David,
Maybe I can offer some advise, since I just finished this same job
about a week ago.Your description of your car sounds identical to
mine. I started with the "Practical Classics" Spridget restoration
guide before I started cutting anything. The pictures are real bad
quality but the text will tell you how to set the car up, prior to
cutting, so it won't implode on you.
For the inner sill, I just replaced enough to fix the rusted out
area. This gave me a good base to line up the new sill to the
remaining piece and the jacking point. I cut out about 90% of the
outer sill. I left the top aft portion attached to the rear quarter
with about 4-6 inches still remaining in front of the rear quarter
(for alignment purposes). That way when you piece the new outer sill
in, it will give you good clean lines all the way down the side.
I went ahead and replaced the whole a-pillar. I bolted the inner
portion to my door, mounted the door on the rear catch and shimmed it
to a tight fit at the front edge of the rear quarter and the strip of
outer sill left. Then tacked in the a-pillar.
One the door is mounted and aligned in this manner, you have the
door edges to align the remaining panels. The mounting of the door is
the key, for everything else can be aligned to it.
Take measurements before you start (assuming that its not sagging)
for reference. Clip everything together with vise-grips and check for
alignment before you weld. Tack weld the individual pieces first.
Checkum again. Then finish welding and grinding.
Using this method, I came up with excellent results. My floors,
a-pillar, footwell and inner and outer rockers were removed all at one
time. I was working with nothing but air. My door and fender
alignments came out excellent.
Hope this helps.
Jay Bourgraf
65' MKIII Sprite
32' Plymouth Coupe
208" Nostalgia Dragster
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