Thought I'd update this thread with some progress - especially as work has recommenced after a bit of a break.

Further poking revealed just how rotten the underside is (including chassis):






So new floors/sills bulkhead welded in, shell off and turned over to repair the rear sections






Finally - started applying a good coating of zinc primer and underseal with the body ready to go back on


The old chassis was chopped up and an original-pattern Citroen chassis built up ready to take the shell:




This was all a couple of months ago. The Charlie was then loosey reassambled to be towed to my folks to live there while we moved house:


It was in good company


I've finally saved up/got around to recommencing work now I have a garage/driveway to work in again. New sweeps and windscreen surround sections have been purchased to tackle the next big jobs. I've never attempted either so it will be quite interesting to see how well (or badly) it goes.

Watch this space for further updates!

Great work, Will! You really do crack on.

Thats fantastic....well done....makes me feel like getting on with my own project....good stuff...keep up the good work

Good job!!
I also started work on my AZU 1974 again, after 5 months break.

Keep posting

Nice work!

Update: Have had a bit of a weldathon and cracked on:

The rear panel was worse than I thought (no surprise there then)


Not a lot left of these!



Measure twice, cut once!


Checking the quarter window fits before welding:


Chopped out the rear panel grot. Can't afford a whole new panel so I'll repair it somehow.


Repairs to edge of boot floor


Window fits here too. Phew!


With the sweeps done I turned my attention to this:


It didn't put up much resistance...


Luckily the metal underneath is pretty good apart form the crossmember under the windscreen which I'll repair.


Better check the screen fits at this stage!


Panel in place, with only tidying up left to do.


On the whole, the windscreen panel wasn't too much of a chore to do once the old one was off (a mixture of drilling spot welds and cutting rusty metal). The sweeps weren't too bad either, a bit of jiggling to get them to sit right but not as painful as I'd feared.

It is getting there slowly!

Looks very good from here Will. Have you got any pics of the inner rear wing, did you have to add any metal along the top of it?

I've never understood how to fit new panels, when it's always the seams that are rusted, i.e. an inch from the edge of both panels.

Blimey Will, that's some proper rot.
Beautiful.

The repair sections have a reasonably generous flange so I had enough to join the inner wings to, even after trimming the rust away. Ok, there was one bit that I had 'persuade'to join together and another bit that was maybe more seam sealer than metal but on the whole it was pretty ok.

Update - Charleston Haz MOT! All complete bar a few little bits to sort:















Glad it is finished, it's been a challenging project but another one saved! Now, whether to put it up for sale or not....