DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Not much progress other than some thinking time and planning.

The inside of rear crossmember and inner longitudinals all look very original, but the outer panel I know to be rusted through.

The repair panel is the whole thing including the engine mounts but I’m tempted to leave most of it in place.





The ends under the quarters again look original (spot the green paint!) but have a hole through into the inner wing at the top at both sides.




Parcel shelf is completely shot as I’ve known for many years!



This is coming out in it’s entirety and I have a full replacement, hinge brackets etc to go back in. I’ll take a look at the lower window corners as well whilst it’s out. I also have repair panels for that.

Ouch!
This makes my shell look perfect!!
I expect you will minimise the mass replacement of metal which I think will make the whole task easier?
The thick pvc (?) coating makes things very hard to really evaluate. Are you doing a total bare shell strip and then weld up?

Yup. Full strip (manual!)

I expect to find more.

Just a little puzzle to solve:

Will you fit the lot as they are or open the rot to good metal and trim to suit?
I'm so tempted to replace my 'MoT' repairs and try to emulate the Barry approach, but....that is quite a bib full of work.

Not sure at the moment. Probably to good metal as some of the panels are excessive, but we will see!

I only need a part of the rear slam, but you have to buy the whole thing.

I see you don't have the front repair panel (which I got down on my car recently), is the front OK? And what about the torsion tubes, how are you going to ensure that they are correct? Will you use a jig?

Front is all OK (I hope!)

The car will be jigged before final welding of the major structural stuff, but I am going to brace the life out of it and make temporary fixtures whilst I get it all prepared so it shouldn't be too far out.

Just caught up with this thread, Gary. Great to see your getting on with it. Good luck with progress.

Let's hope the DIY approach works! I've taken yours (and others) counsel on dipping so whilst a lovely clean shell is tempting for nice welding it's going to be hand stripped for repairs.

Tear down continues and the known and one unknown problem areas emerge.



Parcel shelf horrors are well known and have progressed further since I was last patching in here 15 years ago.



Screen flange has gone in the corner as expected:


I’d forgotten just how much I didn’t want the seat belt mount to come out!

And the new hole:


This is right above the brake pipe bracket underneath and looks like corrosion between the two panels. Easy enough fix (in the scale of this job!) so not worried to much about this.

I’ve stripped the doors and remounted the frames to use as a gap reference in the future.



Tomorrow is dash, front screen, instruments, headliner etc then rear suspension before the metalwork fun starts...

Didn’t quite achieve the list above, but more progress.



I’m unraveling the rats nest under the dash and wondered how do you get the ignition switch out?


Definitely not planning to disconnect the wires from the headlamp switch! Could this be any more complicated?



Any ideas what this is? It dropped out from behind the knee bar which I’ve never taken off before.



The glovebox door looks to have been painted in situ when the car was new, so it’s staying on!

IIRC the ign switch comes out by removing the bezel 9unscrew, bloody tight) and you have a steel plate with un-screwable security bolts, so a drill-out task.

When you got the front/rear screens out did you remove the alum bezels and simply push them out?

I'm replacing my front screen, but want to keep the rear in one piece AND keep the good fitting rubbers.

Keep going Gary, I want to pick up some tips.

You put the trims in before putting the screen in and so you leave them when you push the screen out. They tend to pop out though as the screens don’t come out as evenly they go in.

There’s little to no chance of reusing the rubbers as they are distorted by being in position so long.

I’ve broken my front screen getting it out. Annoying as it is a heated one, they do seem a little fragile compared to usual as this is the second one I’ve broken with very little effort!

At least the doors look good Gary.