DHC repairs #32: Body shell repairs ready

During this Easter weekend, I received the final photos of the last jobs on the convertible's bodywork. Compared to the previous updates, the work done to the DHC’s body shell this time is fairly modes. But important. Drilling a few holes for various (mostly non-standard) exterior trim pieces. Starting with the mounting holes for the standard door mirrors:

The mud flaps:

The rally type front spoiler:

And finally the mounting holes for the aftermarket aluminium fuel filler cap:

But the most import job was fabricating a sturdy transport frame for the body shell’s next phase; chemical dipping, to get rid of the remaining paint and surface rust, and E-coating. Hopefully the car will be shipped to neighbouring Germany within the next few weeks.

New radiator for ‘t Kreng

In the summer of last year I mentioned a tiny leak from ‘t Kreng’s radiator. At the time I decided to keep an eye on it and put the almost 30 years old radiator’s renewal a bit further up the car’s to-do-list. Fast forward 8 months and the coolant level in the header tank was dropping what seemed ever more quickly. Though still not life threatening; I could easily drive the car for several hours without the coolant level dropping enough to ignite the low-coolant-level -light.

But every time I took the car for a spin (every few weeks) the coolant level needed topping up by approximately 0,25-0,35 litres. And as I couldn’t find any other traces of coolant leaks from the engine I decided to bite the bullet and pay a visit to local aluminium fabricator H&S Speed Equipment. The brief was the same as thirteen years ago, make me another aluminium radiator for one of my TR7’s. And last week I got a message that it was ready for collection. Well ahead of schedule, that's always good!

It wasn’t cheap, but the quality of the work again looks very good. And as with the radiator he fabricated for the DHC earlier, this one too is slightly larger compared to the original TR7 radiators. Always good to have a little more coolant and cooling surface doing its job! But the main reason for the slightly larger dimensions is the fact that this way a standard aluminium cooling matrix could be used.

And because my work agenda was empty for yesterday (Good Friday), I decided to take the day off from work and install the new radiator. Which was pretty straight forward, though while removing the old radiator, I was reminded that it would be a good idea to cover the front of the fan and the back of the oil cooler with a cardboard shroud. This to prevent damage to the new radiator by the protruding bolts or sharp edge on the oil cooler. Lesson learned!

In the picture below the two radiators are put side by side for size comparison. And the anoraks should already have noticed that the old radiator isn’t a standard TR7 item. It is slightly higher compared to an original one, and it is slightly thicker. But compared to the new one the cooling matrix’s dimensions are slightly smaller.

And the new radiator in position, showing the crude but very effective cardboard protection shroud in place over the fan. As a result of which the new radiator slipped in position without any problems. After which the top mounts could be fitted. But not before the mounting rubbers were put in place on top of the radiator and the blanking boards on both sides of the radiator had been removed. This was to help create better access to fit the top mounts from the front of the radiator. With the radiator resting against protective shroud covering the fan, there was enough room to slip the mounting brackets in position. Job done, after tightening the four mounting nuts!

In the end, I spent more time modifying the aluminium mounting plate for the interior ventilation hose, than I needed to replace the radiator . . .

And finally a few pictures of the radiator in place, with the hoses connected and the system filled with fresh coolant. So far no visible leaks on the hose connections. A test drive this weekend will tell if this has finally solved the loss of coolant!

DHC repairs #31: Finishing touches

When I restored my 1980 DHC in 2009 and 2010 I decided to use modified (custom recovered) interior door panels. Main reason being that I had a pair of structural sound door cards and doors from a model year 1981 car. Fast forward to earlier last year when I was collecting the parts for the body repairs. And the best DHC doors I had in stock were one of the original doors of this 1980 car and one from a 1981 Californian car. Which meant the inner frame from the car’s original door needed a small alteration to accommodate the later rectangular locking knob. The necessary repair piece was cut from the inner frame of a late and very rusty door that was lingering in the shed.

Compared to the work done so far that was a pretty easy repair. The next job was rather more involved. It was actually a job that I had planned when I restored the car in 2009-2010. At the time I only realised the amount of work necessary (including welding), after the car returned from the paint shop. So that idea was put on hold.

But when I was gathering the parts for the body shell’s repairs I stumbled upon the aluminium filler cap. So that job was added to the list of things-to-do! Main job was removing/replacing the metal directly underneath the filler cap’s plastic bezel. First of all creating a flange to which the new fuel filler cap and funnel can be bolted. And to create access to tighten the mounting nuts underneath the filler cap.

Another change was in the boot area. As with my other two TR7’s I opted to get rid of the, in my opinion, badly designed gas strut configuration. So I decided to reverse engineer the shell to the earlier set up to accommodate the earlier mechanical telescopic boot lid stay. An easy job when the welding gear is out, as long as you have the correct measurements for the location of the lower bracket. No bets will be accepted on the origins of this bracket 😝

The final change was in the spare wheel well. Here the two mounting holes for the period aftermarket tow bar were strengthened a bit. Just in case I want to go caravaning with this car when I am retired 😂

Currently looking into chemical rust removal and E-coating of the body shell. It looks like a trip deep into neighbouring Germany will be scheduled in the very near future.

DHC repairs #30: Front nearly finished

With the inner panels at both sides of the front repaired or replaced it was time for the finishing touches. Fitting the outer wings. But not before the fit and alignment of all the panels involved, were checked on the body shell.

After the body-worker was happy with the alignment and the various the panel gaps, it was time to get the welder out. And with a lot of plug welds later all the panels in position. It is slowly starting to look like a car again!

And the final job was welding the lower front panel (WKC86) in position. An additional check was necessary here, namely whether the front spoiler also fits properly over the bottom of the front wings. It does!

Not really visible in the picture above is the fact that the front spoiler got damaged in the accident, but it looks like it can be repaired. This should save my last spare for ‘t Kreng!