Post-War Other Back to making progress

[70herald]

Well after last weeks little confidence crisis, I am back to making progress.


The bulkhead is all cleaned up. I need to take care of to spots on the windshield frame, on the left it looks like there was an antenna, and on the right something mucked up the frame.
What I am going to do is paint the bottom area which is hidden by the motor, and put the bulkhead back into place. In any case, the bulkhead has to be put on first since everything else is aligned to it.

Then I will clean up the other body parts as I put them in place.

I also spent quite a while bending one of the frame siderails back into its correct location. Looks like the car was hit on the drivers side at some point. This basically explains why the bonnet was not centered, and one side was higher than the other.

 

[NutmegCT]

Congrats on getting back into the game.

Say, how long have you owned that car?

Tom

 

[70herald]

I have had the car about 8 years now. Finally getting rid of the "improvements" done by the DPOs.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Correcting the "improvements" of others is often the most tedious and challenging (not to mention time-consuming) tasks any of us can face!

 

[LarryK]

I notice you have no rockers and no door braces while still on frame. Are you not worried about sagging on refitting all?

 

[70herald]

I notice you have no rockers and no door braces while still on frame. Are you not worried about sagging on refitting all?

Hi Larry,
Actually the body is totally disconnected from the frame. The various body parts are just sitting on the frame so that they are at a more comfortable working height.

As far as sagging, that isn't an issue because of the way the Herald's body is constructed. The frame provides the backbone and everything else is basically just along for the ride. The most important part of the build is the bulkhead - everything else gets aligned to it. This was also the main problem on my car since it was off center, apparently as a result of an accident years ago. Anyway, there is a built in flexibility between the frame and body, with thick rubber washers to provide a bit of give. Once the bulkhead is in place, the rear segment is added and held loosely in place until the doors are aligned by adjusting the door hinges and spacers between the body and frame. Then everything is tightened down but the back part of the body provides little stiffness to the car.

Essentially I am building it the same way that there were put together in the factory, and just like the factory repair manual says to do major body repairs. If I were to try to take the body off in one piece then rockers and braces would have been needed (and also shown in the manual)