Yahoo, Wopee, Yes.......

This weekend we did it. Actually welded something. Finally on the road to restoring UIU.
The weather was great, for a change, cold & dry. So after much thought over the last couple of weeks we figured out that by reattaching the rear wings we would have something to line up with.
It worked, so we managed to get the valance welded on yesterday. OK so we'll never win a prize for the welds but they penetrated & are holding.
So onwards & upwards.
We also had to create a patch for the boot floor to the rear of the fuel tank so that the replacement part would have something to hold on to. Managed to get that done today and a coat of anti rust paint on everything.
So hopefully the next weekend we'll move the axle stands forward so that we can loosen the rear axle shackles to try and start the lineup of the replacement supports.
But that's in the future for now we are basking in the glow of actually putting something back on the car.
Trying for size.

First ever weld.


It's on!

New boot patch.

Patch weld.

New back end.

The back comes off.

To follow on from our previous post here's the pictures of where we got to. As I said a time for a lot of thought.

Did I totally screw up??

What it was like.



Spring Hanger rust.


Rich gets started.



Out come the heavy tools.


Its gone!

1st step of reconstruction

but first deconstruction. We managed to get out today & start to fit body panels.
We decided to start on the boot area & the rear valance. Unfortunately as we started to take out the obvious rust in the back of the boot we found an amount of filler hiding some bad weld patches. So we had to cut back almost as far as the fuel tank recess to start to get solid metal.

That done we then cut off the lower back valance and tried to match the parts up. No joy, there appears to be a slight difference (1/4 inch maybe) in the width and we have no datum point to acually fix to.

So the plan now is the next weekend I'm home, weather permitting, we'll use the rear mudguards to try and line up using those. Also will have to go on to the MMOC site to see if anyone can offer advice there. But as Rich says we've at least started the reconstruction. Pictures to follow when I get a chance to download from the camera.