Bonnet – RH Inner Valance Repair

It’s time to get started on the bonnet.  I like to do all of the inner panels first, because when I finish the work on the wings and center section, I’m usually anxious to start assembly, and this way – everything is ready to go!

Here's the starting point. This is the RH "Inner Valance" - some people refer to these as the "air ducts" or "air tubes" - they're not a very glorious part, but very important, and have become RARE! Alot of these just got trashed over the years, and they are not reproduced. They are also very difficult to make, as the tubular section is a pressing that has both rounded sections and sharp angles. This one is completely rust-free, but a little twisted and mashed...

This shot shows the extent of the damage - the flat section is badly bent, and the crease is inside the tube where we cannot straighten it effectively. We will have to separate the flat section from the tube and repair the pieces seperately.

Here's our solution... We have sliced the damaged portion of the flat section out, and it will be replaced with new steel. Note that the original spot-welded flange was not properly welded - a large section of this flange had spot-welds that did not penetrate - that is why you only see the drill-marks in the forward and rear sections of this flange - that rusty section in the center was never attached! Also not the surface rust inside the tube where these pieces have never received paint or primer of any kind - either originally, or in the process of several restorations!

Here's a little gift from a previous "body man" - this was undoubtedly the result of some type of clamp, that was then used in an attempt to pull and prod all of the bent pieces of this bonnet together. It's easy for me to imagine that - it's just the type of thing I'd have done as a kid to get my E-Type back on the road ASAP after one of my many "bonnet re-arranging adventures"... It's sad that some body shops staffed by "professionals" are charging good money for this type of work...

Here is the valance after over an hour in the glass bead cabinet. The entire piece is now bare white steel, inside and out. We've positioned the repair seam so that the vertical section is behind the bonnet screen when mounted, and the long curved section follows the air tube's flange for added support to help eliminate the possibility of distortion when TIG welding.

At this point, we've completed the straightening of the air tube, removed a couple of dents, reshaped the mouth section, and fixed the mashed up edge of the horn hole. We've also coated the internal section of the air tube in red oxide.

This shot shows the patch fabricated from the same 19-gauge steel. We removed the special "speed nuts" for the large shetmetal screws along the top edge, and spot-welded them to our new piece, and also coated the section that will reside inside the air tube with red oxide again.

Close-up of the speed nuts lightly spot-welded in the 4 corners as original.

Checking the final fit before welding.

The flange of the air tube was in good enough condition to spot weld to the new piece as done originally.

Now, air tube flange has been spot-welded to the new piece, and the seams are tacked with the MIG, and awaiting final TIG welding. This repair turned out nicely and will not be noticed when the TIG weld is finished off and the bonnet is assembled. Another original - and hard to get - E-Type panel has been rescued!

Update - here is the panel a few weeks later during the bonnet assembly. After it was TIG welded, ground down, and painted in etch primer, the repair is virtually invisible!

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