Triumph Spitfire Body Repair #41 - Rear Wing Inner Strengthener (the other one)

Merry Christmas, everyone. Figured I'd get caught up, so here's the video:

This visit involved continued preparations on getting the boot floor patch in. As I mentioned previously, I decided that I would be better served getting the rear wing strengthener in first as access was excellent, so that's what I did. I didn't have a whole lot of time in this visit, but I got that done.

First, I had to cut the old stuff out. I went a bit lower all around this time as this side wasn't quite as bad as the other.

What I cut out. Bottom few inches is gone.

Cancerous portion removed.

As with the other side, of course, the strengthener and outer wheel arch are all on piece, so I had to try to make them one piece again. For this side, I chose to not separate the flange from the inner wheel arch quite as high as I did on the driver's side. I was also smarter about the amount of original (non-damaged) metal I cut away and was able to make it work.

Rough fit. Note how the front edge slips under the flange.

View of front union from the wheel well.

Same view, different angle.

Once I get fit right, I tacked it in, running a bead along the remaining portion of the lower outer wheel arch and the new strengthener.

Closeup of the bead.

Once that was done, I bent the flange back as flush as possible and gave it a few good plug welds to replace the drilled out spot welds.

Full shot of the repair. Much better, though some weld cleanup remains.

In addition to this repair, the upper strengthener where the rear valance attaches, on both sides, had some cancer and were also damaged when I was removing the rear valance. This required two rather small triangle repair patches.

Closeup of one side of the damage.

The two damaged pieces, one from each side.

Damage removed. Tight fit for the cutting wheel in here.

I had to use a hacksaw blade to removed the triangle as it was tight for my 3" penumatic cutoff wheel. I made it work, though.

Thankfully, it was much easier to weld the replacement pieces in than it was to remove them!

Passenger's side done. Need to remove the point of the triangle, obviously.

Driver's side done.

That was about it for the visit. Still mulling over my approach to the repair for the rear taillight. But, the next visit should decide which way I go and I should also get the boot floor patch in. We'll see!  Cheers.