My Austin Countryman Project

[swindrum]

progress continues on the Countryman, spent some time with the scotch brite pads in the engine bay



While I was in there, cut out some messy steel and created a new piece for the front panel to weld to



Bought a new rad surround panel with is scheduled to go in as well

The toeboard panel is all secured in place now too


There was corrosion in the door step, so it was cut out and a new piece was made, a bit more grinding to go there


The seatbelt mount was getting a bit soft, so it was cut back to solid metal and replaced as well

[swindrum]

Have been working on fitting the bonnet/wings/front panel... Sadly, they are not the best fit, so it is taking ages to get everything lined up. The curve of the bonnet doesn't line up with the curve of the scuttle, so that will need to be addressed. Once that is correct, I will need to match the curve of the sides of the bonnet as best as I can with the wings.
Once I am happy that the bonnet is the correct shape, then I can proceed with the wings and front panel!

[mk1]

Looks like things are moving on well. I do like your A Panel tweeking method!

Front ends always take a lot of fitting, I am sure you will work your way round it.

M

[java gt]

I really like the way you are trying to keep as much original steel as possible.Keep up the good work.

[swindrum]

Looks like things are moving on well. I do like your A Panel tweeking method!

Front ends always take a lot of fitting, I am sure you will work your way round it.

M

I had visions of having to pull everything off and start from scratch, so necessity being the mother of invention... It just reminds me that one must remember to think in 3 dimensions.

I spent some time on the bonnet last night, working on the curve of the bonnet in relation to the scuttle and things are getting closer. It is quite interesting and simple to shape the rear curve of the bonnet. The lip of the bonnet at the rear helps dictate how much curve there will be, the farther past 90 degrees the lip is folded, the more the bonnet will curve. Mine had too much curve so I carefully pried the lip closer to 90 degrees and checked it. bend, check, bend check...

I think I bolted and unbolted it 20 times last night, but it is getting close now. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo. Maybe I'll remember when I get it perfect tonight...

[swindrum]

Things are working their way to fitting better, I am starting to like the scuttle gap a lot more


With that taken care of, the wings could be fettled a bit more.
The inside corners of the wings fouled on the bonnet, so I had to slit them with a cutting wheel and tap the metal over to get clearance.





Still need to get the contour correct, but there is a gap now at least


This might be a bit trickier, the contour of the wing doesn't match the bonnet, There may be a bit more slicing and dicing before I get it to match...



The other side is better, but not great


So, still many hours of sorting to do on the front end, but I really want it to be nice.

[mike owen]

Great work, I had to cut my front fenders just like you did to get a good gap. Did your motor have a Cooper head on it ?
Cheers
Mike

[swindrum]

Hi Mike, glad to know I am not alone when it comes to manhandling these cars back together!.

This car didn't come with an engine, but will be getting a 998 with a 12g295, possibly a set of twin SU's but most likely a single 1 1/2"

[swindrum]

Making final preparations and tweaks before final affixing of the wings.



The radiator shroud was messed up, so a new one was in order, was able to save the FE number and reattach as well.





I have been agonizing how best to remedy this, you can see I have scribed a line, I think the best plan of attack will be to make a slit upon the line and gently tap the wing down until it matches the curve of the bonnet. If I lift the bonnet up to match the height of the wing, the gap to the slam panel is terrible, I have the subframe bolted in with the front panel bolted to it, so It is level.

[Daz1968]

Are those heritage wings, as am unsure what to use on my car, I did fit magnum on my mk1 and they weren't too bad, I do think only way to get that right is to slit the wing and reshape it where it spot welds to the inner wing. Shouldn't be too difficult just time consuming.

[Callum]

I had the same issue with heritage wings on my mk2

I used a hammer and dolly to move the edge over



I did have to make one small slit in it aswell on the curve at the front

[swindrum]

The wings are repro panels, and each were a different manufacturer, but I can't remember which ones now. Not Heritage, magnum, or M-Machine though...

Next one I do, I will definitely get heritage or M-Machine panels, pattern panels may be less expensive, but they do cost more in a more valuable commodity, Time!

[mike owen]

If you need some heat absorbing paste I have some you could use when welding up those pesky wings.
Mike

[swindrum]

If you need some heat absorbing paste I have some you could use when welding up those pesky wings.
Mike

I may take you up on that!

Some progress, I fired up the spot welder and attached the wings! No going back now! I have decided that once the front end is on permanently, I will do the final contouring of the bonnet, then when it is as close as it can be, I will do any necessary surgery to the wing.





This weekend will be spent massaging the curve at the end of the front panel, the curve doesn't match up quite right with the lower curve of the wing.

[swindrum]

Moved to the back of the car, mostly for a change of view. I decided to hang the rear doors and square up the opening before welding the bottoms of the door frames to the lower door step. Look at me, thinking ahead!

Well, it turns out I didn't think far enough ahead... When I had tacked in the new door step panel, I had used the side load space finishers as mu guides for the rear step. got everything nice and square and tacked it all together. Fast forward to Saturday when the doors were hung and there was about 3/8" gap along the bottom right edge. No problem, adjust the hinges a bit, oop, now the gap it top left...



Now, I had known the car had been bumped in the back at some point in its life, but what I hadn't realized, was that the bump transferred from the rear corner of the car, through the right side loadspace cover, to the back seat crossmember, pushing said crossmember forward, by, you guessed it, 3/8 of an inch...

So, Sunday was spent carefully taking out the nice new M-Machine rear step panel and massaging the crossmember back to where it belongs and fitting the doors, again...

[swindrum]

In an attempt to get the rear door opening nice and square, I went a bit drastic. I took the rear doors off and squared them up together on the garage floor. I carefully measured an 1/8" gap for the centre and tack welded them together. With the doors securely welded, it was much easier to get them mounted to the car nice and square to the roof line.
With that sorted, I was able to move the lower corners to where they needed to be. The result is a nice square opening, with nice even panel gaps!
Like a dope, I forgot to take a picture, I was too excited, a nice victory after the setback over the weekend.

[InimiaD]

I did notice the rear doors "stitched" together in the Screws for Woodys Wood thread so unwittingly, there are some pics of your door alignment / aperature problems you have encountered.
Glad to hear that the doors issue is now sorted.

[swindrum]

It has been a while since I had a chance to work on this, building the MG1100 racer and keeping the Wolseley Hornet track ready takes up more time than I think it will. With the race cars tucked away for the winter, I willl be back at this in earnest. The fellow I am building it for has been very patient.
Back to work on the right rear corner. I have found a section of the rear panel with the light aperture that is nice and straight, so I have cut out the bent one and have been tackling getting the rear of the car buttoned up.
Stay tuned for updates!

[swindrum]

More progress, I received the repair section from a fellow forumite. I needed to separate the sheet metal from the channel that forms the door frame, and the hinge mount




Some very careful trimming and fitting later...


Then I could add the lower repair panel


Then a "quick" test fit of the wood kit. (ok, the wood kit was in all of it's pieces, so I had to drill and screw the whole thing together. I suspect that the kit was the sum of the best parts of a few kits, as none of the original screw holes lined up. I filled all the original holes with epoxy, and drilled new ones as I went.)

[swindrum]

Back up at the front, we had this:


So the plan was to gently slit the wing and bring the curve down to match the bonnet line, I stuck the putty knife in to show where the slit is made.


It took light pressure to bring the wing down to the required height



At the front, things were a bit more aggressive... Hindsight being 20/20 and the fact I had never done this repair before, I would do it differently next time.


But we got there in the end


Still some grinding to do, but getting close


Had to reshape the bottom of the left wing to match the front end panel