Been a while since I updated - I was stuck on getting the new OEM wings to fit sufficiently well, and same with the bonnet. It looked like to me like both doors needed to come forward by a couple of mm but the top hinges were already flush up against the hinge posts with no shims.
Anyway, I shouted out for help, and it arrived in the best form from Barry who, with a little tiny bit of assistance from me occasionally like to lift away the fully assembled doors (heavy buggers!!) and remove some bits and pieces out of the way for him to work his magic, hammered, slapped and fettled everything into a really nice shape
The edges of the doors, scuttle and sills were sanded back to reveal the bare metal and check for filler in preparation - no filler found, only the previous Aubergine paint and primer layers on solid shiny sheet metal. The original met blue was gone, suggesting that the previous Aubergine was part of a bare metal paint job.
I learned an incredible amount from watching Barry (mainly, to be braver - its only metal, and even the most expensive new OEM panels dont fit well) and now have a plan and instructions for taking it forward. The towel trick was particularly impressive for shaping up the curvature of the bonnet. The sledge hammer tweeks of the door hinge posts were slightly painful to watch, and needed special tooling, but as used by the factory apparently. Tweeking the shape of one of my shiny new wings around the door support on the floor was worrying too (I was holding it down to stop it running away!), but worked a treat.
So, the next steps.....
Learned that my sills were not welded on properly, and found a little bit of corrosion and few mm of filler at the front end of the left sill where it begins to slope up, and there is corrosion around the jacking point, so this will be replaced by the correct OEM part and installed plug welded in properly. Jury is out on the right sill....
Right latch post and some of the quarter panel needs some repair sections. Left side latch post has been done previously and looks good.
The left and right sides of the scuttle panel that curve around the screen need leading up to the rain channel to fill out the gap between the scuttle and the new wings - this gap could potentially be closed with a bit of chiselling, but this will likely twist the tips of the wings and increase the door top gap, not to mention it might crease 'somewhere'. The wing to door top gaps look like they might need closing only by perhaps 1 mm so, but they are not fully bolted up yet and the wing sealing tape and rubber seal is not in place yet so may need more. Then the options are a skim of filler or blobbing on and filing lead around the door edge.
These pictures may not do it justice, but I can assure you that everything is looking straight now with good gaps....
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not home yet)
Right man for the job