Rear boot surround rotten - how best to replace?

Tofufi

Tofufi

Member
Hello all.

I've just bought a 1970 Series 1 P6 (3500), and it all seems to be fairly solid. Aside from a couple of small bits of grot around the bodywork, the only other issue the car has is that it is letting copious amounts of water into the boot.

Under some investigation, I've found the rear boot surround / seal area to be rotten along the bottom.

I'm able to weld to a reasonable standard, but having never owned a P6 before, I'm unsure how to proceed with this one.

Here is the rot:

CIMG9436.jpg


and I can assure you it is a lot more rotten than it appears. The bodywork to which the rubber seal/metal protector strips are riveted flexes significantly when pushed by hand, and is rotten all the way along the bottom from one side of the car to the other.

Is this a common place for the P6 to rot?

At the minute, I'm either thinking of fabricating something from sheet steel, or trying to purchase this area cut from a P6 being scrapped.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions for how I ought to replace this area?

Thanks in advance,
Jim.
 
It is very simple to fix if you can weld.

Try and get some steel with a lip which is the right size for the seal to sit in. Or just bend some to suit.

It is just a case of removing the valance and cut the grot out, make some good notes.

Colin
 
Thanks for the advice Colin, I'll give it a go.

I guess I'm rather spoilt coming from the VW world of easy repair panels and bits cut from donor vehicles. :)

Valence is now off, and some of the rot removed. I'm probably going to do it in 3 stages as my sheet metal doesn't come large enough to do it in one go :)
 
Hello Tofufi, I too was working on aircooled vw's before buying my Rover. I had a 1972 baywindow with a Danbury Conversions, in turn fitted with a 1641 big bore kit and twin solex's Pict 3's if I remeber rightly.

Anywhoo, the repair panel, as Colin says, is pretty damned simply, when cutting and grinding away, I found you need to be careful not to cut away the rear valance, as the lip end of the boot and the start of the valance are only about a half centimetre apart. I've recently completed that section of my car and what I found was the best course was to take a paper template of the other side, mirror it and cut it out of sheet steel. As regarding the lip, well the rubber will have more flex than the steel you cut, so it needn't be perfect. Again template the good metal you have left on any section with a lip and get an idea of the depth of the lip, simply cut a strip that is the same size and weld it at 90degrees to the boot wall section. When the boot starts to rise up, towards the wing section, take note that the thickness of the lip changes as the direction of the boot rubber is altered.

I have a photo of my finished item in primer if you would like some visual aid?
 
Fraserp6 said:
Hello Tofufi, I too was working on aircooled vw's before buying my Rover. I had a 1972 baywindow with a Danbury Conversions, in turn fitted with a 1641 big bore kit and twin solex's Pict 3's if I remeber rightly.

Anywhoo, the repair panel, as Colin says, is pretty damned simply, when cutting and grinding away, I found you need to be careful not to cut away the rear valance, as the lip end of the boot and the start of the valance are only about a half centimetre apart. I've recently completed that section of my car and what I found was the best course was to take a paper template of the other side, mirror it and cut it out of sheet steel. As regarding the lip, well the rubber will have more flex than the steel you cut, so it needn't be perfect. Again template the good metal you have left on any section with a lip and get an idea of the depth of the lip, simply cut a strip that is the same size and weld it at 90degrees to the boot wall section. When the boot starts to rise up, towards the wing section, take note that the thickness of the lip changes as the direction of the boot rubber is altered.

I have a photo of my finished item in primer if you would like some visual aid?
Click to expand...

Hello Fraser, the picture of your finished item in primer would be fantastic, thank you. :) I will try to update this post when I've finished with pictures of what I've done, too.
Good point on the thickness of the lip changing when the boot rubber direction changes, I hadn't noticed that!

I've got a 1971 bay window which used to be a Dormobile conversion, however the roof was rotten and I welded the roof back into a tintop, and fitted microbus seats (it is now an 8 seater). I still can use it for camping, but I have been using it as my everyday car for the last 2 or 3 years.

Thanks,
Jim.
 
Hey Jim,

Love to see some snaps of your progress on this when you get to it if you wouldn't mind. Same job is on my 2do list too after I get through the slew of other stuff - still working on welding skills & it's a little chilly. Forget a white Christmas - 60degrees will suit me just fine if I can possibly get it.

Good luck,

Paul
 
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