Outer roof frame weld in p1

With the hottest day of the year so far upon us I took it upon me to spend the day with molten metal and fire.

Firstly this is for David who will have noticed the lack of injury as at the start of the blog, as commented on. You will be happy to know that while welding today I noticed a warm ankle and then realised I was on fire... enjoy.

Starting at the A pillar I had to chop a triangle section out, once the triangle was removed I then set about using the blow gun to heat the metal and working the sheet in to meet the cut top section, this can be seen in the photo by the weld lines. With the triangle cut I tacked in the points and then taking a sheet of paper I used my grubby thumb to rub a template of the triangle now required to fit the gap. With the paper template cut I then use a magnet to hold it in place while I tacked it into place.
With the new part tacked in I set about seam welding the outer of the A panel and all I can say is it went in very well.



Next on to the join between the A and B pillar, the one side was already done, ground and sprayed though I have to say the welds here where very easy and quite pleasing to perform.



The B pillar took a lot more work and bits had to be moved, firstly the corner at the top of the B pillar was too far in and had to be cut and moved by 5mm this meant that I had to place a small sliver of 0.80mm steel in so I opted for the stop start method of welding ensuring no holes where blown.



With the B pillar all in line I welded a 1.5mm thick sheet inside the pillar for extra strength. With this in I took a spare B pillar I had laying about and cut a 20mm wide strip and welded it into place.



Happy that I had the outside of the B pillar done I added one support to the window frame and removed the top support, I then took a spare rear 1/4 section and cut it to fit the gap. I was really pleased with the cut it matched perfectly, and then I just tacked this into place and went home.



Sorry to everyone who finds looking at welds boring but this is going to happen for the next few weeks, just hold out for the grinding of the welds... or when I get to body preparation which will involve lots of sanding. Sorry, the engine will be started on very shortly.