Hi all, Wondering about alternative methods for removing the front guards on a Mk1 Capri. I have removed them before the conventional way buy drilling with spot weld drills and prying them open and have done this with great success without damaging either the guard or the substrate. Although I have not got to the stage of actually installing the guard again and am dubious that it can be done without it showing or that it won't look good. When I bought my white capri off Ebay written on a previous thread the guy I bought it off who had done a complete rotisserie overhaul (and was a panel beater by trade) he said that he cut the guard on the top edge and welded it back so as not to ruin the guard where it mounts to the inner guard and it looks original and perfect with how he has done it. The guard also has definitely been removed so I trust what he has told me.
So has anyone done it this way and if so what are the pitfalls of it and where would you cut. There would also be problems or reasons where you would start and finish the cut to get back to the normal removal around the headlight and bulkhead where you would return to drilling out the spot welds near door bottom sill ETC. I am holed up with broken knee so can't get to garage to take a picture but will try to post as soon as I can but if anyone has a view on this would like to know your thoughts. Keith

I haven't seen it but the panel beater my friend used heated each spot weld, knocked it with a hammer, popping the weld leaving the panels unmarked- did a Capri re- roof that way

Or - u can slice along the bottom of the vertical face of the guard - where it comes down t meet the Inner guard - then u glue guard trims u buy off eBay UK or de - then buff off the residue of the old guard from the inner guard and spot weld the old modified guard on. If u take your time u will achieve a v good result

Heating sounds like a good way. Wonder what that process would be like oxy or butane how much heat etc. Without warping the panels. I have one of the V6 that was fire bombed which has taken out one A Pillar a small section of the roof and the front guard. So am trying for different methods for this one as its in original paint with almost no rust anywhere else. A pillar is not much of a worry as have replaced one already on another car but the roof and the support going up to it are burnt not badly but needs fixing and the roof is buckled. I have not seen the guard trims advertised in England or Germany for Mk1 only for Mk2 and Mk3, Can you let me know where you saw these. I do have two wrecks i bought so I can try various methods on those before attacking one i want to overhaul. Thanks

Alternatively if anyone knows a master craftsmen at this in Sydney somewhere i would be happy to look into it but feel Im getting good enough to tackle these things myself. I will need to do the bottom sill as well so all up it is a big job I know but will be very rewarding if I get it right and will ultimately save another V6 from the scrap heap. One of my cars is a 4cyl and is so rusty the A pillar opens with the door but the roof is sort of alright if it was sand blasted and patched where the rail meets the windows. The burnt car is a 72 model which is my favourite year model and have all the rest of the bits it requires lying around already.
 

your right they r only for mk2 and 3 - still u could make them easily - ill have to do it myself one day as have quite a few guards with that problem - the guy who did my friends roof is in melb

I suppose being that that section is straight it would not be hard to make as long as your talking removing and installing the same guard. It would however be easy to get someone to fabricate a new section from the cut mark to be spot welded section for those of us who did it the suggested way which I think would give a perfect finish and show up perfect factory looking spot welds and allow us to get rid of rusty sections in this important area.
Still now far more interested in this heat and crack a spot weld theory. As that would be gold if achievable without warping panels. I would think a tig torch would be the way to do it but will investigate that much further. Keith

The pitfalls I can think of are that if you don't take it off at the gutter you leave the rust behind.  Weld through primer wasn't used when  these were made so they are all rusting at the overlaps.  Take the guard off properly and refit with weld through primer.  The other issue is welding the seam.  Most people will stitch tacks with a mig but then its very difficult to metal finish due to different hardness of filler wire so you might end up with lots of bog, thin spots in the old metal when grinding the weld back and maybe not full peno leaving effectively a crack underneath that needs to be sealed.  Tig might be ok though.
 
If you want to learn more about proper metal finishing methods check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGElSHzm0q8 and buy his dvd.  He explains really well why its better to oxy weld panels.
 
To pop the spots with heat I would use oxy to get a small puddle going.  Maybe use a mill end weld drill to thin it down a touch first.   But if you are careful with a mill end drill you can get them off without barely touching the metal underneath.
 
If you want it too look original you can always fill the holes and spot weld it back on.
 

I am thinking if we can get the rail made for the guard new it would allow you to grind off the guard and remove the spot welds easily from the flat side which the guard hides. if you can then weld on a new section for the install and spot weld it like factory it would get rid of the rust as well as renew the look of the rail. Working really just like the lower guard repair panel and saving numerous guards from the scrap metal bin. I have not seen how a puddle weld can be made to look like a spot weld once finished but I am only learning (as always) and like to probably ask stupid questions which at least means I get good answers thanks for the input.

Here is a picture of my first go at A Pillar repair. To do it I cut out the old rust and fabricated a few patch pieces after rust converting as much as I could i then sand blasted all the internal metal back to bright steel. The final piece was the lower A pillar repair section to finish it off. Only real concern is not being able to get between the outer and inner skin which was in good condition but with all the work would have been better to do but I think its an honest repair.