After solving my problems with the steering box, I had to go on with the project, it has been neglected too long. So here is an update, but I am already a bit further in restoration than in writing, isn’t that good news?

After placing the old panels on the skeleton body, just to have an idea how the car looks or have to look, I had to decide how to remove the old paint without damaging the body parts.

To be safe, I decided to have the paint from most of the parts chemically removed, simply because the metal is only 0.8mm thick. When you try to remove the old paint purely by sandblasting on such a thin metal, the chance that you end up with nothing than scrap metal is around 100%.

And yes, I know there are several meanings about chemical paint removing on car parts, the product stays between double plating an things is a common complain, but I felt I had no choice. So I took everything off and brought it to ICS in Sint Niklaas. They have a fairly good reputation in chemical paint removing, so I decided to let them do the job. The factory didn’t  looked inviting, but the work I saw did. So come on, and go for it....

I had to wait a few weeks before my parts were ready, and the result is not all nice to see, but exactly what I expected. All the old paint was gone, and the rusty areas completely visible, exactly as I hoped.

So now it is time to do some cautious sandblasting, on the rusted parts. Theo my best friend offered to do it for me, I just had to set him on track, and help a little bit with the difficult parts. We did the job simply at home, with the little DIY sandblasting tool, and no more air pressure than necessary.  That immense job took a few days, mostly because the air compressor could not follow the huge demand on air. Theo had to wait regularly, but at the end I had all the thin parts (that is except the front wings, that are much thicker and can be done by a professional sandblasting company) rust free and put in a protective red paint. Some kind of a friend, no?

I repaired the cracks in the rear wings, reinforced them, hammered the dents out, and welded new metal in the holes from the incorrect rear lights. No holes anymore at this stage, I make the new ones at the end with the new rear lights as a pattern. After the wings I did the same with the rear panel, the back where the spare wheel comes through. A hell of a job, again because the metal is so thin, and because the panel has been repaired several times in the past, and not always by the best body repairer... But as my father used to say: difficult works also, a bit slower, but it makes you smarter J. Then I placed the rear panel and the rear wings on their place, and attacked the left over dents with metal putty. Then a tour with abrasive paper, and again putty, and so on and on...

Until the moment I decided that the result was good, and I could paint the rear of the car in primer. Not only a great sight, but a real boost to continue working.

With the rear quarter panels I had some other plans. They were so bad on the lower part, that I definitely had to make new ones. So I thought, I better make them in aluminium. And so I bought a plate off aluminium that the professional aluminium van builders use. It is called in Dutch “anodised aluminium” and  has a far better quality for this kind of use than a “normal” plate you can buy in the DIY shop.

Making the quarter panels was easier than I expected. But to be honest, I have to thank another friend Kris on that, for his good advice and help. He has some experience with that kind of a job, from the time he restored his Hotchkiss. So first we made some patterns from cardboard, and then we cut out the aluminium with an extra 2 cm on the edges. Than we placed the panel on the skeleton, and use spanners and some plywood to keep it strongly in place. Hammering the edges around the wooden frame was easy, and then we fixed it with nails. Piece of cake...

The doors where not that easy, but at the end also not really difficult, because the main system stays the same. First you have to fix metal plates on the wooden frame, creating the door shape. And that is the base where you fold the aluminium around, so making a door skin. First we made the metal plates, and fixed them to the wood with nails. Then with the old door skin as a pattern, we cut the new metal plates in the correct shape, and did a try out on the car. After a bit extra modelling, we placed the door frame on the aluminium, and used then that as a pattern (+ 2 cm) to cut out the definitive door skin.

The plate came then on the naked door frame, fixed in place with spanners and plywood, and was hammered around the metal plates, creating a double edge. On the top side the plate was plied direct on the wooden frame and fixed with nails. And that’s it!!!

And now I am fighting a real war with the bonnet. She(according to the problems I came on it must be female) was in a very bad state, and the shape was if like a truck run over it... twice J. The front side was corroded and sharp as a knife, so I had to make a new front strip for it, 5 cm wide. Then plied that over on one side, so creating a double edge. That is not only very strong, but also can be plied in correct “bonnet “shape. After a visual test to see if it would follow the line of the radiator, we cut off a ± 4,5 cm strip from the bonnet front, and welded the new front side on with the TIG. Until that stage I hoped – no I was sure -  that the front of the bonnet would nicely follow the shape of the radiator. But that would have been too good to be true. Although the result was already nice, it was clear that Santa Claus does not come for grown up’s with bonnet dreams J. But still I was happy with the result, it was not bad at all.

To have the shape correct - we speak about a few millimetres only on some places - I am now preparing everything to adjust the shape of the bonnet to that from the radiator. That has to be with lead, it has to be strong. Not a real easy job, but one that I did before and with success. So I am convinced that I can reach the result that I like.

A first and very important stage is the preparation of the metal, it must be 100% clean to give a correct grip to the lead. Than bringing on a thin coat of fluid lead on it with a brush, warm that up with a small (gas)flame, and when it gets flow able clean it up a little with a clean rag. A tinned surface must be the result.

Than taking a rod of lead, warm it up next to the prepared surface, and melting it on in little dots. After that I warm it again a bit, and push the lead in the (almost) right shape with a wooden “spoon”. After that, the body file, elbow grease and a good eye, must do the rest.

27-12-2013, 11:55 Geschreven door Jeff OdH