Today I sealed up the outer longitude and attached the inner rear wheel well. Lots of fitting and I still have the inside to do, but structural integrity is back in the car!

Wow what a weekend me and the wife had at Alderbrook. Mary set us up in the resort, did the spa stuff and a special wine tasting. The thing was we were the first people to sign up and try the wine offering, so we had the Chef, Sous Chef and restaurant manager all attentive to Mary and I and it was grand. Each tasting had a special dish from the kitchen and they put in a lot of effort, it was really something and we certainly consumed more of the staff’s time than the price, let alone the food and wine. Alderbrook is really pretty this time of year and I am glad Raikes sunk some of his cash into this place, it is pretty special.

I have completed the rear and middle inner longitude repairs and I am now moving onto the inner wheel well and outer rocker panels. This is a significant moment for the project. I learned a lot about the characteristics of my MIG welder and how to work with thin sheet metal.

In the fitting below, I did a lap weld and worked the pieces together to merge about a 1/2 inch. I then fitted my inner sleeve and welded that into place.

I then did another inner sleeve for the upper part of the rear longitude, This is total overkill as the fitting on the upper part was very strong, but I wanted to make sure the car is stiff. I then treated the inner area with POR-15 (and primer) before I close it up with the inner wheel well.

I finally finished up all measurements, had my Clecos in and tested. So we started welding in the longitudes this weekend. Lots of Lap and Plug welds and then cleaning them up nicely. Car is almost back to being structurally sound!