2.4E 'From Barn to Road'

[Barry]

Thanks very much: it's only metal really .

I have been concentrating on it, and been doing quite a few hours: I've got an appointment tomorrow morning, but after that nothing until the Fairmile BBQ, so hopefully will be able to up the hours still further .

[MdR]

It's art

Not art, Magic!

Bob

Magic Barry, because Barries can be Magic (as proven at the CLM06 book stall)

[912uk]

Barry tell us more about tig welding..

[Barry]

Basically imagine a MIG welder that doesn't squirt out filler wire alll of the time .

If two panels are scribed together very closly, you can essentially just melt the edges together, planish the join and that's it: no grinding needed on the whole.

The MIG welder leaves quite a hard weld, whereas the TIG leaves a lovely malleable weld that takes well to being worked. In fact the parent metal behaves nearly as though it's not been welded at all. You can weld a strip together, and then stress-test it by bending back and forth: the metal curves and finally breaks in a way very close to an un-welded sample.

This means that the process is perfect for forming complex shapes that need hammer and dolly work, or stake work to finish. As there's no grinding either, it's a quiet way of working: even the actual welding is near silent.

Just takes a bit more practice, and most of the time I stick with the MIG, but in the case of the A-post area, and that rear wing, the TIG was perfect for the job.

BTW, Those booked on the Basic Sheet Metalwork Course (still spaces available) will all have a go with the TIG, plus plenty of time on two different MIG welders, as well as seeing plug and spot welding .

[912uk]

perfect I may have a need for a go on a tig welder .. for a panel not too far from the A post you have just done.. wing on the 356 front.

[Ian Donkin]

It's almost 5pm and no pictures yet today

Come on Barry - next installment please

[Derek]

It's almost 5pm and no pictures yet today

Come on Barry - next installment please

I think Barry must have fallen asleep under the car

[Barry]

Short day, yesterday, with nothing very interesting: rear wing tapped up and bare-metalled, and I've just started to make up some small repair pieces for a couple of other bits on the same wing.

Today's mission is to finish that rear wing, get the front sill closer and wing closer in, sort the rust in the front wing and start on my own passenger door: will need frame repairs and re-skinning.

See you later ...

[Barry]

Finished the rear wing earlier: so B-post in, plus a few small repairs. The front wing closer is now in, as is the sill closer.

Also managed to do something with the front wing that had quite a bit of rust: nothing that warrants a picture though, as they are very much short term repairs. Hopefully enough to keep it O.K. until the car next comes apart.



Started on the passenger door this evening: first job was to strip all of the old filler and paint from around the perimeter of the frame, plus strip out all but the window lift mechanism.

The door had had some frame repairs in the past, plus the original skin was patched at the bottom in a less than ideal way. To be fair, this was obviously done a long time ago, and had probably done quite a decent spell of service before going like this:



Next job is to remove the whole doorskin, and attend to the frame repairs.

[Barry]

Door as skin came off:



New frame bottom: not quite straightfoward as the frame is curved outwards (as is the sill), plus there's a swage about 3/4 inch from the edge which makes fabrication a bit tricky .... (sorry, not a very good pic):



Finally, doorskin on, and door aligned to aperature set by the known good door. Not perfect, but pretty close, and will look fine once the paint prep is done. At least it's solid .



Next stage is to tidy up the remaining bits of rust to the passenger side (today hopefully), and then shift the car over and do some work on the driver's side. As far as I can see at the moment, there's only front screen corner and a repair to the front inner wing.

[58A - 71E]

I do enjoy tuning in for our daily installments

I reckon this thread needs changing to will it see the road by the end of the month

[Barry]

Good idea, I'll modify it ... That's bound to put the kiss of death on things .

[Ian Donkin]

Or how about 'is it time to put it back in the barn yet?'



You are a very talented boy by the way - keep it up

[Barry]

Would certainly tempt fate a bit less . Still, being the hopeless optimist, I'll stick with Jame's suggested title for now .

Things have slowed to lethargic snail's pace today (did ten hours, but lots of little jobs), but hoping to pretty much finish the welding tomorrow, and can play with a bucket of filler for a couple of days, which will make a change ...

Paint (Guards red, to match what's there now) is here as well, so it'd be great to start to get some colour on some bits in the next few days. A lot of it will just get blocked off, and a couple of colour coats chucked on. There's every chance that this paint will only be on there for 12-18 months, before the car comes down to a bare metal shell anyway, so no point going too mad at this stage.

[saxon]

How are you getting on with the car now barry any more photo's