It is a lot worse than it should have been as the wing(fender) had obviously been involved in a previous accident unbeknown to Karl & Meg. Maddy has taken on the task of repairing the damage so that it can pass this years MOT. This will save them a big bill if the work had to be done elsewhere. It won't last forever but it will be good enough come testing time and gives them the chance to save their pennies so that new wings and a front panel can be fitted next year.
With some gentle prodding and bending the wing was got into a near perfect shape, bad metal was cut out and a plate welded in to join the split halves together.
Rough edges were ground down and a thin skim of glass fibre was laid down. When cured it was cut back and another light skim of filler was applied. This was sanded down to follow the natural shape of the wing.
As there was many different layers of paint surrounding the repair it was deemed wise to apply a coat of BarCoat, next the repair was sprayed with high build primer. Tomorrow (Monday 13th) the primer paint coat will be rubbed down before the top coat is applied.
One other job to do is to weld a strip of metal along the front valance as this has been perforated by severe tinworm, it won't pass an MOT if it's left because it is within 300mm of a(front sub-frame mounting point).
The repairs to the front wing have been completed, lamps put back in plus fitting a new wheel arch. Had a little problem with the window winder on the drivers door, it would wind up and stop about 50mm from the top with a very ominous clunk, so off with the door card to find what was going on. One of the glass suspension channels had rusted and splayed out which was hitting the door opening mechanism. I managed to clean the rust out and to gently squeeze the channel flat, it's now working perfectly.
UPDATE Saturday 18th. This morning I took the car to Fenland car care to have the valance repaired. I'd already ground away the rusty metal so that Graham would have a good surface to weld to, he quickly fashioned a strip of metal including the cutout for the front tear drop mounting point, it was then tacked on and gently tapped down to follow the curve of the valance. When he was satified with the shape he seam welded along all the edges, job done. Back to my garage to linish the weld line to a smooth finish, I next used some red oxide to prime the bare metal finally finishing off with a good coat of Bitumen paint. Next I adjusted the rear brakes as the wheels freely revolved with hardly any braking effort when the pedal was pushed, luckily both brake adjusters were free and the job was soon done. The last job was to straighten out a badly bent tie bar which had probably been damaged at the same time as the wing. Finally the lights, indicators, washer and wipers, hazard lights, rear fog light, horn, tyres were all checked ready for the cars MOT next Friday.
