1961 Coupe

[Adrian Rendle]

thanks very much for your replies....yes, i sat the body right down on a sheet of ply and used a tee square to project the positions of the torsion bar housings down onto the ply....of course this is not that accurate, but i measured it 3 times and got results within 0.5 mm. I have got a full workshop manual and the tolerance between front and rear suspension points is certainly +/- 2 mm.
The right hand side (lower front torsion to rear torsion) measures 1859.5 mm (i.e. 0.5 mm less than nominal) and left hand side measures 1858 mm.
What the manual doesn't tell me is what is the tolerance for parallelism between the torsion housings is, or , in other words, is my 1.5 mm difference ok?
i know the car has been hit left side, but should i try to get this small difference sorted out?

[Emil Wojcik]

I have a hard time believing the factory could have gotten it closer than 1.5 mm back in the day.

I'd be willing to bet that whatever damage the car sustained when it was hit did any damage at all, and the 1.5 mm difference you're measuring has been there sine the car left the factory.

[Adrian Rendle]

thanks Emil....any other wagers?

[Adrian Rendle]

Whilst i decide what to do about the accident damage, just thought i'd update:
started at the rear, thats all finished: had to cut right through rear fender/corner where a new fender was overlapping the original corner

also, decided to remove the wadding behind the rear window in the c-post which had caused one side to rust through: to counteract this, i welded extensions on to the rear bulkhead where there is a gap between bulkhead and fender

[Adrian Rendle]

continuing, i will tidy that piece, its not the best thing i've made....

then i repaired the right hand side floor /longit, i decided to cut half way across the sill so i could replace the outer longit, rather than trying to replace it with the sill insitu

i folded the heater tube supports away from the outer longit, as it was these that caused the longit to rust, likewise i omitted the jack spur.....i want this car to last a very long time before it needs further work

muffler was fine, thankfully, but the ends of the tubes needed repair

[Adrian Rendle]

then i folded up a new outer longit, using my house drainpipe, which was almost exact bend rad

i decided to weld the longit under the panel just in front of the door, rather than sandwich it, outer longit ready to go on:

then i made a new rear floor pan, a bit tricky

i also drilled drain holes in the outer longit and other holes in various other box sections to inject rust proofer, including the floor "oval" joint and even the seat front outer runner mounting....every single area of this car will be soaked in rust proofer

here is finished left side area

and

i also cut extra holes in tunnel to aid pulling through any extra pipes/wires i might need

[Adrian Rendle]

a better pic of finished right side

then i had to repair the lower right corner of the windshield opening, which had a load of braze in it and the upstand was disintergrating

first stage

then finished area

i'll leave the awkward repair to the hood hinge area tioll later ...then i started on the left side floor area/longit....i'm glad i bought an "almost rust-free car" (well, its all relative)....this car had also been extremely well undersealed, so its lasted better than most....anyway, left side is better than right...rear floor pan is fine and its only the front part of the inner longit that needs replacement

primed and ready to weld (it slows things up, having to apply the weld-thro primer and wait for 3 hours)

noticed that the "floor" of the right side door "well" (the area that the front of the door goes into when it opens) will need rust repairs....i , incidentally, hammered this area more concave on the right side and put a nice big drain hole to stop any water pooling in it

so, thats where i am now

[Adrian Rendle]

left side longit and floor is now finished, muffler was fine, but door "recess" in front of a-post needed work

fully treated insides of longit with Dinitrol 3125, keeping it well away from weld area

bent up outer longit by hand again

front and rear closing plates both needed work

tricky butt weld to do along top face of cill

[Adrian Rendle]

and a few more pics...finished door recess area:

front underside:

and finished floor

now i can't do much more before sorting out (or not) the small difference in wheelbase

[Aaron W. Holstrom]

Adrian,

Very nice work! It's awesome to watch your progress!

Do you have any pictures of the underneath side of the battery box area? I have 61 coupe and I can't figure out what it is supposed to look like under there. It appears someone cut off the floor pan under the battery box if that makes sense? Thanks for your help.

[Vic Skirmants]

The floor pan does not go to the battery box. It stops at the end of the diagonal brace.

[Aaron W. Holstrom]

The floor pan does not go to the battery box. It stops at the end of the diagonal brace.

Vic, I needed to be more specific. It appears there is/was a floor under the battery box that begins at the front of the spare tire well. I.e., when I look at the bottom of my car, I can see the bottom of battery box.

Thank you.

[Adrian Rendle]

update on work so far, whole of rear of car from a-post back is now repaired and primed

all metalwork cleaned back to bare, then phosphoric acid etched, then brush painted with 2 pack epoxy (Epoxy Mastic)

i'll regret that patch on the rear inner wheel arch....oh well

thats how i'm going to fit inertia reel seat belts...the b-post is not the strongest to put the upper mounting on, but there's nowhere else

thats my bracket to mount an internal brake light on

[Adrian Rendle]

thats the rear etched, there are 2 plates towards the centre of the firewall which i'll mount a rigid link to prevent rear seats falling forward and to support them when they are used....the p[lates at the edges of the firewall close off the gap where i think lots of engine noise comes through

floors etched....i have about 80% of the original floors...i didn't want to lose them

floors painted

engine bay prep: the welded-in studs are so i can hold better firewall insulation on without relying on the firewall trim to help

quite heavy engine bay rust, so out comes the Fe123 converter

eng bay painted...i welded on a bracket to take the engine lid cable pull

there is a hole right in the corner, caused by mud trapped on top of the wiring....as i can't get to it, it'll have to be filled

a little body filling required in a few areas, but only very shallow...filler applied after area had been phosphoric acid etched

[Adrian Rendle]

more etched floors, note holes in longits for injecting rustproofer, i must have drilled 20-30 holes altogether so far for injection, including the cavity under the rear seats, the floor joint "oval", even the front seat mounting top hat thing, and the small cavity in the upper B-post...i overlapped longit repairs as the joint will be much stronger than trying to butt weld

prep under rear seats...i won't be replacing the insulation fixed here, too much of a mud and dampness trap....i removed the loom mounting tangs and will secure the loom some other way

this area at the base of the windows had rusted through....bit of a tricky repair piece

some more body filling, but only shallow, then a temporary coat of 2 pack epoxy primer

finally, the underneath areas (painted in 2 pack epoxy mastic) were coated in Dinitrol 4941, several coats....quite a bit of the original under floor black protection stuff i left in place as it had been applied so well that it was extremely difficult to get off and under it was as new,