Body shell distortion.

[surf-blue-850]

Has anyone experienced distortion in a Mini body shell by jacking up the car with no doors fitted?

I'm having problems fitting doors to a newly restored car, and am trying to work out what's happened.

It's a long story, sorry to be cryptic but will say more later....

[rich@minispares.com]

it must either be unnoticed crash damage or the shell has twisted when stuff has been cut out and the welder hasn't realised - or measured anything!

sounds like there may trouble ahead.....

[mk1]

Jacking up a solid car with no doors on can not possibly distort a shell to a point where the doors don't fit.

As Rich has already suggested the reason for such a problem MUST be far more significant.

Possibly a shell that has had an un-noticed whack at some time or more likely a shell that has been cut apart for restoration & has not been either braced or measured when it was re assembled.

Anyone who has restored a mini shell knows that the thing to start off with is a pair of doors that fit well & then you work everything else around them!

[surf-blue-850]

Thanks.

More info, the shell was grit blasted once it was stripped and most of the rusty panels cut off (the door appatures were braced). When I collected it the roof looked like a herd of elephants were dancing on it, obviously he had used too much air pressure and stretched the metal.

My welder pal did all the welding and fitted the doors and all was well.

The car then went to the body shop, they straightened the roof by heating and quenching and then sprayed (they had the original doors througout).

I had the car back to fit subframes etc, they said they had to have it back to fit the doors once sprayed, I had bought two doors from The Mini Door co. which they had at the body shop.

Anyway after numerous attempts to send the car back and failed I got another body shop to have a look.

Then the trouble started, the drivers door needed 1/4" removed from the leading edge and some from the trailing edge. The passenger door only needed slight fettling, both had two new skins fitted.

The first body shop hasn't replied at all.

Suggestions on a fag packet please.

[surf-blue-850]

BTW none of the doors fitted.

[rich@minispares.com]

I think I would be getting the string out and having some careful measuring.........

if one side is 1/4" out your just going to have trouble all the way down the line

[surf-blue-850]

Tempted to get it finished and get shot on ebay. The whole experience has taken the shine off the car.

[mk1]

Sounds like a bit of a disaster!

1/4 of an inch out is a massive amount. I can't see the action taken to sort the roof being able to make that much difference & suspect the problem was caused elsewhere.

You say you were told to send the shell & doors to them for fitting, why didn't you?

I also note you say "they straightened the roof by heating and quenching and then sprayed (they had the original doors througout)."
Then say "I had bought two doors from The Mini Door co. which they had at the body shop."

Are these 2 sets of doors the same ones?

If not then this could be the route of the problem, if the "original" doors were used when the shell was welded & then different doors were used when the car was re assembled then have you compared the 2 sets of doors?

[surf-blue-850]

I've been waiting over two years for them to collect the car, I just got fed up waiting for them.

They had the 2 original doors which have rusty skins, so bought 2 more to replace them. The original doors fitted the shell just after welding. In fact I gave them a 5th door which they sprayed, and guess what, that doesn't fit either!

I bought 2 heritage door skins and they wouldn't fit either,well they do now because they're a lot smaller!

[surf-blue-850]

I just wonder if ratchet strapping the car to the recovery truck did it when they collected from the welders?

Maybe they did it through the door appertures?

[rich@minispares.com]

I just wonder if ratchet strapping the car to the recovery truck did it when they collected from the welders?

Maybe they did it through the door apertures?

for a car to shorten its self like yours has, I guess its been up on stands at one end, had the inner and outer sills chopped out, so its 'relaxed' into its self., depending what you cut and how you brace it the shells can either 'splay' out and make the door gaps bigger, or 'curl' and shrink.

if you measure the widths of the door gaps on the inner returns they should be the same 3" up and 18" up (ie after the curl at the bottom and before the swage line in the middle)

if these differ greatly and from side to side then you know there is an issue

there is no way that you could weld the inner and outer a panels on a 1/4 of an inch too far back and still get the wings to fit (not unless your REALLY trying to bodge something up!)

it sounds like its going to need a bit of remedial work....


does the bonnet fit?

[mk1]

Sounds like the "restoration co" you used were a right set of plonkers!

[251 ENG]

From the early shell,s we have done at work there are at least 3 sizes of doors from factory , and thats before they have been repaired

[Andrew1967]

Sorry if I've missed the answer but were the doors re-skinned BEFORE they were used to fit the A-panels and adjacent panels?

I have two perfect original doors here and they are both different sizes, one fits the aperture of my pick up really well (which I used to fit the A-panel, top sill and rear side), the other however is miles out.

If you haven't used the doors (re-skinned if applicable, before they are used for aperture alignment/fitment), the chances are you are going to have to work on the 'replacement' doors to make them fit.

Getting Mini doors to fit satisfactorily is probably one of the worst jobs to do.

[surf-blue-850]

Ok, here goes.

The old untouched original doors fitted once the welder had finished.

Don't know if the first body shop ever tried any of the doors.

None of the doors fitted once the body arrived at the 2nd body shop.

The Mini door co doors now fit as they've been made smaller with new skins.

The bonnet fits fine with nice gaps.

Now, giving the 1st b/s the benefit of doubt, I would find it difficult to believe that a respected co didn't check the door fit at some point whilst in their care. Or am I naive??

Perhaps the 'correct' way would be to porta pack the A and B pillars, but sorting the doors seemed to be the way to go. To be honest I've lost faith in b/s 1 and would rather pay someone else.

The next stage is to check the measurements with a plumb bob and measure the door apertures.

[nick@dunsdale]

A ratchet strap would certainly be capable of damaging a shell.

We use them to pull body sides on pickups back in line.

I have used them to move screen pillars.

So I am sure they could damage a mini shell

Wondering why the first rusty doors don't fit anymore after roof repairs, as they fitted after initial welding, doesn't seem to be any other reason why the first rusty set shouldn't fit, other than the afore mentioned ratchet straps. Or am I missing something read the thread twice :/

A strong welded shell wouldn't bend if jacked up at one end with doors off.

The mighty tape measure will reveal all, the shell can't be diamond or there would be a similar problem on the other side.

[woodypup59]

My experience is that distortion creeps in as the car rusts and the shell loses its stiffness. The odd sill or wing being replaced off-jig locks in this distortion. New floors & door steps make it worse.

You have to do major panel work with all adjacent panels in place to be sure that everything fits. EG You need to assemble the whole front end on the car as a set complete with A panels and doors. Then start to move each panel around in turn to get good gaps. Once your happy, drill though and pop rivet togther at key points to lock your positioining in. Then weld.

I find that on an old, distorted, welded shell a bit of porta-powering in the door apertures is always needed.