Well this post has been a long time coming, mostly due to my career meaning I was working abroad a lot and partly because there was a lot of head scratching and discover needed to move forwards. Fundamentally I am still aiming to install metal rocker panels to replace the period fix of using oak planks which I have now identified was considered a common fix at the time. The problem I am trying to resolve is exactly where those rocker panels need to be mounted. Too high and the doors wont close, too low and there will be a ton of wind noise and potentially water ingress, neither of which are desirable. I also wanted to be sure that the panel fit was good which meant checking that the B Post (the vertical pillar between the front and rear doors) was in the right place and could be used as a reference for when I weld the B Post to the rocker panel.
Previously I had used 6mm bolts as a temporary hinge pin. Whilst that was good enough to hang the doors it did mean that the hinges had a touch of free play so it was time to find some new hinge pins. Jump forward a month or two and it seems you CANT buy correct hinge pins so I would have to make some. Jump forward a couple of weeks and with all the dimensions supplied by fellow enthusiasts, I fired up the trusty lathe. The primary challenge with the machining being that the hing pins have a very slight taper and a oil groove that spirals down its length. The oil groove I have yet to find a solution for, the very small taper just took some time to work out. Having made two new hinge pins to the required dimensions, I then discovered that the brass hinges have some wear so none of them are the same dimensions – which meant each new hinge pin had to be made to fit a specific hinge. I also had to buy some replacement machine screws as I drilled out the rusty ones. These are 1/4″ BSF countersunk screws just in case you were interested.
Jump forward a few more weeks and I have 4 hinge pins fitted to the 4 hinges. The Drivers side front and rear doors are back in place and I am rather pleased to say that the doors click shut with little effort. The hinges are adjustable so in the photo below the machine screws are only loosley fitted.
Below are a series of progress pictures which I think are fairly self explanatory.
It was when I was taking the photo of the drivers door lower hinge (bottom photo) that i noticed the gap between the leading edge of the rear door and the B Post. The panel gaps with these coach built cars is MUCH smaller than modern cars (maybe 2-3mm) so the current gap needs to be closed up. Taking a look at the Drivers door the panel gap at the front of the door is nearer 1mm so I *think* the B post needs to be moved backwards a couple of millimeters. Good to know now before I weld the B post to the rocker panel.
It really is rather satisfying to have doors that just click shut with little effort, quite classy really. Well done Jaguar.