This post is a short update and will not feature much in the way of photographic documentation I'm afraid. I have not been as diligent with my camera as I should be.
Following the O/S rear chassis and inner wheel tub repairs (see previous post), I turned my attention to the new inner arch panels. These pressings look great and come highly recommended. It has been my plan for a good while to use these as the structure from which to rebuild the whole of the rear quarters, but (surprise, surprise) I have hit some problems.
The first issue seems to be with the fit to the outer arches. I have new repair sections for these and so I thought that the best way to start would be to offer these up together, expecting them to clip together precisely; if only. I spent an entire day measuring, making card templates and trying to work out how they might marry up. I can tell you that the radius of the inner repair is not by default the same as the outer. This threw me completely.
Of course the existing rear wheel arches are so corroded that it was difficult to work out which of the two radius might be out. In the end I took my panels and my templates round to my friend's garage to offer them up to his car; a very nice and completely unrestored '63 example. We managed to establish that the radius of the outer arch sections were the correct ones and that the inner sections were narrow to the tune of around 4cm.
I approached the supplier, who were very helpful and they in fact contacted a local (to them) professional bodyshop that they knew to have fitted the same panels. The message that came back was that they will fit, with a bit of "stretching and fettling". I went back to my car and took some measurements of the inside of the panel, where the two halves of the wheel tube join; these were much more favourable. I concluded that the technique would be to fit to the inside first, then fit the outers to the rear wing, then 'stretch' the inner arch to meet the outer.
Here lies the second issue and my biggest dilemma, how to fit the inner arches to the existing wheel tubs. Do I cut and bodge the new panels to let them in to the existing tubs, or should I completely remove the original outer tubs (inner arches) and recreate the factory spot welded fitting. My inclination is to do the latter (i.e. do it properly), but I cannot see how I can effectively achieve that without removing the entire rear wing. Right now, that's a bit scary! If I do this, should I fit the new outer arches before I remove the rear wings? Will I be able to successfully reattach the wings? If it goes badly I could end up needing new ones which are expensive and would severely dent the budget. There might be a time saving though, assuming that they are a good fit... I need to do some more thinking.
So the update is that just like the battery box repairs, I have decide to leave this challenge for the time being and switch to something that I am confident that I am ready to tackle, the O/S boot (trunk) floor...
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