After five months away, I’m finally home and have a bit of time to do some welding.

Last time I worked on the car I was finishing the A post repair and attaching it to the new heater channel.

So starting with a bit of weld grinding and looking over the work I left.

I need to get myself a finger sander or dremel to get to the bottom welds. This is going to be a later job because I want to finish the B pillar and start on the other side.

Due to the missing panels on the rear of the car, what’s left of the B pillar has twisted inwards. So my starting point is untwisting it. Using a wedge on the panel and a pair of mule grips, to hold the position, I managed to get the correct alignment. A quick cut with the grinder prepared the bottom of the pillar and a little repair patch was easily made from sheet steel.

This will need dressing with a hammer at a later date because it was time to turn the car around.

My driveway is up hill so it was a bit of a slog but I reduced the turning time by using a trolley jack to pull the rear around.

A quick look at progress/lack of

Time to start the passenger side. The door was a problem before I started so out with the drill straight away to get it off. The frame of the door has come completely away from the skin so I might have to replace it completely. The hinges are also stuck so they need new pins at least.

Next to come out is the tired wiring loom and regulator

Another thing to replace.

The heater channel is completely shot and an old outer repair just pulls away!

A quick cut with the hacksaw removed the centre section from the B pillar, avoiding the inner lip of metal by the seat belt mount.

Now time to look over the replacement panels and as I expected, it’s rusty on the inside. This is something I forgot with the first repair. So I have to remove the bottom plate of the heater to clean up the rust and get some paint in there before I use it.

Out with the drill to remove the spot welds, there is lots of these!

I managed one side before I ran out of time.

This has been a good return to work but I did run out of gas for the mig welder but easily bought online. With the car out of the garage I did manage to give the space a bit of a clean.

Next time I have to finish separating the heater channel and get it all cleaned up ready of use. I also have to get the A post repair separated and cleaned and the inner wing repair.

The passenger side is much worse than the drivers