THE CRITICAL TOOL (15Kg of Iron) A portable spot welder was found essential for joining the thin 0.6 mm 2CV panels together. It gave rapid clean welding. The surfaces to be joined needed to be spotlessly clean bare steel, and the pressure between the tips needs to high (but not too high). Regular cleaning of the non cooled tips is needed to maintain quality. I found Mig plug welding, even with very good welding units was limited to 0.8 mm. Welding trials with TIG demonstrated that I needed extensive training.

FLOOR BOARD INSTALLATION Alignment is critical here. The chassis was leveled fore & aft and sideways. The rails had been made parallel to each other during the rail to pillar assembly, using a jig made before the old ones were removed. The floorboards were then bolted to the chassis. Then the "body" was placed onto the chassis and floorboards and carefully aligned and clamped. Spot welding of the rails to the floor board then proceeded. Only a few spots could be done on the floorboard to rear crossbeam flange initially. The completion of the welding here required removal of the body as the spot welder tongs had a limited length and jaw opening.

RAIL REBUILD The left rail was damaged in transit & needed to be unzipped using a very sharp hard thin steel blade, working around the old spot weld with light hammer blows, to reduce metal rips. The rails & pillars were 0.8mm steel or above and could easily be Mig welded with a good quality Miller Junior unit.

The Lucky repair FRONT SIDE PANEL BASE Repair of this panel worried me to the end, and turned out to be very simple. Replacement of the whole panel is a major job as it is fixed to the A pillar . After cutting out all the rusty bits and truing the edge up, a backing piece was inserted behind the old panel, and a repair section of the same thickness added onto the bottom, inelegant, but effective. The join was later filled with POR paint, don't be tempted to use solder filler, the panel will distort.

DOOR FIT A moment of truth, this test was delayed for a few days until I had the courage to do it. I needn't have worried, the fit was perfect on both sides. The difference in curves between the front top part of the rear doors & the frame was a worry at first, but all 2CV's are like this (phew!) The bottom door gap was also a worry, but again is normal.

 

TAIL LIGHT LEAKAGE The construction of the rear tail light wiring holes relies on proper sealing of the tail light lens base seal. Citroen have recognized this problem and changed the seal from a flat rubber piece to a line seal joint (sometime after 1982?) This seal should be more effective. To reduce the effects of seal leakage, I have filled up the rear double panel void with POR paint up to the level of the internal panel cutouts. This will route water leakage into the spare wheel recess, allow monitoring and permit drain age from the well's forward drain hole.