Club 80-90 Forums

Me and a friend (non car welder) are taking on the front and rear os arches. Any tips on replacing them what to do and what not to do? Easier to replace whole panels or just corroded sections? Any help will be brilliant thanks. Marc

You need to be looking through the many mm resto threads, some great pics and advice.
Also from the wiki https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32407" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

osr on the fridge side if single slider you will enjoy, how about sticking some decent picks up
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Yeah will get some pictures up when I get cracking. Single slider?

One sliding door..not a twin slider

Yes it's a single sliding door. That mean im in for hell? Any tips?

Have a look at one or other of the ones I've done ,may give you an idea, they are tedious to do right

Well we jumped straight into action with the "we will figure it out" mentality. Here's some picture before hand.
Was created out of fibre glass and filler. Loveley. After grinding around the top of the arch we found a hole revealing my pillow stash. Scary stuff.

Decided would be best not to go poking around the top of the arch no more. So we went for replacing the rotten parts of the arch only. At the front and back.so here's out first go it it, started with the small rust section at front of the rear arch.

Didn't turn out too bad for a first go. At least is solid now.

Then the rear was next went a lot better, probably as confidence was high! ...





After some grinding and filling I'm sure will be alright. After we finished it, we regretted we didn't do the whole panel, but oh well sh** happens.

The sealant between the gaps, any tips on getting that in there. Made a right mess the other day. Was too sticky for my liking.

Decent effort there, but as you said full arch would have been easier,also next time open as in de spot the old inner from the upper and let your new one into gap,its the Only way to get a tight seam ,also use a sealant specific to the job and remove with panelwipe as soon as applied

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Cheers geez, can you explain that first bit more please? Marc

Got cracking on the nasty front arch tonight.



Started off by cutting that rotten Bugga out and then think about it later.





Then once out got to work grinding the inside out to give us enough solid metal to tack to.





We then scratched our swedes for a while....

We came to the conclusion we would weld the panel along the top. Unorthodox I know but just seemed the easiest method for us. Again not looking for a show room finish just as long as it's solid and keeping costs and time down.





Panel was not the best fit, needed some shaping here and there. But came out alright. A bit of grinding and some filler and should look good.

Managed to finish of the rear arch in the meantime to.





All coming along nicely. Saving meself a few pennies. What else can I weld....

looking good, on the rear arch ,if you had despotted the old arch from the upper wing panel then openned it up you could slot the new arch inbetween and the seam gap would be as tight as OE
also you should try to drill holes and puddle weld through as you need to get the weld nearer to the outside of the panel.. but i tell you its a good job you done and would put some so called "firms" to shame
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Thanks for posting this. Ive actually starting patching my rear wing and it still needs a couple more repairs. I'm starting to think I'm wasting my time and should cut out and put a new one in. At least that way I'd have rust free seams.

Who sells the best panels? Or do they all come from the same fabricator?

I got my panels from JK. The rear one was brilliant, but the front was not so great.

I would recommend doing the whole panel regardless to to what state it's in as chopping bits out and joining up was a lot more difficult than doing a whole panel.

As long as there was good metal to weld to then should be fine. Worth a poke around the inner arch and see what condition it's in.

We had to trim back the panel where it joins with the inner arch as the inner arch was not in good shape.

Once you have cut along the seams (we used angle grinder) you will be left with thin strip of metal with spot welds .grind them off and then just get a chisel behind left overs that were welded to the other panels and prise off. Clean them all up and weld panel in. Done.

Give it a go what's the worse that can happen.... That's what our mentality was .

There are easier ways than grinding away,have a read
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