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floor pans inner sills rockers,outrigers

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powell

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Thanks for advice on master cylinders and horn wire,I did it. Now, replacing the above, can the average man do theses jobs or is it for someone more experienced in bodywork. Any advice would be helpful Thanks Powell
 
HI Powell, Glad you have the other things fixed. To accomplish replacement of the structure items you listed I think you need to be a very good welder to install these items correctly.---Fwiw---Keoke
 
I'm up to my eyeballs doing these jobs now myself.

I suppose it depends on how you define "average"- the floors seem relatively straight-forward.

So too for the outriggers though properly positioning them and ensuring they're level is critical. If you're using the old chassis rails check them thoroughly too. If the outriggers are bad it may imply that the main rails might be a little less than healthy too. I found that the whole was rotten and that a new chassis was the only real solution. Ouch.

The sills are the trickiest since there is so much else that ties in- obviously the outriggers, the front, main and rear floors, the front and rear inner wheel arches, the front outer footwell panels and the "reinforcing" panels. Its quite a jigsaw puzzle but taking careful measurements (even from several cars) and trial fitting the parts should see you through well. Welding skill is the most critical need rather than the other bodywork skills. It can be done... though I'm not through with it all yet. I'm working on a bare chassis which I think is a great help for I can easily turn it over and work on either top or bottom, and building it from the ground up presents a much greater challenge but also gives me a little more control too in doing the jobs so that the work is most easily done. The real proof comes when its time to mount the "A" and "B" pillars, hang the doors and line all the outer panels up.

Good luck.

James
 
Hi Powell,
I agree with Keoke. I would want to be confident in my welding before doing the outriggers. Especially the rears since the leaf springs are attached to them. Lots of force on them outriggers.
 
The things you should probably have to undertake the jobs you mentioned are: 1. Air compressor large enough to run a die grinder with a cutting wheel; 2. Several thin stainless steel, very strong, "putty" kinves and chisels for breaking free the weld beads you have ground down with your die grinder (a spot weld cutter is nice to have , but you can remove spot welds with a regular drill bit if you are careful); 3. a 41/2 " high speed electric grinder (90 degree); 4. a mig welder (get an auto-darkening welding hood, if you've ever welded without one you never will go back); 5. Cleico fasteners and cleico pliers(if you haven't heard of these check an aircraft tool place or Eastwood if you want to pay more; 6. a variety of hammers; infinate patience and body panels and doors that have been completed far enough to dry fit, so you may properly fit the sills and rockers. Some say the engine and transmission need to be in the car for a proper fit, due to slight frame changes that will occur from their weight, but I did not find this to be so. Then grind off as much of the welds that hold the parts you want to replace as far as you can. Floor pans easy, rockers not too bad, sills just keep working and don't be afraid to cut out chunks of the sills) to make it easier. You are not going to reuse anything you cut out. Of course you do want to protect the parts that stay in place, but light damage to them can be easily welded. The hardest part for me was fitting the new sills to the front part of the foot well area. It can be done, but for a while I wasn't very happy and had long since run out of new four letter words (and I know many, many four letter words). To answer your question (too late to be brief) the only real skill is probably welding. If you have a mig or tig welder and can run a bead with it you are probably good enough. I would not recommend oxy-acetylene just because of the heat and warpage factor involved. The real time consuming part is fitting the new pieces. They have to be clecoed or tack welded in place and then you have to check the fit of the body panels and most importantly the door. Minor misfits can be changed later, but you don't want to have to undo any of your major work to fix something you could have avoided. Fitting doors is hard enough if you just remove one and reinstall it. Mark the hinges once you get them fit. I think an average mechanic can do it, you just have to be willing to take your time. Get help if it is available, from someone who has actually done this to a Healey. Don't attempt this an a tight garage next to your non-Healey automobile. I came close to burning down the barn a couple of times despite being a fairly careful fella. Lots of sparks from grinding and welding. I'm not done with the project yet, but I've driven it and am doing the final dry fit before I paint it (yeah I'm doing that too. It's a sickness I have relating to being too stingy to pay anyone for something I think I can do. At least my wife made me see the light about replacing the roof on our house this summer. We hired that out and I had more time to work on the Healey.). Good luck, Hope this helps.
 
james,i greaty admire the depth and challenge of the work your doing!thats why we call it a total rebuild!today i replaced the rear shocks on my 1963 bj-7[i do all my own work]waw it wasnt as easy or as straight foward as anyone might think!but its my theropy!if you stick with it im certain it will be right,i hope your garrage isnt as nuts as mine!keep us posted.anthony
 
It looks as though I am at a similar point with James and roscoe. I wish there was a publication with measurements and angles listed!

I'm not worried about the welding part, but the alignment scares me! Anybody out there in the Santa Barbara, CA area that could lend me some experience?
 
I think there are some dimensions for later Healeys given in one of the shop manuals. Trouble is, the cars were esentially hand built by Jensen, with a minimum of jigs & standardization. No two cars are likely to have the same dimensions, so the puzzle has to be put together carefully as Rosco said. You can't even take an outer fender from another car & expect it to fit well without modification. Replacement parts are a "best guess" on what might fit with enough left over for trimming.

You can find a few drawings & an example of fitting here:
https://www.acmefluid.com.au/larry/healeydraw.html
https://www.acmefluid.com.au/larry/page1.html
D
 
I'll second the idea that the cars were hand built to no consistent set of measurements. Mine was a basket case and I've looked at several and found a variety of measurements and problems.

Here's one about the fitting of the sills and outriggers I'd previously asked the forum about:

https://www.britishcarforum.com/ubbthread...;page=9#126962.

And I've found that fitting of conponents on the left side differ from those on the right so the car wasn't even square or straight when it left the factory!

Makes me a little more relaxed about the need for exactness with the inner body and chassis and highly conscious of the demands for doing the trial and final fitting of the outer panels well.

For now I'm concentrating on getting the inner body panels well aligned and consistently welded to the chassis. Once I'm done with that I'll spend a month or so trial fitting the shrouds, wings and doors and ensuring the "A" and "B" pillars are properly positioned. Then I'll stick it all together.

And cross my fingers.
 
You can do it Powell. If I can do it, you can do it. I had no welding skills, or metal working skills or training before I started my BN7. It also required new sills, floors, toe boards and 2 outriggers plus some frame rust was evident, sound familiar? I haven't seen a Healey that required outriggers and sills not also needing frame work. It is reassuring however, that most if not all of these parts are now available. You don't need expensive shop equipment. I used a flux wire welder I bought from Harbor Freight for $120 and am very pleased with it. I had a friend who is a pro welder give me some tips and showed me how to weld. Not to difficult once you get over the shock (pun intended) of the spark. I'm serious, people die of electric shock. Above all else work carefully, don't get in a hurry and work safe. Buy good welding gloves and wear long pants and long sleeve shirts, and above all else wear boots not loafers to weld in. The sparks contain little fire balls called "goobers" that sting like heck when they hit your bare skin. Hope I haven't scared you to much. On the plus side you'll be very satisfied and pleased when your all done. You know you've done well when you just don't want to cover it up with paint. BTW, seam sealer covers a lot of sins. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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