With the doors removed they could be assessed. They looked a poor fit and there was evidence on the door pillar of rubbing.
With the areas of delamination identified on the body the doors also revealed some damage. It was little wonder the drivers side door drooped.
A plan was formulated to use stainless steel plates behind the nuts and bots to help provide strength once repairs to the GRP are finished.
The hinges were removed and some found to be quite stiff. One of the issues with the design is the differential metal reaction between the body of the hinge and the steel pin. I have seen other hinges with a lubrication hole drilled part way down.
The fact that the hinges had been shimmed using thin plywood had also not helped with corrosion.
Although I managed to source some second hand hinges, I decided to try to restore the originals. They received a soaking in bilthamber Deox-C solution. This was very effective. One hinge assembly was too stiff so the pin was removed to be replaced with a home engineered solution.
The two main parts to the hinge assembly.
And a replacement for the corroded pin. With a bit of jiggling this fits in the body aperture, although the pin could have been engineered a little shorter.
A fresh coat of black paint to help protect them when they get re fitted.
Whilst the doors get rubbed down, the mould and dirt removed and a complete strip down. The window mechanism, door locks and channels will all be replaced or renovated. I will also take the opportunity to affix sound deadening material to the inside.
The doors after a coating of filler primer and red plastic primer. The high and low spots are clearly evident.
The doors were kept indoors as they had been wet flattened. It was then time to put on a layer of post office red to assess the surface and then work on building the correct shade.
The doors after being sprayed with the correct shade of red.
The door lock levers were cleaned up. These are prone to causing rattling within the door, so sound deadening material has been wrapped around them.
The door dovetails are worn. A complete new unit for each side was sourced. Access to the rear of the machine screws is inside the rear wheel arch. Again I have elected to use a stainless steel backing plate. In order to make this fiddly job easier, reliant eventually produced a backing plate with captive nuts. Before removal the outline of the catch was traced to ensure the new one went in exactly the same place.
The quarter lights were as faded as the rest of the car with the felt channel for the window glass being badly worn. The chrome work is heavily pitted and the rubber is just about holding on. Sourcing new rubber seals proved impossible. Having new sets made to order was just too expensive to contemplate.
Each quarterlight assembly was stripped and treated for corrosion. A careful note was made of the spring assembly set up and it was all bagged up on removal.
The chrome work was removed and polished. New felt chanelling was glued in place and a spray over of the correct shade of red completed the look. Then it was a case of careful re assembly taking care not to damage the delicate old seals.