Next, the rear door.
Stripped most of the paint off
There was a lot of filler on here again
If you aren't familiar with how to remove a door skin just use a flap disc to remove the folded corner and the skin will come off.
I cut the lower section leaving plenty to trim
It looks worse than it is, mainly dirt. The frame cleaned up well with some rust killer on it, just a small repair needed.
Then I forgot to take some photos!
I clamped the bottom on, trimmed and fitted the top section and tacked that in place, then test fitted the door to the car to check for panel gaps, it took a few fits to get these perfect. The section where it contours around the wheelarch was miles out, so I decided to remove the fold, trim to the correct shape and reattach a section. Once I was happy with the fit I went ahead and seamed the top section.
I then hammered the fold over flat clamping the lower edges of the door skin to the frame. I think some use tiger seal here but none was used at the factory, I don't believe it's worth it, if you have the skin in the right place and fold it correctly it will clamp against the frame. Just get plenty of Dinotrol or Bilt hamber in here, heated up it will creep into the seam nicely.
I made a new fold, then tacked it to the end of the panel. Now if this needs removing again, if you use the same process it will come off, it is not welded to the frame.
Then fitted to the car to check fit, needs a tiny gap adjustment at the bottom trailing edge but it looks good.
The front door needs to go backwards slightly
Unfortunately the offside rear door is pretty shot, the frame has suffered badly. Luckily I have access to a good complete door, or a door with a bad skin and good frame so I'll make a decision on Monday which way I am going to go.
I found the bumper supports which I mocked up, Alun very kindly sent me a photo of an original, mine are very close they just need dialling in. I'll make another set as these are prototypes, but the valence holes are in the right place
I also test fitted a rear bumper to check the rear end alignment, it looks great!
The last jobs to do on Monday are:
- Repair OS Front door corner
- Gap the trailing edge of the bonnet
The weather here is supposed to be good on Wednesday so I will pull it out of the garage and go around it to ensure that everything is perfect ready for Shaun.