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 alloy 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!

DHC repairs #29: RH strut tower and inner wing part 2

In my previous post I had a look of the rust damage in the area around the front strut tower. And it was quite obvious that part of the right hand front strut tower was in dire need of some fresh metal. On the left hand side it was deemed best to replace the complete top of the strut tower. Luckily this (right hand) side only needed a fairly simple repair section:

Also the strengthening plate for the engine mount on the lower part of the right hand strut tower was also corroded and was in need of some tender loving care:

And the final job was replacing the badly damaged inner wing. The replacement panel again came from the previously mentioned parts donor body shell. With hindsight, this project might have taken another turn. But there's no way back now. Nor is there a reason anymore!

DHC repairs #28: RH strut tower and inner wing

Since my last post on this project the right hand front wing and inner wing have been removed. This revealed more rust holes, very thin metal and an old bodge repair of the inner wing’s front section. A few pictures of the bad areas:

Second outing of the year

True to the motto "standing still means decline" I try to use ‘t Kreng, currently my only working TR7, as much as possible. Especially with the problems with the water pump over the past years in mind. And weather permitting of course. As such the car was used for a visit to friend’s workshop yesterday (Saturday the 7th of February). But before that I hopped across the border into Germany for some 100 RON fuel. It was nice to see that the car again attracted a fair amount of attention while refuelling at a petrol station just across the border in Germany!

And with the tank filled up I drove to the work shop. Always nice to see another TR7 inside. In this case an early Dutch car that is being prepared for a customer who wants it to be converted to a historic rally spec.

And after some coffee and cakes, and with glorious winter weather conditions, I decided on a slight detour home. It was again good to be out in this car again. A few pictures taken on the way home:

There still is a problem with the coolant system though. But that looks to be a problem with the now 30 years old copper radiator. The slot underneath the water pump is bone dry. And there are ever more signs of coolant leaking from the radiator. So to looks like a visit to local alloy fabricator H&S Speed Equipement is on the cards in the near future. They should be able to provide a new good quality alloy radiator!

DHC repairs #27: LH door skin

In this update, I am looking at a crucial part of any restoration: panel gaps. From the outset, the plan was to fit both reasonably rust-free doors with new door skins. As such allowing for some slight adjustment of the outer shape of the door skin. And the door skin can be moved over the door frame to adjust the panel gaps. Call it fine tuning. The result is pretty good, in my opinion. Though in terms of originality, these panel gaps are really way too good for a TR7 😜

DHC repairs #26: LH front inner wing

Earlier this month I mentioned some problems with the left hand front inner wing on this body. But I managed to lay my hands on a new one. Though it wasn’t an original one, but a replica that originated from Rimmer Bros. And trial fitting it on the car’s body and on the inside of an original outer wing clearly showed it wasn’t an original part. Quality control has been rather poor on this part to say the least! The gap at the back of the wing is about an inch wide.

Luckily one of the left hand inner wings in my stock did have a good rear section. In other words, the angle grinder has been called upon again. The front one-third of the new wing was combined with the rear two-thirds of an inner wing from my spares stock. The welding line being clearly visible in the picture below:

And combining the two panels provided a good mounting surface for the outer wing . As the picture blow shows, the gap between door and front wing is already pretty good. As is the alignment with the nose panel:

DHC repairs #25: LH front wing area

In my previous post I commented on the fact that the rust damage was far worse than expected. Turned out there were several areas where the metal was pretty thin. So more patch repairs. Starting with a hole in a rather standard location; where the front bulkhead meets the inner wing. A fairly easy repair using the well proven Cardboard Aided Design method:

But the worst damage was around the left hand front strut tower. The upper part of which was seriously damaged by rust. Luckily I had a good replacement, and rust free LH strut tower among my spare parts. The angle grinder was called upon again to remove the damaged areas. But not before the body got an extra temporary support to prevent distortion, and a few reference measurements were taken:

Turned out that the metal adjacent to the strut tower was also pretty thin. So the tops of the inner wing panels was also replaced with repair panels from the donor body shell:

Fitting the LH front inner wing is next on the to-do-list.