Rear arches repair , the datsun method

[stragenmitsuko]

I finally started working on my rear wheel arches .

This is a 1986mr2 , and I've owned it for 28 years .

A while back I put it in storage for a few years , you know kids n house etc .
Turns out that was 16 years ago

Anyway , those rear arches were already bad when I put the car away .
In fact they were already rusting when I bought it !

A couple of pictures

Well ; I was gonna post pictures , but apparantly I can't .
Can't upload pictures , can't upload url's .....

Somebody tell me how perhaps ?

[autobody]

I think you need to 15 or more post before you are allowed to add urls.

[autobody]

What colour combo is your car. I've just got another mk1. A 1985 white and black.

[androo007]

Keep posting another 15 posts here just one word or something then hey presto

[stragenmitsuko]

I see ,I guess that's an antispam mesure.
Annoying but understandable.

My MR2 is a black one by the way .
Just a basic car I'm afraid , no airco , no leather ...
It does have a power kit and the dreadfull glas sunroof .

I finished the right rear arch today .
Very pleased with the result .
Pictures will be added whenever I'm allowed to

Pat

[stragenmitsuko]

Oh and btw , I'm using datsun cherry repair panels .

Bought them from hadrian panels a couple of years back .

There were at least 5 websites selling them .
Sites had names like
Crashpanels , repairpanels , car body panels etc .

All those sites seem to be gone now , and apparantly so is hadrians .
Anyone know what happend ?

Lucky I did get a set ,woukln't know where to get them otherwise .

Pat

[oukie]

Welcome to the club, I look forward to the pictures.

Chris

[stragenmitsuko]

Yesss pictures are working !

Here's the patient before surgery









Right rear corner .
It really surprises me how it's so rusted .
The panels are coated on the inside , and the inner and outer skins don't touch each other so they can't rub .

.

[stragenmitsuko]

reapairs are done using datsun cherry panels .

Altough they are pretty close the mr2 arch , they're still way off
and i t's not a "bolt on " fix .
Still I'm very pleased to have them , it would have been so much harder to make the entire arch from scratch .

Panels cost abt 10£ each 3 , maybe 4 years ago .
UK buddy of mine bought them , and I collected them when we took a trip to London a couple of years back .
I'm from Belgium btw , dutch speaking , so forgive me if my english is off now and then .

[stragenmitsuko]

Inner skin also neede some attention .

Luckily it's only two small sections .
Inner arches are hard to make , as they are
a bit of a U shape

[stragenmitsuko]

friend of mine , who teaches bodywork advised me to butt weld the new sheetmetal .
He urged me not to use any overlapping or spotwelding techniques .
As he's an experianced bodyworker , and I'm just an amateur , I gladly accepted his advice .

Takes a bit more work to make it all fit prior to welding though .



Lower section has to be custom made , the datsun panel doesn't coverthis area .
Looks like a dent in the middle , but that's just the light .



Here it is all welded .
Quite pleased with the result .
The amount of filler neeeded will be minimal .

[stragenmitsuko]

That's it for now , more to come .

This job took me 10 hours on Satuirday , and 7 more last sunday .

[oukie]

That looks a really good repair, look forward to more.

[stragenmitsuko]

This is how she looked when I pulled it out of storage .
Dry but most definitly not dust free



We had to put the car away for a couple of years .
Kids , house , etc
That was 16 yers ago

Anyway , there still was a car underneath all that dust .



Apart from a seized fuel pump , everything is still in working order .

pat

[stragenmitsuko]

Front section of the right rear arch .

Cut out the damaged piece of sheetmetal . The lower section of the inner skin needs to be replaced to .
I use electro zinc plated material for this . The zinc burns off during welding but most of it around the seam remains , and still protects the metal . And if it doesn't , well it won't hurt either .

Not much progress this weekend , had something else to do on Saturday
so this is six hours of work Sunday .

[PW@Woodsport]

Discovered this Cherry method about 18 years ago now, great to see someone saving a Mk1 with it, nice work

[stragenmitsuko]

Yes it certainly is a great find .
Making he entire arc from scratch ..... my friend the body man says it can be done , but I certainly couldn't .

Anyway , a couple of pictures of the arc to sill connection .


One last piece of the repair panel



The connection to the sill has to be custom made .
This is a deceivingly easy part . Meaning it looks quite easy to make
but it isn't . This little piece of sheetmetal is curved in every possible way and I've ruined it twice trying to make it . Third attemt is reasionable , and it's covered by the trim piece anyway , so it'll have to do .









Next is the other side arc .
I won't be documenting the other side like this one cause it's basicly thesame . I'll do this the next couple of weekends , and then get back when it's time to use body filler and paint .


The last picture looks a bit square - ish , but it feels really quite good .
The odd look is due to the weld that's been ground off .
It will require very little body filler .

[stragenmitsuko]

Btw Paul , do you know if the datsun cherry panels are still available somewhere ?

[PW@Woodsport]

It's been a few years since i did one, mostly been doing engine conversion work. I was getting them from Hadrian, not sure if they still do them now though?

[Angpozzuto]

There's a guy on eBay that sells repair panels for the mk1 but they aren't cheap though I think it's around £350 for a full set which covers the arch, boot corner and the sill