BN4 Sill removal

[oxford]

Hi every one
I thought I'd share a couple of pics of progress on the BN4; one of those days when I feel quite chuffed at what I've achieved. :glee: I finished removing the r/h side sill. (sounds easy if you say it quickly). I've done this before on an MGA, but this was a new kettle of fish!!! Very tricky! I braced the door openings and nothing seems to have moved. The wooden rotisserie also seems ok (touch wood). I've also cut rust from the bottom of the A and B posts and removed the floors. The chassis and outriggers look good, a couple of dents here and there but nothing serious. i'll order new panels from Kilmartin and take the job one side at a time. If any one has any hints or tips that would be appreciated.

On another note, I really like the Healey blue colour, but I'm a bit concerned about spraying metalics. I'll be using acrylic lacquer. I'm not an expert, but I have sprayed six cars over the years. What do you think?

 

[BigGreen]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. The braces look fine.

In spraying the Healey blue yourself, I would go for a test on a scap panel.

Hans

 

[healeyblue]

The big tip on spraying metalics is to not rush and not put too heavy of coats. If the coats get too heavy and thick the metalics can sag together like a run and it looks horrible. It cannot be sanded and buffed away like a normal single color run, the metalics will still be gathered together even after the sanding and buffing (ask me how I know).

 

[Marvin Gruber]

Bad rockers but good outriggers? Thats unusual for a 100. Bracing looks good but I like to mount door and make sure the door fit is where I want it before the finish weld of the sill.

marv

 

[bighealeysource]

Hey Oxford,
A quick note on the paint. I had a Healey blue BT7 and one of the issues with it was the paint. If you looked very close you could see a difference in the way the paint looked on some of the vertical versus horizontal panels. I was told this was because the bonnet and boot lids must have been painted off of the car. From what I understand - and I am not a painter - you have to be careful painting metallics with vertical and horizontal surfaces because of the way the metallics settle when painted. Talk to someone who knows about painting to avoid this potential issue. Good luck with the rebuild and keep sending progress pictures !
Regards,
Mike

 

[vette]

Hello Oxford,
Your progress looks great. I did not have to replace my inner sills when I did my body so I can't add to the advice already given here. But I did replace every other panel on the car. As a previous member said here, it would be a good idea to mount the door while placing the inner and outer sills. I did that when I did my outer sills as well as my latch pillars. About painting, about 10 years ago I switched to base/clear paints. One day I decided to go back to either lacquer, enamel, or single stage urethanes because of alittle time sayings on the different systems. I couldn't make myself go back. The base/clear is just too durable and polishes beautifully. If you can spray lacquer and enamel you can spray base/clear. The base goes on just like lacquer. typically light coats that you build up till you get the fullness of colour that it is spose to have. With light coats and a final misting of the final coat the metalic lays out very evenly. Base paint can be repaired quite easily if you do a hick-up in one coat and you need to do it over. Just let the base paint flash out for 20 or 30 minutes. Sand it lightly with something like 400 grit or lighter and dust another coat unto it. The clear coat sprays like heavy enamel. You lay it on real wet. Where with enamels, we use to say two tack coats and a wet coat, with clear urethanes you spray it like you mean it, spray it wet right from the very first coat. Put 3 coats on. Don't worry about orange peel it's going to get sanded and buffed anyway. The down side to me about base/clear is that you will spend alot of time in the paint booth when doing a whole car. But really not any more than a very good lacquer job. But enamels are the quickest, 3 coats and your out of there. But you get what you put into it. Good Luck, enjoy. Dave C.

 

[healeyblue]

I agree with everyone about testing the door fit, and test it often. Which is why when I put the body braces I made sure they did not interfere with the door closing. You may have to move one or both of your braces to fit the door. Heres a little color teaser for motivation.

 

[57_BN4]

Just a comment on the outer sill/rocker panels- the Kilmartin ones have straight folds whereas the originals are slightly curved. If you want to maintain that nice curve that follows on from the front fender then it is much harder to achieve with the Kilmartin outer sills. These were the only non-Kilmartin panels I used on my car, you can get original profile ones out of UK.

https://www.healey6.com/email postings/Rocker Panel Curvature.pdf

Andy.

 

[oxford]

Thanks for the replies and encouragements everyone. Healeyblue, your car looks beautiful. I will have to move the bracing to mount the doors. Do you think their is a danger of loosing the original gap if I loosen them without the sills in place?
Matthew

 

[vette]

Oxford, I put my braces just inside of the door closer points. One angle iron was welded to the pad where the convertible top is bolted to the body and the other end is welded inside and up against the front weather strip knife edge. Put these in before you remove your existing ones.
Say Healeyblue, I like your car. What paint code did you use to get the Healey Blue colour.
Thanks, Dave C.

 

[vette]

Oxford, I just had t mention that if you paint base/clearcoat paint, please make sure you wear a good quality resperator that is intended for that application. Urethane paints do take brain cells away, and little while after that it'll kill you.
Your brain might survive one paint job, but your lungs won't.

 

[healeyblue]

Yes do as Vette says and put the new braces on before removing the existing ones. However if it does move now with all that metal removed you should be able to push the gaps back and reweld the braces. As far as the paint code I am sure my painter just entered in the BU2 code and was able to get a cross reference to what ever paint line he was going to use. I have used automotivetouchup.com before for BU2 and they also were also able to mix the color correct just by using BU2. I had them put it in spray cans.

 

[andrea]

all the PPG AH color