66 LHD 'Doctors Car' restoration begins

[911hillclimber]

Original design less the top and bottom drain slots?
Compared to the rest this is easy for you!

I envey you the roll over cradles, so much better for the final result.

Great thread.

[MT]

Well stiffened up the sinews and summoned up the blood and all that Henry V crap (it was Henry V wasn't it - school Shakespeare was such a long time ago) - and then bottled it - as you will see,

I had found a repair section for my LH rear wing on my travels so I scribed and cut it to fit (using my carefully kept measurements from the original wing.



Was intending to TIG weld it but after failing to even make good tack welds I bottled it and went back to the MIG I know and love. I did get more distortion than ideal, and couldn't planish the weld as much as I would have liked, but by only doing an inch or so at a time and moving around a lot, and being patient (difficult!) I think I kept the distortion manageable. You will note the carefully cut length of wood to preserve the wing spacing - see later.



a bit of grinding



and a bit of filler



and a check down the hole



and some self etch primer to keep it in order until painting



and a x check of dimensions before



and after (remember it's now upside down!)



Seems ok ....... just 5 more bits on the rear wings to go ....

[Northy]

This is an excellent thread - keep the updates coming!

[MT]

After much alcohol (well it was Friday night) and a little toilet contemplation I have devised my solution to the rear quarter seat belt mount 'rustawayquick' design. Despite having almost 'as new' rear inner wings the seat belt mounts look like this



So I wanted something that will support the original mounting, but will not let in water/mud etc. So I went for the following - a hole in some 1.6mm plate that the mounting is first welded too, then a piece of tubing just long enough that when I fit a thick washer over the end if the mounting it will support it





Weld it all up - first coating the inside and adding some sealant to be sure it will be water/airtight.



At a minimum it will take three times as long to rust away..... although the car will fail its concours perfection test unless I cover it in underseal. The LHS was a bit tricky because the engine lid release tube goes right where you'd like to cut the old mounting out - so if anyone is doing this replacement be careful before you get too aggressive with the hacksaw/snips/nibbler. Now the mounting is threaded for an M8 bolt and I think the standard seatbelt mounting is M10, so I will either have to drill it out and tap to M10, or use a sleeve with the original M8 bolt. Any MoT expert out there want to comment on the acceptability of the latter?

Oh, and I forgot to mention I am still looking for the equivalent piece to the red oxide section I fitted in the LH rear wing above for the RHS, If anyone has a piece that will cover the same area please make contact. Thanks.

[MT]

Decided to have a go at replacing the rotted away battery tray, washer pump mount and washer bottle mount. Got a couple of excellent original pics from Early 911S registry and used them, and the bits that survived intact to scale what I was missing.

So first I made the battery tray and clamp mounting.



Then added the rotted feet from the original washer pump bracket



then welded them in place along with the washer bottle mount that I saved from the original .... and coated in POR-15 ... as you do



Looks good and compares well with the original photo I thought - although the early tank support brackets clearly had a flat front next to the washer pump.

Gave myself the rest of the day off - despite being an atheist....

[Darren65]

Very creative - nice work

Darren

[MT]

More summoned blood and stiffened sinews and I measured, cut, welded and filled the two light boxes I acquired off e-bay and my own repair side panels.

RH after welding and grinding - with my datum lines and measurements to the light box top edge



LH after all the above and filler - I was surprised the area (not much depth) that I had to cover with filler to get a smooth profile. Obviously there was some heat distortion from the welding but it wasn't that bad - it just seemed like the profile of the original wing and the replacements were slightly different - both were SWB.



Did get quite a lot of distortion on the side repair - again the filler is less than 1mm thick, but it still needed to cover a large area to get a really flat surface.



Off in search of some bits tomorrow - hopefully including the RH torsion bar hole portion of the rear wing. Once I've done that there are only a few minor repairs, and the POR-15/tie-coat primer to do before she can go off to the local paint shop.

Mick

[MT]

Today's challenges....

First a repair to the top of the LH front wing support - after cleaning it looked like this



I managed to get a piece from another car that made the repair much simpler - sorry for poor photo as I had to use my phone



Then to the LH B post as this side has had the rear wing repair - first I made a repair piece. It is as well that I went with Garry to Chesterton Coachworks yesterday so see how the pros do it because I wasn't aware of the little step at the base where the tread ends. I had already started making the repair section so I had to bash a step into it. Came out ok I think



A bit of bashing swearing welding and grinding



... On with the door, check all is ok, off with door .....

and a bit of filler and primer



On with the door with my patent special design door pins to check the gap again



Not Chesterton standard I agree, but still not bad for a first timer suppose I say so myself.

This side now is starting to look like a car again



..... it's all going too well ..... what have I missed????

[johnM]

Looks great to me very impressive.

[MT]

Thanks John.

I'm watching your progress with great interest too. I'm going to be painting it in it's original Light Ivory (same as yours?) I note from your recent posts that you have left the underside/under wings in black (as I plan to do). Have you done the same inside in the areas covered by carpet, and painted the dash/under bonnet in satin black - per original as I understand? Most of the restorations covered seem to paint the entire shell in body colour - which seems not only a waste of very expensive paint, but unoriginal (correct me if I'm wrong, please), and less effective than modern rust preventative/encapsulating treatments now available for these areas.

I'd be interested in your thinking, and your plans for the areas I've mentioned. Thanks

[visualfx]

From the angle I looked at the progress this evening I’d say you’re not that far of Chesterton

Excellent work

[johnM]

Hi
I have tried to have the shell finished in the same spirit as the factory. In truth the luggage area has a better finish than factory and the interior may well have a better finish. When stripping my car very little evidence of original paint was left but I did find body colour on the rear seats. The sound proofing on the foor was black, I couldn't tell if the paint had worn off or it was never painted. Anyway it all got painted in the end. Not too sure if that's correct but you will never see it. Keep up the good work, it seems like quite a few cars are going back to light ivory.

[Darren65]

I think John is selling himself a little short when he mentions keeping his in the 'same spirit as the factory' - my understanding is that his car is pretty much 'exactly' as it's meant to be and definitely a standard to aspire to

Your car looks like it's heading in much the same direction

Great work, wish I had your skills.

[johnM]

I think John is selling himself a little short when he mentions keeping his in the 'same spirit as the factory' - my understanding is that his car is pretty much 'exactly' as it's meant to be and definitely a standard to aspire to

Your car looks like it's heading in much the same direction

Great work, wish I had your skills.

That's very kind Darren.
Drop me a line if you want to pop round in the next week or two.
Kind regards

[Rich Lambert]

Nice work. It's cool to watch a car come back from the brink.