Practically Classics Forum

Centre outrigger / jacking point tacked to chassis but left unattached to sill to enable minor adjustments to be made whilst gapping the door apertures

B post jig left in place until sill is fully welded to outrigger hence ensuring correct alignment of doors Fitting of jack checked to ensure that it did not foul the sill

Door apertures methodically reworked until satisfactory gapping was achieved Some metal being reduced 0.5mm at a time - other areas of the panels apertures built up with weld and cleaned up whilst further sections required work with the hammer / dolly / 4 x 2 timber with a lump hammer - eventually getting to a point where I was happy with the gapping - next job is to temporary attach the front / rear wings to ensure the gapping between the doors is acceptable.

Still making progress albeit slowly - so wings on I could align the lower gaps / apertures - but they were all over the place rear wing aperture with chisel utilised as spacing tool Front wing to door aperture - 4mm gapping at the top - 4mm gapping at the bottom and 10mm between - how does that work then ??

New wing mounting brackets made up Ready for welding on

Working methodically I started to gain results with the gaps - still more fettling required though and what's not visible at this stage is that about 100mm of the wing edge up to the door is rotten and will need to be replaced with fresh metal

Front wing edge was also rotten and had various bodges from previous repairs Wing support edge was dead too New support edge fabricated and let in Repair section made up and ready for welding in once a couple of minor adjustments have been made

Jack has been gathering all the chrome together so it can be replated - but a few repairs were needed first The hubcaps all needed minor dents taking out of them - just gently tapped out from the rear - then sanded back with some P80's and kept working with the hammer dressing out any low areas whilst dressing down any high spots

The original grille had received a bash at some stage - it looked clean enough but was far from straight We had removed another from a car that was scrapped Although quite straight the chrome was poor

So we set about stripping it - the grille slats are made from very thin pressed brass strip and are riveted to several metal vertical brackets on the rear This called for much careful drilling and dismantling