Page 30 - Transporter Talk - Issue 197

ERIC THE VIKING
Then the mask was reversed so that I could prep the front half of the roof and reduce the amount of dust going in through the sunroof hole (sunroof panel not available and not needed as that is the access hatch to the bed upstairs).
Joy of joys, I found underneath some rust on the corner of the sunroof hole a nice split in the metal due to an impact many years ago and a good amount of rot had set in. The metal ruler came out, the area was marked up and the rot was cut out leaving a neat rectangle of space where the rot had been. Quick Batman, to the fabricating table! The Zintec lightly galvanized steel sheet was marked up
and the new piece cut out then the vice, dollies and hammers shaped the steel until it was a very close match to the hole. Very close because I have no English wheel to make it all perfectly but it was pretty good.
The clamps could not hold the new metal in place due to the location but a trusty screwdriver pressed against the infill held it in place long enough for a spot weld. Once one spot is there, the metal is stationary and then each successive spot weld holds more of the piece down, a tap here and a press with the screwdriver there makes tiny adjustments to the flex of the metal and eventually the new
30 | Transporter Talk Issue 197