Restoration of Hanna (Charity AMX)

I'm not aimed at warmongering either, though your question irritated me, no doubt. Guess I'm in the camp of knowing the hazards, taking the precautions, and accepting the  known risk. Haven't used the Eastwood kit if it's a purpose designed solvent. However, I tried Eastwood's or Por's Metal Prep, that worked great with a rag. I also took a large dull screwdriver to help peel the undercoating off after wiping with the metal prep. Easy.

Steve

This is exactly why I don't post anymore.  You try to share knowledge and experience with others and there is always someone who either says you are wrong, incorrect, dangerous, lacking in intelligence, etc. Why bother.  I think the post is great and want to thank Tom for taking the time to post it.  The way I see it, Tom gave a car to the hobby for charity, it travelled for years, with more parts being misplaced for lack of a better word, was never even near completion, and now Tom has chosen to fix it himself.  Now he is willing to share his experience with us.  That to me is one heck of a guy!

Another workday and Hanna is coming along quite nicely. Today it was time to fit the panels before work is done on them. Now you might think this is a waste of time, but there are a few reasons to do this. Number one, it is an old car with some panels off of other cars. Who knows what shape the other car was in that these panels came from. Plus, we already know a quarter panel has been replaced on this car-will the gaps be correct? Plus, the hinges were very worn and are now rebuilt. Are they bent or damaged? This process should only take a few hours if everything fits right, more if work has to be done to them.

First, a door will be hung. this is pretty easy-just move the hinges in a position they would be in if the door was shut, lift up the door, and install the bolts. Remember, the striker should be removed as it will try to "center" the door to it's location, which may or may not be correct. There is a plate on the inside of the door with threaded holes where the bolts are installed. You could not just install the bolts on just a door as the metal is too thin and would rip. This plate clamps the door between it and the hinge. It also has a little play in it to allow for adjustments. You may have to use a small tool to align the plate with the holes to get the bolts started. I install two upper bolts and two lower bolts (actually, there is only two lower bolts on 69 and 70 doors). Tighten them up and look at the door gaps. Here is what I had:

First, the rear of the door is too high:



Before you adjust this, you have to look at the front of the door. this will tell you if the whole door is high, or just the back. So here is the front:



And the bottom:



You can see the back is too high, the front is too low, and there is no gap at the bottom at the rocker panel. So the front of the door has to come up, the back of the door has to go down. This will require two adjustments at the hinges. With the fender off, this is easy. Here are the hinges (and I was concerned when I saw the "bubble"-it was just stuff in the primer, no rust):

Upper:



Lower:



First, the whole door has to come up to give me a line at the rocker panel. To accomplish this, all 4 hinge bolts have to be loosened at the door and the door raised.   I lift it enough to get a good gap at the very front of the door at the rocker. However, lifting the whole door will raise the back even more. Once lifted, I check the gap at the front and tighten the bolts.



Now the rear of the door has to be lowered. This is accomplished by loosening the bolts on the bottom hinge where it attaches to the car body (NOT the door). You only loosen the bolts enough to move the door, so only a half turn may do it. Check the top of the door and body lines. The rear of the door now is up almost a half inch, so I let it drop some and check the gaps. (I put blue tape on the line for the pictures).



Too much! Just loosen the bolts again and trial and error. Here it is lined up:







Now check the gaps along the rocker panel:



The different colors and light make it seem off, but the gap along the quarter is a nice even line.

Next we check the gap along the quarter panel. Too tight, the door has to move forward. Too wide, the door has to move back. This is done by loosening the top and bottom hinges and moving them both in the same direction, then tightening them up.

Okay, we have a problem:



The gap between the door and the quarter at both the top and bottom third of the door is perfect. However, the middle third is too tight. Unfortunately, there is no adjustment for this. This is a result of how the quarter was hung when it was replaced. The door cannot be shaved as it would detach the door skin from the frame. Maybe some hammer/dolly work on the quarter will help. So lesson learned-if you are going to hang a panel, adjacent panels must also be aligned correctly. Just the bad hinges on the door would effect the quarter. Right now, I'm thinking of just leaving the gap as is. It is not so tight as it will chip the paint, and the dark color of the paint will help a little.

Last adjustment is the in-out movement of the door. Again, check the gaps at the quarter and near the windshield post. You can see it needs to be moved:



You will have to decide which hinge to loosen to close the gap. In this case, it is the top hinge-loosen it and move the door in.

Now it's done:









Again, the pictures do not show the gaps as good as they are.

Okay, small confession: I've done a ton of these doors and actually checked multiple adjustments at the same time. I just thought it would be easier if I broke it down one at a time for you. With a little practice it is easy to do.

Just talked to a friend of mine who owns Distinctive Auto Body in Whitman, MA. He has agreed to paint the car for us in his brand new shop and help with any bodywork. He also has Montague-Brown donating the paint and materials, and may have a chrome shop to do some trim and taillights. plus use of his ramp truck to deliver the car wherever we need locally.

Richard, I find your post just slightly amusing. Does the term "over restored" ever come to mind? "Restored" should be back to the way something was originally. As you said, panels weren't perfect for ANYONE back in the 60s and 70s (and earlier, of course)... well, save for maybe Rolls Royce, and possibly other stratospheric models. At the same time I can understand wanting the best fit reasonably possible. I did say reasonably...  I'm not sure splitting a quarter panel and welding in a filler is "reasonable", but if it was noticeably crooked I can certainly understand repairing it -- probably should have been done before it left the factory. Of course a competing show car has to be as perfect as possible, not "just" restored....