Austin Healey Inner Body Restoration
Healey Journal
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Restoration Pages: |
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The first stage in re-mounting the scuttle was to repair existing inner footwell panels and to replace the outer footwell panels, replace the front floors and deal with other minor rust-through spots in doing these things the "Scuttle Fix" reinforcements would be added. Once those repairs and reinforcements were done the inner sills could then be mounted and the scuttle could then be re-mounted to the Chassis and the front floors welded to the Chassis and sills. Then the rear bulkhead, seat panel and rear interior bulkhead could be positioned and the transmission tunnel mounted. The main boot floor and side floors were then welded in place. The rear axle was then used to position the radius boxes and rear floors, at that point the intermediate sills could then be welded in place and the outer footwell panel installation completed. rest of the inner body erected around it.
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Corrosion on inner footwell panels
Rot cut out using hand nibbler.
New section positioned |
Before re-mounting the front bulkhead some faults needed fixing. The front panel over the transmission was useable but the attached front inner footwell panels were rotten and the bottom inch or so replaced. The gap shown in the first picture left shows the problem. The new front floor is shown against the old inner side panel illustrating the corrosion and the amount of panel to be replaced.
An inch or so was removed from each side so that sound metal remained, and new sections fabricated to replace the unsound. A "nibbler" was used to cut the lower section free and the curl of metal left from it's use is shown in the photo, the vertical cut was made with the nibbler too and the curl cut free with tin snips.
These new sections were formed to include the flanges to which the front floors would attach, and separate, flat sections of metal were used to overlap both the old and new sections to provide further backing and support to the joint. In so doing a broader area of support could be obtained than a simple joggled section on the new section alone might provide. |
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Stripped, & painted with weld-through primer.
Reinforcing iron shaped and positioned.
Welded in place |
Once these panels had been repaired the scuttle shake "fix" was put into place.
A single piece of 1/2" angle iron was formed to fit around the transmission bulkhead. This was then spot welded into place at numerous points on each side panel and on the bulkhead.
Fillet welds were then added along the edges and to close the gaps cut to bend the corners. These were then ground smooth. |
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Both front floors were too rusted to use. Despite the rot in their bottoms the top front of each was sound. Given the complete loss of so much else these front sections were retained to help maintain the integrity of the assembly and to provide a more easily used attachment for the replacement floors. Had the whole floor been replaced the complex cantilevered structure for the pedal boxes would have made matters more difficult this approach allowed for a simple flat panel to be butt welded together, again using a wider backing plate for additional support and strength. The backing plate was fabricated and spot welded to the front panel. The replacement floors were then trimmed to fit neatly and squarely to the front panel. These were then spot welded into place. The new panels were used to clamp the older ones so that all were properly aligned. The edges were all spot welded to the flanges on the inner panels and to the support plates previous welded to the front section of the old floor. The outer flange was left free to allow for adjustments necessary when fitting the outer panels.
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The "A" pillars, reinforcing panels and inner footwell panels were badly rusted in their lower four inches and needed replacement.
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Outer Footwell Panel Replacement The outer footwell panels were badly rusted in their lower sections. The "A" pillars and re-inforcing panels were missing their bottom 6-8 inches. The "A" pillars were also showing signs of holes due to rust perforation higher up. The inner panels were completely missing their lower 6 inches or so, and previous repairs had welded 1/2" angle iron the length of the inner sills to support it all. Rather than attempt to replace the rotten sections piecemeal they were removed and whole, sound new panels acquired. The previous dimensions had been carefully measured, and another BJ8 also measured as a check and for comparison. The old sidepanels were then cut out, and the new ones carefully positioned and attached using spot welds at their tops to the scuttle. The scuttle was also spot welded where it met the scuttle's air "ducts" on each side. The old wiper motor mount was retrieved and reused. It too was carefully positioned and spot welded in place. The spot welds were then supplemented by a number of MIG tack welds to further strengthen the attachment, and counter scuttle shake. The side panels were thus well attached to the scuttle but left free from the floor. |
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Trial mounts of the sills revealed a major concern with the new chassis and new sills. When positioned properly so that there was a 3 inch length of the sill above the outriggers's top and 17+ inches of sill extending beyond the front of the front outrigger a gap was noticed where the sill's lower "flange" did not fully cover the open end of the front outriggers as it should have done. Once these difficulties were resolved the scuttle could then be mounted. And then the sills and other front inner body panels mounted.
A trial fit of the sills to the outriggers shown up a significant discrepancy between the two: the outriggers were deeper than the "flanges" on the sills, thus there would be a substantial gap at their bottom. This was potentially a major problem for such an exposed component would surely collect road debris and become damp with the inevitable rust stimulated. My first thought twas that the chassis outriggers or sills were incorrect. I contacted the vendors and was assured that they were the right parts. I doubted that, and thought to go and see a complete car or two for confirmation. This turned out to be even more confusing, for BOTH had sills that would not have covered the outrigger ends without modification, but I looked at two cars and they each solved that problem differently. One dropped the sill by setting in down into the outrigger- seemingly by deforming the top; and the other reduced the size of the outrigger end by cutting a small triangular section out of the sides and bending the bottom up. It seemed to me that notching the outrigger tops would be easier but for the possibility of causing problems for the door alignment. Thus there were four options:
These were all potential solutions, but putting the question before a Healey restorer and the Healey section of the British Car Formum and Healey list yielded a consensus: make the correction at the bottoms of the outriggers. And so I did.
The first step was to cut the outriggers to close up the gaps from their ends. Before this the paint was stripped from the areas using a wire wheel, Guidelines were then marked out on the outrigger and an angle grinder with a cutting disk used to make the cuts. Once the extra metal was cut out the edges were then ground smooth. The bottom was then bent towards the sides using two c-clamps. The edges were then tack welded at the ends and mid-points of the cuts and the clamps removed and the seams welded together. The sill was then checked and no gap remained. This was rather easier than I had thought that it would be, for the left one anyway.
The right one was shaped to provide additional clearance for the exhaust system. I had a choice, I could cut the deeper end so that a more level taper would be seen, but that would also involve welding in a new piece of metal or leave the profile of the outrigger much as it was except removing a triangluar piece from each side to allow the bottom to be bent upwards to close the gap. I did the latter, making a more extreme angle for the outrigger's end. This too worked well except that it left a small gap where the bottom didn't reach the end- so a small piece of metal needed to be welded in and then ground smooth.
Having the outrigger ends then reduced to a size that the sills would then cover the inner sills were clamped into place using measurements taken from the original car. These measured 17 1/4" from the front of the sill to the outrigger. Other BJ8s were also checked and no consistent measurement was found- one untouched original sill was even 17 3/4". The photo to the left shows the sill clamped lightly at the rear outrigger while the front one was being worked upon. The photo to the right shows the c-clamps used to hold the sill to the outrigger and also illustrates the use of a piece of sheet copper as a heat sink clamped to the inside of the sill. This helps prevent both heat distortion and reduces the likelihood of burning through the thinner metal of the sills too.
The end of the outrigger and sill fit saga. Both left and right inner sill have been installed. Time to flip the chassis over and do a little work on its topside. The plan is to first finish welding the inner sill tops to the outriggers, and then install the main floors and spot weld them to the inner sills and seam weld them to the tops of the outriggers and chassis rails. The boot bulkhead and rear kick panels will then be welded to the chassis rails and the rear floors fitted along with the rear transmission tunnel.
The scuttle positioned vis-a-vis the front with measurements from the scuttle top and bottom to the motor mounts.
The scuttle positioned at the rear with measurements from the scuttle top and bottom to the transmission brace and "X" cross members. Vertical measures from the top to the chassis rails were also made.
The engine bearers positioned and welded into place.
The scuttle was then placed on the chassis and carefully positioned. The bottom was fixed relative to the motor mounts and the central "cross" between the chassis rails. The scuttle top was positioned too to ensure it would be placed where the front shroud required. The top's leading edges were positioned also relative to the motor mount pedestals at the front, and relative to the chassis rails and cross members at its rear. This was done to ensure that the scuttle was well centered and "level" both top and bottom. It was positioned in a kind of triangulation: the bottom transmission panel was positioned using measurements from both the engine pedestals in the front and the small cross-member to which the rear transmission mounts attach. The top was also positioned relative to these fixed points as well- the front leading edge to the pedestals and the rear edge to the cross member and vertically to the chassis rails. As may be seen in the photographs mzsking tape was used to ensure that critical measurements remained fixed- so the scuttle would be easily seen to remain in its proper position and any slackness or breaks in the tapes would immediately show a problem- this allowed for multiple dimensions to be monitored simultaneously, accurately and easily. The scuttle was then welded into place on the chassis rails. The front engine bearers were welded into position, the position at the front suspension support frame was taken to match the old and angled to allow the pedal box extensions to be mated and maintain the proper angles. The major difficulty arose from the incorrect width of the front floor bottoms- these matched well the old panels across the fronts for both the flat and angled front sections. But the areas where the bottoms were to meet the sills were much too narrow and the gaps left simply could not be easily made good by "massaging" the existing metal- new sections of an inch of so in width were required. So the old flanges were cut off along some of the floor to enable easier working with the section to be welded in. Patch sections were fabricated and welded into place. The floor flanges were then spot welded to the inner sills; and at that point the intermediate sills were positioned and their top welded with the floor. The outer footwell panels then spot welded to the flat and angled floor sections. The convoluted joint of the outer footwell panel, the sill and floor panel was then fitted together and welded. The triangular flat section of the outer footwell panel was then welded to the intermediate sill. This left the "A" pillars and the reinforcing panel remaining. The installation of those would have to wait until the front cross panel was mounted so that the front shroud could be trial fit and the front inner wings positioned and welded in palce. The front wings could then be trial fitted too, and the rear inner body assembly completed but for the "B" pillar. The the fun of positioning the "A" Pillars with the front wings, trial fitting the doors, and then trial fitting the "B" pillars could begin. Why am I doing this to myself?
With the sills mounted the scuttle could then be positioned and welded into place. The front floors were an integral part of the scuttle assembly. Once the scuttle was centered the front floors could then be fixed to the sills. One immediate problem arose with this- the front floors weren't quite wide enough. The transmission tunnel panel was a required point for fixing the inner footwell panels to which the front floors attached. The sills were the outside fixed point to which the floors would necessarily attached. There was a discrepancy of roughly an inch on the right side and an inch and a half on the left side. The pre-formed flanges were cut off and new floor repair sections with mounting flanges for the floors and sills fabricated. These were welded to the floors and spot welded to the sills.
Outer Footwell Panel-Floor-Sill Joints
The rear transmission tunnel was then positioned and welded into place, measurments from the front transmission bulkhead were used to confirm its positioning. The intial intent was to spot weld this in place before mounting the rear bulkhead assembly and then set the whole in position, but a trail fit of the bulkheads made that idea look very unwieldy. So once the rear bulkheads were in place the rear transmission was butted against it and measurements confrimed its placement and it was tack welded into position. Then, once the rear floors's positions were settled, the tunnel was fully welded in.
The seat belt mounts were then set in place, centered with the access holes in the transmission tunnel and welded to the frame.
Radius Box and Rear Interior Floor Mounting The axle was then lifted onto the chassis and the leaf springs were measured from the front attachment hole's center to the middle of the positioning nub that the axle rested on. This was used to position the axle, and the radius rods mounted and used to position the radius boxes and rear floors. Once the left and right rear floors were positioned they were spot welded into place to the rear kick panel, the rear transmission tunnel, rear outriggers and the inner sills. The corner where the radius box met the rear kick panel was filled with weld to seal it. The radius boxes had a small bottom piece fabricated using one of the old ones as a pattern and spot welded on the inside and front of the box.
Main Floor Installation The main floors were then spot welded to the sills and tacked to the chassis rails and outriggers. The intermediate sills were then be positioned and tacked into place. The front floors were then welded to the tops of the sills. The front outer panels were bent inwards to meet the sills and tacked in place. The joint between the front floors and outer footwells were then welded closed.
Repairs to the Front Cross Panel
Once the scuttle was mounted a fixed point was then available for securing the other panels to it. First were the engine bearers, then the sills could be positioned, the front shroud could be positioned as it would be attached to the scuttle and the radiator positioned in place and these provided index points for mounting the Front "X" panel. The inner wheel arches could then be positioned with the sills providing a rear fixing point, the Front "X" panel providing a front fixing point, the shroud then provided two upper mounting positions and the engine bearers an inner position. These could all be roughly situated using measurements from the original car (and others too, though they seldom agreed!) and aligned and then more firmly fixed in place.
Before the front cross panel could be mounted the ends needed replacing. The leading edges of the front inner wings and their attachment points on the end pieces of the front cross panel were badly corroded. The inner wings were ot be patched and replacement pieces were obtained to fit to the main front cross panel. The first step was to drill out the old spot welds and remove the rusted end pieces.
Once the old ends were removed the new ones could be welded in. But before that the cross panel was treated with an anti-rust preventative. This was applied and left to work for an hour and then rinsed off and dried. The original panel sufaces were bare metal and some surface rust was removed by this process, and future rust would be prevented
The new end pieces were then clamped into place and the old, drilled out spot welds replaced by "plug welds". Once they were done the surfaces were ground smooth. The top edges were then folded over as were the originals and then plug welded too.
The cross panel with its new end pieces was then mounted to the chassis. The radiator was first mounted and the brackets from the cross panel lightly bolted to it. The shroud was then mounted and aligned at the rear with the scuttle and at its front with the chassis supports. The bonnet opening was then aligned with the top of the cross panel to ensure the panel was properly positioned. The end pieces were then tack welded in place and the cross pieces fixed in position. The shroud was then removed and the cross pieces welded in firmly and and side pieces fixed.
With the cross panel fixed in place the shroud was then re-positioned and the front inner wings roughly located. When these were detached the shroud supports had been left fixed to them. This gave five points for properly positioning them: the inner and outer mounting points at the top for the shroud, the shroud supports gave a fix against the engine bearers, and the sills gave a mounting point at the rear of the inner wing while the front cross panel endpieces gave a front fixing point. these were all bolted or tacked in place, and the whole checked. Once it appeared that the inner wings were properly positioned the shroud was again removed and the welds completed.
Copyright 2004, 2009 © James M. Wilson. All Rights Reserved. |
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