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Volvo P130 Inner Wing Repair



Repairing the inner wings of my Volvo Amazon has been a job that I have been mulling over for quite some time and now having finished the repairs to the off side windscreen surround (see previous post), it seemed that the time was right.

I began by removing under-seal, using a scraper and a heat gun; a messy job, but it came away without too much fuss. I have also found that the last remnants can be wiped off using a rag soaked in panel wipe. Once the area was clean, I proceeded to carefully remove the previous repairs and then drilled out the spot welds to remove the box section.



I have some repair sections which I bought many years ago at the Beaulieu Autojumble, however I felt that I didn't want to remove the entire inner wing from this side of the car as the wall itself was pretty good. My plan was to use just the top and box section of the repair panel.


Of course, nothing ever goes that smoothly. Offering up the panel, I discovered that things didn't line up correctly. If I aligned the pre-drilled holes for the wing bolts with the existing holes, the panel as a whole was too far forward, leaving a large gap at at the A pillar and overhanging too far at the front of the vehicle.


The solution was to remove the box from the repair panel and fit that first, then attempt to fit the top strip independently to align correctly with the existing wing bolt holes. I drilled out all the spot welds to separate the box section and offered this up to the car.



This allowed much better positioning front to back, although there was a fair amount of fettling to get a nice tight fit over the swaging in the cowling. Once happy, I plug-welded it in place.


Next I carefully cut the top strip from the rest of the repair piece, then test fitted, lining it up with the existing bolt holes. I cut away most of the remains of the original the inner wing top, leaving just the bolt holes themselves for precise alignment.  I also took the opportunity to paint the inside of the box section, as this would be inaccessible after the next stage.


I clamped the new top in place and plug welded to attach it to the replacement box section just at the very front. I cut along the top edge of the inner wing at a 45% angle, with a grinder/disc cutter to create a nice 'mitred' join. I was then able to gently peel back the new top and remove any off cuts from inside the box section.



Finally, I completed the repair by seam welding along this edge, and plug welding the opposite edge to the new box section.


All in all, a pretty neat job I think, by my standards anyway. The near side needs a similar repair and I expect to tackle that in much the same way (although there is some rusting to the inner wing itself so that might complicate things a little).

Next on the agenda, the off side front floor pan.


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