TR3 fender repair patch fabrication

[Mike Gee]

Greetings all...

I have moved on from the rear valence to rear fender/mud guard repair. The right side is in the best condition and so I plan to start with that one. The worse section is at the lower front where the aluminum stone guard mounts... here the rust starts in the sandwich. In addition to what you see, most of the flange of the entire panel will need repairing/replacing.

My plan is to create a front repair patch on my new wheel. Even if it doesn't go perfectly, it will eventually be covered by the stone guard. Of course, my hope at the outset is that it does go perfectly 😎

My question begins with the paper pattern, and the work plan that flows from it. As you can hopefully see in the photos below, I can set up the PP to be snug up the middle line with most of the (left) wheel side needing a little shrinking, but much more shrinking is needed on the outer edges of the panel. I can imagine other ways of setting up the PP, but these ideas are mostly divorced from experience 🤣 so I don't have any intuition on what might work best.

I am very happy to hear your thoughts and advice on how to set up for best chance of success. I am not so good at shrinking and am better at stretching, so perhaps an alternate approach will help me.

Cheers, Mike

[Blue62]

Hi Mike,
First I would play with the paper pattern some more.
It looks like you have three large tucks in the PP.
I would try to make the paper fit with more tucks but smaller.
It is easier to do smaller shrinks then it is to do large ones, and you actually have more control over your shrink area with smaller more numerous shrinks.
Then I would make my profiles.
Then using a practice piece I would slowly and carefully start blocking along the highest part of the radius.
I would constantly check it with my profiles.
If it closes up to much or gets to much stress in it just open it up and release the stress by knocking down the walnuts with your hammer on your stump.
By blocking and staying as close as possible to your profiles your tucks or puckers will occur where they need to be naturally.
Then you can just shrink them in on your stump.
Then once you start to see what the metal wants so it can become the shape you need then go for the real deal.
If you get very close to your profiles with just blocking then you can smooth the panel on the wheel in just a few minutes.

[Mike Gee]

Many thanks David!

I went back with making a more faithful PP in mind and came up with this...

This version gives me a better picture of the necessary operations, and hopefully I'll be able to follow your advice and get the shape some time this week.

Cheers, Mike

[Blue62]

Mike,
Keep in mind I am just a novice.
but I have learned via many many attempts at the Healey panels that getting the panel shape as close to the profiles as possible with just hammers works the best for me.
It has taught me greater and greater control of the hammer the panel and thus the shape.
The only type of panel I would not block before going to the wheel would be something like a door skin or door skin patch.
Very low crown panels.
Keep us posted. Pictures when you get time.

[Chazza]

Good advice about the number of tucks David; something I have never really considered,

Cheers Charlie

[Blue62]

Good advice about the number of tucks David; something I have never really considered,

Cheers Charlie

It is something I learned from Peter's video's
I also tend to wait as long as possible before taking the tucks or puckers down.
It seems to give me better control over the development of the shape.

[Peter Tommasini]

Mike , post some pics of the blocking and tucks then smooth them off on the stump , we can guide you from there
Peter T.

[Mike Gee]

I have to make a stump now... just had to cut up a maple tree that fell in my yard a bit ago, so now I have a raw stump. Still pretty green...

[Blue62]

I have to make a stump now... just had to cut up a maple tree that fell in my yard a bit ago, so now I have a raw stump. Still pretty green...

Mike,
Maple works great there is loads of maple trees in my area so that is what I have for a stump.
Get a can of linseed oil and treat the stump with it.
Also if your stump is big enough for a tuck making depression make it horseshoe shaped not round.
A horseshoe shape gives you more varied work areas for shaping.
I have two stumps one for creating tucks and shrinking the other one is just flat.
I use the flat one just for cleaning up blocked out shapes before smoothing them on the wheel.
Or to tap down the walnuts and relieve stress.
Sometimes I just use my bench top.
If you need a visual on the horseshoe shape for the stump let me know and I will find some youtube video's that show what I mean and link them for you.

[Mike Gee]

Great David... I'd like that, and for posterities sake it might be nice to capture those videos.

linseed oil is to keep it from drying and cracking?

[Blue62]

Great David... I'd like that, and for posterities sake it might be nice to capture those videos.

linseed oil is to keep it from drying and cracking?

Mike,
Yes the linseed oil helps with the cracking and splitting.
It also helps the end grain tighten up. I used lots of linseed oil on mine.
try this video for your stump.
https://youtu.be/IQNFpFUdsKQ
The horseshoe shape is Peter's idea.

Another view
.https://youtube.com/shorts/5yH-M21yUok?feature=share

For the cutting tool in the first video I got mine at Harbor Freight
Dangerous little tool

[Mike Gee]

I've made myself a stump, have used it to make a hubcap, and I now have much more respect for the strength of people who swing the PT hammer for extended periods of time. I was whipped and sore after doing it ;-)

I did find it considerably more difficult to form a tuck than I thought it should be... I'll keep practicing before I move on to a piece of 20 gauge meant to be a test piece for that repair patch.

Thanks Guys!

[Blue62]

I've made myself a stump, have used it to make a hubcap, and I now have much more respect for the strength of people who swing the PT hammer for extended periods of time. I was whipped and sore after doing it ;-)

I did find it considerably more difficult to form a tuck than I thought it should be... I'll keep practicing before I move on to a piece of 20 gauge meant to be a test piece for that repair patch.

Thanks Guys!

Mike,
Yes Peter's big blue hammer can kick your ass.
So I started to concentrate on using it as effectively as possible.
Understanding what the shape needs so I wasn't blocking more then necessary was a big help.
Accuracy of hammer blows was next then I concentrated on my hammer swing.
Not so much shoulder effort. That made my hammer swing more effective but with less effort.

Forming tucks takes a little practice but once you get it you wonder what the problem was.
Looking forward to your progress

[Mike Gee]

Spent some time today and made progress. My first attempt I was trying to stump shrink too far into the middle of the panel and all I was doing was stretching and not making good tucks, so on my second go I kept my tucks to the flange and was able to muscle it into shape. I re-watched the bulbous shape and making a panel with simple tools videos before heading to the garage and it helped... wish I had a Joel around...

I haven't turned the bottom flange yet, but it all seems to be going OK. I'm pretty sure I can make one a bit better if I go to a third version but this one might be good enough. My biggest complaints are the tool marks where I was struggling a bit to shrink.

[Mike Gee]

I had a productive morning and finished the patch panel. I turned over the lowest lip, shrunk the lower left corner to the right shape and it fits nicely on its "buck". I actually left the top left flange mostly unturned where it transitions into the rest of the wheel arch with the thought that it will be easier to turn and blend into the rest of the panel when it has been welded on to the fender... material thickness considerations mostly. I plan to get the aluminum stone guard ordered up this week to double check that it will fit properly over this repair piece. I did one more finishing pass on the wheel after this photo was taken.


I will continue to replace all of the inboard flanges as they are rotted, and when I've got it all done I'll get to welding. It has been so hot lately that I'll wait for a cooler day before digging in.

For the LH side rear fender, I will have to reconstruct a lot more than just this lower piece so the practice was worth it. If the wheel opening is a clock, this was from 3-5 o'clock, while I'll need to go from at least 11-5 on the next one. I may need to get PT on speed dial for that one 🤣

Hope y'all had a great weekend.

Mike