For a long time, it seemed that the last tool I used on the car was always a "sawzall" (a power reciprocating saw if you aren't familiar with the term). Now, it's starting to go back together. I haven't touched the car in December (and probably won't until January), but wanted to post some pictures of where we are. I had to visit Harbor Freight tools to get enough vice grips to hold the front end together to take these shots. I fabricated the silver pieces using 2X4's in a vice and plain sheetmetal...basically they were to fill up the space between the other two pieces. Thankfully, they will be behind the grille! But at least it looks like they fit OK. Here's some closeups as well. You'll see I still have some beating and pounding to do, especially on the ends of the brown nosecone part. I think I'll have to tack the top edge first and then alternate persuading with tacking as I go around.
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4 comments:
Hope to see you guys soon!
I found that if you try and TIG zinc plated anything, you get bad results. I don't know if MIG behaves the same. If you haven't tried putting a weld bead on the parts you formed you may want to try welding on some of the scrap to see if you need to remove any plating.
It's good to see you've been able to spend some time on the car again. Keep plugging and it will eventually get done!
Doug L.
Is that zinc? I really wasn't sure what the coating was, I just knew I was going to take it off prior to trying to weld it; my welding "skills" are bad enough without adding to the difficulty! Thanks for the tip, though!
Hope to set up something for this weekend if you're around...
Hi Jamie
It’s good to see you are making progress with the body repairs. I thought that you might like to know that you are not alone in your madness as I’m also restoring a MK1 2000 but mine is a saloon. Living in England (GB) I'm sure that you know our weather is not as good as yours therefore my car has rusted quite badly. So far I have replaced the driver’s side inter cill, the middle cill strengthener, outer cill, both jacking points, rear wheel arch (bottom quarter), front wing & repairs to the inner front wheel arch & front valance. If you are interested I could send you some photos.
Regards
Rob
Rob, I'd love to see them. I've joined the 2000/2500/2.5 Register...are you a member? You can reach me by email at tr6driver at yahoo dot com.
I'm lucky regarding rust; the car was rustproofed when new and the only real rust other than where the front was poorly repaired is at the rear wheel fender lips. I got the repair panels from Chris Witor (along with a bunch of other stuff). Hope yours is going well!
Jamie
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