65 metal work restoration

[The MetalSurgeon]

Very impressive work by you, and the young fella.
The question that I have is, the very nice straight line you have when you put the straight edge along the panels (door to rear quarter), when I put a straight edge along any of the 3 finished cars that I have access to (none of them accident affected) it doesn't seem to be a straight line where door and rear quarter meet? Both of the pressings seem to fall away slightly as the material approaches the gap. Not sure I have explained this very well, a photo would probably help.

You are correct and good observation. The the sheet metal will very slightly 'fall' away a couple of inches from the door gap to the rear of the car.This will develop through the metal finishing process

[9er]

This probably explains it better than words.
I took these this morning of a 1989 930 in all original paint.
This is typical of the cars I have observed.
Alignment aside, the door surface is convex and falls away more sharply towards its extremities.
Front fenders I have looked at also fall away towards the door gap.

[The MetalSurgeon]

This probably explains it better than words.
I took these this morning of a 1989 930 in all original paint.
This is typical of the cars I have observed.
Alignment aside, the door surface is convex and falls away more sharply towards its extremities.
Front fenders I have looked at also fall away towards the door gap.

ok so after reading your posting again and the pictures you added,i clearly see now.The surface of the panels,like on any car a supposed to flow and i see in the pictures the panels are not flowing.The door looks as though it has too much crown in my opinion.

[The MetalSurgeon]

So i began to the Tig weld the upper section and after 2 small runs,i felt the original body material just didn't seem quite thick enough and would cause problems down the road.So i was left with no other option than cutting more material out,which sucks as i like to keep as much of the original material as possible.

[The MetalSurgeon]

Area cut out and new material formed on the Power Hammer

[The MetalSurgeon]

work in progress...

[The MetalSurgeon]

work in progress.Metal finishing continues checking with high lighting fluid as i go.

[The MetalSurgeon]

Back end of the left hand rear quarter.Had been repaired by the previous restoration company badly.The gap between the rear quarter and the bumper top tapered from the correct sized gap to nothing.

Connor Drost,our apprentice ,is taking care of making the panel,with the aid of templates taken from the opposite side.

[The MetalSurgeon]

What is the advantage of Tig over Mig for this repair? Were the other repairs Tig as well?

Did you also replace the kidney bowl as long as you had that section of the quarter panel removed, or had it already been replaced (hence the previous patch)?

No replacement on the kidney bowl.Mig is a more brittle weld compared to Tig.You can move the metal/tig welded area around without the fear of fracture.You also have greater control of the heat/ampage input in using Tig over Mig.

[Olivier]

No replacement on the kidney bowl.Mig is a more brittle weld compared to Tig.You can move the metal/tig welded area around without the fear of fracture.You also have greater control of the heat/ampage input in using Tig over Mig.

What you forget to mention, is that while TIG can be controled much more "finelly' the skills required to perform such welds, especially on thin gauge material are of different level also!
Just curious, what Amps setting do you use on body pannels like the fender?

Olivier.