Volvo Amazon Wheel Tub Repair

I have been working at every opportunity to complete as much of the boot floor repairs as possible whilst I still have some good weather. I am restricted in that my garage isn't that big and to work on the rear of the car, the up and over door needs to be open. I am not sure how far I am going to get with this job before winter really sets in, but I have sorted the rear wheel tub to boot floor repair. Here is a shot of what I started with.

I had also found a smallish hole towards the front edge.

I cut out the rot up to marked lines using a angle grinder/disc cutter and a hacksaw.

We had a bit of a domestic crisis last week when the central heating boiler packed up, just in time for winter! The diagnosis was the control panel and given the age and general condition of the boiler, we decided to replace it. What am I telling you this? Well, it turns out that the old boiler casing is made from 1mm mild steel. That's handy...

After fashioning some card templates (I'm finding Shredded Wheat cereal boxes ideal for this), I cut some pieces from the boiler casing.

To repair the hole in the corner of the wheel tub, I cut a section with an already folded edge, then used my new shrinker stretcher to add a very slight curvature, before welding it in place.

Next I moved onto the larger and considerably more complex main repair. I made a 'nicely' curved section with a lip, but this ultimately proved unsuccessful. The issue is that the fold needs to roll gently over from 90˚ at the foremost edge to no fold at all where it meets the outer tub. When I tried to create this, I lost the shape of the panel completely. In the end I made two separate pieces.

Both these pieces were really awkward to hold in place for welding so overnight I ordered a set of mini butt welding clamps (Amazon Prime). One of these can be seen in place here. 

After cleaning of the welds and a coat of etch primer, here is the finished repair.

This job took me longer that I anticipated, as so often these things do, but I must say that the new tools helped enormously and I am quietly quite pleased with the results. How much more I can do on the boot area before the weather breaks remains too be seen, its already getting wetter and windier. On the plus side, the central heating is working a treat.

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