The Repair Shop star Dominic Chinea has said he was left "gutted and without a plan B" after his ambitious personal project hit repeated setbacks. The BBC presenter is building an Edwardian-era racing special using a rare Liberty V12 aero engine, but the restoration took a "drastic turn" when cracks kept appearing in his welds.
A Daunting Engine Conversion
Because the original V12 is too long and heavy for his car, Chinea undertook the task of cutting the engine down to a V8 configuration. Speaking on his YouTube channel, which has 182,000 subscribers, he explained that a "massive crack" kept running through the weld no matter what he tried.
Chinea said he had been "planning and dreaming and plotting" about this project for months, but it did not go to plan. He admitted he was "feeling the pressure at the moment" because he was the one who cut the engine in half and could not weld it back together.
Repeated Welding Failures
Chinea described his attempts to fix the crack: "I've tried pre-heating the case, getting the whole thing really hot, heating it up with welding to try and cool it down slowly. Soon as it gets down to like 40 odd degrees, cracks and runs up it. I've tried using different filler rod, which is not what I want to do because I know I shouldn't be using it."
He added that the alternative filler rod produced the same result, and conceded he was going to bed "defeated." He said: "So, I'm going to call it a night here before I make things worse. It's getting quite late. I'll sleep on it. Tomorrow's a new day and we'll try again. That's it for tonight. I'll see you in the morning. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more jolly and I'll have a plan."
A New Approach Works
The following morning, Chinea told his fans he was feeling "more positive" and ready to continue his welding mission. He said it was one of the most difficult things he has had to weld, so he tried a new technique using a wet rag to control the heat, welding tiny little sections at a time.
That approach proved much more successful, and by the end of the video Chinea was attempting to weld the inside of the casing. Chinea recently moved to Cornwall from Kent with his wife Mary and their dog Wendy. The Repair Shop returns tonight (Wednesday, November 11) from 8pm to 9pm.
