The Dark Wob

paulplom wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 6:12 am Are you keeping tally of the hours you're putting in? It would be interesting to see how much you've saved as opposed to getting a garage to do the work.

My concern is always that the garage take one look at it, decide that is perfectly it fine, Schultz over it all and hand it back for much money.

Compared to it being done right.

It'd be a quick cut and slap a patch on the A-pillar. Rear arch would have a repair section welded over the top. With the level of filler already on there, it would be easy enough to hide. Second hand wing on the front.

DA sand back the body to get most of the paint cracks out. Filler back over to completely hide. Then fresh paint.

A-pillar and rear arch panel with labour about £300. Second hand wing £300. Paint £2k. Quick service and tune up. They'd be then in just over £5.5k.

Retail between 8k to 10k. Maybe on the higher end with the magazine article provenance to help it.

Recent retiree turns up fresh with their juicy final salary pension and copious savings to buy it based on the shinyness and remembering the article.

It then sits in the garage mostly unused apart from the occasional visit to a local show. Or the shiny paint polished to a mirror. Then turn up to club meets for others to gawp at what a stunning car that he has.

Few years later sold and the next owner does the same. Sold for a profit naturally.

Few years later it's sold once more but looking a little tattier. Next owner doesn't have a garage but stores outside under a car cover he spent a lot on. Over the next half decade the true extent of what's going on is starting to become evident.

Sells it on for cheap to someone for restoration.

That person in a few months realises that there is quite a lot of work in it. Shifts it on quick as he has other projects he needs to focus on.

The final sucker then buys it. However he gets a bit carried away cleaning up and digging the mess out. All whole posting on forums and Facebook documenting what a mess it is while he tries to sort it out. This ends up destroying any resale value and hope of getting out of it quick again. However he finds he quite enjoys smashing it back together again, even if it's making more and more work. But he is trying to work away rapidly to make sure he can both use it before season end and get it done before he runs out of enthusiasm for it.

To be continued...

I've not figured how much time I've spent on this and don't really want to! Difficult to work against a garage as a professional is quicker. I'm slow from being someone who dillys about and also context switching for short periods of work.

But you can figure it from each post as generally I've tried to do one or two sessions work per post on this thread. Essentially if it's a weekday post, I've spent around 2 to 3hrs on it. While a Weekend post around 4 to 8 hrs, depending if I've been out anywhere in the day and just did evening work.

Weather is back to being a bit more sensible now. Another patch in and a smaller one as needed to shape the curve. This is butt welded at the top to make things more awkward. The next one along will be a larger patch as it's mostly flat.




Ground back. I could go flat but I don't think I'll bother with this. I prefer a bit of weld bead as I know I haven't gone too thin then.


Quick slap of primer on the inside and out.

Made a template for a big repair piece to butt weld in.



Transferred to metal. Awkward shape that uses a lot of steel up.


Required some grinding back to fit. Ended up cutting in half anyway as the bit around the bump stop doesn't fit that great and will need the angle tweaking.
Tacked it in and then I remembered I didn't make holes to puddle weld in on the edge. Drilled some Insitu but did manage to go straight through on some.


Then I also remembered I forgot to change the inaccessible fuel tank bolt. Bent back the lip here and managed to wiggle a fresh one in. I am considering welding this bolt in place but not sure if I'll end up needing wiggle room when putting the tank bank in. I'll also need to hammer down this chassis leg and weld it on. The gap is way too big and whoever replaced the floor didn't do a great job (surprise...). Might have to smack it up from the bottom or even potentially put some steel in-between to weld onto.


Making repair sections takes so long. Even this simple piece took me from 8pm to 10:30pm to plan, cut, prep and tack. Ready made panels that accurately match are much quicker and easier to put in a lot of the time. Many of the panels for this are available and do fit, which is why I've enjoyed doing most of this.

Hopefully this arch is now the worst of it. Not much else that I haven't poked. Only really the inside of the front wing/footwell area on the drivers side.

I'm also debating whether to replace the sill this side. The bottom is pretty thin at the back and I suspect might be thin further along. Big job as needed to both brace and remove the panel all the way along. However now is the time to do it with this wing removed. Pattern sills are £45 posted for both sides.

Or I repair what I have with either fabricating from fresh steel or even potentially cut a replacement sill panel to replace just the worst part on the rear.

Decision, decisions and one that I need to make soon.

What's the centre bit of the sill like? I seem to recall they are three piece and the centre bit tends to rot first.

Hooli wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:58 am What's the centre bit of the sill like? I seem to recall they are three piece and the centre bit tends to rot first.

Isn't that the MGB?

The MGB is certainly 3 part as my wallet can testify. I vaguely remember the sills were about £200 per side for the parts.
I've no idea about Midgets though.

Guest wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 5:05 pm

Hooli wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:58 am What's the centre bit of the sill like? I seem to recall they are three piece and the centre bit tends to rot first.

Isn't that the MGB?

There is definitely a middle section and outer. Not 100% if there is an inner. There isn't a castle rail like the MGB though

Welded the plate in and a quick dress back.


Worked the other plate in. I didn't want to have two parts but this wasn't an accurate enough piece to go in first time. So needed a lot of tweaking with the mini flap disc to get the curve around the bump stop area right.


Eventually I got it fitted in so I could butt weld it properly.


Then I ran a few beads.


Started puddle welding in the bottom but ran out of gas. This bottle hasn't done too bad. Pretty much most of this car to date I think.


I know I said I wouldn't grind back flat but as I had spent the effort to butt weld the repair sections in, it seemed rude not to.


Slowly getting there. Glad when I've got this arch repaired. Still got a bit more on the rear of this arch then back boot repair section. The front needs the sill fixing up. I'm siding towards not replacing it. I need to get the camera down there but it looks in pretty good condition apart from the bit at the back. Then the repair section for the arch and the outer panel.

Once that's all sealed up, I need to get on with the rear boot panel! Not one I'm much looking forward to as I reckon a lot of grot to cut out and I'm worried things won't line up after.