James's 1977 244 DL "Momo"

I went back to the driver's side handbrake to replace the hardware there too:

Onto the next thing - at some point in the past, the rear mudflap brackets were cut. I originally just made up an extra bracket but it wasn't up to the abuse and the mudflaps were falling off after less than a year.

So, I opted to do it properly and weld on new brackets:

I scraped off the underbody coating and marked the spot welds out:

I drilled out the spot welds using a spot weld drill bit, and separated the old brackets:

I drilled too deep in a couple of places and went through the body:

Over on the passenger side, I found some rust I didn't know about, and decided fixing it was worth the scope creep:

I cut cut away the rust and welded a patch on top. Because of the tight access and the fact that it's not visible anywhere (it will be underneath seam sealer by the end), I just oversized the patch slightly and lap jointed it. I took care of a pinhole I found at the same time:

I plugged the holes on the driver's side also, and chased a couple of holes around.

Finally! I was able to weld on the new passenger side mud flap bracket:

This is where I got to yesterday. It got too late to be using the grinder, so I will be back at it over the next couple of days.

Once the other mud flap is installed, I will fix up the seam sealer and then paint everything. I'm going to paint the butt cheeks with an enamel satin black, and paint the wheel wells and mudflap brackets with some stoneguard paint.

Major Ledfoot yeah, if anything this 244 has surprisingly little rust in the area. On the driver's side it's tip top (although the same can't be said for the front corner of the wheel arch).

Porkchop yeah basically, I think these were part of one of last year's Skandix group buys! I haven't organised any this year, it sounds like another ozolvoer will be organising one in the next few weeks.

Got the driver's side welded on last night after much chasing of pinholes. Need to grind it all back then get to painting. Ready for the weekend I hope!

Scope creep

rado it has a tiny bit of give in it when dry

@Porkchop I use U-Pol Grey Stripe brushable seam sealer. I first used it on my yellow 244 to seal up the gutter seams after repairing them, that was 12 years ago and it hasn't deteriorated at all!

It's not quite the same as the chewing gum like sealer the factory used, but it brushes on with a similar texture, and it's designed to be painted over so it looks pretty factory when all is said and done.

@Porkchop I bought it from VG Auto Paints who posted it (pure time management from me as they're only 20 minutes away). If you run into a dead end let me know, I'm happy to post stuff down.