195 replies to this topic

[BusheyTrader]

[/quote]
You nailed it, forget the holes in the repair panel, get the panel fitting right down the door hinge support and drill out new correct holes, the panels are great for getting an approximate shape but only resemble the original.

Tack the panel 1st then offer up the a panel and door prior to the seam weld.[/quote]

Thanks.

Looking from the front, the r/h side of the repair panel is the right correct profile and aligned ok. The l/h side appears to have the correct profile but is proud of the A pillar by 5 - 8mm ish. There's just the small matter of too much metal inbetween the 2 sides...

I think the easiest solution (for my limited skills) is to butt weld the r/h side of the repair panel , then make a vertical cut to free off the remainder, slot the hinge holes in it, offer it up to the a post and somehow align the door / repair panel / A panel to get reasonable alignment. Then I can cut away the surplus metal and butt weld the repair panel back up together.

I'm not sure if the door's weight will be too much for the thin upright without the inner wing welded to it though.

Adam

[BusheyTrader]

I welded up the R/h side of the flitch repair panel, but as stated it was too wide. After welding I made a vertical cut down down the repair panel so I could fit the L/h side to the A post / door post separately.

I bolted the driver's door back up to the A post complete with the L/h side of the flitch repair panel (after I'd slotted the hinge holes as it stood 5 - 7mm proud of the door) . With the door fitted evenly at the top, bottom and around the 3/4 panel, the gap between the door and flitch panel is wide at the top and next to nothing at the bottom. (But at least the A panel sits flush with the door and no longer stands proud)

But thanks to advice from PanelBeaterPeter (whose Mini rebuild looks amazing) I'm aiming for a 10mm gap between flitch and the correctly aligned door. It's a narrow garage and I can't stand back to look at the whole door so it's a case of feel and measure the gaps all round. Once that's acheived the remaing piece of flitch will be trimmed up and butt welded and plug welded.




Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 24 April 2011 - 10:16 PM.

[BusheyTrader]

It's been a busy couple of weeks for what feels like no progress. I cleaned up some surface rust on the A post, just above where the top of the A panel should be. A minute with the angle grinder and the wire brush had found some holes so it was time to cut out some rust.

After making some cardboard templates I cut out and peeled back the rusty section. What I thought was a one inch straight section became 6 - 8 inches including the door frame curve and the hole for the door check arm...............



With not a lot of tools I've made it up as one piece repair (cutting lots of thin V's on the inside and outside curves) and plug welded most of it in place after coating the back in weld through primer. There's going to be a few low spots which will need some filler later on. Hopefully it won't need more than a thin wipe, otherwise I may try to lead load it. Hopefully I can weld the rest of that flitch panel on soon.

Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 07 May 2011 - 06:26 PM.

[BusheyTrader]

I guess you can never have too many clamps........There's also 3 pop rivets holding the flitch onto the A post after aligning it earlier with the driver's door.



After sorting out the door frame, I finally got to plug weld the left side of the flitch repair panel to the A post. Originally there were only 9 spot welds in total, maybe less, running up alternate sides of the post. Now there are twice as many plug welds running in pairs, the weld thru primer makes them easy to spot.. I've just got to butt weld the two parts of the repair panel back together again.

After slicing the repair panel in half vertically earlier, I reckon I've taken a 3 to 5mm strip out of the centre and slotted the hinge holes by 8mm. Just for fun the vertical pressing that gives the repair panel its strength is on the outside (facing the front wheel) compared to the originals (facing the driver) I reckon its done deliberately so the same machine is used for both L/H & R/H repair panels before pressing the A panel return in.

Next stop is the driver's floor, sills and doorstep repair............let's hope the panel fit is better than the flitch repair as I could only buy the outer sill as a heritage panel. What do you reckon?

Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 14 May 2011 - 07:16 AM.

[rich2]

Good clamping action! I found even with heritage panels the fit can still be dodgy. From now on, I'm just going expect to fettle extensively and then I won't be disappointed! When fitting my inner wing/flitch, the clamps were pretty much bending the metal into place. I could have done with a bigger collection of clamps like yours! Keep it up!

[BusheyTrader]

I picked up 2 sets of those clamps from my local Screwfix. Even though they all appear to come out of the same Chinese factory, they were half the price of Halford's offering yet better quality and price than some I'd bought from welding supply shops.

As for panel fit without clamps I know that feeling. That flitch panel only fitted where it touched so those clamps made it touch a whole lot more..................

I wish I had your space though. I've got nowhere outside of the garage to store the, engine crane, interior or engine / gearbox so it's getting a bit intimate in there.

Adam

[BusheyTrader]

Well with the help of some skin pins to places I couldn't access with welding clamps, the flitch repair panel is now well and truly welded in. To make it fit the repair panel was sliced into 3 pieces and an extra piece was welded on to the top to replace more rust.

I'm going to trial fit the door again to see how accurate / badly fitting my home made door frame repair section really is . Then it's on to front foot well repairs where it should meet the flitch, inner sill, outer genuine sill and door step replacement. Then repeat on the passenger side before attacking the scuttle and top dash panel. Maybe I'll be get to replace the front wings, A panels and front panel before Christmas.

I bought some of that Bilt Hamber powder that you dilute with water and drop rusty things into. I made a pretty weak solution and dropped the rusty door hinge supports into it without much cleaning. 3 - 4 days later no rust on them. They were so badly pitted that their surfaces now look like moon craters.

Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 28 May 2011 - 05:13 PM.

[Hikari Warrior]

Hi Adam,

Really good to see another father/son project. I'm doing one with my son, who's just passed his test!

I'm just the other side of Watford, so if ever you need an extra pair of hands - if you haven't enough clamps - give me a shout.

Looking good.....

Cheers

Tony

[BusheyTrader]

Cheers Tony,

It's more of a father / father project at the mo. The son's at Uni in Kent and washing / polishing his Clio has more appeal than donning overalls when he's home. I'm sure he'll have more interest once we get past the tedium of cutting out rust, grinding and welding as things become more mechanical. There's not much room in the garage either with stuff everywhere.

Adam

[Hikari Warrior]

Yeah,my project (sorry...our project) is a bit like that too.

The junker is in a small garage too, but now we're back on four wheels I can get out onto the drive. I was hoping to get the engine back in this weekend, but Joe was removing all the stuff off the floor and discovered two holes which were previously well hidden. I need to find someone to weld 'em up for me as that will probably work out cheaper than hiring the kit again.

From experience, the interest from the other half of the team certainly comes back when you are 'putting together'.

Cheers

Tony

[BusheyTrader]

Domestic stuff has kept me out of the garage for a while, but I've virtually finished the patch panel on the A pillar / door frame. I've just got to grind a bit more of the welding back. I've learnt that neater welding means a lot less tedious grinding later on....and its cheaper on discs.......To make the butt weld stronger on the frame, I ran a few vertical beads of weld down the inside so they cross my butt welding at 90 degrees. They'll be hidden once the new Heritage scuttle is on. I don't know if this is common practice but it makes me feel better knowing that the frame is as strong as I can make it.

The door frame repair took much longer than I was expecting. Then again I shaped it from one piece of metal with practically no bodywork tools. Lets see how much filler is needed when it comes to body prep..........

Hopefully I can start on the sills / floor on the driver's side. Most of the outer sill has fallen off through terminal rust and the inner is very flaky at the front. At the rear things don't look too bad and the rear bins look good from above with a torch. I wonder if they'll look the same once I start cutting the sills off?

Adam

[BusheyTrader]

I managed to get in the garage for a bit today.

The home made repair panel that seemed to take forever.


and from another angle


Along with everybody else I'm chipping away the bitument top coat. A club hammer, a cold chisel and a bit of effort removes it from the driver's side rear floor pan. Lots of rust in the inner sills. Only one unexpected hole towards the centre





A grotty inner sill with no outer in front of it


Son makes friends with the angle grinder (cutting up an old goal frame) Next stop - outer sills


Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 20 June 2011 - 09:24 PM.

[BusheyTrader]

The driver's side outer sill is off displaying some more flakey metal underneath. There's a spot welded bracket behind the front wheel arch which will need derusting and refitting. A less sturdy item appeared to be welded between outer and inner sill at the rear. It turned to dust leaving a couple of tabs of spot weld on each sill.........

[BusheyTrader]

The project's still progressing despite the lack of posts.

The inner sill beside the driver was very crumbly, so was the floorpan where it met the toe board and and flitch panel. Off to MiniSpares for a r/h front floorpan repair panel but of course the only ones available don't match the Spi's profile. The repair panel's oval pressing is much larger and also lacks the extra flute by the gearstick. However the r/h side of the repair panel was a near match of what was rotten so I cut it roughly in half and butt welded it in. The rest of the repair panel was then cut about and butt welded together until it matched the existing floorpan. That kept the small oval pressing and existing flutes intact. Another strip of 1mm steel replaced the leading edge of the floorpan, again butt welded to the floor.

I've also cut out the rusty seam between the driver's flitch panel and toeboard as the spot welded joint was rich in rust under the original seam sealer.

After welding in a brace bar (outer sill is and the doorstep panel is also perforated I'm now attacking the rear inner sill. The seat belt mounting is off and bathing in some Bilthamber Deox before coating in weldthru primer.

Photos to follow,

Adam

[BusheyTrader]

I was going to edit my previous post to insert these photos but the edit function has disappeared.......


Driver's side floorplan after cutting the repair panel about to keep the Spi profile in the floor. Still some dressing to the welds to be done.







Brace welded across the door opening since there's no outer sill as it was easy to pull off. I'm replacing the inner sill in sections and the doorstep panel is as rotten as a pear.





The seatbelt mounting point after removing it from the inner sill and cleaning off the rust with Bilthamber Deox. There were only 3 spot welds either side of the mounting nut, done in 2 very rough triangles, plus a little bit of rough seam welding at either end. Under the original factory paint were several lengths of stringy migwire........



Inner sill repair panel drilled for plug welding to the seatbelt mounting point.



Hopefully I'll have this welded into Spike at the weekend.

Adam