Thanks for that Dan.
Just a quick update, nothing much to show as the repairs to the openings for the storage areas are still ongoing (real work seems to be getting in the way!!).
In between laying up fibreglass, I’ve been able to spend some time on the hinges. There was probably a 50/50 split on seized and partially seized and one completely broken.
Last time they were mentioned, I had put all of them in a bucket of penetrating oil. They soaked for about two weeks.
It was then just a matter of “working” them, untill they were free. After which they were cleaned to get all the verdigris off.
Attention is now turned to the broken hinge. The actual fault is that the pin, through the middle is broken. The original pins are steel and 1/8” in diameter. So after sourcing a piece of steel rod that size, it is cut to length (a little more than the length of the hinge). The parts of the broken pin are carefully drifted out with a compatible parallel punch. Care must be taken to support each part of the hinge whilst this operation is carried out. I fabricated a small fixture, held in a vice, to do this.
The hinge is now assembled with the new pin and the pin carefully peaned over at both ends, hence the slight extra length of the pin, and cleaned.
As we are likely to tow the Portafold with our Peugeot 306, as well as the roadster, the law states that trailers being towed by post 1972 vehicles require the fitment of at least one rear fog lamp.
So rather than just bolting on some non descript bulky lamp that looks like it was just screwed there, it was decided to install some neat lamps that pretty much fit in with the general look of the rear.
The lamps being used are some I found a while ago, when sourcing fog lamps to fit to import cars (part of my day job). They are a readily available Hella lamp that measure about 2” across
First, some mountings needed to be fabricated. So I found a piece of tube the right diameter and made a collar to fit to produce a top hat shape. This was used to laminate around.
The end result was then put in the lathe and turned down to end up with the required depth and diameter mounting.
A decision was then made where to place them, to not look out of place and the holes drilled for the mounts.
The mounts were then fitted and orientated to the correct angles, the lamp has to be fitted vertically.
It was then just a job of laminating the inside.
And then on the outside.
Finally, the outside was filled and shaped and covered in some hand painted two pack primer (this protects the “repair” from moisture).
This will be sanded down again when the final priming, to paint, takes place.