May 2004 - New Wings for Sister Lada. Rust has ravaged my beauty, now I must operate to save the patients life. Scalpel please.

New wings from www.lada.co.uk. The quality isn't great, they were delivered wrapped in plastic and obviously got damaged on the way. There are small dents, one of them is twisted, and the other one is rippled for about half the length, right across the swage line where it's really obvious. Lesson 1, don't buy panels by post.

A quick poke with a screwdriver reveals that most of the front of the driver's wing is completely missing. There's also a small amount of repair to be done on the inner wing around the headlight.

I've never done this before, so I'm being cautious. I've cut the old wing off a bit at a time, so I can figure out what's going on. This also allows the wing to be removed without taking the door off, because I can't undo the bolts! The new wing is trial fitted to see how bad the twist is. Nothing a few G-clamps can't fix.

The wing and the car are treated with underbody paint, and all the weld flanges are ground back and painted with weld-through primer. A patch is let into the inner wing where the rust moths have been feasting.

Let the welding commence! My welding is rubbish, so no close-ups before the grinding, I can't have you all laughing, can I? The front is the nearest to a seam that I could manage, the top flange is welded through holes to simulate the spot welds, and the rear flange isn't welded at all because I can't get the door off. The rear join to the sill is also welded to the best of my abilities.

A bit of bog to finish it all off, and it's time for dinner.

Pictures : John Tile: John

Copyright 2004 Bad Design Inc