I’ve been deliberating about replacing the outer wheel arch since it looks such a mess, but it’s solid enough and won’t be particularly visible when the car is finished, so I could probably live with it. However, as I’ve removed the rear wing and started preparing for fitting the new outer sill I have found a few new holes in it, which will need even more patching, so a new panel was starting to look likely. My mind was made up when I received an email from Rimmers yesterday morning announcing a flash MGB sale – when I clicked through to the bodywork section, the first item on sale was the RH outer wheel arch section! Putting it down to fate, I ordered it for next day delivery, and then went out to the garage and cut the old one off over my lunch break.
Whilst I had the angle grinder in hand, that boot floor corner was my next victim. I went back over with the drill after I took this picture to get the spots out, and then cleaned up all the edges ready for the new panel to go in.
The new wheel arch panel arrived promptly this morning, so I started the day with high hopes of getting it fitted.
Obviously that was way too optimistic, since after an hour or so of scraping off old underseal to uncover the rest of the spot welds holding the lip of the old arch in place, I inevitably found some more rust to address on the inner wing. The rest of the day was spent cutting this out and welding in a new plate to repair the structure.
