Triumph Spitfire Body Repair #44 - Rear Wing (other one)

A good day at the garage. The proof:

I mention in the video that I had a garage buddy today. I think it was a mole because it was fat and slow and didn't mind walking right across the garage floor. I never got any video of it or a good camera shot, but here's one with my cell phone.

Run, Forest, run!

Anyway, first off, I  took the low-hanging fruit and used a hacksaw to cut through the partial plug welds I did on the upper portion of outside bulkhead bracket for the battery box. I talked about this in my last post in that I hadn't ensured it was flush enough to the bulkhead prior to welding and it bowed out.

Before the fix.

Once I cut through the weld metal, I was able to use a hammer and dolly, hammering from the cockpit side, to flush up the bulkhead to the bracket. I never did get back to welding it in properly, but it should be a quick and easy job once I do.

And after...much better.

That didn't take long, so it was on to the rear wing. I  tackled the front first, specifically the wheel arch. I made a template and finally got a u-shaped piece that I was happy enough with to weld in.

Installed, trimmed and cleaned up a bit.

Same piece, different angle.

This definitely requires a revisit as I think it will need to be shaved down a bit, especially towards the bottom. But, since I intend on re-doing that part of the patch that I made for the external surface of the wing in that area, I'll have quite a bit of wiggle room.

What took most of my time, as a single repair, was the outer wheel arch portion at the bottom of the rear wing on the back side. Why this gave me such a hard time as compared to the driver's side, I don't know, but it did.  After several fits and starts, I was able to come up with an adequate solution.

My solution.

From inside the wheel arch, looking at the fender flange. I fixed this large gap.

Once the wheel arch portion was done, I made a template from a manila folder that mimicked the bottom of the wing. My intention was to reproduce that and get it to fit, then transfer that pattern to the actual repair patch, cut it and get it welded in. Believe it or not, it worked!

The manila mock-up that I used to size the repair patch.

Now that I knew how much of the new wing I needed, I cut it down and fit it up. Sorry that I didn't take more pictures but I was on a roll of sorts and didn't want to stop. I document it pretty good in the video, so I'd recommend watching that (or at least the second half of it).

The wing patch welded in. Some grinding and it'll be all set!

All in all, I was really happy with how the day went. I took my time, used templates and carefully and methodically thought out each step. While it may not seem like I accomplished much,  it was a productive day for me! I just wish I had  taken more and better pictures. Always something to improve!