Bob,
ABSOLUTELY you should block and brace the body before you remove the
rocker panels, or you may find it difficult to recover alignment. I
suggest you buy "Guide to the Purchase and DIY Restoration of the
MGB," by L. Porter, Classic Motorbooks 117253A, $29.95 (order phone
1-800-826-6600). I will look at it tonight, if I can remember to, and see
if it has step by step instructions on sill replacement. I bet it has,
but I have not checked that specifically.
I hope you have not removed the doors, but probably you have. What you
would like to have is the doors installed, as they were at the factory, in
the position that once gave good even door gaps in an unrusted body. Then
you can use the doors and gaps as guides to ensure you have the body
straight before the new sills are welded on. If the doors have been
removed, you want to try to return them to the original state. You will
have to use your head about that--seeing that the hinge adjustments are in
the center of their range, and that the gaps in front are correct. (Oh,
you removed the front fenders? Well, you will have to put them
temporarily in place again...)
When you are certain the doors are where they should be, then you have to
block the body up to make the rear and bottom door gaps correct on both
sides of the car, making sure you have full access to the rockers and
bottoms of the fenders.
Then temporarily weld angle iron braces across the tops of the door gaps,
and diagonally across the cockpit from B posts to opposite side A posts.
In short, make completely sure that the body will not shift, sag, or twist
and change the door openings when the rockers are removed. One mechanic I
know aligns the door gaps, then tack welds the doors in place to make sure
they cannot change. I suspect this makes it pretty hard to get at the
rockers, but otherwise it seems like a good idea.
Don't go further removing the rockers until you are sure the body is
braced, or you will have problems. AND, remove and replace one side, and
then r&r the other--don't take both rockers off at once.
I once welded a rusty Toyota into an inverted U shape, which I had to live
with for 5 years. You don't want to do this.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
On Fri, 18 Nov 1994 RobertS355@aol.com wrote:
> After receiving a number of encouraging responses to my question of whether
> or not to embark on the restoration of my '63 B, I've proceeded to having the
> entire shell sandblasted. For the most part it came out looking quite nice
> though as one might expect, there are some unanticipated rotted areas.
> Basically the floor boards, rockers (inner/outer/castle), front and rear
> quarter panels, and spots of the wheel wells are shot. I'm a novice at body
> work though I've rebuilt most of the mechanics in the car.
>
> I've started to drill out the spot welds on the rocker panels and have come
> to the point of knowing that I don't know enough about the proper steps to
> proceed further. I don't want to just start hacking away at things. Can
> anyone advise as to an orderly process to remove the rotted metal? Should
> there be any bracing used to insure that the body doesn't move or distort?
> Any Help would be appreciated as I'm learning as I go.
>
> Bob Scardamalia
> Albany, NY
> RobertS355@AOL.COM
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