P1 Restoration saga.WTW 299
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Working up you can see all the inner aluminium is in place except the door latch plate. I only have one chance to get this exactly right as where it is screwed into the A post wood determines how tightly the door shuts. I haven’t worked out if there is an adjustment mechanism, or if there is how it may work. I am open to suggestions.
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I closed my door, taped a ruler across the gap to keep it exactly where I wanted it and then from the inside I measured the differences between the catch and the edge of the door, the difference between the two inner edges, and just worked it out from there. Took a while but it seems to have worked. Saying that I don’t have the outer skin on yet so could be way out when I get to that stage.
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There is a bit more fettling to do, and I will fit in the roof section timber next. If all goes well there are a couple of pieces to add to the A post, most importantly the door latch. Then if all is as good as it seems to be I will bend the aluminium skin back into place using plenty of sealer/glue and tack it into place. Next fit the windscreen and back window back into place, then attend to the paintwork. All downhill from here on.
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Ben. On my car there is a separate piece of section designed to fit over the A post corner from the top of the windscreen down to the bulkhead. Oddly I was fettling just that part of the A post this evening, and managed to achieve a good fit before I came home. Haven’t got a photo on the phone now, but will take a photo tomorrow and send it tomorrow evening
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A great progress update Dave. I’m very interested to see how you’re going to shape the corner where the aluminium wraps around the A pillar, in particular the recess for the edge of the door. I plan to use a small electric hand router to do mine, but like you am wary of mucking the whole thing up and having to either start again or glue more wood to it.
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I have been working on the P1 whenever I have been able to. I have now got the A post timber piece in place to my satisfaction and this evening have started to shape it. This will take at least three or four days. I have already nearly cocked up the new timber piece up by starting to plane off wood from the wrong side of it. Fortunately I realised my mistake and there is plenty of spare wood to play with. Once the shape is right, I have to recess the post to accommodate the windscreen and to allow the aluminium shell to be wrapped back and tacked to the new wood. I may have to glue some additional steps to the old aluminium where there is too much corrosion, but I think the old Allard aluminium will be OK. I have a bit of spare Allard aluminium should I require it. I will try modern special glue before resorting to welding as I want to preserve as much of the original paint as I can. Once again I shall be using liberal amounts of Tiger seal glue to hopefully keep damp and corrosion at bay. Photos to follow.
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Photo of rough cut ‘A’ post timber.i can assure you all it will need alot of preparation to get it just right, but time and patience will get me there in the end. The originals were made in 2 pieces. A straight piece from bottom to to and a separate piece to accommodate the bulge created by the front mudguard which was originally screwed to the long upright. I couldn’t see any reason not to do the job with just one piece of wood. That is how I did the N/S.
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These are the bottom pieces screwed into position. It was necessary to use three separate pieces because my Ash timber planks are 2 inches thick. I found it was easier to deal with than a much thicker block of wood. When I am sure everything fits well I shall unscrew the whole assembly, and reassemble using plenty of waterproof glue/sealer. I find Tiger glue ideal and strong.
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<p style=”text-align: right;”>I have spent quite a bit of time in the workshop since Christmas and have now finished and screwed the bottom pieces of the ‘A’ frame in place. I have roughly cut out my main ‘A’ frame post, and started to carve it into shape. This will take at least a week or two as everything has to fit exactly to it and around it. I have put pressure on myself to get the car back on the road by entering it for the M. A. C. Classic Rally on the 24th April. Photos of progress to follow.</p>
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Hello Dave
Lots of good work on your P. I have used glue to make sections up and then used them as a pattern to make another. I found the second one comes together quite quickly as all you are doing is copying the first, sounds easy doesn’t it. Keep up the good work your doing a grand job, by the way my M is at Pitney’s getting the body finished off, kind regards from both of us.
Charles and Fiona
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Good evening all. I have repaired the bulkhead rot problem by letting in a small new piece of wood. This was important because one of the support bracket for the steering column is bolted onto this part of the bulkhead. I am posting photos. First one of the photos shows the new wood in place. Second one shows the underside of the bulkhead area and the steering column support stay bolted securely in place. All the rotten timber is now gone from the A post. I have rough cut a suitable piece of wood which I shall carve into a new A post over the next couple of weeks. I am currently shaping the timbers for the base of th A post, all of which were rotten. I will post photos as I go.
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>This photo shows the new section tight against the aluminium body skin which will be bent back against the wood then tacked into place. All looking good so far. All that remains to do is create a new ‘A’ post, fit it into place, join it to the new roof section, and then bend back and tack the aluminium to the new wood. More photos to follow of my progress.</p>
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As promised, I have made a good start on the O/S. Starting afresh last Monday morning I made the decision to start with a new piece of wood for the roof section. I have now finished this to my satisfaction, but found that due to the complex curves I still needed to add an extra piece of wood to finish the job as I wanted. I will post a photo of the finished piece clamped in place tomorrow. I straight away started on the A post. The passenger side was so rotten that it basically fell to pieces. Not so with the Drivers side, but I soon found the way forward albeit damaging my trusty wood chisel in the process. Needles to say there was plenty of rotten wood to remove, and with occasional judicious use of my electric drill and angle grinder I had it dismantled in no time. There was a little rot to the edge of the bulkhead cross member which I have now repaired. I also needed to remove and repair the steering wheel coloumn support bracket which I have just finished this evening. I will post photos of the extent of rotten wood , roof repair timber and bulkhead repair tomorrow evening hopefully including more progress update. Dave
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Good morning all. I have spent all of the weeken creating a new piece of wood to replace the rotten timber that was removed. Previous experience warned me that this is not straightforward. So it proved this time again. I started with a suitably sized piece of wood deep and wide enough th enable me to carve out the shape I require. Needless to say it wasn’t too long before I realised I had removed too much wood from some places. Fortunately modern glue means this can be remedied by gluing on more suitably sized timber and planing back more carefully. This was done three times and I now have the perfectly fitting piece of wood for the job. Will I use this or use it to make another piece without the glued additions? I see no reason not to use it but may have another go to do the job with just one piece of wood. As promised I have finished fitting the trim and additional sealing to the N/S door. My P1 has always had a gap between the bottom of thbe door and the bodywork. This has always been sealed by the door trim. Over many years of use this has proved inadequate, therefore I have glued an extra sealing strip along the body. Now I have fitted the normal trim along the foor and added a strip of timber to hold it in place and firm against the door bottom. I am posting photos hopefully with the descriptive captions in the right place. If they aren’t I will have created another unintentional puzzle for you all to solve. Here we go.
V
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<p style=”text-align: right;”>As you can see I haven’t got the photo description tags attached to the relevant photos.1st photo shows headlining untacked exposing rotten wood. 2nd shows joint with A post secured with a plate which we removed and replaced 30 years ago. Original from the factory. .3rd photo showing the extent of rot going backwards over the door and window. The 4th photo shows the original joint to the frame coming up from the mudguard, joining together with the roof support timber over the rear window. Fortunately this wood is still good . The final photo shows the timber removed. I have some work to do removing the screws that joined the roof cross members to the roof support timber. I could cut them off but think I may be able to unscrew the little curved joining pieces in order to get the old screws out.. the whole frame was obviously assembled before the Aluminium skin was put on. I can either make up brackets or fit screws up through the new wood. The aim is not to disturb the aluminium skin and paint as all is good in that department..</p>
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I intend to add my own touch to the N/S interior finish, which I will post photos of when my varnished wood strip is dry an fitted and the job completed. I have now progressed to the drivers side and removed the reas window and water channel, and carefully untacked the headlining as per photo. I have pinned this back and investigated the wood that runs back over the door and rear window. Although not as badly rotted as on the N/S, which fell out in pieces it is pretty much gone. I have carefully cut this out now and today plan to make up a new piece to fit into the gap. Fortunately, as on the passenger side the wood going down to form the mudguard support is still good. This is still original so proves that if kept dry wood can last as long as steel. We’ll nearly. I haven’t yet investigated the front A post but am certain that from the door lock down it is rotten. No doubt rain and damp have penetrator pa’s the windscreen and water has run down the pillar and been blown along the top of the door causing the rot I have found
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The P1 n/s reconstruction is coming along after a slow, tentative start. I have had to make repairs to the trim panels, as can be seen in the photo. I hope I have improved the insulation a bit as well. In the last photo the bottom n/s side panel is glued and screwed into place. Note the door trim is also being installed as I go.
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As can be seen a nice deep shine, but viewing close up shows up all the flaws and of course the pun prices of grey. It won’t pa’s the concourse judges, but I doubt performance will be affected. When I have finished the other side, I will purchase the correct paint, and time allowing will do it again. Having the car back on the road is my main objective.
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This afternoon I have finished repairing the paintwork . This job proved more difficult and time consuming than I had expected it to, and although I have an acceptable finish the whole job is marred by little pinprick appearing in the finish which go through the finish to the undercoat. Don’t quite know why.⁶
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>Nearly all AOC members are aware that I am having to renew the A posts and someone the surrounding wood work on my well used P1. This has been ongoing now for the last two or three years. I am happy to report that the work required to make the N/S A post, and other relevant wood work is now nearing completion. I am now at the final stage of applying the paint. I have chosen to brush the paint on as the main paintwork on the car is in good nick. This is untried territotiry for me. I have preped, and spayed panels that turned out to be adequate for my requirement.. I am using up some cellulose paint bought some time ago for repair to the rear N/S quarter that I damaged during our 2012 Monte Carlo Classic Rally exploits. I have brushed onthe primer, cut it back, and now brushed on the black cellulose top coat giving several coats of paint. The last couple of days in the workshop have been spent cutting back these coats of paint and polishing. So far I have done the rear N/S quarter, and the roof edge just above the rain channel line. I have left the Monte sticker in place as it is part of the car’s history. I have the front edge door surround and door edge left to do. I will update with further photos etc as I progress. Once I have fitted the inside trim work on the drivers side will commence. All for now. Dave</p>
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Another view showing fit with roof cross members
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