a bit of this and a bit of that

[MattH]

Fantastic work, very inspiring.

[mygasser]

thanks Matt, i was beginning to wonder if anyone was interested, lol.
anyway... we've done some more surgery today cutting the other inner wing top etc away. the lower part between the 'cradle legs' hadn't been repaired this side so that's gone too. we'll trim it back fully then offer the templates up from the other side, the drivers side has a recess to clear the servo so a little different there for sure.
neil.

[mygasser]

we only made the top section of the cradle today as a) other stuff needed doing and b) it was too hot, lol. still it all needs doing so anything's something right?
neil.

[mygasser]

the 2nd part of the cradle is now made and both are welded in place. we'll nib the high spots off the welds and fold up the new inner wing parts next.
neil.

[mygasser]

we've been trimming some more rot today on the zephyr, first at the bulkhead to inner wing and also at the inner wing to front panel. the large o/s inner wing template looks like it'll work once flipped over for this side which is good. then we did some more cad work for the bulkhead to inner wing areas.
neil.

[mygasser]

those templates are now transferred to steel and welded in place. too late for grinding so pics tomorrow.
neil.

[mygasser]

before we could fully check the larger (front) inner wing template we had to start the slam/front panel repairs so the inner wing had something to meet up with. with 3 sections made and welded in place we bolted the template to the strut top to check fitment. we also mocked up the outer wing to check the 'upstand' part of the inner wing. this is where the trouble started. if you've been following you'll remember we bolted the strut extender under the original strut top panel the bolted the ally strut top to that. then we added bits of tube etc to hole the ally strut top in place while the top of the inner wing/strut top panel was cut away. this was done both sides to keep the struts when refitted exactly where they were originally. that's where the problem was, the original inner wing/strut top panel. when we folded the upstand part of our template up it sat higher than the outer wings lip, not just a bit but a lot. so we took more measurements up from the chassis rails to the strut top panel and the n/s is a) 1/2" higher but also b) angled up more as it goes 'out' towards the wing. bugger! it means the 2 inner wings where they'd been extensively patched over the years were at some point welded together wrong. either one's too high or one's too low. now at this stage the o/s is fully welded whereas the n/s only has a few welds on it. so tomorrow's plan is to release the n/s cradle and match it to the o/s. what a palaver. we did clean up yesterdays welding so that's something.
neil.

[mygasser]

well that wasn't as bad as it seemed, it's now a match for the o/s both in height and angle. we made a simple wooden frame that bolted to the strut top and sat on the chassis straight down. we cut the n/s cradle free, bolted it to the wooden frame and sat it back in place. with a couple of tacks we measured every which way and sideways comparing both sides and we're happy now. next was to cut plates for the outer chassis rail and inner wing and fully weld them in place. the legs of the cradle that weren't connected apart from 2 small bits at the top and the bottom, but nothing from top to bottom were also seam welded in place. lastly a good grind up of the welds in the engine bay and that's enough for today.
neil.
ps the second pic shows the 'backside' of most of the welding so not as neat as you'd like. we decided to leave it as it'll be hidden and will be stronger as is.

[mygasser]

firstly today my ocd couldn't look at those welds under the wing, even though they won't be seen after final assembly. so we did some clean up, mainly just 'nibbing' off the high spots but it does look better. so on to the inner wings, we fitted up the templates and they fitted pretty good even to the fibreglass wing and we all know how out of kilter they can be after sitting around a while. moving on we cut the steel sheet to match, rolled/folded the inside and outside edges and they are both now bolted and tacked in place. again it was getting late and more importantly dinner was ready so there's no pics yet, lol.
neil.

[mygasser]

well that's that side done too. sounds easy when you say it like that, lol. we've got a few small repairs on the front panel and we can move underneath to connect the inner and outer sills together. would've been easier to make the inner sill repairs before fitting the new outers but hey ho.
neil.