Floor it, and Door it!

It’s ages since I’ve written anything here. Not because I haven’t done anything, I’ve been hoofing through the hacking at a promising pace. It’s just I’ve been doing lots of things which have not been totally completed, and I don’t like to put them down here as done, when they’re not.

If you remember, I was working on the nearside spring hanger. The hanger itself was sound, because it had recently been replaced, the floor pan however had not and it was just bodged to the spring hanger with a lot plating and untidy weld. It confused me at first, however studying Nige’s GT showed that on both sides I was missing the heelboard extension plate, which goes over the spring but under the floor pan. Not good. I don’t like missing panels in my GT.
It was probably perfectly sound as it was, but before I put the new floor in it seemed silly not fitting a new extension plate. It’s a pressed triangular shaped panel, which spreads the load from the front rear spring hanger into the floor pan, heelboard and step sill/rear chassis leg. The MGB Hive very rapidly sent the two new heelboard extensions, the one I don’t need for a while is piled up with the rest of the offside panels by the sofa.
The factory paint was removed, and the underside of the heelboard extension was painted in weld through primer, and holes drilled for plug welding. Being a Steelcraft panel, it didn’t quite fit properly, so it was “Adjusted” by a combination of delicate panel beating and socking it with a bigger hammer. Then it was welded in, full throttle on the welder getting plenty of heat in, to make some good strong welds. This is the suspension, and not worth taking risks with, I am glad I did it now instead of relying on dodgy patching.

Avast Ye! the heelboard extension piece is in place, over the spring hanger. After a great deal of work, actually! The floorpan sits on top, over the flat triangle part. Here be triple thickness of metal, so lots of weld through primer will go on, and seam sealer later!

Onto the floor pan! I had removed the old one, so all that needed doing was to clean up the flanges on the transmission tunnel and heelboard, and paint them, and the flange on the step sill, in weld through primer. As well as the edges of the floor pan, after the paint was removed and holed drilled for plug welding.
A note here on weld through primer- I am using this on all flanges, anywhere where there will be a double thickness of metal. I know it sounds obvious, but panels, and therefore cars, rot at their seams. You do not often find serious rust in the middle of the panel, you find it at the edges and panel joins. Where panels were originally joined together, they were spot welded at a double thickness. If you drill out the spot welds, and examine the seams, you will find they are rusty, as moisture gets into the gap between the panels and rusts them, and the spot weld holding them together. Very basic stuff I know, but there are still idiots out there who believe their car is perfectly safe and strong despite it never having had any new panels. Do some research into how your car rusts, look at many examples under restoration, go to an MG Breaker’s yard, examine some crashed MGBs. Not a pretty sight I know, but I’d rather have been in the ones with sills replaced in the last 10 years, than those with the original bodywork (and mangled footwells).
I am using “Etchweld” primer from Bilt-Hamber on the seams. Never one to believe the hype, I tried it out on a couple of sheets of metal, then plug welded them together, and drilled out the welds and examined the result. Of course, some of it in close proximity to the spot welds burnt off , however much remained, in fact more than enough to go to the effort of applying it in the first place. As long as it is allowed plenty of time to dry before welding, it will play an important part in protecting the seams, where the factory did not bother.
The floor pan, all prepared and ready, fitted in perfectly. It sat beautifully exactly where it should, so I spent an afternoon plug welding it into position, starting at the back and working into the footwell (Doing the easiest bit first!).

Plug welding all around the perimeter. I was kneeling in the footwell/floor most of the time, the wooden board was to spread my weight to avoid altering the perfect way in whaich the panel sat where it should!

Then I seam welded the floor all the way around, to stop water getting in (it will have seam sealer later on both sides, of course) and for added strength. This was the part which took the time, as with any large panel heat distortion (and burning off too much paint!) will occur if too much welding is done in one go. So about an inch and a half at a time, then letting it cool, while doing a weld at the other side of the panel takes a lot longer than you would ever imagine. Especially when you take into account plenty of breaks to let the shielding gas and fumes escape, welding in a confined space like a footwell is very dangerous and it would not do to be pushing up the daises at this stage, when there is still so much to do! I tacked the floor pan to the cross member and chassis rail, these will be replaced later so there is no point welding them on properly. That was the floor done!

There you go. The first seam completed between the floor and heelboard. It can be seen how the heelboard extension is sandwiched between the spring hanger and the floorpan, a perfect fit! Am I just lucky??

I was then ready to start tackling the offside. The first thing to repair was the door, as I needed a decent door of the correct shape to work around, so I could get the door gap correct, and measure things up before bracing the offside and starting to hack things out. The original door was slightly dented from when myself and Valleri collided with a Lister D-Type stationary engine (don’t ask, the door lock burst!)
The door frame was in good order, so I cut all around the door skin to release it. Door skins are like a large envelope flap, in that you fold the flap down along the sides and bottom to secure the skin to the door. The frame was reasonably solid, although the door bottom had some bathroom sealant in it, which I spotted even before buying the car. The door bottom needed replacing, and as I don’t have a sheet metal folder (oooh I fail at life) I had to buy a new door bottom for about £2.40 which made things easy. The bottom was nibbled and ground out of the door frame, and the new one welded in.

The door frame, denuded of the door skin, and after all that it has had the bottom cut out too. The corner nearest the camera ended up being replaced too, a lot of new door frame was fabricated from steel sheet.


The new door bottom has been tack welded into place, now it's going to be seam welded.

The rest of the door frame needed some minor repairs, although in the end because I am a pedantic fool I ended up replacing half the door frame, putting about four new repair pieces in, and replacing the internal brace which spreads the load from the quarter light post. Everything was seam welded as usual, you can’t tell that it has been repaired now.
Once again, examining the old door skin shows that despite it being a fairly recent replacement, it was rusting quite badly around the edges where there was a double and even triple thickness of metal, if you count the door frame, which was also rusting. So out with the “Etchweld” primer again, hopefully this will slow the process down, along with some wax or oil injection into the door later.
The door skin, along with all the other new panels I am fitting, had the rubbish factory paint taken off. It was painted in a couple of good coats of very high zinc primer, I did the inside of the door frame too while it was easy to get to. I used the very high zinc paint, because once again impact resistance and lack of brush marks are not especially desirable characteristics inside a door, whereas lots of zinc is!

The first coat is nearly dry! Etchweld primer on the flanges, high zinc primer everywhere else.

The rather battered workbench (actually mother’s freezer) was ideal for fitting the new door skin. First a sheet of MDF was laid over it, and the door skin placed, outside face down, on top. Then the frame was put into place, and the business of fitting the door skin ensued. The trick is to go all away around the door, folding over the flap a little at a time. Apparently it is very easy to distort the door skin if it is not taken slowly, and ripples in the door would make the whole exercise pointless. So armed with my favourite panel beating hammer, I went round and round the door skin, first getting the flap at 90 degrees to the door frame, then starting to fold it inwards and close the flap to secure the door. Slowly, slowly!

The freezer, with a board over the top to keep things smooth, is then covered with cardboard initially. The flaps are slowly bent inwards evenly, all the way around.

A long time later, we're getting somewhere....

Half way there! Oops, I forgot to get a photo of the completed door!

The most important thing is do keep changing the angle of the door, so that the part of the door which is being hit is supported at the back, to door must be tilted so the area you are hammering is in contact with the board. Brilliantly, it worked, and it fitted perfectly with no distortion whatsoever. Fantastic. Just to make sure, I put a few tack welds here and there to secure the skin, and welded up the quarter light mounting area at the top. I have yet to drill the drainage holes in the bottom (Very important!) and the holes for the seal retainer at the top, but even so, I have an as-new door! It looks just like a Heritage one costing £300, and is just as sound. Yip-yay!