Making An A-Pillar Rust Patch

[funkyscooter]

Did a rust repair on Ol' Rusty passenger A-Piller using the MIG to do a fair bit of the filling.
http://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewtop ... 8&start=99
I reckon I have had at least 4 goes at it and every time I grind and sand I end up with another hole or two. So after doing a bit of reading I came across this awesome resource. Making Panels..... https://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/70135 So many great tips and ideas.
Figured I'd have a go at a test replacement patch for the mess of weld.
Life was made a bit easier as I have a repair A-Panel outer for the drivers side.

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So marked it up roughly on a bit of 1mm cold rolled that I hadn't practiced welding on yet, using the back as a guide as I am going to mirror this piece.

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Started hammering. As you will see, I ain't got no hammer and dolly set, and my vice isn't the biggest but I adapt and use what I can find. First dolly is an angle bracket.

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Vice grips to get a more defined edge.

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Found a solid bit of iron to use as a dolly.

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Starting to take shape. But hang on - turn it 90 degrees and its the same as the A-Pillar patch panel. Damn, so much for mirroring it!. At this stage I figured this is a test so keep going.

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Use my gal pipe dolly to get a bit of curve in the hump

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[funkyscooter]

At this point its starting to look ok so I gave it a wire brush to get the surface rust, adjust my curve and used a blunt cold chisel to get more definition.

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Gives this.

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And the other side. Starting to take shape.

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Trying to get a bit more definition. Bit of flat bar with a slight radius in a clamp to make a 'hammer'

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Couple of measurements for the channel.

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Quick check.

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[funkyscooter]

Mark up lip and cut. Left a bit big so I can cut down to the same height as the exiting channel

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Start to bend up with vice grips

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Second pass.

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This bend is forcing a nasty curve in the piece.

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Compounded by the fact that the A-Pillar curves a bit the other way.

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Time to use that gained knowledge. Stretch the bend over lip by hitting it repeatedly using the thin flat end of the hammer over my 'anvil' That was 2 passes.

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Took about 6 passes to straighten it.

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Another 4 to force it to curve the other way. You can actually feel it releasing the bend as you hammer. The metal on the lip was about 0.8mm by the end

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[funkyscooter]

The final result. Pretty happy with it - going to look better than my weld up. At least that's the plan. Too hot to weld it in. 40C in the shed.

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[Errol62]

Good stuff Scott. You're on to it.

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[Blacky]

nice work - you have a lot more patience than I do , I would just wander up the back with a cordless grinder and cut one out of a wreck .......

[Brett027]

Great work Scott. Good skills to have.

[WesternWagon]

Nice work Scott