I spent the first few hours in the shed in
2020! In the last week of 2019 I fitted the door handles and door lock
mechanisms to the car so for 2020 I decided to start were I left the car: the
doors. Over the festive period I had prepared a few items. To start with the
blanking plates for the inside of the A-posts in the foot wells. These had been
powder coated already a few years ago! So they only needed some new seals. And
as they are hidden from view, I cut these seals from left over scraps of (closed-cell-foam)
EPDM rubber.
After which they could be mounted over the
holes. Standard they are fixed with pop rivets. But I opted for flat dome headed screws, as this makes removal a lot easier (These openings give good access to
the top/front of the sills. Leaves etcetera have a habit of collecting in that
area over the years …)
Next up where the various parts to mount the
door mirrors. These too had already been coated in the past. With the mirror’s base
plinths again painted in the same satin black as the black body panels, and the
strengthening plates gloss galvanised. This meant I only had to cut two pieces
of foam rubber to act as damper against the door skin, and two (also) foam
rubber gaskets to go between the base plinths and the door skin (not pictured).
I had some doubts about the locations of the
mounting holes in the doors, but I needn’t have worried as they fitted
perfectly. I also wanted to fit the mirrors (new items with convex glass from Tex), but I forgot
to take the correct bolts with me to the shed to mount them. So these will have to wait till another time!
Next in line to receive some tender loving care
were the quarter glass assemblies. I didn’t use the original ones as the rubber
seals (XKC132/133) were badly weathered, and the glass panels (with production
markings for 1975) were badly scratched. So I used a slightly newer set from
the shed instead (according to the markings these are from 1977). Didn’t look
to brilliant at first glance (picture on the left), but after some elbow grease
they came out pretty presentable. What you can achieve with a bit of soapy
water and an abrasive pad for the glass, and white spirit with an old towel for
the rubber!
Fitting the quarter lights to the door was
fairly straightforward, though slightly time consuming. This was caused by the
top mount of the division channel (yep painted black again J). These tabs needed a few corrections
before the holes for the pop rivets aligned properly. At least I now know the best
way of fitting the channels. Enter the channel with the top first through the speaker
gap, and pointing towards the back of the door. With the first (top) of the two
mounting brackets, that bolt to the door’s inner skin, inside the door, turn the
channel so the top can be fed upwards through the door glass gap. After that it
was a matter of fitting the pop rivets to the top, and adjusting and bolting down
the channel.
Next on the to do list was fitting the remote
control handles. And although this is a 1976 car, I decided to use the R/C
handles from the later Solihull cars. The main reason for this is the fact that
I have a complete and undamaged set lying around, including the handles' escutcheons.
Also the later type escutcheon does a much better job in keeping the door cards
in line! So after cleaning of the black plastic parts and some light lubrication, the R/C handles
were ready to be fitted to the doors.
But first I had to fit new plastic spire nuts.
I bought two boxes of these (covering the dimensions needed on a TR7) while
restoring the DHC. And the left overs came in pretty handy indeed!
Fitting the R/C handles was pretty
straightforward, though one of the linkage clips put up a bit of a fight,
which it lost pretty quickly from a pair of telephone pliers.
And the last job for the day were the door’s
hinges top mounting nuts. These two hadn’t been fitted yet, as the thick washers
I wanted to use under the nuts were interfering with the glass channel. So I had to grind off a
bit of material of these two washers, after which they fitted perfectly!
For the anoraks yes this door started life in a
DHC!
