Elin, I just love your attitude. Nothing seems to be too difficult for you and this is what intrigues me and makes me more daring in my own restoration work. You are giving me the strength to take on tasks that I did not believe myself being able to take on. Thank you.
I also get inspired by other people's work. I watch videos and do my research before I go ahead with a biggie like cutting rockers out for example. But yes, my attitude is - if someone can build it why wouldn't I be able to rebuild it?
In the UK we have a saying " making a silk purse out of a sow's ear" ( meaning making a good job out of a bad one). You certainly did that today Elin, following on from someone else's bad workmanship. The work is a credit to you...
Thank you, John! It seemed like a "deja vu" from my Spitfire MK2. I had to re-fit it's rockers/sills too, but I wasn't brave enough at the time to cut them out, so I put many hours in splitting and opening them. Lesson learned. One thing blew my mind though - somebody who used to work in our shop as a "bodyman" patched the body and fenders, primed and even painted them inside without even fitting them together.
Good job Elin. You might be able to fix that rear door gap just by playing with the shims at the rear of the car and on the rear body shelf. You might need to remove one shim at the rear floor mount....it's really trial and error and can test your patience.
Oh, I did that already and this is the best I could do. I don't have any shims anymore under the rear floor mounts and I have 1/2" under the trunk already. If I add anymore there the frame will be almost exposed when you look at the car from behind, which I don't want to happen. But I also noticed that the door was missing a little bit at the top. Somebody trimmed it when it was on another car, so I just built back what was missing with weld. I was more concerned about the lower end where I had no other option, but to shave the edge a little bit and then weld it so all layers of sheet metal do not split. That's in my next video.
Just discovered your channel...really enjoy it and you are a talented guy! I have a 6 and a gt6 (which needs some tlc) keep up the great work you have a great delivery on camera look forward to following your progress!
Haha! In the UK, a 'rocker' is a component of the (non-ohc) cylinder head which transmits the action of the pushrods, from the camshaft deep in the cylinder block, to the valves. Over here we refer to that under-door part as the 'sill'.So I was initially a bit bemused by your preamble!
Haha, I probably sound crazy in the UK. I know you guys call these "sills" and even here many people call them that but "rockers" is more popular. We also call the valve rockers "rockers" and it is confusing even here sometimes. Since we are talking about British cars here I agree it makes more sense to use the UK therms like "bonnet", "sill" etc. and I am trying to, but I am getting confused by all the american videos about British cars and I use both versions. They are both foreign for me anyways :) the English is my second or even third language.
Haha, it is not me, my hammer is spring loaded LOL. Peter and Cheftush are people that I am trying to learn a lot from. Your channel is quite interesting as well. I have to make some time to watch your videos though. I've just seen couple of them, but I will catch up. Cheers!
Elin! I've got my body shell 99.9% ready for paint, and looking back, more that half of repairs where I cut and moved something was improving on the factory fit up. I am guessing... floors/sills were jigged/welded first, then the rear clip assembled to it, then the front bulkhead was married up, as the floor panels are designed to run long under the front heel board to allow length adjustment The adjustment then was rear assembly/floor to the bulkhead. Remember, the front from the bulkhead forward is so loose, that would be left for last in the fit up process, that is where they cheated!.... remember my front valance problems? That has been almost universal defect in my experience. All the adjustments were covered up with the wishy-washy front end! Ever wondered why the front inner fender to plenum pinch weld looks different on every car? Maybe because after fitting the front fender they had to yank it up or down deforming the joint to get the alignment! I am guessing....having spent years in manufacturing, I imagine I'm on the assembly line. If the rear is jigged wrong, it's cheating/tricks of the subsequent assembly line guys to salvage it. On my current project I assembled the floor/inner and outer sill assembly on the car, self tapped them together, removed the whole thing, clamped it to increase the curve in the outer sill... And welded it. I'll bet you dinner in a fancy restaurant that these three items were a welded assembly, the first thing put in the jig. I enjoy you tremendously. Hope you are well. Reed.
Yeah, it makes sense. They needed to compensate somewhere for the little errors here and there that added up. I guess you are right. I will have to install new floors, sills and bulkheads on the 74 TR6 and I still have no clear idea of how am I going to attack that (it probably has to do with the fact I have no time for anything anymore LOL) so I guess I will figure it out when I get there. I like your idea about assembling the floors and sills and taking them out to weld. Never new that was possible. I guess the body was not on the frame, right?
I did start by assembling the floors and sills on the frame. Actually built the complete body with doors on, using small wafer headed self tapping screws commonly used in commercial steel stud wall construction. They have a very thin head the size of a dime, and super sharp drill point tip that just melts in. Used a whole box. You punch your plug weld hole, and screw thru it to the back layer. The hole is small, and not mushroomed in back, when you plug weld it seems to increase penetration at a lower heat. I assembled the floors and sills and then welded off the car by repeatedly exchanging a screw for a plug weld. Easy. What is difficult to getting the A post/ plenum correct. Tilted a degree or two "drooped" and the problems follow you forever.
Elin, just saw this sorry. I think the bodies were complete before mating to the frame. If you have a body needing all its floors and sills replaced, you've got to start with a repaired and straight frame, and this is easier than you think, as all of it from the front to just beyond the diff is dead flat. Get it square, flat and strong. Cut out the floors and sills leaving you two halves. With the two halves of the body this way, clean up, drill, blast, and grind all the surfaces the floors and sills attract to. If you do rust repair, leave it long in places where you can, it makes adjustment simpler. While upside down, fix the plenum and rear valance if needed, it will never be easier. Bolt the floors on with minimum shims, dead level. Loose assemble the sills...lower the front and rear on the frame and use wedges or shims to approximate the body shape. Start clamping together, use pan head self tapping screws designed for steel stud construction, the head is thin and they drill instantly. Use a lot of them, the hole on one side gets drilled for a plug weld anyway. Hang your doors...and pay much attention to the height of the dash top above the floor. Idealize the door to sill gap by jacking between the floor mount and the plenum/APost attachment area while the door is attached. This is the mistake I see, that the APost is too low. Once the APost looks good, lock the APost bottom to the sills with screws. Then lock the sills to the floor pan. This is where all the critical adjustments and therefore opportunity to get it right occur. Most guys start at the bottom and work up to the plenum. Wrong! Start at the plenum and lock in going down. Then the sill locates much better, and the doors which are the whole ball of wax fit much better. You are looking for 174-174.5cm from the boot aperture edge to the bonnet aperture/fender/plenum intersection. Sorry this is so long, but want to offer what I know. Get the APost position right initially and most everything else follows toot sweet. Hope you are well. Reed.
Thank you for this, Reed, I will make sure I follow it when I start working on this car. It is quite complicated in my head right now, but I am sure it will make more sense when I have my hands dirty. I am not sure when is that going to be as the official work slowed all these TR6/Spitfire projects, but hopefully it is going to be soon. Thanks for taking the time to put together the instructions. I appreciate it!
tu est vraiment bon dans ce que tu fait dommage toute les vidéos de la réparations ne sont pas toute visible et j'aime cela regarder comment tu répare toute la voiture depuis le démontages j'usque la mise en route toute les phases des remises a neuf sont extraodinaire bravo Elin Yakov
While replacing the inner sill why did you cut it where you did instead of going to the top corner where it meets the lip? I'm not second guessing you, I'm curious as to the thought process.
Hm, that's a test for my English. Let me see how clear can I explain this. The inner sill that is seen in the video is actually two pieces that join at the floor level. If you look carefully you will see a horizontal line above my cut. This is where the piece above the floor meet the piece below the floor. The upper piece was solid so I didn't need to replace it and the lower one was good close to the join so I cut it half inch lower for easier welding. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks, Ulrik! Yes, I did check the photos and I loved what you did with your car. I actually responded to your comment on my Spitfire MK3 video. Great job and amazing skills!
+Elin Yakov I lose sleep think it over that car yes it's been on my mind I message the guy yesterday asking if he would take 3500 it's my busy season for selling art starting and so far it's the best month yet at the gallery I rather be completely broke and have no health insurance but have that baby parked in my driveway so it my happen
Elin, I just love your attitude. Nothing seems to be too difficult for you and this is what intrigues me and makes me more daring in my own restoration work. You are giving me the strength to take on tasks that I did not believe myself being able to take on. Thank you.
I also get inspired by other people's work. I watch videos and do my research before I go ahead with a biggie like cutting rockers out for example. But yes, my attitude is - if someone can build it why wouldn't I be able to rebuild it?
In the UK we have a saying " making a silk purse out of a sow's ear" ( meaning making a good job out of a bad one). You certainly did that today Elin, following on from someone else's bad workmanship. The work is a credit to you...
Thank you, John! It seemed like a "deja vu" from my Spitfire MK2. I had to re-fit it's rockers/sills too, but I wasn't brave enough at the time to cut them out, so I put many hours in splitting and opening them. Lesson learned. One thing blew my mind though - somebody who used to work in our shop as a "bodyman" patched the body and fenders, primed and even painted them inside without even fitting them together.
Awesome job. Getting me motivated to get started on my TR-6.
Happy to hear that!
Good job Elin. You might be able to fix that rear door gap just by playing with the shims at the rear of the car and on the rear body shelf. You might need to remove one shim at the rear floor mount....it's really trial and error and can test your patience.
Oh, I did that already and this is the best I could do. I don't have any shims anymore under the rear floor mounts and I have 1/2" under the trunk already. If I add anymore there the frame will be almost exposed when you look at the car from behind, which I don't want to happen. But I also noticed that the door was missing a little bit at the top. Somebody trimmed it when it was on another car, so I just built back what was missing with weld. I was more concerned about the lower end where I had no other option, but to shave the edge a little bit and then weld it so all layers of sheet metal do not split. That's in my next video.
Keep up the good work! I am learning a lot from your videos. Your expertise helps with my current Spitfire restoration.
Always happy to hear I was of any help. Good luck with your Spitfire!
Great video. Very interesting. Good learning experience. Thanks for sharing.
You are really quick with that hammer. You must have learned from Benny Hill. ;)
Haha, apparently not quick enough, wait to see the next video :)
Just discovered your channel...really enjoy it and you are a talented guy! I have a 6 and a gt6 (which needs some tlc) keep up the great work you have a great delivery on camera look forward to following your progress!
Thank you, Jason!
Haha! In the UK, a 'rocker' is a component of the (non-ohc) cylinder head which transmits the action of the pushrods, from the camshaft deep in the cylinder block, to the valves. Over here we refer to that under-door part as the 'sill'.So I was initially a bit bemused by your preamble!
Haha, I probably sound crazy in the UK. I know you guys call these "sills" and even here many people call them that but "rockers" is more popular. We also call the valve rockers "rockers" and it is confusing even here sometimes. Since we are talking about British cars here I agree it makes more sense to use the UK therms like "bonnet", "sill" etc. and I am trying to, but I am getting confused by all the american videos about British cars and I use both versions. They are both foreign for me anyways :) the English is my second or even third language.
You my brother are the fastest hammer man I have ever saw! Peter sent me to sub to you. Also Cheftush is someone in our Triumph family. Woo Hoo!
Haha, it is not me, my hammer is spring loaded LOL. Peter and Cheftush are people that I am trying to learn a lot from. Your channel is quite interesting as well. I have to make some time to watch your videos though. I've just seen couple of them, but I will catch up. Cheers!
Elin! I've got my body shell 99.9% ready for paint, and looking back, more that half of repairs where I cut and moved something was improving on the factory fit up. I am guessing... floors/sills were jigged/welded first, then the rear clip assembled to it, then the front bulkhead was married up, as the floor panels are designed to run long under the front heel board to allow length adjustment The adjustment then was rear assembly/floor to the bulkhead. Remember, the front from the bulkhead forward is so loose, that would be left for last in the fit up process, that is where they cheated!.... remember my front valance problems? That has been almost universal defect in my experience. All the adjustments were covered up with the wishy-washy front end! Ever wondered why the front inner fender to plenum pinch weld looks different on every car? Maybe because after fitting the front fender they had to yank it up or down deforming the joint to get the alignment! I am guessing....having spent years in manufacturing, I imagine I'm on the assembly line. If the rear is jigged wrong, it's cheating/tricks of the subsequent assembly line guys to salvage it. On my current project I assembled the floor/inner and outer sill assembly on the car, self tapped them together, removed the whole thing, clamped it to increase the curve in the outer sill... And welded it. I'll bet you dinner in a fancy restaurant that these three items were a welded assembly, the first thing put in the jig. I enjoy you tremendously. Hope you are well. Reed.
Yeah, it makes sense. They needed to compensate somewhere for the little errors here and there that added up. I guess you are right. I will have to install new floors, sills and bulkheads on the 74 TR6 and I still have no clear idea of how am I going to attack that (it probably has to do with the fact I have no time for anything anymore LOL) so I guess I will figure it out when I get there. I like your idea about assembling the floors and sills and taking them out to weld. Never new that was possible. I guess the body was not on the frame, right?
I did start by assembling the floors and sills on the frame. Actually built the complete body with doors on, using small wafer headed self tapping screws commonly used in commercial steel stud wall construction. They have a very thin head the size of a dime, and super sharp drill point tip that just melts in. Used a whole box. You punch your plug weld hole, and screw thru it to the back layer. The hole is small, and not mushroomed in back, when you plug weld it seems to increase penetration at a lower heat. I assembled the floors and sills and then welded off the car by repeatedly exchanging a screw for a plug weld. Easy. What is difficult to getting the A post/ plenum correct. Tilted a degree or two "drooped" and the problems follow you forever.
Elin, just saw this sorry. I think the bodies were complete before mating to the frame. If you have a body needing all its floors and sills replaced, you've got to start with a repaired and straight frame, and this is easier than you think, as all of it from the front to just beyond the diff is dead flat. Get it square, flat and strong. Cut out the floors and sills leaving you two halves. With the two halves of the body this way, clean up, drill, blast, and grind all the surfaces the floors and sills attract to. If you do rust repair, leave it long in places where you can, it makes adjustment simpler. While upside down, fix the plenum and rear valance if needed, it will never be easier. Bolt the floors on with minimum shims, dead level. Loose assemble the sills...lower the front and rear on the frame and use wedges or shims to approximate the body shape. Start clamping together, use pan head self tapping screws designed for steel stud construction, the head is thin and they drill instantly. Use a lot of them, the hole on one side gets drilled for a plug weld anyway. Hang your doors...and pay much attention to the height of the dash top above the floor. Idealize the door to sill gap by jacking between the floor mount and the plenum/APost attachment area while the door is attached. This is the mistake I see, that the APost is too low. Once the APost looks good, lock the APost bottom to the sills with screws. Then lock the sills to the floor pan. This is where all the critical adjustments and therefore opportunity to get it right occur. Most guys start at the bottom and work up to the plenum. Wrong! Start at the plenum and lock in going down. Then the sill locates much better, and the doors which are the whole ball of wax fit much better. You are looking for 174-174.5cm from the boot aperture edge to the bonnet aperture/fender/plenum intersection. Sorry this is so long, but want to offer what I know.
Get the APost position right initially and most everything else follows toot sweet.
Hope you are well. Reed.
Thank you for this, Reed, I will make sure I follow it when I start working on this car. It is quite complicated in my head right now, but I am sure it will make more sense when I have my hands dirty. I am not sure when is that going to be as the official work slowed all these TR6/Spitfire projects, but hopefully it is going to be soon.
Thanks for taking the time to put together the instructions. I appreciate it!
At some point in the past my tr6 had rocker work done and the back of them curve inwards slightly so the chrome trim has a small gap in it .
Thank you!
Weld through primer elin
Super useful. Thanks!
tu est vraiment bon dans ce que tu fait dommage toute les vidéos de la réparations ne sont pas toute visible et j'aime cela regarder comment tu répare toute la voiture depuis le démontages j'usque la mise en route toute les phases des remises a neuf sont extraodinaire bravo Elin Yakov
Merci beaucoup! Je suis vraiment heureux que tant de gens aiment mon travail!
While replacing the inner sill why did you cut it where you did instead of going to the top corner where it meets the lip? I'm not second guessing you, I'm curious as to the thought process.
Hm, that's a test for my English. Let me see how clear can I explain this. The inner sill that is seen in the video is actually two pieces that join at the floor level. If you look carefully you will see a horizontal line above my cut. This is where the piece above the floor meet the piece below the floor. The upper piece was solid so I didn't need to replace it and the lower one was good close to the join so I cut it half inch lower for easier welding. I hope that makes sense.
That half inch is what I'm wondering about - it's easier to butt weld the inner sill than ? not sure what kind of weld it would be otherwise?
(Your English is perfectly fine! It's my question that's not.)
Well yeah, it looked like it was the easiest way. At least to me :)
Job well done Elin!
Have you checked the link, i sent to you?
Thanks, Ulrik! Yes, I did check the photos and I loved what you did with your car. I actually responded to your comment on my Spitfire MK3 video. Great job and amazing skills!
Thanks vary useful and well done
Thanks, Jim! Are you getting any closer to the MGA? I really want to see you in it soon!
+Elin Yakov I lose sleep think it over that car yes it's been on my mind I message the guy yesterday asking if he would take 3500 it's my busy season for selling art starting and so far it's the best month yet at the gallery I rather be completely broke and have no health insurance but have that baby parked in my driveway so it my happen
Good luck!