SC Coupe Restoration

[MMW]

Tom, When you get a bigger gap than you wish try clamping/holding a pc of copper behind it. It will help absorb the heat as well as keep the puddle from dropping out. It could even be a flattened water pipe. Another trick is to take a pc of 1/16" tig wire & lay/tack it in the gap & then weld over it melting it in.

[tperazzo]

Thank you John. Good luck on your TIG approval! Try this, "Less sparks translate to less holes in your wardrobe and fewer metal balls in the laundry."

Thanks Mic those are great suggestions. Copper works well and its amazing how it doesn't melt and stick to steel. I'll have to try the MIG TIG method sometime. If that panel was on the outer body, I would have re-made the part again.

Here's a photo of the next step:





Actually several steps are missing here, but I don't have any in-between photos. The depressed valley was hammered in after welding. The high crown areas was grafted in with two pieces of metal. You can see the welded area on the curved ridge.


This is my best approximation of what it was like and few pictures of various original closing panels helped too.

Take it easy,
Tom

[JTR70]

It looks really nice Tom and seems to follow the contour of the door really well! Did I understand you correctly; you'd redo this flange?
Both you and Phil seem to be working on exactly the area at the moment. Had a chance to begin addressing your hood yet? Keep up the great work! Justin

[tperazzo]

Thanks, This is as good as the closing panel will get.

Outer skin patch being roughed in along with hem and wire rolled edge.





I decided to break the fender patch into two pieces to make it easier on me. A shortcut, but makes forming the hem on a compound curve easier.

Here's a shot of the rolled edge.



This is a picture of the wire spliced together and tacked to the skin. The missing section will be replaced with a butt welded mini patch. This edge hasn't been crimped closed all the way yet either.



Top half tacked in.



I'll address the hem thickness versus door gap in a following post.

Thanks to Roy and Phil for sharing your details in this area. I'm getting about 2.5mm hem thickness and about 3 mm + door gap without lead.

[John Pierce]

Tom, very nice matching the crown and edge. Your work is superb. Are you tacking the pieces in with the TIG? What size tungsten and filler rod are you using for the thin sheet metal?

[roy mawbey]

Really nice work Tom and difficult to say the least. I was frightened stiff about doing wired edges, you have made really good job of doing that.

Roy

[Phil Planck]

Looking good Tom. Glad to see some more progress. That is a thin hem at 2.5mm. Wish I had a tig.

[tperazzo]

Tom, very nice matching the crown and edge. Your work is superb. Are you tacking the pieces in with the TIG? What size tungsten and filler rod are you using for the thin sheet metal?

Thanks John,
.040" Red Tungsten and .030" MIG wire for filler rod. I do use my TIG for tacking...they are actually about 1/4" long welds.



Here's a 1" weld. I only attempt these long ones where there is very clear access on the back side for hammer on dolly.


John post some pics when you get your TIG welder! Practice makes perfect.

[tperazzo]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! Mostly finished fender trailing edge.

[Phil Planck]

Really nice Tom. I envy you tig guys.

Phil

[JTR70]

Tom, Your front fender repair really turned out nice! The leading edge and the rocker transition wired edge look very well formed! I agree with Phil, I am very envious of those TIG welds; Very pretty welds! Keep up the great work! Justin

[Trevor]

Very nice job Tom!

[tperazzo]

Many thanks to all! Here are some more pictures involving the hem and my special shortcut.

Rather than forming the hem along the compound curve near the upper half of the door, I cheated. I do feel bad for the next guy who tries to peel back this hem, but hopefully it won't be needed and if it does need attention I'll be that guy.

For me, it was easier to weld this together than fight the change in contour of the fender skin when forming the hem around. The hem edge goes through some serious stretching and shrinking and this can end up changing the gap and or the skin elevation. One way to skin the cat, but I admit its not the best way....Just what I felt comfortable with.

Below is the piece that will be the third metal thickness that will get edge welded. (skin, closing panel, and fake hem shown).



Tiny edge weld. Hammer stretched along the way.




Appearance of hemmed flange from inside.


Average thickness is about 2.5mm





Justin, I'm envious of you having finished the welding on your coupe. To be frank, I'm tired of welding on this thing. Today, I rummaged through my storage of parts to find the door latch and striker plates, so I could work on the rear door gap. So mundane, but I actually enjoyed looking through all the parts, chasing damaged threads and putting a part back on the car. Even though it was temporary, it was nice to have a part fit and actually play with something besides rust.

Thank you to all of you for keeping me going.

[JTR70]

I think that created hem joint looks just fine, as a matter of fact its probably the way I would have approached this spot too. The only way I could see doing it out of one piece would be to have that slick skinner tool that Phil has. Having the right tools sure makes all of the difference in the world! The welding can get stale after a while. I am done with welding, again, but like I was telling Trevor I was done over a year ago but I created that extra welding task because I lost my temper with that fender. I at least got the contour I'd been after. Keep up the great work Tom!

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

That work on the hem looks just great to me. That area made me leave well alone when I replaced some metal near to it. Your thickness value will make it so much easier to get a good gap on the front of the door. Well done indeed. Both Justin's Phil's and your work all so well described could save other's trying to do similar welding so much frustration.


Roy