did this for living. I also like the various rebuild shows and pay attention to the quick snippets that sometime show welding and metalwork techniques.

I've watched those welding youtube videos too. The aluminium TIG ones are especially optimistic I've found.

Video: 'Just put your torch at a ~45 degree angle, strike your arc and methodically work your way along adding filler material as appropriate. Result, a beautiful cupped weld'

Reality: 'Put torch at ~45 degree angle, strike arc too close and tap the metal with your tungsten...re-grind and start again. Once you've finally got that right, attempt to methodically work your way along adding filler material as appropriate. Because there's no visible feedback of temperature (like with steel) either fail to heat up the ally enough to bond with the filler so you just park a blob on top of the gap, the arc jumps to that and you melt it completely and it drains through, or blow straight through leaving a gaping hole you can't fill because of the aforementioned problem. Attempt 3 or 4 more times with a similar effect before begrudgingly coming to the conclusion that the £120 TIG welder you bought from eBay might possibly not be up to the job. Scrap the idea of a home-built aluminium intake manifold and start researching the price of silicone tubing'.

I'm also immensely enjoying the annals of your little garage assistant. When I get one of my own one day they'll be trained up post-haste (although my dad tells me he tried this and I was put off by spatter from the MIG welder...).

[Jonny-Jimbo]

Quoted from BiTurbo228

(although my dad tells me he tried this and I was put off by spatter from the MIG welder...)

It does take a while to get accustomed to the speckled fried bacon look and smell... Or just put your proper PPE on.

[BiTurbo228]

Quoted from Jonny-Jimbo

It does take a while to get accustomed to the speckled fried bacon look and smell... Or just put your proper PPE on.

You mean the t-shirt and thick trousers I'm wearing in my profile pic aren't good enough?

I think by that point I'd at least learnt that if you put suncream on your hands they don't burn from the UV when you have the welder on full whack...

[byakk0]

Depends on the videos. Metaltipsandtricks is a great channel for beginners, not only does he explain things quite well, he is the only series on YouTube I've found that actually films the wiring with a welding lens filter so you can actually see the puddle and not the typical bright flash.

As for my garage assistant, she hasn't yet learned to enjoy the loud noises and runs back into the house when I tell her I'm going to run the grinder. She's nearly 3, so I presume it will be a while yet. I've never quite gotten her teenage brothers much interested.

[byakk0]

I typically only have long glove and my helmet, short sleeves, pants (rarely shirts) and whatever shoes I have on. I should get some proper leathers... Some day

[Martin M]

Little helpers are always good in dismantling

[Jonny-Jimbo]

The weld.com with 'Mr Tig' is a good channel too, has some interesting projects on there too.

[byakk0]

Made up some rear interior panels today. I don't have a set, so I made a paper template, and with various photos and measurements  I was able to get them close enough.

[byakk0]

I had a lot of welcome unexpected time in the garage today. I got the passenger rear wing all welded in place. Ignore my finger in the shots-sorry,


The top of the wing where it meets the door was a little high even though the body line in the door and wing match. Additionally, the crown on the door was a little lower than the wing. I've already got the door re-skinned, and moving that crown will be tough. I tapped the top leading edge of the wingdown and it caused the welding flange on the B-pillar to buckle, but it did bring the crown down a little so I knew I was heading in the right direction. To prevent the buckling, I cut reliefs in the flange. With a little more effort the crown of the leading edge of the wingand the trailing edge of the door now match.


You can see in this diagram what I needed to do, red showing one crown and blue showing where I needed to move it.


I then turned my attention to adjusting the door and getting the gap set correctly. I have the top edge of the door and the body line matched up with the bonnet and the quarter panel but the gap is terrible, so I'm going to need to make some major adjustments. To start I need to fill the gap at the top.


Holding the rod in place


Tacked on and trimmed. I cut it a little short, but no worries. I'll just fill with weld.


I also need to adjust the gap on the lower corner and along the bottom, but this is going to require removing metal from the corner of the door and moving the rocker panel down a little bit. More on those jobs later when they happen.

[byakk0]

Nearly got the pass side door skin completed.

Having seen photos of many spitfires and GT6's with the door protruding at the bottom I knew I wanted to avoid this, but upon initial inspection I was afraid I too could fall to this rebuild malady as try as I might the rear lower corner of the door was poking out.

As I played with it today I realized the minor amount on the lower corner was in the way just enough to prevent me getting the door door to properly fit--I'll come to that. But for now, here we go with the pics.

My first quandry: I discovered the bottom of the door to be bowed out. The corners nearly fit in place correctly but the center of the door protruded much more. Here I have the door upside down and the edge next to a straight edge.


The good news is, back when I put the new skin on I only loosely folded the flanges over so I could adjust for fit later. I tapped it down the rest of the way and straightened it out.


I rehung it and marked the added rod where I would need to trim it in order to achieve a 3/16" gap. Here I have it trimmed, which I did in place with a cut-off wheel on my grinder.


I then marked the rest of the edge so I would know where to add more metal or remove some. The corner  below the latch needs a little removed. You can see how it was getting hung up, as I mentioned previously.


All the extra metal added. Just need to trim away the excess from the corner



Checking fit once again. I have enough removed. From this angle you can't see the gap along the bottom, and the door bottom no longer protrudes very much.


Sorry, it's a little fuzzy. I finished welding the corner back together and ground & filed the rest of the edge straight. It still needs a little fine-tuning, but here you go. Painted a nice primer-green color to match the rest of the car (for now). Plus the uniform flat finish makes seeing the gaps easier than the black and red panels.


And finally a distance shot. It's finally starting to come together.


At this point I have nearly all the metalwork completed. I just need to weld the lower bit of the rocker in place and dress the welds in the rear wheel arch.
Come to think of it, the front valance needs to be completed as well.

[John Bonnett]

Good progress Hazen. You've taken a lot of care and it shows. Some really nice work.

[byakk0]

Thanks John. Means a lot.

[BiTurbo228]

Looking very nice! You've definitely got a knack for this sort of work

[RedRooster]

Not bad at all, good effort.

[Nick Jones]

Time taken on panel fit is time well spent IMO.  Far too many cars running round with ill-fitting panels.  Takes time and patience though - good work!

Nick

[byakk0]

So true. On top of that, I'm doing it all myself, but I don't want it to look that way
That said, the photo's hide a lot of flaws 😎

Quoted from Nick Jones

Time taken on panel fit is time well spent IMO.  Far too many cars running round with ill-fitting panels.  Takes time and patience though - good work!

Nick

[john2502]

Looks great! Patience pays off when it looks that good at the end. Nice work.

Wish i had these kind of skills, one day....

[byakk0]

you will...I keep saying one day myself. Then I try my hand at something new--and buy (or make) a new tool.

[byakk0]

on the driver's side door you can see the lower corner of the door stick out just a little. I've seen worse. I may need to remove the door and do some adjusting like I did to the bottom of the passenger door.


The passenger side sticks out a little also, at this point it's almost negligible.


I set about replacing the A-post filler panel. I removed this from my car many years ago, knowing I'd re-use it, at the time I painted it with poor-15, leaving the edges bare for welding.

The aftermarket rocker panel doesn't fit quite so well, so it needed some adjustments. Back when I removed the filler panel I wouldn't have known how to make the adjustment, but things are different now.
You can see at the top how the rocker comes up short of the A-pillar by at least 1/4"


With the filler panel held roughly in place. You can see how much I need to move that lip. Bear in mind the rocker is welded into place all along the top, so all adjustments need be done right here. You can see the guideline I drew where I intend to cut.


I wasn’t sure which way to go, cutting a slit and fitting a triangular piece of metal or just roughly make a cut down the center and cut a piece completely off. I opted for the latter, as I figured it would be easier to work with an oversized piece of metal and then just trim to fit.



Welded it up


Test fit the filler


and ground down the welds (mostly), threw on some primer.
If you look closely the filler panel no longer perfectly fits, so it need a little adjusting. Thank goodness for self tapping screws, vice grips, and body hammers.


Plug welded the holes as I adjusted it and moved the screws and vice grips. This is just the final product, before grinding on the welds like a madman.


And of course, after grinding…

[byakk0]

measured the door handle and lock holes, bit the bullet and cut the door lock hole. Thankfully it lined up.



I started with a 1/2 bit and used a dremel and file to complete the shape.

[John Bonnett]

I never doubted you for a minute Hazen. I knew you could do it 😉

But having carried out the same operation myself on my newly skinned doors I can thoroughly  relate to  the stress at that point.

[byakk0]

Thanks. Having already done the drivers side i one what i was doing, but still stressful for sure.
Pics later, but I cut the handle holes today. At first I thought I cut the main hole offset by 1/4", but I was good after all.

[byakk0]

Continued work on the handle holes...






Dressing the edge.
I hit it with primer so I could highlight the highs and the lows. I knocked the highs down quickly with a 36 grip flap wheel on my angle grinder, and finished off the round with a file. Afterwards I removed the primer in the low spots with a wire brush on the grinder, then filled the lows with weld. and started the process again. It may need a little filler, but very little if any.