Thread: My 1955 86" rebuild.

Hi Dennis,
Re you quandary about the LH steering blanking plate, Land Rover riveted the top the way you have and the bottom from the other side.
The vehicle is looking very nice, a job well done.

Wardy

Well after a short but savage illness that I picked up at work and 36 hours behind where I wanted to be this afternoon.
I had marked out a piece of 10mm plate with the opening for the door handle L & R, it has been flame cut, but no time to bring it down to the correct size as yet

that will happen tomorrow now.
The door skins have had their 3 edges folded up at 90deg

the door frames fit like the proverbial finger, very neat, I cleaned off all the marking pen and the edges have now been etch primed and painted DBG just because I had some paint left over from a small job this morning.
First off I had to buy some new longer front bumper bar bolts as I am going to fit towing/lifting rings to the front bumper. I didn't buy new washers, I searched through my pile of 3/8" stuff and found sufficient quantity, fitted them 4 at a time to a 3/8" bolt and turned them down to the desired size, I took an image of that but it's too blurred, grit blast them all etch prime and paint them in Silver enamel, here they all are hanging out to dry, 8 for the front bar and 8 for the lifting handles at the rear

A quick clean of the gun, mix some DBG and spray the auxiliary instrument panel, shown in etch primer

and here hanging out to dry in DBG

I also made 2 small spacer washers to fit behind the panel where the 2BA screws pass through, and when securing it, (similar idea to the dash nuts that are threaded 2BA for the main instrument cluster) the spacer stops the panel getting distorted by over tightening of the 2BA screws, anyway that has been some of my day, even though we need the rain I hope it doesn't rain until late afternoon tomorrow, cheers Dennis

It is probably too late to tell you Dennis, but if you are going to use the steel plate as a hammer-form to turn up the edge around the door handle opening, timber works just as well.

MDF is a useful thing to use, but any hardwood is ideal as well, and it is cheaper and easier to work,

Cheers Charlie

Well it took me a lot longer than I anticipated to file the die down to the correct size, I did have my die grinder hooked up to air with an assortment of cutters and flap sanders, which took the majority of the excess metal off, but I file finished it.
I thought I'd better do a practice run on some scrap material first, just to check for any potential issues, luckily there were none, here it is while I mark out the initial shape, then free hand the smaller size inside and tap it over using a plumbers wooden mallet and small light ball pein hammer

the outside

the die and the donor scrap item

a quick trial fit over the LHS door, just like the proverbial finger

I thought I had best have lunch then make a start on the real thing, anyway it was all very straight forward, as the new skins were made a very neat fit on the doors and the die was made to suit as well, mark it out, then we were at the point of no return

a few more holes around the curved edges

file off excess aluminium down to the line, apply the die with clamps and some soft wood on the outside face of the door skin to stop bruising the skin, gently tap all around the edges and if all went well this is what you end up with

the almost finished job sitting on the door frame

Next was of course the RHS skin, same application, the die is marked R<>L so it was impossible to stuff it up

and in no time at all it was finished, then I drilled the rivet holes

I consider that's enough excitement for a little while, but later this afternoon, I will fit some 3/16" metal threads through the rivet holes, to hold the skin securely while I drill the holes for the door hinges, maybe tomorrow (if it ain't raining) I could etch prime the inside of the door skins and apply some DBG, anyway it should rain this afternoon as a local show is on and 'The Boss' springsteen is out at Pokolbin, so rain is almost a certainty LOL cheers Dennis
PS chazza I did consider wood at first buy my wife reminded me about how much I hate working with wood, at least with metal if you remove just a tad it can be built up with weld, but thanks anyway cheers,,.
pps last act of the day, drilled and fitted door hinges

No sign of rain this morning, so we set up to continue with the 2 door skins, one of the gal/strips was fitted and the rivet holes across the top were drilled

the door skin held in place by two 3/16"W metal threads, also the same was used to secure the gal/strip, and in next to no time both skins had all the holes in the right place

in between I fitted the RHS door to the bulkhead and took a snap

After lunch the good wife wanted me to help her cat/bird proof her chicken coop, so I had to stop and help

back onto the job at hand, mix up a small amount of etch primer and spray the inside of the 2 door skins

and while I was at it, spray the outer side as well, with that finished for the time being, I retrieved the windscreen frame and dismantled it, ready for galvanizing, soon

and remembering that a person here wants to buy my Isuzu block, it's going to be difficult to get out of the shed

anyway that's been my day cheers Dennis
ps and yes I know that I'm not the first person to have remade door skins, it is so easy, if I had more time and some access to gear 24/7 I would have a go at making some flat sides of the tub as well, like other restorers have done, I tip my hat to them,,.

Hi
did you get the second fold on the bottom of the door skins?
cheers
Ian

A little more done today, I refitted the rear shock absorbers and axle limit straps, don't you just love fitting the split pins on the lower shock mount (not) LOL

I ratted out my small tool for the job and it was done in seconds.
Then I had to wait until my paint (undercoat) was delivered, so out with the RHS inner guard and sprayed on surface filler to fill all the small scratches from the body/sanding files

then wait 2-3 hours for it to harden, meanwhile my package arrived, so read directions and mix up enough and spray the door skins both sides

it looks a lot like rain outside, so I have packed up for the afternoon, cheers Dennis
ps Ian asked about the 2nd curve on the bottom edge of my door skins, well I have not done that, I'm not expecting any issues from folding the skin over the door frame. I did notice that on the ? original skins that the double fold feature trapped an awful lot of debris+++ and this will eventually rot (electrolysis) right through the door skin, so with a bit of luck I will get away with not having them, and if I stuff it up well I guess we do it again, anyway it wont be the first time LOL ,,.

This is like going to confession LOL, not a lot has happened over the past 10 days, except some engine work for one of my other Series 2A's, I do not like having too many jobs on the go at the one time.
Anyway the engine has been sorted, parts ordered etc, so this morning I set about rubbing back the inner guards and applying a coat of etch primer & undercoat

tomorrow (sometime) I will attempt to rub them back with wet n dry, n see how they fare, anyway cheers Dennis
ps the guard on the right has all openings covered with masking tape as it had been painted in DBG on the inner side,,.