Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ray White]

Yes it is very thick down there. I am not sure how to tackle it. I can't get to the other side of the panel without undoing everything.

I can't face stripping everything out again.!!!

[ukdave2002]

Hi Ray

You don’t need to strip everything down (apart from all the paint!) get one of these cheap glue PDR starter kits:



This one’s about £35, and will allow you to pull up the low spots an knock down the high spots, without dismantling or further damage to the panel, they are meant for modern vehicles with thinner steel, but I find they work well on older aluminium panels too.

You probably won’t get it perfect (although possible) but you should only have to use a thin layer of stopper on the low spots,prior to paint.

Dave

[Ray White]

Thanks Dave. I haven't been thinking along those lines.

I need to get into the right frame of mind before starting on something else. That equipment looks pretty comprehensive for the price and if it saves me from having to undo all my conservation work I have to consider it.


Ray.

[Ray White]

These ancient coach built cars are fragile. As can be seen, I have a problem with the driver's door top hinge where it screws into the frame.

The screw holes have stripped and the wood is split. I believe the traditional repair method is to glue dowels into the holes and start again.

This is what I shall attempt. I presume I should first drill a hole the size of the dowel then tap it in with PVA; then repeat with the other holes.

One thought that had crossed my mind is to fashion a sturdy brass plate and recess it into the timber surface. There would be four screw holes for the hinge and two smaller holes; one each side of the split to retain the plate. If the plugs were, say, 1/4" they would be too big to pull through the holes in the plate. The idea is to reinforce a weak area and effect a permanent repair.



The bottom hinge seems fine.

[petelang]

There's a new product which hardens soft partly rotted wood. You just soak it in and bigo, the timber is strong again. I've not actually used it yet but they show it on window frames in quite bad order. If you prepared the wood with that, and then plug and Redhill should potentially be good as new.
I'm hoping to use it on some soft bits of Ash in my body structure.
It's a Ronseal product, so should be reputable.
_________________
Daimler Fifteen 1934
Armstrong Siddeley 15 Long 1933
Daimler V8 250 1969

[Penman]

I saw wood hardener years ago which could even be used on wet rot sufficiently to be able to use it on a lathe.
Looks like as well as wood plugs you will also need to fill that split, a really good glue bulked out with sawdust makes for a good wood filler for things like that. I assume that with the ragged edge holes you will cut them out to take large plugs.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[Ray White]

I used wood hardener on this car to good effect when I restored /repaired the Ash frame back in the 1980s. As it happens, this afternoon I was talking to Jean about using it and she thought it might make the wood to hard to accept the dowels. They need a bit of "give" and there is a risk of splitting.

This got me thinking that perhaps it would be better to apply it to the dowels rather than using PVA.

This evening I finished rebating the surface to accept a 1/16" brass plate which I have made to fit... Tomorrow I will push on with the repair.

[peter scott]

You can't put the brass plate on the other side of the wood?

Peter
_________________
http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Bitumen Boy]

If the wood is notably fragile then I would suggest making a shallow saw cut along the length of the dowel to allow trapped glue to escape, otherwise the wood can split as you tap the dowel home because of the incompressible glue trapped in the hole. Commercial dowels have multiple small grooves along their length which is meant to overcome this problem, but in my experience they don't always work!

[Ray White]

[Ray White]

[Bitumen Boy]

[Ray White]

Nothing as fancy as that, BB. Just a good eye and a sharp file.

Here it is. The holes and dowels soaked in wood hardener and tapped into place.


The brass plate temporarily screwed into position



I have removed the plate and will leave the wood hardener to dry before refitting the hinge. The screws will probably need a pilot hole to avoid any unwanted disasters.

[Ray White]

Well, that's another little job done. I now have a working hinge and the door shuts as it should.

[Bitumen Boy]