my new integrale

[Kevinlincs]

Last picture for tonight and one of the reasons the integrale has taken me so long, my lads Hillman Imp that I did a similar amount of welding too and painted..we met up with a good friend of mine Keith in his lovely Sud for a drink, never thought a Sud would look so big!!

[Rob]

Great update Kev  . I think you made the right choice by replacing the whole scuttle panel especially as you could finally have the wipers in the correct position. I liked the windscreen jig too, although not pretty it certainly did a good job of lining the scuttle panel up with the rest of the car  . Keep up the great work, I'll be looking forward to the next instalment.
Cheers, Rob

[DavidLaver]

That pillar joint really did come out well.  Once again shows why its necessary to take the brave pills, pull a big bit off, poke all the way down to the foundations and build it back again strong.  Pleased to be rid of those drains?

[Kevinlincs]

Agree with all you say guys, worth the effort to get the wipers parking the right side (incidentally on corresponding with John Whalley that is also a change that he did on all his RHD converted cars, an easy way to see if it is one of his he says, no-one else went to the trouble..) plus you just can't leave any area untouched assuming there isn't rust ready to spread.
I'd rather not be doing this again in 5 years so best carry on whilst at it now!
The water drain tubes I'm glad to see the back of for sure!



I'll do a couple of updates now that continue the rust theme but which I haven't sent in to the magazine as I got the feeling people would be getting the wrong idea about how bad it was!


At this stage the car was moved from my friend Jims' place up to my rented unit so I could get it nearer to the painting stage

Full of optimism that the rust was all but gone I got the pair of wings out that I bought a couple of years back.
The passenger one needed a bit of straightening to the arch lip which went OK but the whole wing itself was quite badly twisted, not something I'd noticed until trial fitted to the car with the side skirt. As it also would need welding repairs in the same place (but admitedly not so far reaching) as the original wign I decided to ditch that one and just repair the original as the fit was so much better.

The rot started at the high point of the arch and stretched all the way down, some repairs would need careful planning..


First job was to tackle the large portion that led into the arch extension..

[Kevinlincs]

Quite a bit was cut away to start with, enough for me to a=manage in one repair section without going too far to start with.
The repair section can be seen on the bonnet awaiting fitting..

[Kevinlincs]

Tacked in place to start with.
Note the wing is still bolted to the car to try and prevent welding a plate on with the wing twisted on a stand or something!

[Kevinlincs]

The curve of the wing actually caused more work to shape being part of a bigger section, shaping one way affects others so you have to give it some thought..

[Kevinlincs]

Eventually though it all gets welded and ground back

[Kevinlincs]

Next job was to do the simpler section that continued down towards the side skirt.

[Kevinlincs]

Much more straightforward but still starting off with a flat piece of steel, folding it to create a straight angled section then shaping it to match the curvature of the wing in both directions comes easier with practice....

[Kevinlincs]

All welded in and smoothed off

[Kevinlincs]

Last job on the wing was to cut off the bottom mount...
A new section made up and let in

[Kevinlincs]

A lot of effort for a wing but what do you do?
It needs to last...

[DavidLaver]

That long section - how did you bend and shape it?  "Just" a hammer and edge of the bench or got a shrinker/stretcher or something?

[Kevinlincs]

Yes, a shrinker/stretcher.
It's amazing how easy it is to create curves and control/alter them.
With the practice I've had it's become less of a challenge, that piece maybe took 10 minutes to make.
I did complete wheel arches for the front of the Imp, all the way from the front edge to the bottom near the sill, and that had multiple curves at differing sections.