FORMING VARIOUS WING SECTIONS

Front lower area

The area below the headlamp housing was formed from two pieces of steel, but we’ll make ours as one patch instead. The flange underneath bolts to the front valance. We’ve made a template from an offcut of 5mm plywood to record the curvature.

Make formers

To form tight radii like those on our radiator aperture, make formers to hammer the steel over. We’ve used offcuts of 6mm steel, marked out using a cardboard template. Use a cutting disc for the basic shape and a grinding disc for fine-tuning.

Mark out

Use a scriber to mark the shape of the former on a sheet of fresh steel. Add the width of the flanges around the edges. If possible, it’s useful to first bend a straight flange against which the former can sit. This reduces the likelihood of inaccuracy.

Form inner flange

Clamp the steel between the formers and use a rounded soft-faced mallet to turn the flange. The panel can’t bend, so the flange has to stretch. Tap and stretch until the flange is pretty-much there, then planish with a crowned hammer.

Check progress

Because this bit of our offside wing has disappeared, we’re using the nearside wing to find the key features. Mark points on the good wing and identical ones on the repair panel and number them. Mark the centre line of the reverse curve too.

Shrink for curvature

Putting curvature into the panel is achieved by shrinking the flanges. A shrinker/stretcher (from £120) is quick and easy, but it can also be achieved by creating tucks with a fork and hammering them flat. Add more curvature by hand, if necessary.

Forming curve on panel

Use a paper template to mark out the panel for the curve and for cutting. Trim it, then begin the reverse curve by stretching the periphery. Work your way out to the edge progressively, slowly easing the steel over. A deep stretcher would be ideal for this.

Check basic shape

Use the numbered marks and a profile gauge or templates to check your progress. This part of our reverse curve is almost there. Keep working and checking, as changing the shape of one part of the panel can affect the shape of other parts.

Forming a reverse curve

This ‘U’ profile is the shape of the section under the headlamp housing. It’s created by stretching the edges of the section to make them longer than the centre. Use consistent bites of the stretcher or the reverse curve won’t be uniform.

Forming more curve

We can’t get the radius to start low enough on the panel using our stretcher. It can be achieved by stretching the steel progressively towards the edge by hammering on an appropriate dolly. Hammer on-dolly, so it makes a ringing sound.

Forming gutters

It’s common to find gutters on the inner edge of a wing. They’re unlikely to be straight in any axis. You could form a ‘U’ and then stretch it. It’s likely to be easier to bend an ‘L’, shrink/stretch it to suit and then add a strip that replicates the other side.