Practically Classics Forum

Will almost be a shame to put paint on this, it looks fantastic in bare metal with all the work you've put in on it.

Very kind of you to say so - I am lucky that I have access to most of the facilities & equipment needed along with some of the tricks required that I have gleaned over the years

Grumpy Northener wrote:

Will almost be a shame to put paint on this, it looks fantastic in bare metal with all the work you've put in on it.

Very kind of you to say so - I am lucky that I have access to most of the facilities & equipment needed along with some of the tricks required that I have gleaned over the years

Sod the base coat, go straight to clear

O/S/R Door The inner support had become a water trap hence rust had worked its through the skin Cut out and new metal ready for letting in - Flanged over the frame and the check strap aperture made good at the same time Cleaned up - thankfully not too many of these welding repairs left to do now

The bottom of the frame was shot - we had a new repair section in stock so that saved quite a lot of time in making the section up It took quite a bit of trimming before I was happy with the fit but was quite a quick job to get welded in and cleaned up Then rehung to check panel gap & fit Just the window channel on the inner frame to sort where the lower 150mm has rotted out

O/S/R door window channel guide was rotted out - I removed the old one and made a new section up O/S/F door required some tidying around the hinge rebates

Hinge rebates sorted and doors rehung Leading edge of rear door had minor pinholes which were corrected with a little brazing then cleaned back Minor repairs to the top edge of the rear shroud Soon sorted

Roof gutter edge just above the front offside door was in holes & very weak Only one thing for it - removed and a new section made up & formed Then welded in - I made the repair oversize on the leading edge and then just took it back to the correct profile with a large flat file A few odds to sort this weekend welding wise before we ready for the shell to visit to the restoration show

So I pushed on with works to the bodyshell at the Practical Classics Restoration Show last weekend - very little in the form of welding repairs are now required so I used lead loading has a demonstration on the club stand - (see separate thread on the show - which I will post over this weekend). Lead would have been used in factory seams / joints when the bodyshell was originally built - no polyester / cataloy fillers about in those days. I am going to lead the original joints & seams along with the repair areas where possible / practical - this will give a better quality of repair although to complete the final profiles I intend to use a very slight skim of a high quality polyester body filler.

The metal should be clean / sound prior to painting a solder paste upon the repair area - this is then heated in order to tin the metal and wiped clean with a damp cloth - lead is then placed to the repair area with heat - just lumps from the bar - don't worry about the shape / profile for now - once loaded a lead paddle is used with tallow (to prevent the hot lead sticking to the paddle) - just enough heat but not too much is required in order to get the paddle to push the lead into a rough profile - then a bodyfile is used to reduce the area to correct profile - some larger areas may require a reloading once you have the basic shape - it's a bit of a skill otherwise you have the lead running off the metalwork quicker than you can apply / shape it - apologies I don't really have images of the process has I was undertaking it - just the before and afters. WP_20150329_044-001.jpg[/attachment]

And you made it look so easy!

I will admit to being a bit green eyed having seen the Javelin in person. I'd lacquer the steel so everyone could see how perfect the bodywork actually is.