door hinge panel finally rusted through..

[themildbunch]

Ummm, hoped this would last until the summer but the door strap panel has finally pulled away from rust that was holding it in the picture above. The hinge has dropped and we're using the passenger door now to get in and out!

The hinge has been welded and not rustproofed sometime in the past but it looks like the whole panel will need to be cut out and replaced... I noticed the Doc has replaced his with 3mm steel... Could you post a picture or two?

I've never welded or fabricated but I like a challenge... given the secret way bx's seem to rust I think it'd be a good idea to learn to weld but I'm not sure how long I want to not open the door

[toddao]

You could slide across the bonnet and climb in through the window like those 'good ole boys', the Dukes of Hazard!

I came to a similar conclusion about the advantages of learning to weld with a load of rusty heaps on my hands. It's not as easy as it looks with such 'thin tin' but I've got lots of raw material to practice on!

That looks like quite a good challenge you've got there. Good luck.

[electrokid]

Look on the bright side - how many cars last long enough for the door hinges to rust away

I'd like to learn how to weld as well - got all the kit to do so and should even have somewhere flat and concreted to work on cars sometime this year - definite maybe

Good luck with it.

[Gibbo2286]

The problem you have there is just what you can see, if you decide to break one of these i.e. strip it to nothing and sell the parts you'll be shocked at what you find hidden behind the various bits of trim..

I dismantled one recently that didn't look anywhere near as bad as yours but when stripped it looked as though the most minor crash would caused it to disintegrate. Gibbo.

[Linegeist]

If you're going down the MIG route, then welding thin sheet successfully is as much to do with the quality of welder as technique.

A Chinese cheapie from EBay is much less likely to be stable and controllable right down low, using ultra thin wire and bargain bucket gas, than a decent, well-built welder that's got quality electronics inside it and a good clean argon mix. Trust me, I found out the hard way.

I wound up buying a midrange Clarke unit and, with a little practice, I found I could seam-weld 22swg sheet with little difficulty.

It's a skill well worth learning, and lends itself to all kinds of tasks, not just cars. I've repaired household hinges, steel chair frames, a greenhouse frame, a neighbour's kid's bicycle, a barbeque ................ I've even managed to weld myself - and THAT chuffing hurt!!!!

Go for it! You'll never be short of pints down the local.

[citsncycles]

I've used Clarke welders for nearly 2o years now, & while not up to professional standard their smaller MIGs are good, and with a little practice a really good weld can be achieved.

It'll be worth investing in an auto darkening welding helmet if you are doing much welding - they make life so much easier. I'd also recommend either a welding apron or thick jeans as welding splatter in the crotch is not comfortable!

[johnbird]

How will you wdld that? Will you just plate over it or cut it out?

[Defender110]

You should always cut out and replace & never weld over, welding over will just prolong and increase the agony.

[Wooscary]

I'd also recommend either a welding apron or thick jeans as welding splatter in the crotch is not comfortable!

I've melted some very pretty patterns in shoes with weld splatter.

[johnbird]

if he starts cutting back to good steel on that iner wing he may not stop until he reaches the bumper.............

[citsncycles]

You should always cut out and replace & never weld over, welding over will just prolong and increase the agony.

And

if he starts cutting back to good steel on that iner wing he may not stop until he reaches the bumper.............

Apart from the obvious issue of leaving the rust to fester if you plate over it there will almost certainly be issues with both aligning everything on the new layer of metal and with the stiffness of the repair. I've not tackled an A post repair on a BX myself, but I've done it on both an Ami & a Bedford CF & if the hinge itself is moving that means there's usually corrosion in the hinge support structure within the post. You can sometimes get round this by repairing the bit you can see with thicker steel but this would not be as permanent as cutting back as far as you need to replace all the rusty metal as you end up with a different stress path from the hinge. Eventually, you would end up with metal cracking elsewhere, probably the original metal around the edge of the repair, but at the end of the day it's all down to how long you plan to keep the car for.

[B-Hive]

Luckily enuf, the spin off of having no service/back-up for the BX in Australia is that our BX's are rust free..unless they've had a prang and not repaired correctly

...I recall my older brother trying to stay on top of the rust in his Alfa, and I always remember thinking when he was welding that "how can you be sure that it wont rust on the metal on the back of the section that you are welding". You are surely going to get exposed metal on these inaccessible areas. No chance of applying any sort of protective coating.

Anyway, I too would like to learn to weld and know how to address the hidden exposed metal issue, because you can be sure that if you were to give it to someone else to do they would not bother the seal the inside surfaces of the repair, and that's what i think has happened for you on this occasion.

[mat_fenwick]

You can get at the back with a wax injection nozzle (think of a tube blocked at the end, with small holes drilled around the circumference).

I welded my hinges back in 2004 as they had both cracked rather than rusted, and apply Waxoyl behind them (via the door cable hole) and other box sections every few years.

[themildbunch]

hey.. thanks for all the advice... Yes, I will be getting a welding setup at some point but I think I've reached a good compromise for the moment..

A friend of mine can weld pretty well, does more 'creative' welding rather than automotive.. but he has a fairly new, large and high end looking MIG, some dry space, bench, vice, grinder, mask, sheet steel etc. He's happy to help me out so I'm going to tackle this one day later this month.

I'm not sure whether I'll need to cut the whole panel the hinges are attached to or just the upper part.. Depends on the amount of rust and thickness of the steel I imagine.
I'm not sure of the best / easiest way to align the hinges if the whole panel has to be renewed.

Needing to get this done in a day as I don't want to be stuck in the country missing a tool with the door off! Here's my list of the things I think I'll need:

(welding stuff)
cutting discs
rust removal tools - wire brush drill attachment / flap wheel
door hinge / pin tool
new hinge pins
jack to hold and help align the door
ruler or someway to get the top or both hinges aligned correctly when refixing
dremel for cutting the front wing bolts than may not come out..
degreaser / cleaner
zinc rich primer
anti-corrosion wax
more time when I find more rust!

anything else??


thanks

[Defender110]

Sounds like you've got it pretty much covered there, take your time and do it methodicaly and you will probably enjoy the challenge.