January 2005
| Well here it is 2005 already. I can't believe that its been exactly 5 years since I started this little adventure. I sometimes go back to the first day pages and refresh my memory. It's been an epic voyage into the unknown but for once, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. I am on the home stretch in finishing off the body repairs. Going by my impressions on the condition of the front sheet metal, I think I only have another 3 days or so before the entire car is under primer. No more red paint to be seen.! So here we go. |
| Here is the inside view of the inner guard. You will see the indented area that was created to give the control arm some room to move in. I was getting carried away with trying to get all the little imperfections out but will not bother too much. It will not be visible in any case. I did, however, needed to repair a dinged up section on the passenger side front. Looks like it was a very old repair. It appears in the pictures that the inner guards are fairly dinged up. The truth is, its just bog dust and finger prints creating that illusion.. They are fairly straight. When they are primered, you will see what I mean. |
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| Both sides close to being ready for primer. I sat the side skirts back on to mark where I should drill the hole in the repaired mounting flange. I placed the grill back on and it started to look like a car again. |
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| So this is how it turned out. The primer was still a bit green when I sat them back on so I couldn't manoeuvre them too much to get the side skirts to line up. The repairs to the passenger side inner guard are fairly undetectable in the pic, but there is still a little bit of touching up to do before everything is painted. |
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| The inside of the inner guard looks OK as well. Still a bit of touching up to do. One step closer to looking like a real car again. Next items for attention are the guards, then again, I might do the bonnet cause it will be easier to fit back on without the guards. I will have to call my mate to give me hand cause its hard to hammer weld on your own. I might end up putting myself alight trying to do it solo. That's next weeks job, except I will only have one day for garage time as I am going to a wedding on Saturday. The 34 is going to be a bridle car and both of us need some sprucing up.....especially me! |
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| I decided to fit the bonnet and guards to
make sure that all fits together before I make any repairs. If there is
some cutting and welding to be performed it's better to know about
it now. The passenger side took some time to get into some
sort of alignment. It looks OK in the picture, but the side skirt is a bit
off where it meets the cowl. Also, the bonnet sticks out on the
corner. I'm not sure how to tackle that right now. It has been repaired
some time back and is full of lead. I'm guessing the shape has been
altered a bit. I have also decided to fit gas springs to the bonnet. It
looks like the same units I used on the boot should do the job nicely. I
will mount them in a direct vertical position which will give them a
better leverage action. They will also tuck between the cowl and skirt
just fine when its down. That also means I won't use the original
bonnet latch. I will graft in a modern unit with a cable release. I
will weld up the old holes as well. That's the extent of my flush look, I
don't want to remove it's character and appeal to much.
Those faint lines you see on the guard are not my outlines for flames, they are pencil lines where I have marked needed repairs. As it turned out, there are much more than I originally estimated. The driver's side skirt fits very well, so I anticipate the guard will fit fine, but that's to be seen. |
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| That area where the skirt meets the cowl is
shown here a bit more clearly. It is not as bad as it looks here cause it
is sticking out a bit and giving the impression its a huge gap. Reality
is, its only about 1/4" - 3/8". Still, I need to get it right
now. Some more repairs marked on the guard as well. I will also weld up
the extra holes where it bolts to the running board.
Here is a closer look at what I have to ponder. The bonnet sticks out too much. It would be easy if it was just a matter of pushing it over but the driver's side is near perfect. I'll leave it go for a while until I get a plan of attack |
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| OK..originally I said it would take a few days to finish off the front. I will now clear that up by saying for each panel. There is a whole lot more there than first met the eyes, or the fingers to be exact. There is no getting around it. There will be some bog in it. I have not the time or skills to do it with pure beating. I can, however, bog up fairly well. For the purists out there that frown on bog, well when I see glass cars being completely covered with it, then I have no shame. I know the limitations of the stuff and can at least be confident that it will have as lot less then when I started. |
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| I get to the stage where I can't detect any
more highs or lows. The only thing left is to primer it up and the truth
will be revealed. As it turned out, there is a lot more work to do before
I am happy. I put this aside and will get the driver's guard up to the
same stage.
Even though it looks like its a lot less dinged up, it has a bit more rust to cut out. There is 3 layers of sheet metal that needed to be cut out at the running board flange.. |
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| I welded in 3 separate patches on top of
each other to give it back a solid section. I also welded up a extra
mounting hole that was drilled in years ago. There are many pin holes
around the place as well that I welded up.
The second pic is the front of the guard. No way around that, it needs to be cut out and a new piece formed around the wire frame. |
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| Here it is cut out a ready for the patch piece. Patch piece welded in |
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| Filler hides the repair. The guard is fairly good apart from the small amount of rust I cut out. |
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| Rear section finished off as well. Primer will be applied next |
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