Most car restoration guides advise you not to start buying parts before you have discovered the full extent of the work required. The reasoning being that it is better to find out that the car is beyond economic BEFORE you have spent any money on new parts. After my initial pokings with my screwdriver, It was pretty clear to me that the Goggo was going to need a lot of new parts, especially body panels.
So, I ordered up….
- A passenger side front wing
- A drivers side ‘half front wing’ repair panel
- Two outer sills
- Two repair panels for paels behind the doors
- Two inner sections for the panels behind the doors
- Two rear wheel arch repair sections
- Four ‘banana panels’ for the inside of the wheel arches
- Two rear corner sections
- A front panel for below the ‘bonnet’
- A rear panel for under the ‘boot’
I now had replacement metal for the entire lower section of the body. Now my challenge was to work out how to attach it all in approximately the right place!
My biggest problem with fitting the replacement panels (apart from learning how to weld) was that the chassis was just as corroded as the body. After cutting away all of the rust and the earlier repair attemps, it was very difficult to work out exactly where the new panels should go.
Anyway, you have to start somewhere so, I got out my tin snips and started to cut away at the front right wing. I removed everything back to the original spot welds and in doing so, discovered that the bottom 20 cm or so of the door pillar was completely coroded. I cut it away and welded in a home made repair section and the new sill section. I thought it looked rather convincing!
Here is another view of the new sill:
Flushed with success, I started work on the front wings. The first thing to do was to weld the ‘banana panels’ in place – these are the bits that are bolted to the wheel wells. This was one of the rare jobs that my spot welder was perfect for. To actually attach the wing I used the Clark MIG welder. Here is the driver’s side front wing
….before:
….and after:
