That is one rusty rear quarter!

Started stripping the passenger’s side rear quarter panel to find out what was going on with all that rust and filler back there:

It didn’t take long before I excavated evidence of, yet another, dubious repair job. Using a drill-mounted wire brush I followed the path of destruction the former repair around the edge of the rear panel to understand how much was original metal and what was thin-gauge aftermarket stuff:

So, it appears that all the metal below the swage line and up to the wheel arch will need to go and possibly the wheel arch itself. Thankfully everything above the swage line appears solid and in good order, so this will be a case of chopping out the large aftermarket quarter panel and the other key areas where the pervasive rust has crept. On the plus side, this will give me enough access to treat the inner door metal work, which is notoriously tough to reach. These inner areas came from the factory with next to nothing in the way of rust protection, so it will be reassuring to give it some rust prevention. 

It all sounds easy when written in a concise paragraph like that! Now to source a replacement panel and fire up the reciprocation saw....

You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

I have about half a dozen partially written blog posts sitting in draft form almost ready to publish, which pretty much mirrors the current state of the restoration; lots of partly finished things that I am slowly progressing without any big note-worthy leaps forward. Things are still cooking, but not in an easily definable way! There are a few factors that have slowed the pace down and these are my lame excuses in a nutshell:

• No access to MIG welder - since my garage neighbour has moved out I have been on the hunt for a suitable (and affordable) replacement machine. Unfortunately the old beast I was using has relocated with him!
• Too cold for paint - at the moment I cannot bare metal my components as the Mastic paint cannot properly cure in winter temperatures. Frustratingly I had a bunch of parts that I had already shot-blasted, but not put into paint and they have already started to rust again ....you live and learn!
• Life outside the garage - the past few months have been a blur of other conflicting activities demanding my attention. 

So to ease myself back into regular and structured emails I have decided to be a bit more 'bitesized' with my offerings. Basically, shorter posts more frequently. To kick off the New Year here is a little overview on door removal:

First up I removed the pin and detached the bump-stop-hinge-arm (for lack of technical name):

This can then be withdrawn through the cavity between the door skins:  

To detach the door hinges an impact driver is obviously pretty handy. However, there were some bolts that just would not budge (something that I have become accustomed throughout this project!). For the tough ones resorted to my old friend LEVERAGE! I fitted the impact driver attachment onto my breaker bar and slowly applied pressure. This got the stubborn buggers moving without any trouble:

With the six screw bolts out the door can be lifted off:

I then withdrew the door glass and disassembled the winder mechanism, handle unit and quarter light:

Both doors are now ready to be stripped of paint (and probably hidden filler!), repaired and panel beat back into shape.

More updates to come. Soon. Promise!