All British Car Day and back to the E9 tail light

Yesterday was All British Car Day at Kapiolani Park. I had my Lotus there, despite the not-so-perfect paint. Everyone was impressed at how good the repair turned out ... I guess the glitches don't look so bad to them. I have posted some photos I took on my Flickr account.



Last time I worked on the E9 I started on a small strip of metal to bridge across a big rust hole in trunk seal flange above the right tail light. Today I finished it, and along the way started to think about how to add the additional pieces required.



I knew the piece would have tricky compound curves. Just the basic flat piece I started with is curved; the outboard side curves up like a crooked smile. This basic flat piece needed to be arched and twisted, and the arch needed to be tweaked to compensate for the difference in thickness where the underlying metal was missing. To do this I held it in a vise and either applied pressure by hand, or with a pair of pliers. The bends and twists took many trips back and forth from the car to the vice, yet are so subtle it is not easy to capture in a photo.



I decided that since the original sheet-metal is thinner than my patch it would be better to weld through holes in the original. In the past, when I welded through holes in the thicker patch the thin layer tends to burn through before the puddle fills the hole. To that end I drilled a series of 5/32 in. holes through the flange. This was not possible on the outboard end, because there was no way to get the welder behind the joint. I punched those holes with my trusty pneumatic hole puncher.



Just before welding I coated everything with Weld-Thru primer. I tried to clamp the piece in place but the arch made the ends lift, so I took the bold step of holding it in place by hand. It worked! Maybe I just got lucky. I had just enough time left to grind down the welds and apply a thick coat of POR-15 Metal-Prep.



My plan for next time is to add a piece underneath which extends up and back to fill in most of the rust hole. This piece will be welded to the rear panel, which will provide a solid anchor, and it will form the missing flange edge. If the bends prove to be too tricky I will have to make it in two pieces. When all of that is in place I will fill the gaps with Epoxy Filler. The piece I welded today sits on top of existing sheet-metal, but it is underneath the rubber trunk seal to it will not be visible and the change in thickness should be insignificant.