A propper bodge job!

[Simon P]

Went about changing the passengers door and guttering today, took the door off and found this...

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And it's been seam welded just to add to my pain...
A post is approximately three quarters of an inch back more so toward the bottom, door frame measures the same both side's so I'm pretty sure it's just the a post at fault, base of the b post has been replaced then pushed in and theres obvious filler...lots of it!

From what i can see pratically the whole car has been seam welded together, I wouldn't mind I paid a small fortune to have this car so called professionally restored, The paint is so brittle now it's cracking and chipping off every where, there must be 5 - 6 layers of paint on there, loads of surface rust behind the door seals the paint just came off with them, I can't believe I've never discovered any of this until now it's only been like it for fifteen years...

[MarkyB]

Very worrying, especially on a convertible.
It's hard to see the front of the door post from the pictures, has it been put back in the wrong position?

[bmcecosse]

I have to ask [ the forum rules still apply Roy Ray.

I object strongly to this post being edited. I simply asked if the car was an ex Charles Wares car - no criticism was implied or suggested. I complied fully with the 'rules'.

As it turns out - it is not ex Wares.

[chickenjohn]

We are not allowed the criticise anyone on this forum! But I have to confess Roy, I thought the same .

[bmcecosse]

No crit John - I'm simply asking a factual question - is this an ex Wares car ?? Can't see any harm in that.........
Actually - if it's 15 years since it was reconditioned, it's done not too badly, considering our useless 'government' are paying people £1000 to scrap off cars that are only 10 years old!

[chickenjohn]

It looks like the inside of the sills could have done with some waxoyl though! The nearside floor edge panel looks badly pitted on the inside, like it is about to rust through.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Has the pillar been pushed out with a porta power perhaps?

[MarkyB]

Could be, but why?
If the door pillar has been put in the wrong place it would explain it (and be relatively easy to fix).
If the inner sill etc. are wrong it could be a real nightmare to put right.

I've tried comparing the top picture with another one here with regard to where the large square hole and the B pillar are, but it is too hard trying to compare two different pictures looking for three quarters of an inch difference.

[Simon P]

Hi Guy's,
It was restored and converted for me by a company located close to the LMMC that was based near kingston in Surrey, Can't remember the name but neither of them are still trading today as far as I'm aware?

Managed to spend a bit more time on it today, Unbelievable... After cleaning the many coats of paint and filler off it's pretty obvious a porta power was used to spread the door frame apart, it also appear's that the inner wing is completely out of shape, the picture with the timber batten shows the angle at which the inner pannel was fitted, it then apears to have been jacked forward in a brainless attempt to align it again, I can't work out if it's just the inner wing or if the whole p/s of the body is built sqew whiff, it's hard to tell the inner wing looks like it matched up to the kick pannel ok and is also fitted in the same location on the boxing plate as the other side ? I Just had a horrible thought! What if the car closed up whilst the sill / floor was being replaced... Starting to look very likely now at this point, I think the only way forward is next chance I get I'm going to get the body up chassis level on stands and see if I can work out excactly whats what, Does anyone know the best reference points to use in order to measure up the shell's geometry?

Apart from the rotten lower door skin and guttering the car still looked fine before i started this job, Wasn't expecting to find this disaster lurking


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[bmcecosse]

Can only suggest you compare left side with right. And keep checking the door will fit, and the car isn't dipping down in the middle!

[rayofleamington]

the inner wing behind where the doorpost was looks rather like this car had an accident. This would explain the odd re-working of the doorpost position. This may well pre-date the 15 year old resto job.

[kennatt]

could have had a bump more likely sill and floor repair without adequet cross bracing on the door gap classic mistake and even more drastic on a convertable with no support from the roof,door gaps have altered and they have used a ram to push it out at the top you can see the mark left by the ram,is the otherside the same looks like you have a long cutting and re jiging job .

[Simon P]

After measuring every angle you can imagine I've found the door post area to be the only major problem, the rest of the car seems to be almost perfectly square every where apart from the o/s/r body shell but thats another issue,
I've come to the conclusion the whole post area was welded up in the wrong place, the entire area has had to be moved outwards by almost half an inch, I've now replaced the end of the boxing plate the lower kidney panel both ends of the inner and outer sills the inner wing rear section and A post then made up a repair section to finish the upper area before fitting the new guttering, was a bit more work than i first expected but i'm happy with the results,
the door now fits and everything lines up nicely as it should

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Next job is to sort out the lower door, no rest for the wicked... I'm hoping to have the car ready so I can attend the anual meet,

Fingers crossed!

[mogbob]

Simon

"Before and after " and " Chalk and Cheese " spring to mind.A lot of preparation I know ( 95 % of all restoration ? )
BUT well worth the effort.
A " quality " repair.....very well done.

Bob

[taupe]

Hi

I second that - an excellent repair in a very tricky area

Well done!

[bmcecosse]

An excellent repair - very well done indeed. Is that all MIG welding - or was there some oxy/acet in there too ?
And - do you do crossmembers......????????

[les]

Yes looks neat---my neck hurts though!

[Simon P]

Thanks all, I feel alot better now it's done,

An excellent repair - very well done indeed. Is that all MIG welding - or was there some oxy/acet in there too ?
And - do you do crossmembers......????????

No i didn't need to use any gas here, i was able to cut right back to the solid metal so used mainly MIG'd plug welds and a few spot welds on the lighter parts,

If you and your car fancy a trip down to london for a weekend I'd be more than happy to help replace your C/M with you...

Yes looks neat---my neck hurts though!

Not sure how i managed that one... I have welded the panels on the right way up, Honest!

[bmcecosse]

Thanks Simon - but unfortunately it's a long way to London........ I can see I'm going to have to work on my MIG welding!

[alanworland]

What's that? Morris In Garage welding!