DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Been a long time, any more progress please?

The issue of fit was really quite a simple one

They didn’t….or at least did….but not exactly….


We had 2 reference points for each of the 2 floor panels….

integral to the floors are longitudinal stiffeners, which at the front have a 9/16” hole precisely placed so it accepts a 9/16” bolt that locates the floor pressing into a bracket that is integral within the main engine frames.....and to the front torsion bar brackets....



And being an interference fit, this is a fix…..and the engine/bonnet frames only bolt onto the bulkhead in 1 position, so it is an absolute fix


At the rear Barry had made a jig to locate the rear trailing arm mounting points that are a special pressing which is welded onto the floor panels. His jig had been made to align the new mounts as per the original mount setting out







I had elected to have these trailing arm brackets pre-welded to the floor (on a jig) by the supplier


So they should have been perfect……but we could not get all 4 reference points to align

In hindsight not a major issue, but it diverted Barry from making progress for a while, until we agreed to simply undo the welds and re-align the trailing arm mounts later …..it was a matter of 4/5mm….but another example of accumulated tolerances and fabrication error




With floor positions established and the two floor panels temporarily screwed into position, the next step was to remove the near-side cill and start repair work on the lower areas of both the A posts and the B posts






The A post is a classic example of the Jaguar mentality and approach to production. Never imagining they would have the success they did, there was no appetite for complicated pressings…. and instead used a large number of simple folded pieces









An early 911 A post is largely made up of 2 pressings…….and E Type has 9 elements.......

Not necessarily a problem, but when it comes to unpicking these pieces it is a laborious process, not aided by the fact that there is little if any protective primer in sight……….so there is plenty of rust which in turn means more un-picking…..


The passenger side was also the side with the impact damage, so apart from rust repairs there was the small matter of straightening out the creases….and then onto repairing the upper A post/rear scuttle extension, truly a Heath Robinson affair…..but at least reassembled with zinc rich weld through primer this time around




























The B post is equally simple in design….but again with no protection it is rusting from day 1 and after 55 years is not a pretty sight……

All in a (series of) days work for the master craftsman…….and a joy to behold as his signature flowing repair pieces are created and seamlessly blended into the shell



















With both posts repaired the inner cill could be offered up for test fitting………..all good news in fact, these panels from Martin Robey are well made and accurate











Whilst not strictly necessary we also agreed to introduce an additional middle cill bracing structure, to reinforce the original jacking point, and also link the inner cross member end more fully into the overall cill structure…beautifully made and complimenting the style of the original braces






Before the inner cills could be fully welded barry trial fitted the outer cills………which as anticipated were not so straightforward……













To date no one makes cills perfectly (although latterly Chuck Hadley at Monocoque claims he can now produce 100% faithful copies…..)….the principle problem is a lack of curvature across their width…..and with the old cills and cill closer panels to use as reference points it was obvious there ones from Hutson’s were less than perfect


So heat treatment and a degree of shrinkage to induce more curvature……





They also don’t have correct forming for the top folded edge that interfaces with the inner cill and creates the necessary slot for the rubber trim, this is crucial to get a perfect tight joint line with the bottom of the door skin……..so it had to be “adjusted”





…and finally that have the wrong drain details for early cills….so they had to be “lost”, and a deeper fuller drain apertures formed (as made the cill drains are not deep enough and would not adequately drain the cill cavity, which was disappointing to see………….so Barry copied an original one, and by making a new tool was able to punch 4 new drains per side….perhaps more than required, but they look “factory” and are largely hidden, so piece of mind and a proper solution

















With the nearside inner cill now verified to be in the correct position it was duly fully welded in place such that work could move to the driver’s side


Same as before…..mirror and repeat….



And what a fabulous sight to see this…Barry’s updates are the highlight of the week these days….a shell with most of the old rust removed, all panel edges formed and primed ready to receive the floor panels…………



But of course simply dropping the floors in as supplied was not good enough….oh no….we need signature modifications to create the original factory look……

Hi Jonathan, Thanks for sharing. And funding our vicarious entertainment!
Tell Barry he's a genius. For me, this is even more impressive than the Porsche stuff, given that (I assume) this is his first e-type. Looking forward to seeing how the epic "bonnet" fits into place in due course.
Cheers, Richard.

Jonathan - this is really quite bewildering. Barry's skill and your current (or imminent) dedication to opening your wallet so save this car are so very, very impressive .

Richard - I have to agree. I can sort of work out what is happening when I see in-progress shots of Barry's work with an old 911. No chance here - it genuinely looks an order of magnitude more complex. Having said that I'm starting at the lowest base of understanding - no doubt Barry whistles his way through this......

Bravo to Barry and Jonathan!!

Wonderful ....... I do hope Barry's having fun

Fabulous


Regards
Mike

Beautiful. Well done Barry and thanks Jonathan.

Excellent work on show here guys. Well done Barry.

Feel better for that monster up-date, thanks!

I knew the E Type was a bit piecemeal due to lack of tooling investment, but so many bits...
Went to CMC a few years back for a full-on guided tour, the work was not this deep!
How did they make it for so little?
Lovely to see and watch the inevitable skills bring the shell back from terminal doom to a super strong and accurate form.
Bet Barry is loving every moment, hard work but lots to think through and deliver.
Most satisfying.

pictures now reinstated....postimage decided to change from .org to .cc.....

Think you’ve only changed the first image Jonathan - can’t see any of the others but if I change the link to .cc they work

I use them too, what does that mean, and what do you have to do, but some of my pics posted yesterday are fine on here despite their warning!

JUST CHECKED THIER SITE, WARNING HAS GONE, SOME OF MY OLDER PICS ARE LOST...

thanks mark
just checked again, odd....... it was working on the iMac but not iPad....now all are definitely changed from .org to .cc....seems to be OK...

Great to see real craftsmanship. Wonderful job!

“signature” touches for the floors was in truth more like correcting pattern repair parts and ensuring they are modified and assembled to more correctly match the original design

Jaguar originally pressed the floor in 1 panel integral with the inner cills, but naturally with the market for repair panels needing to be flexible and accommodate individual replacement, floors now only come in 2 halves (with a predictable central nasty overlapping joint junction) and inner cills come complete with an inward projecting lip of 15mm

in the diagram below the centre image shows the original format of the floors, and above it the currently available replacements....





So naturally both of those had to be removed and refashioned such that a seamless form could be reinstated….apart from the principle of the matter, for cills especially to have 3 layers of metal meeting ( inner cill/floor/outer cill ) at the bottom edge of the outer cill there would only be 2 which reduces the possibility of trapped corrosion accumulating and providing a smoother and more elegant looming junction





The central crease for the floor panel junction was folded flat and once offered up could be scribed to ensure a tight butt joint

Intermediate and temporary tie plates were fashioned and self-tap screwed to locate, prior to removing weld runs and a linishing finish









I really love this image, fully prepped and ready for final construction the full floor panel is done




once installed the rear cross member added which maintains the floor strength across the transmission tunnel



Once in place the floor panel was trimmed and the inner cill edge lip removed and initially a few tack welds used to hold it all together.....then a series of 25mm welds completed, before fully welding the junction with intermediate welds










Then grind and linish







And perfection….









In both cases there was reasonable case for concluding that the welding work was simpler than punching dozens of holes, plug welding and finishing off

Either way it was a rewarding process and importantly means that the car is faithful to the original design

Should I be seeing a shrink about this..???