1968 MG Midget

[SiC]

This evening I was supposed to be washing and polishing the Boxster but every time I try, it chucks it down with rain. Maybe a sign that I shouldn't be selling it?

Instead I cracked on with finishing the front of this.

Blue lines are areas where the join is and needed a bead running over as some pin holes.


Easy enough and a fair bit of precision grinding after to clean up.


Then several rounds of filler and sand. This panel is damaged a bit from when folding the edge over. So needed a thin skim of filler to finish it. Likewise at the top to round off where I bent out the metal to enlarge the corner slightly.


Left a mess that looked like I was on the Columbian Marching Powder. Messy stuff is filler. Perhaps I should learn to lead load instead.


Then red oxide to protect.


This front corner is now pretty much done.


Except the paint will need to be rectified before the body colour goes on from the rather bad paint runs. I don't get on with the Simonz paint nozzle on these cans I get from my local car part shop. Also doesn't help that I'm crap with paint too.


The drivers floor needs a few fresh beads putting down as the current ones are a bit suspect. Then I'll refit the door to check alignments. From there I can work backwards again to fix the rear arch and outer wing panel.

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[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Leave all filler work to the bodyshop. Just give them a welded up shell. Chances are they will have to dig a lot of your filler out.

[christine]

Leave all filler work to mrs SiC .She makes cakes ,so will be good at icing , and it's much the same skills . Chances are ,she will have to dig a lot of your filler out.

[SiC]

I've been doing some stuff. 
Hole here. Actually smaller but I cleaned up to be a square. They're easier to make out of sheet metal.

Welded piece on. Good simple bit to start getting practice welds back on again.

This goes here.

Underneath a bit scruffy

Cleaned up to make a patch

Decided that section is a bit complicated to make. Also the bit by the inner membrane is already a replacement bit 
So cut that out to make another easy rectangle. Fresh paint to protect the inside while I'm here. Cheap Lidl green metal paint. Not exactly going to use this on anything else visible so perfect for this hidden area.

New piece in. Welds look crappy...

...which is fine as the grinder makes me the welder I ain't.

Refit this piece for size.


Decided it could be cut down a bit to make it neater with much less overlap.

Then welded that in. Top welds super crappy as I should have cleaned the red oxide paint off first. That doesn't weld properly as the fumes from the burning paint buggers the weld.

I'll clean that up another day when it's not too late to be grinding.
These holes are from the original trim on the outer wing. 

Also there are gouges from going a bit too deep with the grinder.

So ran a quick few welds to fill them up.

[SiC]

Next job (after cleaning the above welds) is to get this piece into place that the outer wing sits on. Fiddly as it needs to be in exactly the right place to fit the contours of the outer wing. Get it wrong and that won't sit correctly. I did the other side by putting tacks in place and then placing the outer panel on to check for alignment.


Then this gap will need filling. It'll mostly get covered when I bash the excess repair section back over. At least that's how I did the other side.


Likewise the backside will need the same treatment. Any excess area not covered by bending it over will be sorted by a rectangle repair piece. Maybe cutting any curved bits to be straight and making it easier to fit. Also templates are easy to make out of cardboard when it's just filling a hole.
 



Once that is done, the outer wing can go on. Then the arse end needs a new panel. But once that wing is on, it will actually start feeling like the end is in sight for bodywork. 

There is loads of small areas that will need doing/redoing. Especially any suspect welds from the previous restoration. E.g. the passenger compartment floor needs new beads all the way around. Boot floor has a half inch gap from the other panels. Not figured what I'm doing with that yet. Maybe cutting out and letting gravity locate it properly in place.

Anyway still this rear arch to finish.

[angrydicky]

What a nightmare this is, having to redo all that previous work because the entire resto had been bodged. Just goes to show not every car you see in PC is what it seems!

[SiC]

Some grinding for a Friday night. Then welding to fill the holes from grinding. Then more grinding. Rinse and repeat. Finally paint.
This took a good hour and half to get to this stage. Welding is a pretty quick job. It's the prep and post finish that takes the time.



 
This is the gap I'm talking about that's between the floor and body. Huge gap that's big enough to get a large flat headed screwdriver in with it on the widest side. Probably a good 1cm at the widest. This was originally hidden (badly) with good ol' filler. Still haven't quite managed to clean all that out yet either. 



My current thought is to cut the floor on the right hand side (shit welds anyway) and then hope I can bend the floor upwards to close the gap. The other end has a gap but much smaller. Still larger than I'd like but probably only quarter centimetre or so. 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Ot weld a fillet in and seam seal it?

It must be getting close to paint time?

[DodgeRover]

You will want to redo those welds anyway so why not drill them or split them to release the tension at the right hand side then put a jack with a block of wood on it under that bit to press it back up (or a bottle/ screw jack off the axle if it's still fitted)

[DodgeRover]

Looking at the picture again - have you seen the gap to the left of where the screwdriver is?
Is the floor panel the right profile?