Sometimes you just have a change of plan and that’s what I did with the engine cover. Instead of re-skinning the spare cover I picked up I decided to leave that one in tact. There is little to no corrosion on it but the skin has some dings and dents. I decided it would be an interesting exercise to see if I can straighten this out, I might be able to learn some valuable lessons from it. Not now but in the future. So I set about the original engine cover and removed the skin. It was stuffed with a lot of stringy filler and badly corroded all around the outside.
I need to find a better way to strip paint off panels, I really do! Getting the frame structure for the engine cover back to bare metal took longer than the repairs did but finally I got there. After Nitromors, Caustic Soda, hot air gun, rotary nylon and wire brushes, flap wheels, scrapers and sand blasting!
With the paint gone the extent of the corrosion could be assessed and it was pretty bad. I had to make new sections top and bottom and graft it all together. My new improved metal folder proved to be improved but not perfect so a bit of manipulation was required. Ultimately it all came together and I was able to put the new skin on the repaired frame for a test fitting. Not bad at all.
I decided to bond the two pieces together using structural panel adhesive. For two reasons really, my spot welder tips are too big to fit the lip on the panel and I wanted to make sure the internal surfaces were better protected than they were when they left the factory. Everything got a liberal coating of zinc primer before bonding and the end result is quite satisfying. I can’t wait for the warmer spring when I can apply some paint and see how it looks.
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