Can anyone here repair this front panel

I acquired this front panel as the one fitted to my Series 3 has completely rotted away at the bottom.

A friend of mine who is experienced with welding thin plate was going to repair it. However, due to a recent accident he won't be able to work for a while.

After shotblasting, most of it was intact apart from the usual area at the bottom. My friend did repair some of it, but after removing the reinforcement strip it was a lot worse that it looked. The welding has also caused it to warp slightly

This is actually a Series 2A front panel. I acquired a Maltese cross grille to go with it as I thought this would look better than the later plastic one.

Is there anyone on here in the London and South East area who could finish it so I can get it sprayed? It would be even better if someone could paint it as I am also waiting on someone else for that. If anyone can do any of it, let me know a price.

Cheers
webley101

if you posted said item to norfolk i am more than happy for repair and paint it for you postage is 11 pound there and 11 pound back via tnt but could be cheaper if you shopped around

I wish mine looked like yours before i repaired mine. That is Very Very Very minimal corrosion unlike what mine was lol.
Here is what mine looked like:

bsl739: PM Sent

bacon: The panel that I took off looks like yours. I got this one from somewhere else. Although the corrosion doesn't look much in the pictures, the steel is very thin in some places. A few spots have even gone through.

If youre on the essex side of london I can do it, as well as landrover bits I repair and make panels for aston martins bugati etc so you would be assured of a good job

I finally got round to doing someting about this. I saw a piece of damaged dexion shelving which was destined for the skip at work, then I had an idea.

The curved fold on the edge of this piece of shelving is almost identical to the bottom of the panel. It is the same thickness of steel as well.

I cut the part with the worst corrosion out of the front panel, and a slightly oversized piece out of the shelf.

Now just to cut it down so it matches exactly and try welding it in. It probably won't look great but it's better than nothing.

Is it worth making the repair double thickness like the original? I was thinking of leaving it as single panel so that it has less places for the rot to start from again.

I'm about to pull mine out to treat surface rust on the top of it and a quick spray; now I'm wondering what Ill find on the bottom

It will most likely be rotten at the bottom. There is a two-layer part there which wouldn't have had any paint in between when it was made. This is an ideal place for rust to start.

Mine was fine at the top but rotten at he bottom. I've never tried welding and don't have the equipment so I got a refurb & galvanised one from Ashtree Land Rover.