Steelcraftwerk

Das Autopanel hacken mitt dem angelgrinderen und ein big hammer cos es ist zu big und zu Klein or das wrongbloodyshapen.

The inner wings were on, but there was a lot more to do before they were finished. The trumpets, (or wheel arch reinforcers) and the inner wing extension pieces were still to be fitted. The extension pieces are simple holed rectangular panels which fit between the inner wing and the bulkhead, (the bit next to the pedal box, well it is on the offside at least!).

First I decided to repair an area I had left until now, the bottom of the offside A post windscreen pillar and the scuttle and windscreen frame. The area around the screen frame, A post and dash side, was a complete mess and it took a couple of full days to basically fabricate a new chunk of car to the original design and shape. Then I cut out the outer area of the scuttle, all the way back to the windscreen frame along with a fair bit of the bottom corner of the windscreen frame, and much welding and panel beating as per the nearside had it pretty much done, ready to be lead loaded.

What an awful corroded mass of chaos. All the bad bits have been replaced with new steel, as you'd expect.

Then it was back to the inner wings, starting with the offside I welded in the inner wing extension piece to my new dash side, my new bulkhead and my new inner wing. Fortunately it fitted very well, so it was on to the reinforcer. I was not looking forward to this.
I tried my best to get hold of Heritage reinforcers, but no one would send me them and they just sent Steelcraft ones instead. I really did not want to use Steelcraft reinforcers, whereas heritage ones fit, Steelcraft ones do not. They are completely the wrong shape on so many different levels, evidently the work experience lad at Steelcraft designed them and failed to look at the inner wing they are designed to reinforce. Steelcraft ones had been previously fitted to Valleri, the bottom edge is the worst to make fit and whoever fitted them just gave up and patched them to the inner wing.

The nearside as it used to be. The bottom edge of the Steelcraft trumpet/wheelarch reinforcer is a smooth curve, it lacks the complex angles required to allow it to fit around the changing shape of the inner wing at this point. So it was just patched to the inner wing.

And the offside was just as awful too....


Once removed, yes suprise suprise, it was a Steelcraft product (Note the complete lack of any protective coating, it's hard to make out but the inside ot the panel is very rusty and it was far worse at the seams. This was done 3 years ago).

Hence why I was unhappy to use them. As with many of the Steelcraft panels, (not all, but many), even those which are intended to be replacement panels and not just repair sections, they are more of a basis from which to create your own panel. Hence the name Steelcraft I presume. But their wheel arch reinforcers are so utterly pathetic it would be far easier to fabricate your own from sheet rather than trying to adapt them. But I had spent money on them, far more than they are actually worth, so I did my best.

Ready for a new wheelarch reinforcer... Note the outside seam welding on the inner wing is yet to be done, this will be when she's back on the spit.

Just to give an idea of the amount of work involved in what should be a simple task: First of all the flanges at the back of the trumpet had to be trimmed down to size and then made the correct shape. Then the trumpet would fit into its correct position at the back, and I could gauge what would have to be done to make it fit. I cut along the fold then trimmed the vertical sheet down, so I could bend the top sheet down and give it a remote chance of being in the correct position. Then I had to temporarily fix the back and the top sheet into position, bend the bottom of the trumpet into a slightly better shape, and tack weld the vertical sheet to the top sheet again. Next it had to be removed from the car, and several long and strategically placed cuts made into the bottom sheet to allow it to be beaten and bent into a shape which would actually fit the inner wing. Back onto the car, shaping, temporarily fixed into position, the cuts tacked back together in different positions, off the car, seam welding and grinding to give it back some strength and then make it look a bit better. Whereas if it had been a panel of the right shape, I would have just welded it on. The nearside got the same treatment with the inner wheel arch extension piece then the trumpet once that was adapted as well. Phew, what a load of rubbish, but at least it is as strong as it should be.

This is what I made, from the Steelcraft panel. The original shape and outline of the Steelcraft panel is shown by the dotted line.

Ready for welding into place at last. The bottom seam will be done later, though. Note the Cleeco fasteners, they were dead useful here.

Just a note here on “Cleeco” fasteners, they are also referred to as skin pins. I bought some, and the pliers required for fitting and removal, and what a brilliant way of temporarily fitting panels together. For small things like this, they are much quicker to use than bolting the panels together, and require a smaller hole in both panels which can easily be welded up. They don’t have a great deal of clamping power and will not pull panels together like bolts will, but if the panels are a perfect fit they will hold them tightly and they are very effective. They were brilliant during the trumpet work, I had to fit and remove the trupmets many, many times while I “adjusted” them, and I could clamp more and more of the trumpet into place as I made more and more of it fit.

And there is the front, with the trumpets and extension pieces in place. Loverly!

The bonnet lock platform and its support were required at the front to finish it off. These two panels were reused as they were fine after rust removal and minor repairs. The support was welded to the underside of the bonnet lock platform to give it the correct height form the oil cooler tray, and it was clamped into place, then I refitted the bonnet again to check that the catch would fit in the hole. All was well so the support was welded to the oil cooler tray and the bonnet lock platform was welded to the inner wings. The amount of strength in the whole assembly is unbelievable, magnified by the seam welding which I am hoping will still give the body shell around 80% of its original cross lateral flexibility.

Absolutely delicious if I say so myself. And when you hit it, it goes "clong" most delightfully.




Compare it to what it used to look like.

One more job to do at the front was to fit the engine mounts. These are not fitted to new chassis rails, so I reused the ones of the old ones. Removing them while keeping them exactly the same shape was challenging and requires careful grinding but I got there in the end, and after a lot of cleaning up they were ready to be fitted. But where? Well before I cut the front end up, I had remembered to make an engine mount jig based on the original chassis rails and engine mounts. It was fortunate that I thought about that beforehand, otherwise I would not have a clue exactly how to position the mounts.

Marking out holes to be drilled, to precisely match the bolt holes in the engine mounts, on some scrap metal.


Pilot drilling, then drilling out to 1/2 inch. Then this section of the steel box section was cut from te rest, and cut in half, to give two plates with holes in precisely the same place on both.



The plates were bolted to the engine mounts before I cut all this lot off. The a piece of steel tube was welded between them, and i had myself a jig.

The mounts were bolted to the jig, placed on the chassis rails and tacked into position. While my Mig welder may have had just enough power to properly weld them in, I decided it will be better to borrow a bigger welder and get more heat in and make a good strong join, as the metal in the chassis rails and mounts is thick, and I can clearly recall the whole car rocking when the B-Series was mildly revved, there is a lot of weight and load on those mounts.

Cleaned up engine mounts bolted to the jig and positioned on the new chassis rails, ready for final welding.

When that happens in a couple of days time, that will be all the inner front end work done. Onto the rear then!