DHC repairs #30: Front nearly finished

With the inner panels at both sides of the front repaired or replaced it was time for the finishing touches. Fitting the outer wings. But not before the fit and alignment of all the panels involved, were checked on the body shell.

After the body-worker was happy with the alignment and the various the panel gaps, it was time to get the welder out. And with a lot of plug welds later all the panels in position. It is slowly starting to look like a car again!

And the final job was welding the lower front panel (WKC86) in position. An additional check was necessary here, namely whether the front spoiler also fits properly over the bottom of the front wings. It does!

Not really visible in the picture above is the fact that the front spoiler got damaged in the accident, but it looks like it can be repaired. This should save my last spare for ‘t Kreng!

DHC repairs #29: RH strut tower and inner wing part 2

In my previous post I had a look of the rust damage in the area around the front strut tower. And it was quite obvious that part of the right hand front strut tower was in dire need of some fresh metal. On the left hand side it was deemed best to replace the complete top of the strut tower. Luckily this (right hand) side only needed a fairly simple repair section:

Also the strengthening plate for the engine mount on the lower part of the right hand strut tower was also corroded and was in need of some tender loving care:

And the final job was replacing the badly damaged inner wing. The replacement panel again came from the previously mentioned parts donor body shell. With hindsight, this project might have taken another turn. But there's no way back now. Nor is there a reason anymore!

DHC repairs #28: RH strut tower and inner wing

Since my last post on this project the right hand front wing and inner wing have been removed. This revealed more rust holes, very thin metal and an old bodge repair of the inner wing’s front section. A few pictures of the bad areas:

Second outing of the year

True to the motto "standing still means decline" I try to use ‘t Kreng, currently my only working TR7, as much as possible. Especially with the problems with the water pump over the past years in mind. And weather permitting of course. As such the car was used for a visit to friend’s workshop yesterday (Saturday the 7th of February). But before that I hopped across the border into Germany for some 100 RON fuel. It was nice to see that the car again attracted a fair amount of attention while refuelling at a petrol station just across the border in Germany!

And with the tank filled up I drove to the work shop. Always nice to see another TR7 inside. In this case an early Dutch car that is being prepared for a customer who wants it to be converted to a historic rally spec.

And after some coffee and cakes, and with glorious winter weather conditions, I decided on a slight detour home. It was again good to be out in this car again. A few pictures taken on the way home:

There still is a problem with the coolant system though. But that looks to be a problem with the now 30 years old copper radiator. The slot underneath the water pump is bone dry. And there are ever more signs of coolant leaking from the radiator. So to looks like a visit to local alloy fabricator H&S Speed Equipement is on the cards in the near future. They should be able to provide a new good quality alloy radiator!