Inner wings and things

Things have been moving quickly at last, due to a great deal of hard work. And of course I have little spare time for writing things like this, and if I am not careful I will start to forget what I have done. Not good.

So I had replaced the cross member and chassis rails, and I was feeling pretty good about the project as a whole. The sills were done, the fancy structural stuff was done, but I was still a long way off having a car which looked like a car. And the chassis rails were looking lonely and vulnerable at the front, so it was obviously time to finish the front end!

The new oil cooler tray was first. This tucked into place nicely, and I just drilled the holes for plug welding, primed the relevant parts of it and the inner ends of the chassis rails, clamped it into place and plug welded it. Then I seam welded it. This may or may not have been a good idea, as although the seam welding was done from the underneath (well from on side, as she was horizontal) of course the weld penetrated through to the top side, and even when ground flush it was pretty obvious and uneven. Still, the paint will cover most of it, and the oil cooler sits over a lot of it, and I doubt I will notice even if it does not end up completely smooth. I’d rather have a stronger seamed front end and peace of mind, to be honest.

Still spaced at the front by the spacer, the new oil cooler tray is clamped into place and plug welded.

Then seamed all round as usual.

Underneath the oil cooler tray is a supporting piece, which nestles between the chassis rails and helps to space them at the front. As soon as I fitted it, I could remove the last piece of bracing left over from fitting the chassis rails, then I could stand back and admire it all… however, nothing is that easy, and despite the support being a simple three-sided folded steel box of sorts, one side had been thinned by corrosion to the point which I cut it out and fabricated a replacement along with flanges, and new flanges to repair rusty ones elsewhere. It’s never as easy as it sounds, but once primed and welded into place it looked good and was stronger than before so I couldn’t complain.

The frotn end is starting to have some meat to it now! The oil cooler tray and support are in place. By this time I had run out of Electrox primer, so I was onto the red Bonda Rust. Just visible in this photo is the way I have applied it, close to the edges inside what is now a box section, with weld-through primer on the edges giving better protection. I will also paint the seams agian from outside as best i can, before injecting whatever i will inject to stop rust.

On to the inner wings! With the help of Nigel the GT was returned to the correct way up and put on ramps under the chassis legs at the front, and axle stands under the spit beam at the rear. (the spit beam was still bolted to the rear chassis rails all this time, it was a very handy grab rail when turning the car on the mattress). It was good to have her the right way up again, and I was a bit relieved she was off the mattress, which had caught fire a few too many times for my liking. Molten blobs of metal rolling down the floor pans during cross member and chassis rail welding had a habit of falling onto the mattress, burning through it, and setting fire to the inside. Of course I had a bucket of water, hose and fire extinguisher at the ready (to be used in that order) but flapping with welding gloves worked just as well. So there’s the safety bit, be prepared in case your mattress catches fire. Cough.

Of course I know a fair bit about being on fire by now.

The inner wings were the only ones Heritage do, the later rubber bumper sort with the additional dishing in them to give room for the V8. Good, the lads said, it will make it easier when you put a V8 in her. Well I am not going to, if I have a V8 it will be a factory original. If I ever made my own, it would be from a completely rotten late rubber bumper car and I would build it purely for racing. If I am ever ‘into’ racing.

I was mildly annoyed at not being able to get new proper inner wings. The originals had corroded along the tops, and had been bodged at least twice in the past. They were corroded in other areas, and although Steelcraft repair panels for large chunks of the inner wings are available, they had already had these fitted. All in all they were beyond repair, so I cut out the important areas, the dishing of the earlier sort, with a view to graft those sections into the new wings. I really couldn’t justify the time and effort at this stage, so I will store them carefully in case I feel the need in the future. I will get welding sickness shortly after she is done, I just know it.

Back on the floor... everything foward of the heelboard is pretty much sorted now in terms of rust, although there is a large chunk of the car still missing!

Yes, there should really be something here.

Again, the inner wings just slotted into place. I did the offside first, Drilling it for plug welding, priming it and the chassis rail, then I clamped it into position, drilled holes through it and the chassis rail for small bolts to hold the two closely together, then set about plug welding it into place, then I welded it to the dash side. Then it was seamed to the chassis rail inside the engine bay, I will do the outside when the car is on the spit again before painting as decent seam welds upwards are about as likely as me not eating this piece of Battenberg I have here. Had here.

The nearside inner wing was clamped into place. Then I got one of my bonnets (the main one I will use, rather than the spare) and tried it in place. This was very important, I had been advised to return the car to the level and check visually and check the measurements with the bonnet, as a friend had made a tiny error on his BGT which was magnified hugely once the bonnet was in place. Thankfully, all was well, so the nearside inner wing was welded into place, and hey ho all was good.

How about that? The front end was strong before with the new chassis rails, but the inner wings do add an incredible amount of strengh to the assembly, even without the bonnet lock platform or wheelarch reinforcers (trumpets). Which will appear next time!