Lil Red - SJ restoration - Panels back together

A lot of progress this week so there are lots of pictures to look at.

This is the week the panels really get fitted. Up to now it has been trial fitting, alignment and then tacking to hold them in position. Now we are on to "final fit".

First, at the rear, the fuel filler is fitted. This has to be braised into position rather than traditional welding. This is the same as they do in the factory.

Then Winchfield Engineering moved onto the wheel arches. In the factory the SJ is assembled using spot welding therefore, for a proper restoration, the new panels also should be welded in place. This is because a proper spot weld has a classic look to it which a MIG seam weld or MIG Spot weld emulation just doesnt have.

So the wheel arch supports are spot welded into place. 

Then the wings themselves are spot welded into place on the SJ

With the wing all welded into place the plastic wheel arch was fitted temporarily to check everything is ok.

The same was then done to the fronts. These proved a bit more difficult as they were very cheap imported wings purchased through Ebay and they were not accurately made. The overall quality was poor.

This was rectified by drilling out some of the spot welds and re-positioning some of the parts to correct the shape (see in a later post).

After quite a lot of fettlng, the front wings were then checked for accurate fit.

In the left picture you can see where the inner wing support had its welds drilled out at the bottom so the panel can be better aligned.

The right hand picture shows the underside of the rear wing where the new holes have been drilled for the factory roll bar that we are fitting.

 The front wheel arch supports are then spot welded into place and again the plastic wheel arch is trial fitted.