Triumph Spitfire Metal Work #8 - Not So Fast, Mister!

This will be another two-fer post. Sorry for the delay, but it happens. As you may be able to tell by the title, I still had some bonnet repairs to do. Just glad I found them. To the (first) video:

I did some hammering around the wheel arches, "smoothing" them out a bit and trying to remove some creases in preparation for painting. The trailing edges were pretty beat up, especially on the driver's side. If you remember way back when I was fitting the bonnet for gaps, I had issues with the wheel arch rubbing on the body's bulkhead. The scraps on the bulkhead that existed when I bought the car tell me it's a historical problem. I didn't fix it at the time of working the gaps, so this will be something that will come back to haunt me, I'm sure. In any case, the dents and creases hammered out ok.

Driver's side wheel arch, seen from rear of bonnet, pre-hammering

Same spot, opposite view (from front of bonnet)

And post hammering, from rear of bonnet.

Same spot, opposite view.

Better.I had also mentioned in my last post/video about that bonnet stay hole on the bonnet itself that was all blown out. I inspected the black car's and it was just a hole, not something raised that I had thought based on the condition of Dorothy's. It was just mangled. Since I do intend to use the bonnet lift kit that I bought, I decided to only repair the area and not drill a new hole. I'll make the decision on whether or not to do so in the future.

Patch ready for tacking in.

In doing my inspections and going over everything, I discovered a good spot of pitting around the front where the passenger's grille is. This is a layered design where the grille surround is attached to a cross-member that runs between the forward part of the bonnet. I bent open the seam between a few spots welds and didn't like what I say as far as pitting penetration.

Flap bent back for inspection.

Taking the conservative route, I drilled out three spot welds, used my Dremel to cut the metal out, and got it to the bench for inspection.

Yup, need to fix that.

Area where metal was removed. Looks good behind it, though.

The replacement piece was relatively easy to fabricate as it was only L-shaped, though I did have to cut two oval holes to allow for some nut retainers where the grille attaches. I used a smallish drill bit and drilled three holes, then used the dremel to smooth them out. Good enough.

Repair patch constructed.That done, I primed the whole area with weld through and get it welded in.

Grille surround painted.

Patch welded in.

Cuts from Dremel and drilled out spot welds filled.

Once it was welded in, I ground it smooth and stood back to admire my handiwork. Not too bad, this one.

Ground smooth.

Same area, different view.

That repair, however, did take most of the visit. I played around with some hammer and dolly work, but nothing of consequence since, it being a school night, I didn't have much time left.

My weekend visit went pretty well and in an attempt to provide a bit more methodology for everyone, I took a lot more "action" shots. The video:

I first investigated similar pitting in the same area as the repair above, but on the other side. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad.

Pits not as bad and they did not penetrate as far.

I did follow the same extensive exploration as before, cutting and bending the grille surround back, but the metal did not require replacement. I got the rust removed, got rust converter on it, primed it, and bent and welded the metal back down.

The majority of the rest of the time was mainly cleaning and hammer and dolly work. I did find a rather sizable crack in one of the bonnet support pivot tubes and I'll take the replacement from the black car since I don't want to take any chances with what may be a structural part since this is the end that provides the fulcrum for lifting the bonnet.

I also cleaned all of the pivot tubes and their brackets.

The pivot tube brackets. Used the sand blaster on some spots.

And, finally, I did some extensive (for me) hammer and dolly work on the area around where the pivot tubes come out of the grille surround. Pictures don't really do it justice since it's hard to see the change in depth of the dent; the video is a bit better, but still not the best. Happy with the progress in the areas that I did, so I'm becoming mildly confident that I can actually be successful with hammer and dolly work.

Driver's side (bonnet is still upside down).

Passenger's side (bonnet is still upside down).

That was about it for the week. I've got my weekday visit tomorrow (9/6) and I should get over there on Saturday, I think, though soccer season is starting back up, so it may get a bit tricky to spin all of the plates. Cheers!