To raise the roof
Matt attains nirvana with his panel repair
Last month I began the most terrifying rust repair I’ve ever attempted – removing a section of my Morris Minor’s roof from the middle of the rear screen to just above the boot aperture . Then graft in a replacement piece I’d sourced from a car long since scrapped. I’d cut the hole, made a template and trimmed the replacement so that it more-or-less fitted then walked away for a couple of days to attain automotive zen before the next, most crucial stage. It was critical the two sections butted up against each other in three dimensions with millimetre perfect precision.
Feeling the heat
It was fortuitous, then, that PC’S premier metal masseuse, Theo Gillam, was in town to assist with pre-nec show preparation on Danny’s Riley. One evening, the two of us tweaked, trimmed and caressed the replacement section into place, then clamped it in position with every welding clamp in the workshop. Next, I tacked a few critical points before walking away and allowing it to cool, to prevent distortion by minimising the heat being put into the car. I continued the process of tacking and pausing, five minutes here, ten minutes there, over a few days until all the tacks met and a constant bead ran all the way round where the panels touched. I then used a flap disc to remove the excess before it was ready for lead loading. If you were at the NEC Classic Motor Show last month you will have seen the car on the Skill Shack stage with Mikey and Steve from Gilbert-michaelson Restoration.
The 1275 Ital A+ engine is still at Owlesbury Crankshaft Services (OCS) who have measured the bore wear as three thou, more than I’d be happy to just risk a hone, so it’ll be a 20 thou overbore and I need to consider piston options.
‘l began the most terrifying rust repair I’ve ever attempted’