Max came down on Sunday to start prepping the engine bay for a spot of paint. Lots of sanding to do!

I have a few areas on the fuel tank shelf that need repairing, the worst being the O/S strap and strengthener that sit underneath it. 

Chopped out:

This is what was left of the strengthening plate after I’d cut the rust out:

The rest of the metal on the plate was pretty thin so I decided to make a new one instead of repairing. I don’t have a bead roller so I rigged up a little jig on the vice instead:

to add some pressings to a sheet of metal:

I then folded over the edges and after some careful bending, welding and spot of etch primer ended up with a pretty decent copy of the original panel:

A quick trial fit too:

I also repaired the fuel tank strap and fitted a new bolt as the old one had rusted shut: