Welded at Last

Before we get to the E9 I want to share a funny story. On my ride to work last week I came across a sad yet funny situation. Seeing a rode sign flattened is not so special. What makes it ironically funny is what the sign says, and what was secured to the sign pole.



That's my beautiful Merlin leaning against the bridge. While I was taking this picture I was all decked out in cycling gear, and three people stopped to ask if I was OK. Just goes to show you that most Honolulu drivers are good folk.

My goal for Sunday was to get the rear panel patch welded on. I have been working on this for way too long! And I made it, too.

Last week I determined that the rust hole I wanted to use for the first bolt was too low, so I began by grinding it larger. That required me to use a washer to prevent the nut from pulling through, and even then bolting it in place was tricky. I marked the places where I wanted to drill for bolts and used a center punch to make drilling in the right place easier. With the patch held firmly in place by the first bolt I drilled through both layers with a 1/8" bit, then through the patch with a 9/32" bit. The bolts have 1/4" shanks but I wanted a little slop. With the patch removed I finished drilling through the original panel. The last step was to use my pnumatic punch to punch spot-weld holes al around the edge.

Due to Hawaii's demanding weather I hate to put things together without moisture protection, so before proceding I wanted to paint the patch with weld-thru primer. Especially the inside. First I cleaned it with POR-15 Marine Clean and roughened the surface with clean 180# sandpaper, to give the primer something to hold on to.



When the primer was dry I bolted the patch into place one last time. A couple of spots at each end needed help to lay flat, so I used some Vise-Grips to hold the edges tightly in place. This patch is different than the previous patches because the holes for welding are on the outside. This will require a lot of grinding, and some filler. After the patch was tacked in place I removed the clamps and bolts, then went back and finished the places that had been covered. I thought I would weld up the bolt holes until I realized that the welds would go right through to the inside, which would make more of a mess than the strength they would provide. I will use either epoxy putty or fiberglass and POR-15; probably the putty.





As I was setting up to weld my friend Tom offered to help me pick out some better tires from the junk tire pile and mount them, so that the car would not look quite so destitute. So next Sunday will be Super Bowl Sunday for most folks, and Tire Sunday for me. Who cares about the Steelers and the Cardinals, anyway?