The background:  When Bob had a number of panels repaired and replaced in 1998, the rusty rear wheel arches were made good with repair sections.  Unfortunately, the right hand arch repair had, over over three years, started to come apart.  It appears that moisture had been absorbed into the repairs leading to the section rusting badly.  By the time external tell-tale signs had appeared, the rot had truly taken hold and the repair panel was crumbling apart and pushing proud of the rest of the wing.

An interim solution:  Initially, I did nothing.  Perhaps it'd go away...  Repair sections were by now obsolete and I'd decided that a new rear quarter would be the best course of action.  Outer skins are available but are a lot of work to fit and you'd have to be confident that the inner panel was still solid.

Rimmer Bros Sale comes to the rescue:  In the summer of 2005, Rimmer Bros were having another SD1 parts sale.  I immediately spotted a bargain.  They were selling complete left hand rear quarter panels (part number BLP153) at £94.99 inc. VAT and right hand rear quarter panels (part number BLP152) at £125.00 inc. VAT each.

So, dad kindly forked out the readies as a thanks for working on Roger.  We purchased a pair of quarter panels for Roger the 2300 and a R/H quarter panel for Bob.  Thanks to the sale, we saved over £135 on the list prices, easily covering the postage costs.

The old panel gets the chop...!

 

Click on these pictures only if you've a strong disposition!  The car was taken to PKB Autos near Wantage.  It took around 2-3 hours to strip out the seats, lights and other bits of trim. 

The LPG tank frame was simply unbolted from the anchor points and moved, complete with tank, out of harms way.  These photos were taken on Monday 23rd January '06 around lunchtime.  By 3.30pm, Paul and his colleague were trial fitting the new wing... 

Although the panel comes with a roof section, it is common practice when working on a hatchback to cut out this top section and weld the replacement item to the existing top area.  This means that you are not interfering with the stresses of the roof panel. 

The wing was cut away in small sections and the inner spot welds were ground out and flattened back.  As these photos show, the rear chassis leg, rear lamp panel and "D" post closing panel were solid and the old wing was cut free without any problems.  However, the back of the sill and a small section of the boot floor needed to be cut back and repair sections fabricated.

Panic over...  These rather dark photos were taken in the evening on Sunday 29th January.  The new wing is on the car and the outer skin has been taken back to bare metal.  The panel was described as having "slight handling damage" when I bought it from Rimmer Bros and to be fair, most of the damage was easily put right  with a pair of pliers.  However, PKB Autos found quite a few dents on the outer panel.  In these photos, you can see where a few skims of filler have been used where it was not possible to pull out the knocks.

Also visible is the new plate that was fabricated to repair the back of the sill.  The repair patch welded in by the MoT garage has been removed and a neater section let in.

Coming Soon...  The paint goes on...!