66 LHD 'Doctors Car' restoration begins

[MT]

Just a few photos of the RH sill repair. It's going much the same as the other side except I had to do quite a tricky/congested repair to the heater pipe first, and there was a bit more damage to the outer part of the section in front of the torsion bar. On the other hand the floor edge was better over most of its length. You'll see I flipped the car on its side to do this one so I could keep working on the side where my workbench/tools/welder is. The numbers are distance (mm this time) from that datum to the joint between the floor pan and the outer sill/frame








So just a bit of tidying up tomorrow and that's both sides ready for trial fitting the outer sills with the doors and kidney bowls.
I do like it when you can start coating the body with its first coat of proper protection - it covers a multitude of sins, and looks so much better!

[MT]

Followed Barry's advice and measured and test fitted the outer sill and kidney bowl (with self-tappers) 14 times and welded once. Decided to make a couple of dummy hinge pins out of brass rod so I could put them on and take them off several times. Good job too because the door was on and off at least 5 times for this job alone - still got the rear wing and B post yet.



Anyway well pleased with the end result,



And a view of the kidney bowl



I found it difficult to remake the top joint of the outer sill with the bottom of the door aperture because I had used a 8mm spot weld drill - this is too big a hole to use a MIG on 'full chat' to redo a plug weld. See photo of the other side below. Also Franz had found it hard to get his spot welder in there and so most of the welds are along the edge so you end up with a right mess



So my advice would be to use a 6mm spot weld drill. I had some good plug welds in the recess that welds it to the inner sill so I just filled the holes and took what penetration I could get.



Still looks good and the door gap looks even.

Just need to make a repair for the wing support at the front and repair the rear wing and this side is done

[911hillclimber]

Great progress, that tricky area at the back looks v good to me.
I used a hired potable spot welder for mine a long time ago but v hard to do the welds along the top of the sill.

I look forward to your work on the front wings on the double skinned bit!

[MT]

Not sure if this is the 'double-skinned bit on the front wings' you mean, hillclimber, but anyway it got tackled today - along with backdating the other outer sill ready to fit later next week.

This is the top of the RH inner wing/front valance



So out with the cheapo dremel and the small cold chisel and I removed the outer layer (or what's left of it, and the outer/outer layer that is the fold over from the top of the front valance. Make up a couple of repair pieces, drill for plug welds, spray weld-through primer behind both pieces, and get ready to MIG



A bit of grinding, and then another repair section for the corner of the front valance - in the end I cut off most of the corner as the rot went a little way back from the corner. Quite tricky welding/grinding in the trough that goes along under the bonnet base.
A coat of primer to hold off more corrosion until it gets painted properly



Also did a similar repair further down the wing, another on the RH rear window base, and repaired the RH B post lock plate area and fitted the captive plate that holds the attachment nuts for the door latch that I made earlier. A view from inside the rear wing below - you can see the penetration of the weld from the repair to the B post and the two plug welds. I tend to use the 'pulse' welding -'lots of tack welds' - method for these non-structural repairs to thin plate, and you can see the result on the other side of the weld here in the top RH corner.

A few days of other things so little will happen now until the end of next week.

[Darren65]

Certainly not hanging around Mick and all looking good.

If I had your skills I might even get my hands dirty!

Enjoying your thread.

Cheers,
Darren

[MT]

They looked pretty dirty stripping that underseal!

Wish I had that 2 post lift......

And thanks for the comments - knowing you are going to post pictures of what you've done is a great discipline to avoid bodgery and short-cuts as well. I'm getting better at metal shaping and panel fabrication, and MIG welding, but my TIG welding is still crap - so I'm putting off the external panel work until I get a bit more practice.

Mick

[Darren65]

That wasn't me!!!

As for your work - experts with a very sharp eye might possibly raise an eyebrow but to me and i'm sure most others......

.... it all looks fine and dandy

Darren

[Gary71]

Good work Feels good to get properly stuck in doesn't it!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Once you get over the dejection of finding all that rot in your car...

[911hillclimber]

For me, having done all this in a single car garage in 1988 on my back, the advantage of the roll hoops to get to the shell in a propper way is there to be seen. My 911 is now getting a bit dog-eared in a few places, and now i have a wide 2 car garage, i willl use the roll hoops for sure.
Just getting up the bravery to do all that work...

[JB-L]

I have to take off my hat to you for your courage, skills and dedication, they are quite stunning.

However I have a couple of general questions regarding this type/scale of restoration (not specifically yours):

1) With so many small repairs )ie not entire panels) is the structural integrity still as good as original?

2) Is there any requirement from an insurance perspective to declare this amount of repair, as it surely must be equivalent to a declared Cat C write off?

Please don't get me wrong I just know how slippery Insurance co's can be when a claim has to be made.

[MT]

Thanks for the comments - I find it's just like another of my hobbies, mountaineering - research your route, have a broad, well thought-out plan (and a guide if necessary!), then just deal with the bit in front of you, otherwise you will get overwhelmed by the enormity of what you've taken on.

Anyway re the integrity I think it all comes down to your welding. If the weld integrity is good then I'd say if anything most repaired panels are stronger than the original. I use sheet steel that is at least as thick as the original, and use butt or plug welds. Certainly as Barry has observed on a couple of occasions the original spot welds were not always up to scratch, and a well made plug weld will be much stronger.

Re the insurance co question I know of no obligation to report any repairs as long as they are not a significant (some people stretch 'significant' quite a way in my view) modification to the original design. If the car gets its MoT then it is deemed roadworthy and that's all they're interested in re structural integrity. Certainly I have had no issue with any of the cars I've restored.

Some of the restoration threads show rebuilds of cars way way beyond a Cat C write-off for insurance purposes I'd say (no expert I confess, but surely that's a financial criterion, not a structural one), but they are rebuilt with original panels and modern techniques to be better than when they were made (see Alan Drayson's 2.2S).

I'm sure others more learned on this topic will chip in.

[Darren65]

A car will become a cat C or D write-off due to an insurance company deciding that a repair is not commercially viable - often the damage can be very minor especially if the car has a low market value. Providing a repair is carried out to a good standard often there is nothing wrong with these cars although market value does take a hit due to the unknown.

A restored car and a crash repaired car are two totally different things and nearly all cars of a certain age will need a restoration at some point.

I would also think that shiny new steel welded correctly has greater integrity than rust!

[JB-L]

Once again, the DKK guys respond with a solid reasoned response.

Keep on with the grinding and welding!

[johnM]

Fantastic work looks like you are well On with it.

Keep the updates coming.

[MT]

Not too much to report - repaired the base of the RH wing support bracket



then the bottom of the LH door needed a little bit of repair to the bottom, then fitted the LH outer sill and kidney bowl. Much more 'fettling' required on this side to get an even door gap, but still not too bad. My brass 'hinge pins' were also well used again as the door was on and off several times as I don't have as much access on the other side of the car - and quite a bit was done upside down, although i did 'lift' the door to ensure it was in its final position, and spin the car before welding - the benefit of the 'rotisserie' for sure.





You will see that given how quickly the kidney bowls rust out (not surprising given the design) I have drilled a 8mm hole near the top/rear (see the yellow plug) - my plan is to use it to repeatedly pump Waxoyl/Dinitrol into it. (anyone got other solutions?)
Finished off by completely coating the underside with POR 15.

Only the seat belt mounts in the rear quarters left to do before I have to gird my loins and try to fit the rear light boxes and the repair sections around the torsion bars - very visible.....

Anyway it is interesting on a car where the rear inner wing is perfect to see the impact of those small enclosures to support the seat belts in the rear quarters



Having seen a repair support made by Chesterton for Garry's car all I can say is they are designed to rust away - small holes top and bottom to allow moisture and mud in, to block easily and then rust away quickly. I will have to sacrifice originality again like the kidney bowls and go for a better design. Some thought required (toilet/alcohol/toilet/alcohol - I'll go for alcohol then toilet I think!). Any ideas welcome ....