Repair Panels and Panel fit

[nebogipfel]

Hello All,

Bearing in mind the reluctance to answer this sort of question PM's might be a good idea (and appreciated )

I've been looking at the websites of the usual suspects with a view to buying front wings and sill/floor structure repair panels for my Traveller.

My question is - have you bought repair panels recently? Did they fit well? and from whom did you buy them?

Also who were the panels manufactured by? I ask because I can buy Hadrian panels from my local supplier and would therefore get them delivered to me F.O.C.

I haven't fitted Minor panels for quite a while now but can remember struggling to fit straight panels to a curved car and I'd rather not repeat that if possible.

Thanks

[jonathon]

John,

Most of Hadrian's panels are a reasonable fit, infact that goes for Heritage ones too. However they will need fettling, especially the front and rear wings which,seem to suffer from a lack of quality control, If you can, try to view the wings in the flesh and choose the ones which seem the best.
My opinion is that the panels from both of the major suppliers Hadrian/Heritage could do better, but in reality the Minor market is still a very small one, and one in which the majority of owners wish to spend as little as possible, which in turn leads to not so good panels. This is fine on a survival car, but a real pain for those who are willing to devote more to their rides.
Unfortunately the variety/range of panels fluctuates wildly depending on the production runs of the manufacturers. The short fall means that sometimes the only alternatives are the ones produced by C. Ware. which in my opinion are sometimes a good fit but are definately found wanting in both quality of steel and finish.

[nebogipfel]

Hello Jonathon,

Thanks for that.

I assume then that most of the floorpan/sill panels are Hadrian?

Do they actually curve to follow the shape of the car?

I'm not bothered by a bit of fettling, I just wanted to avoid buying rubbish. To be honest the last time I did lots of panel work on Minors was back in the 80's so hopefully things have improved?

I know what you mean about variable quality. I (and no doubt you) have had pattern wings which fit and look as good as OE and others I have sent back to the supplier.

[flying]

im using esm panels....they seem to fit quite well,but ive found that the inner boot floor had part missing both ends and the inner wing at the top is short apart from those two good niggly things good fit

[jonathon]

John , we have been a bit disappointed with the floor panels actually.from Hadrian. The last 5-6 pans we have replaced have been upto 20mm too narrow, and has required us to unpic them to re align them. the problem on some is that you can run out of metal to re adjust too. We have been very wary about these panels so much so that we have taken measurements from several different'original' cars with 'original' floors just to prove the problem.
The trouble with fettling panels is the time taken to get them right. We recently had an inner rear wing on a two door to replace. Our manufacturer of choice had decided not to produce any for some time so we went with 3rd best, the result one panel cut into five taking the best part of two days to sort. we could have made our own had we known just how bad these were going to be. I have since asked in the trade about these panels , and it appears to be the norm

[jonathon]

Forgot to say, ESM 's own panels are excellent and very good value

[nebogipfel]

Forgot to say, ESM 's own panels are excellent and very good value

Looks like they supply a mixture

Browsing the online catalogue I can see some familiar labels on some of the panels

[jonathon]

Yes but ESM do have their own panels fabricated, rear chassis legs are one which we now, always use. You're correct though , that like most suppliers the sell the major brands

[Welung666]

I have all Hadrian panels for Henry's drivers side floor (Thanks Joe) and will do the passenger side in ESM's panels, especially on info from this post

[jonathon]

I don't think ESM do their own floor panels,so you will need to opt for one of the two major brands.

[chickenjohn]

I found the LMC hadrian sill panels fit my Travellers sills ok and so did the rear inner wing- the flange piece the wood screws to was a different story requiring much "fettling". Shame that ESM don't make more panels- as said above their rear chassis panel is very good.

[stevey]

my mate has just bought floor planels from MGM and they seem to be quite good. Couldnt help you with wings thought. I have an illness that makes me feel sick at the thought of spending £90 on a wing, so I got 4 good secondhand ones 2 years ago aot the national for £80 the lot. Hadrans sill sections seem to fit well as well. we use anyones stuff here.

[nebogipfel]

..the flange piece the wood screws to was a different story requiring much "fettling

Mine needs those and looking at them I had a hunch they would be a problem...... probably easier to make my own.

With reference to Stevey and his "illness", are the heritage wings that much better than Hadrian?

I know they do a version modified for early Minors, but it's not a terribly difficult modification anyway.

[nslocomotive]

John

You mentioned a local suplier of pannels, would this be NVWC in Norwich? as im looking for some pannels to go on my saloon this winter. It would be great to be able to buy them down the road.

[nebogipfel]

John

You mentioned a local suplier of pannels, would this be NVWC in Norwich? as im looking for some pannels to go on my saloon this winter. It would be great to be able to buy them down the road.

Hello Nigel,

No, I'm near Downham Market and have three trade suppliers who deliver to me and all are Hadrian suppliers.

I'm not sure who you have in the Norwich area. Movac (automotive paint factor) used to come out to my area, it might be worth giving them a call?

[PAULJ]

Hi all,as you can see I'm a new member and having just spent £600 on a two door moggy I have a yearning to restore it. It looks like every pannel can be bought. As a novice body man where do I start. If I wanted to renew the bottom end would I replace the main members and sills first, then the floor pannels. I can weld and have plenty of room. Any advice would be appreciated. I bought the restoration books but they don't really tell me what I want.

[nslocomotive]

thanks John will do..

It was worth asking,you never know