Side Panels

[Guest daveg]

All

 

I have the dreaded ding in a panel (caused by the bottom of the rear panel fouling on the suspension tube) when pressing the top to form the curves

 

Question is how do I panel beat the crease out?

 

I am asking for 5 years apprenticeship condensed into a 20 line reply

 

Dave

[Guest bob dootson]

....with care !

 

I'm sure if you asked RS, the answer would include the use of a hammer..............................

 

Bob D

[Jon Bradbury]

I think the possibility of a ding is mentioned on the DOHC build video (along with the reassurance that its really easy to fit this panel - well, I suppose if you'd done that many you'd find it easy too - but I digress). I seem to remember Richard commenting that you'd have to collect a new one from Sunny Mansfield Woodhouse if you buggered it up.

 

Can you post a picture of the damage please?

[Bob Tucker]

Hi Dave,

Cant make out which panel it is, but

if it's stainless, forget it. Any attempt will make it look much worse.

Either live with it or replace the panel...if it's a side panel it's £75!

(But take a look at the large number of 2Bs with union jack flags

just where a ding may be hidden!)

 

If its mild steel, place a heavy flat object (club hammer head etc)

behind it & tap it carefully around the ding as well as the ding itself.

Make sure that any remaining dent is inward, then use filler, soapy water

& successively finer grades of wet & dry before priming & spraying.

Most Haynes manuals have a short pictorial guide which is really useful.

Or watch "A car is re-born" where Mark drops an Oxy cylinder on

his E type's new rear wing!!

Or your local library.

 

Hope something here helps..If you end up buying a new panel,

just think how usefull all that stainless steel will be for patching up holes,

lining the boot interior, making up P clips etc.

Just dont ask how I know.....

Bob T.

[Guest daveg]

Jon

 

At long last I have a picture...

 

Damage isn't too bad so I will live with it...

 

Dave

PS Richard was right...."it never looks like it will work"

[Guest Battery Bill]

Hi Dave

Welcome to the "RS retirement funding club" I've just ordered a new side panel to picked up at Newark.

Have a look at the sorry tale here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill.b1/bill/...ges/crease.html

We did not pack out the top part of the panel at the front and pop our crease appeared as if by magic.

Somewhat scared to do the next one now!

[Guest daveg]

B&J

 

I know its depressing building a 2b...I just spent all day trying to weld the sump

 

I want to learn to weld but I cannot understand how a weld that looks good can let water through...its wierd seeing water appear through solid (looking ) metal!

 

My side panels are mild steel and so I can panel beat the hell out of it...:angry:

 

Dave

PS I like your website...

[Guest stevie b]

Dave,

 

Take your time with your welding.

 

I would advise a course if your not sure. I enrolled on a night class at a local technical college to learn to weld. It was about £20 and well worth it ( I used £20 pounds worth of rods and made hanging baskets for most of the western world!).Previously I could weld poorly but the course showed me where I was going wrong.

 

Steve.

[Guest daveg]

Steve

 

Unfortuantly I live in a really poor town for enything technical I don't know where you are but here in London the colleges think things like welding, paint spraying and anything remotely useful is politically incorrect

 

I looked into courses but there are none

 

Dave

[Guest Guy]

My sump leaked like a siv when I MIG welded it.

 

You can seal it from the inside with petrol tank fixing paste. It looks like bluetak, you kneed it for a while and then stick it and push it into the joint and it sets hard. you can drill and tap it if you want to.

 

I used it to seal my petrol filler pipe when I welded that up. it's resistant to oil, heat and fuel.

[Guest Ant]

My trick with welding is to stick plenty on! A messy finish soon looks ok once painted. On the sump I made the base plate about 5mm bigger than the walls all round so I'd got plenty to go at.

 

Regarding the paste idea, "Chemical metal" costs about 2.50 a pack from Halfords and it would seal it. This is what I sealed my petrol tank sender in with, and the outlet pipe underneath, and I've filled in the bottom corners of my windscreen frame with it too so that the self tapper has a bit more to grip to.

 

Ant

[Guest daveg]

I have managed to get it water tight!

 

But I am not happy it will stay that way but it will do to get on the road...the sealant idea is good except you cannot get to the bit at the top of the add on box

 

I think mig welding 0.7mm steel (thats what I used) is very difficult, I have never done tig welding but IMHO gas would be best. One day I might get a tig setup and try again or give in and get someone with gas bottles to do it, or try using 2 or 3 mm plate.

 

Thanks for the replys, great moral boost

 

Dave

[Guest cjbailey]

I was taught to weld (arc, mig and oxy-acetylene) as part of my apprenticeship, I am fairly good at it, but would still not have the confidence to do it on something that mattered!

[Guest Battery Bill]

Hey Dave

Have you noticed how 2 posts have led from something completely different on to your sump?

See if you can get all the other subjects talking about it, never mind one day you will have a post in SVA pass and you will be able to laugh about your sump.

I tried Ants suggestion of loads of weld but the amount I had on in the end would have kippered my front Zeemerides (Green springy things)

Keep going it will stop leaking one day.

Bill and Joey

[Guest daveg]

B&J

 

I did start a thread in Modifications about the sump I have found a college that does 10week courses on welding...I am thinking of joining so when it comes to practical...you guessed it, I'll have the sump in a carrier bag

 

Dave