1976 2.7S Rust repairs
This '76 2.7S came in for what we thought would be routine sills, kidney bowls, B-post and floor edges, but the rust had taken a much greater hold than we thought.
The car is stripped down
and the underseal cleaned back to reveal rust damage and poor previous repairs
Repair section made for the top of the front inner wing
And similar on the other side
Rust behind the front bumper mounts has eaten through the inner wings
New bumper mount used as a guide when fabricating repairs to the inner wing behind it
Quite a few hours work involved in reconstucting the inner wing around the battery box
Rusted rear inner wing cut away from torsion tube
Repair sleeve fitted to torsion tube
repair panel fitted with strenghtening plate
New panel welded in place
with new suspension arm
new floor edge welded in place
Rust in the lower A-post cut away
to reveal previous poor repairs to the inner structure
using what looks to be sections cut from another car!
A lot of reconstruction to do here!
section fabricated for the inner lower A-post
And a repair panel cut to fit the outer lower A-post
repair section fabricated to fit below the door hinges
New inner sill and jacking point in place
repair section fabricated for the rear inner wing
new kidney bowl in place
Filler most of the way along the door bottoms means the most effective repair will be new door skins
Likewise the front wings have extensive rust and will be replaced
Outer skin removed
Edges cleaned and treated
New skin fitted
lining up the outer sill and door gaps
Repair to the lower rear wing
New wing mounting plate fitted after repairs made to the metal under it.
All the metal removed from the passenger side!!!
repairs had been made over the rust
some pieces are three layers thick with repair over repair...
And now on to the drivers side
To find such delights as fibreglas patches!
Covering over rust!
And holes
Seam sealer hiding rust
Previously replace panels not welded on
Usual rust in the kidney bowls
Rust in the torsion tubes
Rust has eaten through three layers of metal, all will need to be reconstructed
Replaced with new section
New section made for inner wing
New kidney bowl in place
Rear of Front inner wing, new section welded in
New B-post and outer sill in place
Rusted area behind the front bumper mount cut away
New section fabricated
Metalwork almost finished
Some of the uglier bits we cut out!
In primer
Stone chip coating on inner wings
Shiney Guards Red
Epoxy coating and sealing strip applied ready for the wings to go on
Epoxy also used on underside and inner rear wings
No more horrible patches...
Door membrane to stop water ingress
Plenty of cavity wax
Almost there
Wheel alignment after refitting the rear suspension
Rear alignment
Front Tracking