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HB estate

PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 12:24 pm
by Johnboy HB
Here's what my tailgate looks like, as you can see, there's more fresh air than metal at the bottom & that's without all the mesh, filler, aluminium tape & anything else that's still holding it together, ideally a better tailgate would be the best alternative, but with more chance of getting hens teeth, I'm going to have to repair it, first thought is to cut a section off a bootlid & graft that on, sizing them both up, it looks like a viable option so that looks like the way forward, wish me luck :shock:

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 2:49 pm
by Paul Dawson
You're a brave man - but I guess your options are a bit limited. Good luck with it. Lots of photos please - I love seeing how people tackle jobs like this.

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 7:23 pm
by droopsnoot
I'll be watching too - the original tailgate on my hatch looks like that (well, a bit worse really) and I have some strange desire to repair it in the future. It's all do-able, take your time, measure things, try to secure anchor points first to hold it all in position then you can build the rest in the gaps.

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 9:41 pm
by Johnboy HB
I'm thinking if I leave the tailgate in place, cut out a section & line up the repair section, it should work out OK as long as it follows the body line, the major problem is the inner frame is different after a certain point so I may have to fabricate some of the inner frame to suit

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:22 am
by BobbyMel
Watching with interest....

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 2:58 pm
by Johnboy HB
OK, here goes, cut off the bottom of tailgate as in pic, I cut it just after it curves round to the glass for 2 reasons, firstly, there was damage both sides & secondly, to try to keep distortion down, then cut the bootlid a couple of inches oversize so I could trim it down, then laid the discarded part from the tailgate over the new section to check the profile & discovered that the boot turn button is positioned @ half an inch higher, as in the pic, so another hurdle to cross later on, I put a mark on each rear wing, relating to the cut on the tailgate, opened the tailgate & placed the new section in the aperture & transferred the mark to that, cut a couple of inches in each side & mated it to the tailgate, closed it carefully & teased it into position, marked the remaining cut line, removed it, & cut to suit, then mated them back up, closed the tailgate, check it was all still aligned & put a few tack welds in, that's where it is at the moment

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 3:03 pm
by Johnboy HB

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 11:00 pm
by Paul Dawson
So that repair section is made from a standard saloon bootlid - if I've read that right.

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 2:16 pm
by Johnboy HB
yes, that's right, there's a couple of repairs left to do on the tailgate, then I'll take it off, turn it upside down & repair the inner skin

Re: HB estate tailgate

PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 4:32 am
by jpsmit
impressive