Air box guard rotted away

[Jared1969]

I’ve finally got round to exposing the the top part of the air box from under the bonnet. After carefully cutting the bulge where the air box is housed away. I’ve found that the metal guard that sits on top of the box has rotted away probably about 30% left it’s rotted past the hole where the pipe takes away the water from the grills.

2 options now.

1 cut away air vents and weld over. Job done no leaks but also no need for air box etc. Is this frowned upon ?

2 buy a large panel cut from another vehicle and weld in its place. There is a 68 squareback on eBay where the owner will cut, would this fit my 71 Squareback ?

This is the last major part of welding left on the vehicle. It is MOT’d and solid apart from this and I would like to prep it for paint this year especially as I’m going to be home for the foreseeable future.

Help really appreciated

[broady_6]

Have you got any photos? Its possible to repair the air deflection panel. I have repaired a few. Have a look in my thread here.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3094&start=375#p64490

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3094&start=450#p66186

If you can find someone with a strinker then it will be much easier to get the bends. As a different idea that its probably not that hard to lay up some sheets and make it from fibre glass with a couple od metal stiffener rods in to help support the weight of the airbox?

Depends how original you are heading for.

[Jared1969]

Thanks. Nice pics. Like what you’ve done. I managed to make a not so pretty channel which I welded in place with a little bit of fibreglass filler. Primed it up and it works which is the main thing. Dry floor so at least can think about putting carpets etc back in. Will just keep a look out for a panel in the future to bring back to original. Have a mate that goes to the states a fair bit so hoping I can get that from him at some point. Cheers for your help.