It's a real balls ache not having an indoor space to work. I've had rain, snow, and gale force winds since my last posts, and so no more work done as a consequence. Add to that my chronic health issues and progress is very sloooow. Still, no real rush is there.
After having removed the strengthening panel and getting a better look at what was lurking underneath, I decided that the best course of action was to remove the rest of the corroded steel and reveal the body mounting bracket.
The bracket itself is in good order and is solid. It looks a bit grubby with some surface rust, but it's fine. I decided to leave the body mounting bolt in place so that I didn't run into problems losing alignment. There's still part of it welded to the bulkhead inside the engine bay out of harms way, so it's not going anywhere. I carried on cutting and cleaning.
Having settled on what I was removing and what was staying and having done the cutting and a bit of grinding, it was time for a wire brush and some rust treatment.
Next phase of the repair was to make a new template to fit the hole. I decided to start afresh even though I'd already fabricated a new repair panel as I want to ensure I make a good strong repair. I may make use of the panel I made previously as a strengthener; we'll see. Today's task was then to cut a new template.
It all sounds so straight forward, but twisting and contorting, back and forth, adjusting, measuring, trial fitting, etc., and most of the day seems to disappear. The result, a sad looking piece of cornflake packet.
It didn't take long to transfer this shape to a sheet of steel and cut it out.
You can see from the photo that I marked out the position of the holes I need to drill for the plug welds I'll be using to attach it to the mounting bracket.
Once the holes were drilled, I set about bending the panel to shape so that it fits the space. This I could do simply hand bending it supported in my bench vice. All trial and error but not too difficult. I work out the line on which the bend takes place and gently bend around it checking for fit as I go.
The hardest part of this was working under the dash and trying to match up to the loom grommet opening. It would definitely be a whole lot easier to access with the entire dash assembly out of the way (something I may yet have to do when I get to the off-side repairs).
I was quite happy with the fit I managed to achieve as it should all weld up nicely.
Left it there for today. Next job will be to get some primer on and get it welded up.