molten Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 HelloJensH makes a very good point here. One that I (and no doubt many others) also encountered. This problem also has a big part to play the gap under the door/sill. The curvature of the sill pressings themselves can vary a lot making this problem worse when you try to meet the panels together. Ie if the curvature is not enough upto a 1 inch gap can be present between outer sill flange and floor flange. Any attempts to clamp these 2 panels together here serves only to open the gap under the door quite dramatically. I had to work the sills to put in more curvature on the last 40mm of the sill before flange.Several 'door on, re-align, - door off' attemps to get the positioning right (best uniform gap) on the outer sills for final weld... But managed to get there in the endThe joys of British car manufacturing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Some really excellent information here already guysPlease let's keep the info coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensH Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Some measurements on the early spitfire tub; this one with origiginal sills and wings, but some rust damage. Not bad though, so believe its still in "original shape" 8)Measure on 116 cm is with the crash pad on, so not very accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Note where the sill curves around the vertical door faceThe gaps around the back, and bottom of the door are good, but the radius at the front just doesn't matchI've noticed this is a panel defect rather than poor restoration - as this car in particular is anything but a poor restoration! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensH Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Seen far worse! So nice car. What kind of outer sills was used - and was the lower a-post, inner sill etc. replaced too?Could be the complete bulkhead has moved forward, or just the outer sill sitting a little to much forward. Door gab at the rear looks small, you could move complete door a few mm forward? Was door skin replaced?My experience is that Steel craft pattern sills tends to be a bit longer than the original ones, but only had one or two in my hands though.I have a few BL/Stanpart original outer panels for the early spitfire, I always use to check new panels after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Can't answer any questions about that car - as it's not mine (unfortunately)What would you do in these circumstances to improve this gap?Whilst the sill could be moved back in order to close the gap, it's actually fits correctly up against the bulkhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molten Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 HelloI have experienced problems with the front gap mentioned above. Also if the gap here is the same all round as we would see on modern cars there is a risk here that the door will catch the sill where the line in the door skin gets very close to the top edge of the sill upon opening so perhaps this could be the reason for the slightly larger gap in this area on some of our beloved cars.My own tub had an older bullkead repair that brought the sill forward and out of position. Think I could live with the gap on that car above though 8)cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensH Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Quote:What would you do in these circumstances to improve this gap?It depends on what has been done to the car; was the inner sill/floor/lower-A-post/rear wing (or just dogleg) etc replaced too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paudman Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 2597 wrote: there is a risk here that the door will catch the sill where the line in the door skin gets very close to the top edge of the sill upon opening so perhaps this could be the reason for the slightly larger gap in this area on some of our beloved cars.This I have seen; not sure if it's a genuine reason for the gap but I've chipped doors before now on the edge of the sill. My own are as tight as I could get them during the restoration; however last year the MOT man opened the bonnet during the test and chipped the front edge of the door skin against the front wing. Pull the wing out as you lift it up; not straight up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Excellent work Paudman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Where you see a car with a large gap between the wing and the door, is that due to the bulkhead moving forwards or backwards?I'd have thought forwards, but I seem to remember reading where someone else said it was because the bulkhead had moved back?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I have a similar issue with my car and I spent days getting the gap even I know that my bulkhead did not move during rebuild the front wing gap to front edge door can be effected by the bonnet aswell.The gap was never perfect on cars when they left the CanleyWorks so that made me deside to live with what I had ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I'm very close to welding the new wings to my bonnet and will be playing around with these gaps shortlyAt the moment the lip on the bonnet which butts up against the lip on the wing is a little 'wobbly'What is the best way to straighten this out prior to welding?And - what's the preferred method for welding the front wings on? - do i need to drill/punch a hole in one of the lips or what?Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensH Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 All depends on what welding gear you have 8)What year is your car?You might be able to find some pics on my blog (scroll down to 2010...), if its an early spit.http://thetriumphanimal.blogspot.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 My car's a MKIII GT6Can you see from my avatar picture? :) :) :)I haven't got any spot welding stuff - just bought all my mig stuff though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Is the bonnet to bulkhead panel gap the same size as the gsp between the wings and door?I think I remember seeing a few cars with a couple of rubber 'stoppers' between the bonnet and bulkhead to stop them from presumably chipping the paint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I'm close to the stage where I can start lining things up properly nowI've just gone to fit the radio centre console and have hit a problemThe guy that welded the floors in didn't keep the console in place and now the floors are too close togetherThe door gaps, wings, and bulkhead all look halfway decent given where I am at presentThe body to chassis mounting bolts fit in place, except for the ones in the box sections infront of the front seatsI'm wondering whether the body may have been rested on it's side and allowed to sag whilst the floors were being replacedI was thinking might be able to pull the body outwards to line it back up, but I'm not sure if that would then pull thebulkhead out of shapeHmmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 This is how far out the front of the floor is....What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensH Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 New floor pans?Don't expect the holes for the centre console to line op.New floor pans are good reproductions, but not that good!Post some pictures!(EDIT - you did!)Important measure is from sill top to sill top (where inner/middle/outer sill is joined) just where the door opening starts curving up at front.Should be aprox 120 cm (free from memory) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've just measured from one sill to the otherThe distance between the two sills is....1205mm including the lips (external measurement)and 1200mm excluding the lips (internal measurement) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumpith Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Cars built back in the 60's-80's were built on non-robotic production lines, so there was a margin of "human error". Panel gaps will be variable as a consequence, and pattern panels will not exactly help, but with a little fettling it should be perfectly possible to get a decent fit. For what it's worth the famously expensive Ferrari 250 GTO has one door 10mm longer than the other and no 2 cars are the same! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Just trying to think what's going to be the best way to sort the radio console outI'm going to measure the distance between it's bolt holes and the chassis holes to make sure they line upThe bit I'm having trouble with is the fact that the bolt holes for the console are wider apart than the ridges are on the floor......the console slightly overhangs the tunnel, if that makes senseI'm thinking, if I weld up the current holes and redrill new ones, how will I know where to drill them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Moore Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I'd just make the holes longer. Once the frame is bolted through the panels to the chassis it won't move about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Seems to make more sense than anything I was thinkingNow, what should I do about the fact that the console overhangs the floors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieB Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Will the carpet take up most of the overhang? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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