Spent an afternoon laboriously hand-fabricating some pieces to fill the holes in the frame, and to be brutally honest, they looked like my five year old neice could have done better  I’ll not even show you them, you’ll laugh too much 

Popped out to Machine Mart and got one of their vice-mounted metal folders, together with a nice shiny new vice to fix onto the new workbench (when I finish building it ) For the minute, I’ll manage with it bolted to the Workmate…

Machine Mart metal folder

What a revelation  You have to be careful to gently lift the bottom plate in a number of stages, going a little further each time, until you’ve got the angle you were after. It feels a little like it’s about to break any minute, but I didn’t have the space for one of the Victorian-era 3-tonne folders they have at college  To be sure, take a copy of the inside of the frame using a magic pin template thingummy you bought for a quid at an autojumble. 

Using a profile gauge

Then compare it to the piece you’ve just folded 

Using a profile gauge

OK, it’s not rocket science, but it keeps me off the streets 

Once I’d cut up a few pieces, I then trimmed them to fit the holes and set to with the welder. Remembering Dave’s early advice – put your first welds onto the car where no-one will see ’em 

Then grind away that horrible mess into something that’s at least shiny – if not pretty 

Capri tailgate rear screen frame repair

I thought I was on a roll and doing quite well, until I was cleaning up one of the later welds and heard it go pop 

Capri tailgate rear screen frame repair

Bugger all fusion happened there then… It’s not as easy as it looks this welding lark  The metal on the boot frame’s alot thinner than anything I’ve tried before, and even with the welder on its’ lowest setting it’s after blowing holes if I’m a millisecond or two too long on the trigger  Ach well, I guess I’ll use the cutting disc to make a gap and weld that up, rather than just putting more weld over the top, unless anyone’s got a better suggestion?