Sort of a wasted afternoon
Went up with the intentions of sorting out the little bit in one corner of the rear roof, once the hatch was off it became clear the rot had got in further than I thought, or more accurately I guess further than I hoped!
The section that led back under the roof had rust pretty much all along..
Bit of grinding back and the fresh air started to be let in
Before I chopped any more out I set about making a repair panel as it curves in 2 directions, not a straight edge to be seen. It needed to follow the downward curvature towards the roof sides but it also curves forward at each corner. Just to add complication the lower edge has to follow the hatch line. With the hatch on you can't get at it, with the hatch off you have to use your imagination!
Started off with a straight folded angled piece, the fold needed opening out as it wasn't a 90deg fold needed, more like 60 deg.
Then it's just shrinking and stretching to create the curves in both directions.
Once those 2 curves were right the lower fold was marked out and an age spent folding it in the jenny wheel, being a now curved piece itself you couldn't put it in a straight folder...
After spending a couple of hours making this piece it became apparent that it wasn't good enough to use, the lower fold where it will need to follow the hatch just wasn't correct, I'd not allowed for the hatch being straighter than the roof skin
Slightly cheesed off I took stock and stepped back before throwing a fit.
Time to start again and acces the situation.
The repair piece got set to one side, put on the naughty step.
I attacked the rest of the roof section where it folded back under the roof. Eventually I found solid material but some reconstruction will be needed. There is a flaw in the design as far as I'm concerened. The top edge of the hatch has a rubber strip attached to it fills in the gap between the roof and hatch. When the hatch is raised this strip rubs along the roof edge, and rubs all the way back down when closing the hatch. Over time this rubs the paint off! I guess it would have been put there to cut down wind noise as it's right above the rear seat passengers heads, it only goes to the hinges so not for water management, it also traps all the leaves and crud to add to the fun! It won't be going back in.
A plan of action was devised including finally getting my new spot welder out of the box, the one I bought about a year ago!
Rather than start working at gone 6 (not that unusual for me) I had some sense to call it a day and knock off early.
On the drive home I've got a good plan sorted in my head on how to tackle it so that will have to wait until next week.
Back to work next week but off to Cadwell tomorrow and Saturday for some BSB action, the integrale will have to wait a bit longer
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)