Urq A pillar / inner & outer wing repair

[jimh]

A few weeks ago when getting out of the car, I noticed a lump in the door shut near the bottom of the A pillar.

I poked it with my finger, it was soft...

I also had a crack on the top of the drivers side wing from a temporary repair I did about 10 years ago.

So yesterday and today, I took the wing off to have a look.


I was glad to see the inner & outer wing had not got any worse since my previous repair, but it wasn't great then.


Here is the urq wing. The rusty area is the bit that still has the butyl sealant on it, and had rusted through on the edge prior to my previous repair.





My plan here is to cut out and weld in a section from an old coupe wing:-





Here's the inner wing



You can see remnants of my previous repair:-



The top is a bit pitted, but hopefully ok with some rust converter / POR15



Here's the A pillar



I don't know if these small holes will have to be cut out or if they can be filled with weld.





The worst bit is at the bottom



This will need cutting, fabrication & welding.
Should I try to get hold of a suitable A pillar (or part of one)?

Thing is, do I:-

1) Buy a MIG? TIG? welder, lean to use it and do it all myself. I think this kind of repair is a whole series of very small welds built up over time to control the temperature, so it doesn't sound too difficult, just slow. I'd have to figure out how to form the sheet metal too (unless I got a suitable piece of an A pillar). Painting is not a problem.

2) Do as much prep as possible including any cutting and take the car and some pre cut bits to someone else to weld in & grind flat ready for me to finish off & put the wing back on. Maybe this person is mobile and can come to the car?

3) Take the car and parts as-is (with the parts cut oversize) somewhere that can do the work and may prefer to cut the parts themselves. I could still paint & refit the wing.

[QuattroBird]

If you are not au fait with welding, like me, I would do as much of the strip and prep and re-build as you can and let a professional work their magic. Keep pictures and receipts for the work, especially as this is all structural work.
Most of the money is in all the work you can do yourself so really a big saving. In addition, they cannot hide any unsatisfactory workmanship.

[tractor Dave]

Quattro bird is right there. Mig welding to a good standard takes a lot of practice. I've been welding for over 20 years but still consider myself a novice, especially when it comes to doing anything on the Ur.
If you do decide to tackle it yourself, make sure you remove the ECU, brake ECU , digital dash and any other sensitive electrical equipment.

[Isimmo]

Totally agree with all of the above comments. When ours was restored I watched their fabricator at work and suddenly realised he was incredibly talented. It is an art form. We didn’t remove the ECU either.... And paid the price. It killed it.

[darreno'd']

Originally Posted by Isimmo

Totally agree with all of the above comments. When ours was restored I watched their fabricator at work and suddenly realised he was incredibly talented. It is an art form. We didn’t remove the ECU either.... And paid the price. It killed it.

I did wonder why you had decided to go back to standard