In article <3C65C0A3.977A9167@sympatico.ca>, Livia I. Haasper
<wilivhaasper@sympatico.ca> writes
>Michael,
>here I am again. We'll try to comment on this problem.
>Wilf has been in body restorations for most of his life. Without seeing
>the car,
>what you are describing seems to be way above your capabilities to be able to
>handle the repairs yourself. You'll probably also don't have the tools or the
>facilities for the job.
That was my feeling. I certainly haven't the facilities to replace
panels (and have never welded in my life), but I was wondering whether I
ought to tackle some of the smaller jobs - the windscreen frame, for
example. Basically, those places that have rusted, but not rusted
away. I've never had any luck repairing door skins, so I think I would
be wasting my time trying to do them.
>The way it looks, panels have to replaced, or partly replaced, which includes
>welding. Aluminum [aloominum]and mesh repairs are for the amateur and will not
>stand up. Your car deserves better.
Agreed.
>You should find out, what lies beneath the
>auto body filler and paint, to assess the condition of the body, before
>you agree
>to repairs with the local panel beater. It could be costly.
That makes a lot of sense. If I discover that one or both of the rear
wings are in pretty good shape aside from around the wheel arches, would
you still recommend that I go for whole new wings? I have been warned
that simply fitting new wheel arches is no solution, as they start to
rust at the weld as soon as they are done.
>
>Before you do any more work, or spray anything, we have the feeling, that you
>have to repair the metal first. Rust will prevail, it always does. You seem to
>have a lot of damage everywhere.
Actually, I think I have a *little* damage *almost* everywhere. <g> I've
certainly owned cars in the past that were far worse than this.
>Replacement of the sills is of a difficult nature in a convertible.
>Sorry, bad news.
The sills have both now been replaced (the driver's side by the DPO
shortly before I bought the car, and the passenger's side last month by
the professionals). The problems caused by the car being a convertible
were at least partially negated by the hard-top being fitted - the body
didn't sag when the old sill was removed, since the hard-top was holding
it in position.
Basically, as far as rust is concerned, I'm working my way up from the
bottom. The underside of the car has been completely stripped of rust,
welded up where necessary, plates added where necessary, treated with
seam-sealer and waxoil, and given a thick coat of stone-chip underseal.
Both sills are now fine, there's just the rest of the body to do!
ATB
--
Mike
Michael Hargreave Mawson, author of "Eyewitness in the Crimea"
http://www.greenhillbooks.com/booksheets/eyewitness_in_the_crimea.html
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