DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

another work of art Barry, almost too good to be painted over and never seen again

jp

Blimey!

Stunning work as always Barry - keep it coming



How long did it take to make this little lot up?

O.K.: I will .

Here's that 'odd' join: normally the inner sill would be swaged to tuck behind the very front of the inner wing, but for reasons as above, it's ended up being the other way round. You can see the two temporary self tappers at the base of the join pulling the two parts together.

The 'engine turning' effect is because the mating faces have been etch primed, put together, and then each plug weld site touched with a little rotary wire brush in a drill: make the welding much smoother, plus it's easier to check that both parts are tight together:



Welded:



And the rest of the inner sill in:



Next bits are the very base of that rear inner wing repair, the jacking point reinforcement, and sill closer that goes on the new A-post base (got to make this. Finally it'll be the front wing closer, kidney bowl and outer sill.

Jacking point reinforcement on, as is the kidney bowl and outer sill: aligned to a good door (thank's Nick ), so that if I end up re-building the original one (that's been butchered), I have got a good base to work from. Saves all the guesswork of not having a known starting point.





Not sure what's next: either the front sill closer and front wing closer, or the B-post and rear wing repairs. Time for a coffee, and I'll see what takes my fancy ...

More later, all being well ....

Forgot to say, this is a later style genuine sill: normally I fill in all of the holes and beat out the rectangular pressings.

In this case I've not worried, as I've got a pair of (S) sill covers to go over them.

Quick development: looks as though I'm going to have to rebuild the passenger door before I go much further, so settled on a plan: hang Nick's door to give B-post position, weld in B-post, make up and weld in rear wing repair.

This will give me a good guide as to what the re-built door's shape should be, as it will effectively be a duplicate of Nick's perfect one (shape-wise at least). Then my door can be re-built and hung. As it happens this was plan A anyway, so I've already got the doorskin here already.

If I could be that productive at work Barry I'd be dangerous - or the Chief Executive!
Great work

Are there pictures of the B-post/door yet ...

Slave driver .

In fact I came in for some lunch earlier, and realised I'd literally run out of food: there were two very mouldy slices of bread and that was that.

Ian Donkin turned up for a look, so we had a coffee (did have some milk), I've now done some shopping, had some lunch and just going back out there.

Sorry for letting you down so badly, James: I promise to work harder and faster .

More later (I promise).

Who me? I must admit that I thought you'd have that B post repair in place by now

It's looking really good by the way Barry - you must be delighted with how the project is coming along

Beginning to close off the rear of the sill area now. The B-post has been altered to make for a nice fit, and has been offered up using self-tappers to hold it in place.

As supplied there is too much flange where the outer wing attaches, and the overall shape is too curved. With the good loan door hung, and lining up with the outer sill, the temporarily mounted b-post could be marked off of the door and altered. It's now all drilled ready for plug welding to the repaired rear inner wing.

Next stage was to make the new front of the outer rear wing, the original having been removed as it was rotton, and access was needed for the kidney bowl, inner wing and sill repairs. This was beaten from 20SWG sheet, which is one gauge (more or less) thicker than original:



This was then scribed into the outer wing, cut carefully, and tacked into place:



This is a butt join, and it needs to be a good enough fit that you can't see light through it. The TIG is then used for tacking: the metal is heated either side of the join, which expands it enough to press the two sides of the joint hard together. The TIG arc is then swung to the centre of the join, and two parts melted together: no filler wire is used at all.

This continues all of the way down the panel, until the whole lot is tacked together. Then the joint is hammer and dollied to make sure everything is nice and aligned. Finally the TIG arc is fired at the top of the join, and slowly dropped all of the way down, in one continuous seam: again no filler wire:



The final stage is to 'tap-up': where the now very pliable joint (unlike a MIG-welded one) can be planished smooth with a hammer and dolly. This is where any ripples are flippered out, and the general shape beaten to follow the curve of the wing, plus it's a chance to do some fettling to the door gap (hammer and dolly again) to get it as close as poss. The great thing about a TIG welded butt joint is that you usually don't have to do much / any grinding, unlike with MIG welds.

After that is done the B-post can be finally welded in, and the base of the outer wing welded to the outer sill.

BTW, Sometimes people use a lap joint for this wing repair. In the coachbuilding industry, this is considered pretty much unacceptable as it can trap moisture / rust, and more to the point, leaves a hard line through the wing. When any filler or high-build primer is applied and flatted off, this hard line flexes less than the rest of the panel. As a result, the join sometimes shows up in the paint as a very slight dip, where more filler / primer has been removed as a result of the localised stiffness. Not always the case, but worth keeping in mind if this repair is needed.

BTW, that last photo is as the weld was cooling: so just as it is after welding, which is why is appears to buldge slightly towards the camera.

This is where the tapping up will correct that, and generally tidy the whole appearance of the weld area.

Also, this time I have done the wing repair first, so that I can hammer and dolly it easily, and then fit the B-post. In the past the B-post has gone in first, and then the wing repair, which has made the tapping up much more awkward. The rear wing can be swung out at the bottom still, so the B-post can be fiddled back into place.

It's art

Gary71 wrote:It's art

Not art, Magic!

Bob

Barry

Great thread, incredible work, most folk would like to think they can swing a couple of spanners but metal work, that’s in a different league. Keep the updates coming, and BTW do you actually sleep the work is flying along.

Regards