Wendelspanswick
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My Austin Special is progressing well, I had got to the point where I needed to form the bonnet but I couldn't do this without having a radiator cowl.
As I am using the original large radiator none of the Austin chrome surrounds would fit.
I toyed with the idea of soldering together the cowl pieces to avoid distortion but after making some test pieces I decided to TIG it together from the smallest number of pieces I could.
A couple of pictures of my blank with just the inner edge joggled, the finished cowl is about 600mm by 400mm and I used 0.9mm steel.
Starting to fold the edges up, if you can see top left I am dressing the curve over a piece of timber to keep the join about 10mm off the corner, its always a good idea to have your welds away from the corners so that you can dress/planish them.
From the front.
All four corners dressed over and the 2 pieces of Oak flooring offcuts used, I had to relieve them so them wouldn't flatten the joggle round the inner edge.
From the front, almost there.
My knackered old flypress I bought for a £1 after no one bid on it at house clearance auction (it was a sod to move which is why no-one bid on it I think). This is what I used to form the folds.
All folded.
And from the back.
Ready to add the 4 filler pieces.
Filler piece tacked in.
The bottom 2 pieces TIG welded, planished and sanded.
All 4 corners done, just need to roll the joggle in the back edge for the bonnet and side panels to sit in.
Mocked up on the car.
Since then I have added the mounting brackets onto the cowl, I still need to cut the starting handle hole and the radiator filler hole, which I can't do till I have moved the filler neck on the radiator from the side to the middle.
I then need to sort out some brackets to hold the mesh for the cowl before I get it Nickel plated.
As I am using the original large radiator none of the Austin chrome surrounds would fit.
I toyed with the idea of soldering together the cowl pieces to avoid distortion but after making some test pieces I decided to TIG it together from the smallest number of pieces I could.
A couple of pictures of my blank with just the inner edge joggled, the finished cowl is about 600mm by 400mm and I used 0.9mm steel.
Starting to fold the edges up, if you can see top left I am dressing the curve over a piece of timber to keep the join about 10mm off the corner, its always a good idea to have your welds away from the corners so that you can dress/planish them.
From the front.
All four corners dressed over and the 2 pieces of Oak flooring offcuts used, I had to relieve them so them wouldn't flatten the joggle round the inner edge.
From the front, almost there.
My knackered old flypress I bought for a £1 after no one bid on it at house clearance auction (it was a sod to move which is why no-one bid on it I think). This is what I used to form the folds.
All folded.
And from the back.
Ready to add the 4 filler pieces.
Filler piece tacked in.
The bottom 2 pieces TIG welded, planished and sanded.
All 4 corners done, just need to roll the joggle in the back edge for the bonnet and side panels to sit in.
Mocked up on the car.
Since then I have added the mounting brackets onto the cowl, I still need to cut the starting handle hole and the radiator filler hole, which I can't do till I have moved the filler neck on the radiator from the side to the middle.
I then need to sort out some brackets to hold the mesh for the cowl before I get it Nickel plated.