MadaboutKitcars

I've been here for 21 years, I still have 2 tea chests full of "Valuble" tools in the shed unpacked. I know if I throw them away I will need them next week.

I have a cunning plan on the door opening problem, watch this space! Hopefully will have the time to have a play over the weekend.

The bonnet cut.

The bonnet sits about 1cm proud of the sill at the bottom edge. I wanted to avoid the 7cm cut method as I thought it might cause too much stress on the bonnet.
I tuned the bonnet upside down and measured across, 1695mm at the rear and 1680mm at the front. Cut two slots on each side of the bonnet with a 2mm cutting disc. Don't plunge too deeply or you will catch the vent on the other side. Take the slot right to the ends.
Then put a ratchet strap on it to curve the bottom inwards, just a little pressure takes it in a long way,I was surprised how much. Release some tension and measured across again, tried 1670 at the front and 1680 at the rear, simply because this is what it came too with a little tension. Attach some builders band across the slots front and rear with self tappers.
Trial fit and adjust the bands if necessary, I was lucky, it was just about perfect, I thought if I tried to improve it I would only make it worse. If you look closely at the gaps you will see that I have had to close them up only slightly, next time I would start with a 1mm cutting disc.
Apply some CSM between the builders bands

Let it dry and remove the builders bands and apply more CSM to the gaps.
I find 4 pint milk bottles ideal for mixing the resin, use disposable brushes and use the last brush used which will have gone hard for mixing the resin.

Gloves are for pansies!
Refit the bonnet and check the line, you can fine tune the fit by putting pressure at the hinge when tightening the fixing nuts.

Almost perfection if I must say so myself.

Small adjustment, took about an hour, this is the cheaper convertible kit. No complaints so far.

It is simply slots in the inner skin only although you need to slot the returns to allow it to bend.
It feels a very solid panel, I was surprised how much it came in with the ratchet strap.
Before you start measure how much the bottom edge of the bonnet stick out past the sill, I had about 15mm. I pulled it in 25mm at the back and 30mm at the front simply because this was where my first tensioning of the ratchet strap brought me to and I was just intending to use it as a first reference point expecting to have to tighten or losen the builders bands before glassing the slots up.
As I got it right on the first attempt it makes me a genius......or it could be down to luck, but I prefer genius!

It is most important to measure across the bonnet at the front and rear where it meets the sill to give you a reference point.

Door Handles

Looking at Eric's pictures I decided to try and cheat.
With the door skin attached with a couple of self tappers I drilled through the GRP and steel skin together. I simply guessed at the centre of the hole using the mark on the door. The mark on the door is just where Chris has obviously filled in the hole where he had fitted the door handle and roughly filled it.



I then pushed the drill bit had and the door popped open

I did the same on the passenger door but this time it didn't pop open, never mind.

I then removed the skin and used a 40mm hole saw.


You can see where the drill bit hit the opening bar, you just push the bar to open the door. I now just have to fit a small metal plate as per Eric's guide.
If you were to guess the centre of the hole on the GRP skin and there lower it 5mm I think it may well hit the centre of the door push and you might get away without fitting the plate.
When enlarging the hole with the hole saw you will find there are two layers of metal at the top, drill and remove both, the second layer is something to do with the lock and can be removed.

I intend to glue a larger diameter slice of plastic pipe above the new hole, this is to deflect any water running down the original door skin and entering the hole.
I was quite surprised at how much water had collected in the bottom of the new GRP skin, lots of drainage holes will be needed.

Use the small drill hole in the outer GRP skin as the point where the door handle push goes through. Use the gasket supplied with the door handle as a template.
On my door handles I cut off the door locking lever, it is not needed and means you can keep the hole in the door smaller. You can dismantle the handle but I cut it off with tin snips, that way I did not have to remove the push on fixing, they never tighten up as well when used again.

For clarification, when you lock or unlock the car using the remote key fob, when locked the new mini door handle will not open the door, use the fob to open and the mini handle will open the door so there is no need to do any extra work on the locks. If your remote fob doesn't work I would suggest you get it working first. If the remote locking breaks after you have fitted the new door skins you are *ucked! Most likely cause for failure is a flat battery so I intend to leave the boot with a manual key lock so I can get to the battery. I also need to try and fit an emergency release cable so I can hopefully open the door in case the remote locking packs up completely, job for a later day.

Thanks, It has helped by having to wait 6 weeks to have the kit delivered. It allows you to get things ordered and get a plan of action on how to tackle things. I couldn't wait to try my Velcro door cheat and it even worked!
Having read Eric's build so many times gave me so many ideas as he covered it all so well. It's great that everyone is sharing tips.
I did notice someone had a cure for Andy's roof crack, he hasn't shared it, just stated he knows how to cure it, very helpful for the other forum members. I would bear in mind if you decide to go for a "professional" build.

Mentioned but not shared.

The door/bonnet gap

As you can see from the picture the alignment looks pretty good, it looks good but you can't open the door

Two problems, as you open the door the leading edge of the door (LED) hits the inside of the trailing edge of bonnet (TEB) To stop the LED hitting the TEB I have worked out the best way is to "thin" the TEB and also taper it. Before doing this I found that when opening the door, the face of the door would hit the TEB, you obviously can't remove any of the front surface of the door so it has to be removed from TEB.
I noted where it was catching and ground away at the TEB with a mini belt sander.
as you can see I have ground away about 25mm from the bottom of the TEB tapering up to about 8mm at the top. At this time you start thinking "is this right?"
I then marked lines across the gap and measured how much I needed to add to LED.
I then drilled pilot holes in the edge and fitted some drywall screws, screwed them in until they protruded to the measurements on the door and then nipped off the ends with a disc cutter.
I then placed a plastic L trim behind the screws to give me a need edge and back filled with isopon GRP filler
i did this in two stages as it was easier to get round the bend.
Then mark the gap on the new filler and run along the edge to get the approximate profile.
Then rehang the door skin.

I then turned my attention to the trimmed TEB, the edge is much too thick so I again attached it with the mini belt sander.
From this thickness

To this

The thickness is the white line, the grey is the taper.

Refit bonnet and this is the result

Obviously I now have to neaten it all up and get the gap the same all along but the door now opens and closes without catching anywhere even with the door fully open.
The GRP filler with the drywall screws seems to have given a really strong bond which I don't think should crack in the future.

This is the only logical way that I could see to get the door to open without rubbing, unless someone has an easier method.

It would only need a modification to the outer doorskin molds, the inner returns could be left the same and the TEB could be reshaped with a belt sander in a few minutes if you had a template.
Worth considering Chris?

I should have mentioned that I cut away the first 30mm, I've left the rest as this is where I intend to run a wire cable for emergency door opening.

The thread is here to help everyone so all are welcome to voice their opinions, just try and keep it civil. It's very easy to write something innocently and for someone else to take it completely the wrong way.

If anyone see's something that I have done wrongly please jump in an correct it or suggest another way, I'm old and ugly enough to take a bit of criticism.

You can get medicine for that problem

Shame to change the standard hinge as it works so well.
I was surprised how much modification has been needed as nobody else seems to have reported any problems, but I can't see another way of doing it.

I think it would just add another problem.
I gave the front of the door another bit of GRP paste that has closed the gap up further without catching. A bit more sanding and a bit of filler tomorrow should see the first door almost finished.

I am going to give it the ultimate trial, I'm going to let the wife open it, when I say open it I do of course mean fling it open as hard as possible.

Success on the door gap/opening problem

First picture shows how much I have had to build up the leading edge of the door
I have just run a thick felt tipped pen along the trailing edge of the wing, this marked the front of the door, I then used this line to sand back to give me a pretty even door gap, obviously needs to be filled and neatened up.


Gap against inner wing with door fully open and a bit of pressure against it.

small section of old wing mount removed



Door fully open with extra pressure applied, plenty of gap and no need to shorten the check straps.
Even passed the wife test.

Small update, I finished the passenger door in the same way. I didn't need to sand away so much of the wing this time so it was much easier. Probably helped as it was a known problem and solution the second time around.
Not much more to report as I have been busy on a custom cafe racer build for a customer, thats finished and i'm off for a month to Spain so not much will be started until August.
I expect the rest of to keep hard at it and think of me laying on my lil for the next month. Might not help you but it will make me feel a lot happier.

Triumph Thunderbird 900

Thunderbird Cafe Racer

Sorry for the delay but It's been boxed in by other bikes. Owner collected it today.

I make the seats, fender eliminators and mudguards as a paying hobby.
This one is a standard Thunderbird that has been fitted with a Thunderbird Sport front end, down pipes and exhaust. 5.5 alloy rear rim with front to match. Pods with K&N filters. rear cowl had a custom airbrushed paint job.

Monza Fuel Cap

Sorry but posted the first part on a separate post, should have kept it all in one place.

Roughly marked position and shape of petrol cap well.


Cut out with a 1mm disc on an angle grinder. Glued in place with resin.

The cap is held in place with M5 countersunk screws and nylock nuts. Problem is that it is almost impossible to get a spanner on the nylocks so I used 6mm rivnuts that you can just see in the picture. This makes attaching and removing very easy.


just need final finishing for paint. It is large but i like it.
There is very little room underneath for the pipe, I think I can trim 15mm from the underside of the petrol cap mounting tube but it still will be tight. I may have to cut a relief in the top of the boot to allow it to flow properly. Waiting for some pipe.

Chris gave me some flange clips to attach the door skin to the door but I cannot see anyway to fix them satisfactory, must be missing something.
I have drilled holes through the door and into the skin. I then removed the gap outer skin and attached some M5 rivnuts. Reattached the skin and it bolts up really easily and is much tighter than using self tapping screws. Forgot to take pictures so you will all just have to wait till the skin comes off again.

That was all the good progress, the bad progress was that I found the new front edge of the door id fouling the bonnet hinge when fully open. I missed it as I had the bonnet open when I was checking for gap with the bonnet open which puts the hinge in a different place. I will have to grind it back a bit and build up the trailing edge of the wing as Jeff has done.