The Spitfire that just needed a tidy up...

[Josef]

Small repair to the bulkhead corner, filling in the front of the rear wheel arch, then on to untangling the braze-tastic repairs to the boot floor.

[Pete Lewis]

its a warning to many  you put your faith in what  seems on the face to be a tidy example and what can unravel into a nightmare 

once you get it home 

well done for taking it by the horns and giving it a shake out to a good future 

Pete

[Peter Truman]

We’re always amazed at the lengths enthusiasts in the UK go to to restore a car correctly we don’t suffer the ravages of tin worm like you do and we in our local club here often remark we’d have scrapped that!

Well done and thanks for saving another Triumph

[Josef]

1 hour ago, Peter Truman said:

We’re always amazed at the lengths enthusiasts in the UK go to to restore a car correctly we don’t suffer the ravages of tin worm like you do and we in our local club here often remark we’d have scrapped that!

Well done and thanks for saving another Triumph

I really really wanted to buy a classic when I was living in Perth for just that reason, but I didn’t have anywhere really I could’ve worked on it, or any tools so decided to give it a miss…

[Josef]

Bouncing back and forth between the boot and the b-post here. Didn't figure this out when initially fitting it but the Steelcraft b-post / door shut panel isn't deep enough where the lock striker plate fits (which meant the door wouldn't shut no matter what I tried, and the door-wing panel gap was huge when I got it close to shutting). Fortunately that part of the original panel was just salvageable, so I had to do some re-working there later. Got no response from the supplier or the manufacturer when I e-mailed commenting on this fairly major problem though...

[Josef]

With the boot edge finished I took the rest of the wing off. The wing to wheel arch attachment consisted primarily of filler, so at least didn't require much effort to remove. Both the inner and outer wheel arch panels though were in a much worse state than the other side so I had to let in some larger patches, and was going to have to completely replace the outer section.

[Josef]

Grafting on the outer inner arch section.

[Josef]

With the wheel arch finished I started to prepare to fit the wing. This is the point I discovered the repo b-post / door shut panel was poorly shaped, and had to scavenge the remains of the original from my scrap pile and heavily repair it. With that done the door to wing fit started to look more sensible, and I could shut the door!

[Josef]

Repairs to the rear deck just above the b-post, and more wing prep.

[Josef]

While trying to get the wing and sill aligned and fitted nicely around the door I noticed the bottom of the door really wasn't all that straight. Stripping the paint (and filler) off showed why, and oh that hinge area looked pretty grotty too. Time to learn how to skin a door then!

[Josef]

Well, the door shell needed considerably more work than I anticipated. The top part that shows above the door card was covered in filler, hiding rust holes and a great big dent. Where the hinges mount all three layers had rotted through in places. I considered trying to find a better shell but figured that might just leave the damage I was seeing as a future problem...

[Josef]

Many repairs later... 

[NonMember]

52 minutes ago, Mathew said:

Alot of work to save a door. Well done, many would have gone for a replacement.

Certainly impressive work. More than I had to do on my Spitfire's doors.

I did opt for finding a replacement for my Vitesse's driver's door but both of the ones I picked up (which were the best of what was on offer) turned out to need almost as much work anyway, so I ended up repairing the existing one.

[Josef]

As the lowest layer of paint on the shell was Royal Blue this was probably the original door, so it was also nice to save it as I'd lopped so much else out of the car that having some original bit remain was a bonus!

[Colin Lindsay]

On 10/12/2021 at 17:29, Josef said:

What are you using to cut that metal? The edges are superbly straight and clean-cut. I always end up with ripples or burrs.

[Josef]

3 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

What are you using to cut that metal? The edges are superbly straight and clean-cut. I always end up with ripples or burrs.

I cut pretty much everything with an angle grinder and a thin cutting disc. I prefer to use a fairly well worn down one for more curved shapes and do a light cut along the marked shape, then follow that groove for a few more passes till I’m through. I’ll often dress the edges with a file too.

[Josef]

Shell complete, skinned and back on the car. I had to do some remedial work to save the lower edge as I didn't mange to get it straight to start with. Mostly to blame there was me following a tutorial from some Youtube video that suggested cutting little v's in the skin lip to facilitate welding when it was folded round. This meant the bottom lip especially refused to bend along a straight line... I have learned for next time though.

[wimpus]

Impressive work ! 

[Josef]

With the door skinned it was time to do a lot of fiddling and adjusting getting the sill, wing and door placed nicely relative to one another. I ended up having to split the tread plate along about a third of its length to the rear to push the outside of the sill, and the wing that little bit further outboard. Likely means I was out by a few mm somewhere on the b-post / inner sills / floor fitting. But given the lack of anything useful to reference on the car to start with I'm not too unhappy about that.

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, Josef said:

Likely means I was out by a few mm somewhere on the b-post / inner sills / floor fitting.

Maybe, but given how many people have exactly the same problem I do wonder whether it may be more indicative of the available sills not being quite right.

This is all splendid work, I must say, and you decided to Do It Right at each stage. By the time I found that problem with the sills / door shut on my Mk3 restoration I had got beyond caring and just decided it was "good enough" for a car that was never meant to be a show car.

[Peter Truman]

Like others have said what a superb job your doing and so interesting to see how the door is constructed, and esp with the basic tools your using.

on Colins thread re the cuts how did you make/cut that little crescent of the third hinge bolt hole in the locating plate so as to ensure the actual hole was in the correct place

Well done keep it up your creating a new standard of achievement for the DIY’er

[Josef]

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate the positive comments!

@Peter Truman the crescents you can see in the hinge reinforcement plates are the remains of the original hole. I let in rectangular-ish patches and the rot was centred towards the innermost third of the plate so the patches ran through where that hole should be (I bought an appropriately  sized hole saw to re cut them). 

[Josef]

3 hours ago, NonMember said:

Maybe, but given how many people have exactly the same problem I do wonder whether it may be more indicative of the available sills not being quite right.

This is all splendid work, I must say, and you decided to Do It Right at each stage. By the time I found that problem with the sills / door shut on my Mk3 restoration I had got beyond caring and just decided it was "good enough" for a car that was never meant to be a show car.

This sill was actually a NOS Rover branded one, so I’d be more inclined to trust it to be ‘right’ (I could see the tool wear marks on the BMH version when comparing them), but who knows really without a known original to check against. I had to use a ratchet strap between the a-posts, jack under the a-post, door gap adjuster, and a lot of trial and error, so I don’t feel I could justify blaming the panels for anything 

[Josef]

Now I had no excuses left I went looking at the last place there were crappy looking older repairs, the leading edge of the boot floor. I was worried about this bit as the shapes are complex, and I wasn't sure there was going to be anything there to reference. The inner side had brazed plates over rust, and the underside was covered with a sheet of fibreglass (which fell straight off when I poked a screwdriver through the rust holes). I managed to cure the distortion in the axle well panel by welding a few slide hammer pins to it and yanking on them with mole grips, popped back into place very nicely! I made the curved section where the floor and axle well join (why did it have to be that shape!?) with reference to a number of photos I found online that I scaled and printed at actual size. The main repair section for the drain channels in the floor was made from three parts and welded together off the car.

[Josef]

Bit more fiddling with the door shut and then getting stuff seam sealed and painted.