10 replies to this topic

[mini_kerin]

hello everyone i am restoring a 1978 850 super delux  and i am looking for a set of replacement doors have asked a fue people but they have tried to pull me pants down or ruck me on the price so has any one or does anyone know of a good set of replacement doors

any help would be much  appreciated thanks kerin

[sonikk4]

The biggest problem with doors is unless they have been reskinned and possibly repaired at the bottom is always going to be a gamble. I don't have any doors done at the moment but i charge £120 per door and these are guaranteed rust free as i cut it all out.

 

So going on from that i'm not offering any but just as a heads up that even good looking second hand doors could easily rust through quite quickly. So be prepared to pay for decent repaired doors but as an aside ask for pictures of any offered that have been repaired throughout the process. I always do this as proof.

[Almond-1]

You pay for what you get!, Chances of finding cheap good doors are rare. Either have a good look at any in the flesh or buy from a reputable source.

[AVV IT]

The other issue with replacement doors is that the originals were often "persuaded" to fit the door aperture of the car in the factory, meaning that any other set of doors are unlikely to fit aswell as the originals do, at least not with a certain amount of adjustment & persuasion any way. It's therefore often better to repair/reskin the originals, as opposed to try and fit a set of doors that have already been "persuaded" to fit a conpletely different car.

[mab01uk]

 

This is a page from an original BMC Dealership document from 1959-60 for adjusting an early Mini door to fit better with a length of wood and some brute force......a Mini with a door sticking out at the bottom was described as having 'sailorsleg' doors.

 

Reason:-

Sailors in the UK used to wear "bell bottomed" trousers that were flared at the bottom. So the bottom of the trouser stuck out further than the top. Like a badly fitting Mini door......

 

The Full Document scanned by me is posted here on Mk1 Performance Website:-

BMC (Austin) Service Memorandum A1277 - A356. (scroll down)

http://mk1-performan...actory_docs.htm

 

 

 

Edited by mab01uk, 11 January 2015 - 04:54 PM.

[AVV IT]

^^^^^^ & that being one of the forms of "persuasion" in the factory that I was referring to. I understand a very large and persuasive rubber mallet was also used for declicate door fitting adjustments.

[mab01uk]

There was also a factory method of stretching and tweaking bootlids to fit the body aperture better........I will try to dig the details out.......although the fit of bootlids seemed to get worse in later years probably due to worn out tooling.

[sonikk4]

The old boy who did the final prep work on Erms body before paint used to work on the production line and there were other subtle and not subtle tweaks that used to go on. Quite scary really but that was what it was like at the time.

Going on from that and like already mentioned it is better to use the original doors where possible otherwise serious tweaking will be needed.

[mab01uk]

Bootlid - Stretcher Bar

Quote: Paul Chantry (a former deputy director at Cowley)
The thing that absolutely shook me about the Minis was that when they put them together they didn't fit.
The first time I saw a Mini production was in 1970 at Castle Bromwich, who were making the trim body shells for the very high production at Longbridge. Castle Bromwich is now Jaguar. I had several jobs in quality control. One was planning for the dimensional accuracy of the body for new models. I began on the Allegro, then the Princess, and then later Metro.



From the book MINI - The True and Secret History of the Making of a Motor Car by Simon Garfield.

[mk1leg]

I have always dry runned the fit of doors boot and bonnet whilst still in the primer stage and used 4x2 for the effective tweeking of the above once happy then remove for respray.......

[mini_kerin]

hi everyone thanks for your replys i thank il have a go at re skinning them

cheers kerin