Hi guys -sorry for the long time since the update, this could be a recurring theme! Still plodding with the bodywork and as i've said before I don't want to just cram the pages of this thread with rust.
So basically, sorted the inner sill and connected inner rear quarter panel to inner sill once more then threw some primer & paint on it...
Then my attentions turned the base of the A pillar - or lack of...
Once again what I thought would be a quick patch on the outer skin turned out to be rot into the floorpan & shiz, so it was back to basics once again...
...then a bit of re-constructive surgery to make a face for the sill to be welded to. If I was an actual surgeon - i'd be paid good money for this sh1t!!!!
Cool cool. So I was at a point where the whole bottom 2" of the passenger side from the rear of the front arch had been replaced.
So then I spent what seemed like ages doing a Karate kid impression - sill on, sill off, (grind a bit) sill on, sill off, (grind a bit) sill on, sill off (grind a bit) - you get the picture, doing that until I had a perfect fit. A colleague at work warned me only to tack it on for a check first until I hung the door to check the gaps. Following his advice (and remembering the same deal with the Mini a few years ago) I tacked her up and hung the door...
Nowhere near. I'm not even posting pictures of that!!!! 10mm gap at the hinge end of the door, touching the door bottom at the other. I shut the door to the garage for a week and gave it a rest, quite disheartened.
One positive came out of it though - the vertical door gaps were still bob-on, so my supporting of the floor had worked and all that replacement of metal and heat with all the welds hadn't changed the WB of the car! Billy Bonus.
In fairness, it was a good thing to leave it that week. I'm one of these chaps who likes to think about things over time before carrying things out, and when I went back into the garage a week later, the answer to sort the situation came to me pretty quickly. Long & short of it - nice 5mm gap right down the door now. It only needed tweaking in the right manner - but these things only EVER need tweaking.
Anyway - enthusiasm is back now, so I'm smoothing about with the rear arch now. It's been done before but that long ago, the 'new' lip is rusting away! Seriously, this repair must be 20 years old.
So I've taken some measurements of the width of the flange from the new arch &, pulled all the bog out of the repair, drawn a cut line and started cutting it back. Turns out the inner rear arch is pretty rotten, as is the edge of the rear valance
Here we go again...!!!!!