393 replies to this topic

[grahama]

Excellent door job. Soooooo much better than mine. Can u explain how you did the bent bit in more detail plz, ver nice.

Graham

[minifcd]

Thanks Minimuk, I was suprised just how thin the metal they used for the doors actually was. Thanks Graham, I referred to a few of your pictures of your door repair before I started. You did a cracking yob of your door repair. I now know how hard it is to weld with it being so thin. Here are a few pics of how to make the curved repair.

Trace the shape you need onto some metal and add about 1/4 inch onto the inside of the bend. Don't add too much as it gets too hard to work with and too little leaves you with nothing to weld to.


Using vice grips, start folding up along the line.


It begins to look like this.


The more you fold, the more the metal distorts.


So to straighten it out, you then need to stretch the metal using a small cross pein hammer, against a larger hammer in the vice. As you hit it, the metal stretches and starts to straighten.


Then use the flat end of the hammer with lighter blows to help remove the marks made.


Repeat the above on the larger side until the distortion has gone and the correct shape returns. Should then look like this.


Takes about 20 minutes and should end up something like the bit that needs replacing.


Hope that all makes sense.

Thanks.

Edited by minifcd, 26 June 2012 - 10:44 PM.

[Brams96]

Excelent work, I've tried this before & it can be difficult to get it all straight again but you've done a great job there

Edited by Brams96, 26 June 2012 - 11:52 PM.

[grahama]

Muk, that is a brilliant guide, maybe pin this in the bodywork section. Great result, ta.

[Brams96]

Grahama - HERE (from about pg 4) is site where the guy explains similar techniques, this guy is awesome at welding/fabrication, well worth a look. Enjoy

Edited by Brams96, 27 June 2012 - 08:58 PM.

[minifcd]

Thanks for that link Brams96. I actually follow all of his work. His interest is in BMWs but the work he did on the Victor is just amazing and has taught me a lot. The techniques I use to create panels came from his Victor thread although my own work doesn't come close to his. Search tonybmw on that forum to see more of his work.

[minimuk]

Just like a smithy this tread, cheers Brams96 'food' for thought they just make it look so easy,....minifcd I think yours looks better and I suppose it would be more difficult with 1mm-1.2mm plate of yours compared with the 0.8mm soft plate on the Vauxhall tread.
well done

[grahama]

WOW, couldn't stop reading that. Excellent resource, just need a work shed now. No wonder your work is so good !!

[Brams96]

Glad to pass on some knoweledge even if it isn't my own. It's my main reference, right behind TMF in my favourites. Another site with lots of pics is THIS Canadian guy.

[deebo]

cracking work. one of my favroute threads keep it up man.

by the way how did you strip all the paint from your door, looks really clean instead of little bits still there or dull.

thanks, dom.

[minifcd]

Did the larger areas first with the clean and strip disc on the angle grinder. Then got into the harder to get to bits with paint stripper. Painted it on and when the paint blistered, attacked it with one of the small black wire brushes that look like a toothbrush. They're relatively soft compared to a large wire brush. Paint comes off really easily. Just gotta clean the metal down thoroughly afterwards to remove any traces of paint stripper.

[deebo]

Did the larger areas first with the clean and strip disc on the angle grinder. Then got into the harder to get to bits with paint stripper. Painted it on and when the paint blistered, attacked it with one of the small black wire brushes that look like a toothbrush. They're relatively soft compared to a large wire brush. Paint comes off really easily. Just gotta clean the metal down thoroughly afterwards to remove any traces of paint stripper.

sweet, thanks man.

dom

[Minuki]

Fantastic work, Scott. Love watching this project. Your fabrication is something else! Great work, again.

[Dylanscar]

Amazing work!! Very impressive but also kinda scary the effort that is needed. Makes my repairs look ordinary to less than ordinary BUT is a great reference tool on how it should be done so my thanks and please keep on posting!!!

I do have one question and you seem the perfect person to ask and it might be frowned upon by some...my apologies to any purists out there....I have a Mk3 Japanese import with the Mk1 rear/ boot, external hinges, front end and full Mk1 interior to seats, switches, high low dip botton on the floor but needs a full strip and refurb. My question will be the complexity to remould the doors to those of the Mk1 with the curvature in the corner? I have looked at Plastics4performance for the windows but was wondering after seeing your thread about your views of altering the Mk3 doors??

The guy who had my little car before seems to have gone to an amazing length to where it is and want to try and continue it to fruition...if possible??

Anyway please, as said earlier, keep up the posts!!

[minifcd]

Thanks for the comments. Having never converted a Mk3 door to a Mk1 style door, I can't really say how easy it would be to reproduce the curve at the front edge. I would imagine its possible as its just a reproduction of the curve at the rear of the door and a modification to the A panel, but you might not get the same radius of curve as a Mk1 door. My first mini was converted to Mk1 rear lights, boot lid, bonnet and grill but I left the doors as Mk3 internal hinges. I'll try and get some more updates up on my current project soon but am finding it hard to find time to work on it at the moment.