Fastback's cars.

[820Vitesse]

That would be the most difficult one and probably very difficult to make another from scratch. If yours is just rusted around the bolt mount points you might be able to use large washers to secure it. Or do any repairs needed to the donor shield so it is a straight swap.

[Fastback]

Of course it is!

It's not just round the attachment point, it's the end 4" or so that has completely flaked away. Like Dave says, it may be better to make it in rivoted sections: perhaps a bit clumsy but I can see it working. I could try to make in one piece, although it would be wasteful on material.

Difficult to make, you say? Challenge accepted.

[Fastback]

In other news, the windscreen on the Vitesse has cracked with the cold.

[Lodein]

Good news, and good luck for the heat shield

Lodein

[scoobyh123]

Bummer about the Vitty screen!

Something i've seen done for heat shields which makes them easy to make is either perforated aluminium or thin aluminium sheets. Easily folded/shaped then bolt/rivet them all together with a washer separating each sheet from the one above. This gives extra strength without increasing weight and is much easier to work with - also the slight gap between each sheet gives extra insulation making the heatshield more effective at its primary job.

Using thin aluminium sheet (1mm or even 0.9mm) you can hand-form it around contours, if you decided where the holes would be for the rivets (i'd suggest a central row, a bit like a spine then one outer row along each side) you could form each sheet over the old pattern heat shield then drill them all in the same place by drillng from the inside of the pattern. When the next sheet is laid on top, the holes should line up e.g. rivet - sheet - washer - sheet then pop the rivet, do the spine first then the edge holes would be relatively eaasy.

Just another idea for the mix!

[Fastback]

And we're back!

No progress on the heat shield for the Sterling just yet, save to say I've got some 1·2mm ali scrap sheets that I can use. I have also got a good mid section that I can use as a template but sadly can't stick on the car.

Here's a picture of the Vitesse cracked screen just for interest.





Yeah, don't think that would pass an MOT.

Before replacement, I stripped the exterior trim and maybe suprisingly, some of the interior trim as well. This is because when I did the roof liners on both cars (both having had replacement screens previously), there was bonding stuck to the 'A' pillar trims and the roof liner. So removing trim just gave the fitter a bit more room to work.

However, in doing so, I managed to break a couple of tabs of the (UK) driver's side 'A' pillar trim . Those familiar with this thread may recall that's how I opened, fixing broken tabs, but this time I thought I'd try a slightly different approach. Here's a prepared area.



So all the internal splines have been removed leaving something to help locate this,



A 3D printed block with the tab on it. I also did one for the bottom.



The direction/orientation of print is important otherwise there would be little strength in the tab but I couldn't break them with my hands this way. Both were then fixed with polyurethane glue.



So all done and hopefully gives ideas on how we can fix delicate and ageing plastic parts.

[scoobyh123]

Interesting stuff Mark. I've got a similar problem with the passenger door mirror cover on my Jag, that has little fingers that latch into slots or to be more exact, it had. I did think of a fir-tree fastener and modifiy it to give good grip then glue it on in place of the missing fingers so not far off what you did but from a slightly different approach.

Once upon a time fasteners were mouted on slides in bigger pieces of trim and if the fasteners broke, could be easily replaced for tuppence ha'penny and a brass farthing, now you need a complete new piece of trim!

Glad to see you've found a way round it!

[Lodein]

Very good work mark.

3D printing can be very useful for vintage cars, but it requires equipment and skills. Fortunately, help can be found on car forums

As I don't have any 3D equipment, I make like you Dave, I take another similar piece and I try to adapt it.

Lodein