Healey BJ7 inner door panel fit

[chicken]

Hi All

it's been a while since i have been on here, i'm aiming to take my healey out of its slumber this summer but just need to finish a few bits.

How does the inner door card/panel on the healey's fit ? should the inner panel tuck in on the inside lip of the door as per pic 4496 (second pic) or cover the whole of the door opening as in the first pic 4498 ?

i believe it should tuck in a bit which then leaves a gap when the outer door liner goes on, the gap reffered to as a map pocket ?

Is the inner panel just held on by the window winder and door latch or screwed as well ?

Thanks for your help.

Rob​

 

[vette]

I don't know that mine were installed as original but they worked well so I just cleaned them up and used them as found after recovering them with vinyl.

 

[chicken]

Hi Vette

Thanks for coming back so swiftly. From your pic's it looks like your inner panel has an indent in the door where it sits in the recess, mine doesn't have this, i may even have a non original BJ7 door ?

Hopefully someone can shed some light on where i am going wrong.

Rob

 

[HealeyRick]

The door panel has a bend to the inside roughly where I've drawn the red line on Vette's picture. The door itself has two slots where I've positioned the yellow arrows, The bottom of the door panel slides into those two slots and when it gets to the bottom the fixing tabs go over the door edge. The top of the panel is then affixed by screws. Be careful you don't bend the panel too much at the red line or the panel will jam up against the window making it unable to roll up and down. Be very careful you use original screws in the panels or ones cut to the same length. Standard size screw lengths will protrude too far and scratch your window glass. Although the ones holding on the grab handle are the biggest culprit, almost any of the fixing screws in the inner and outer panel as well as the ones holding on the door cap can cause scratching if the screws are too long.

 

[chicken]

View attachment 47933The door panel has a bend to the inside roughly where I've drawn the red line on Vette's picture. The door itself has two slots where I've positioned the yellow arrows, The bottom of the door panel slides into those two slots and when it gets to the bottom the fixing tabs go over the door edge.

Rick
i must have a different door because my inner panel isn't quite the same ! i don't have the slots in the door either like you show or the small indent/recess, would mine be a BJ7 door then or a BJ8 ? see attached.

Rob

 

[chicken]

I have just delved into the archives and see that my doors are clearly from a BJ8 not a BJ7, i may change in time but i'm guessing apart from the inner panel you wouldn't tell the difference.
Now we have that figured out how do the BJ8 inner panels mount ? is it with clips that push into the small holes in the door or is it screws ?

is the panel shown above right for a BJ8 door or have i slipped up ?

 

[vette]

Sorry Chicken, I don't have anymore detail about the doors. I didn't even know for sue if mine were right. Rick's directions are spot on. I was surprised to find that my inner door panel was aluminum but glad that it was because if it wasn't I would have made an aluminum one. If yours is aluminum you can make it as ours is because it works beautifully and no one will see any small slices or tabs you put in it. Again everything Rick said is good direction especially about the length of the screws. I did not use original or repo replacement screws but i took great pains to make sure they were not too long. THEY WILL SCRATCH YOUR GLASS and have the potential to make the glass shatter.

 

[HealeyRick]

I think Chicken is correct. He's got BJ8 doors. My factory service body parts manual shows all the BJ7 doors to be the same , but with two different doors once we get into the BJ8. If he doesn't have the door slots, I'm pretty sure he has a BJ8 door.