I gave the boot floor a bit of clean up, found the original colour of the car is silver, before it was blue, then another blue, then white, then on fire lol.

I'm giving this method a go, using tape to create the shape needed to copy, I'll make it bigger to allow for mistakes or other unseen dramas . The tape captures the shape perfectly

Now I have the map of the repair part it should be easier to duplicate

See how it goes this weekend

What kind of tape is it Marty. Holding the pattern I can understand but the shape?
Got me intrigued.

martymexico
From what I've read about annealed or zinc annealed is it's primary job is for car bodies and industrial fridges etc, it does bend without stressing, plus it's got that grey coating that holds back rust... I've had sheets on the weather for years on end and have only got rust on the tampered or scratched edges .. Mark, you should use this stuff , a full sheet costs about $80 from steel outlets ,I use 1.2mm as it's easier to weld being thicker..

Have a look at Kaka industrial, or Google up bead roller sales will bring up lots to choose from, getting a bunch of dies with it is something to look for as well , buying them separately will cost a packet, I bought the folding pr (1 is a skateboard wheel) . Next on your list is a shrinker stretcher machine!!

Marty, Was at steel merchant yesterday as I need some more sheet for the Escort tunnel (I will get build up one day, as I am taking heaps of pics this time) they have the zinc coated at 1.1mm. So will pick up a sheet. When I mentioned to him the problems with the straight black he said straight off that they store it with a film coating and lay all sheets perfectly over the top of each other and have a 'sacrificial' top sheet to protect the lot. See how it goes!

escfalcap
What kind of tape is it Marty. Holding the pattern I can understand but the shape?
Got me intrigued.

Just your regular making tape from supertheef , cheap n narsty stuff !
It kept the pattern ok but shape, I don't think I'll attempt it again but I did the Fitzee weld it in method, works well !

This is the piece welded in, I laid it over the top of the rusty piece and simply cut thru a few inches at a time and welded. This is the Fitzee fabrication method that actually works and is quite easy, just remember to allow a mm or two for thickness adjustment.


I put a return fold to add strength and give the other piece something to weld to .

Another piece I fixed was the very rear inner curve from the leaf spring hole to the back panel, kind of a cone shape quarter curve, easy done on the folder as it doesn't need to be exact I did the square to round technique..
This is the offending part..

This is the copy part

good progress Marty.
2 arches got picked up yesterday via Fast (sometimes slow)Way.
Hopefully they get to you end of this week.
I wish I had a bead roller now..
And a shrinker..
 
Hardest thing with Fitzy sometimes is understanding his accent.

Thanks Deano on both accounts👍
Fastway/ or Anoraks as we call it , it'll get here by the weekend I hope..
I'm getting to the stage where the arches are needed to tie the other parts together, am going on uneducated guesswork right now hehe . The inner arches are pretty narsty , if I need to make a type of mini tub I will..

Cad work using a weetabix box to do the flat to replace the wheel well rusted n fiberglassed piece.

Here's the metal version with some bead roller action to give it some style and strength considering the battery will be living in this space

I made sure the indent is lower so if any water( usually heaps with Escorts) gets in it won't pool up at the seams

Next on the list is to make the lower side like the other side, then some welding will happen again.. I've still got to make the tramp bar bkts , ah later....

Can't thank Deano enough, the arches came this morning, before I had time to let the boss know there will be a parcel coming later in the week.. Also it took me half a hour to get into the parcel, very well packed and no damages that I know of hehe..
What was in the box was 1 rear arch and 1 front arch, I went straight to the front one and got thinking, it's about 1in wider than the back one with similar wheel well shape, check this out....

And this...

So then I swung the grinder at the old arch and trimmed the front one down..

And this...

I think I'll continue with the front arch cause I'm a bit crazy with this stuff , I'll graft the inner arch to match

wow, the arch looks bl**dy good Marty, like it was made for it!
 
good skills right there.
 
Glad it was of use, one mans trash as they say.
Pressure is me know on to keep the van progressing so you can get  the other 2...