Triumph Spitfire Restoration - Poor Man's Rotisserie (Wings)

For the longest time I had visions of making myself a rotisserie to more easily get to those pesky spots on the car. Instead, using an idea  I found from ChefTush on YouTube, I decided to make wooden bucks (which I'm calling wings) instead. While not as slick as a rotisserie, the wings allow me to roll the car on either side to get at the underneaths. Works pretty good, I'd say, and much cheaper and less complicated for sure!

First off, here's a list of the materials that I used. You may find other things that work just as good, or better.
(2) 2' x 4' by 3/4" sheets of plywood
(6) bolts to go into B post (I didn't use original screws)
(8) bolts to go into A post (I did use original door bolts)
(16) 2 1/2" bolts (for  attaching the wings to the tubing)
(16) Lock washers for above bolts
(32) Flat washers for above bolts
(~8ft) 1" Square tubing
(~2ft) 2" Angle iron for door hinges at A post
(~12ft) Angle iron or flat iron for stability "struts"
For my angle iron I was able to use an old bed frame, which worked out really well. I think the angle iron you would purchase may be a bit thick, but you could make it work.
As I had mentioned in my last post, I had made paper templates that roughly traced out the body at the A and B posts.

Rear template that will attach to B post.

First up was to rip the plywood in half, giving me two equal pieces of 1'x4'. My cuts weren't perfect, but they were good enough. I marked the center of the board and then put the template on there, also marking it's center and aligned them both to each other. I traced the template to copy the contour of the body.

With that done I started on the angled part that the body will "roll" onto. I didn't have any measurements for this, but knew that I wanted a relatively shallow angle for the resting position. Armed with that minimal knowledge, I forged ahead.

On the "outside" long side of the board (which will rest on the floor when the body is rotated), I marked off an inch on either side of center.

"Flat" spot I created between the shallow angles.

Then, I marked lines at 1 1/2" and 3" from the end.

Side marks. I'll discuss the rest of the pencil lines in a bit.

I then marked three spots on the "outside" short side (which will rest on floor when the body is flat) at  5", 7" and 8.5" from the top. Again, these were arbitrary numbers, but they looked good to me. This would give me a 3.5" base of wood that the car would rest on when not rotated.

Marks are as referenced from the top, long side of the board.

Then, to get my angles, I connected the dots, so to speak.

Everything above and to the right of the lines is cut away.

This may be a bit confusing, but after copying what I did on the other side and cutting everything out, I ended up with what looked like this:

The body is still on stands here, not on the wing.

Once I got the B post wing done, I traced it for the outside portion of the A post wing, trying to match them up, and used the A post template for the inner, body side of the wing and got it cut out as well.

With the general shapes done, it was time to figure out attachment points. I used my original door supports that I made forever ago as donor parts. Specifically, I had the 16-gauge sheet metal plate that I used for the B post attachment, screwing it in to where the door burst plate attaches. I then used the 1" square tubing and made two extensions, diagonal to each other, to run out to the wood. I  got the fit up all set, welded the tubing to the sheet metal and marked and drilled holes for attaching the tubing to the wood.

The B post attachment arrangement.

Moving to the A post, I was originally going to use a set of old hinges that I had from the black car, but located some angle iron from an old bed frame that I used instead and was happier for it. I cut the angle iron to mimic the hinge and used a step drill bit for the holes for a two-point attachment to the top and bottom hinge mounts.

Angle iron with bolt-hole cutouts. I used the old hinges as a template for the holes.

Final dry fit.

I came straight out with more square tubing, welding it directly to the angle iron. Much like the B post, there were several dry fits until I got it the way I wanted it with no wood-to-body interference.

Close-up of the attachment. The pencil line is not being used for anything here.

All bolted up. Need to cut the tubing down.

There were several dry fits for making sure everything fit as good as possible. I had to cut away some wood several times to prevent direct contact between the wood and the body so that I wouldn't bend anything. I also had to use some thick washers as shims in various places as I wanted the wings to be as level as possible.

Once I completed the driver's side, I essentially copied it for the passenger's side but I did several more dry fits just to make sure I didn't have any major differences between the two sides.

The "wings" supporting the weight of the body.

Once everything was bolted up, I wasn't too happy with how wobbly everything was. So, I cut a few more long pieces of bed frame and bolted it to the back of each board to provide some vertical stability. This made a huge difference in stability.

Supports. Should have centered them on the wood, but they were effective.

With that done, all that was left was to roll the car and see how it felt. One thing that I wasn't prepared for was the added weight in the back caused by the boot. Without the "front" of the car, the wings aren't at the center of gravity, so the car wants to fall on it's rear a bit when you lift it. Applying proper counter torque, I was able to easily lift the  and get it on it's side.

It really doesn't weight much at all.

Because my cuts weren't perfect between the two driver's side pieces, I had to put a ~1/4" shim of wood under the A post board to prevent some rocking. Once I did this, it was pretty solid. Some additional cutting of wood was required down by the rear wing, but otherwise, the body and wood did not come into contact.

All in all, this took me two visits and about 8 hours of work. Like I said in my video, I had no plan other than a general idea and was winging (ha! get it?) it the whole time. I'm happy to say I like the way it turned out.

I spent my most recent visit working on cleaning up the "underneath" and the  wings held up nicely. I wasn't gentle using the grinder and stuff, so I was happy with the access and the stability.

Before.

Some of the gunk gone.

Some more corrosion to fix under the boot floor.

After...well, the "top" half anyway.

The pile of debris from 3 hours of work. It's about 3-4" high at its peak.

Next visit will be more of the same. I looked like I crawled through a coal mine when I was done so I invested in Tyvek suits and a 3M respirator to keep me a bit cleaner, and probably healthier, too! Cheers!

Triumph Spitfire Body Repair #49 - Passenger's Sill and Sill Transitions

Two videos, but the first one, frankly, isn't all that much...

Like I said, in the first video, there isn't a whole lot of new material as compared to my post on the driver's side installation. The main reason was that it was essentially redundant and I didn't run into any real issues that I didn't have to come through on the other side as well.

A few things were different, that I point out in the video, mainly  of my own doing. First, I had welded the seam at the A post area of the sill.

The seam in question, prior to welding it up a while ago.

Unfortunately, in doing so, I prevented the required flex in this area that was required to get the proper bonnet-to-sill gap.  Fortunately, I didn't go crazy on the welding and was able to cut it apart with a quick swipe of a cutting disk.

Another problem, though one which it doesn't appear that I could have avoided,  was that I had cut away about 1/4" of the back of the sill where it meets the rear wing. This removed the nice rolled edge in this area that helps to keep the seam between the two at the same height relative to each other. I didn't notice this until I had done a significant amount of welding putting the sill in, so I'll have to figure that out eventually. A piece of metal in between to provide a spacer is an option, but that's just another place for water to collect, so I don't know yet. Future me.

The seam in question. Looks good from about 5 feet!

Otherwise, like I said, it went in smoothly and much quicker, as you would expect with the added experience and some pre-fitting that I did the first time around.

With that done, and in keeping with my grand plan (which doesn't exist, but it sounds good!), I needed to pull the tub back off  the chassis to get the underside cleaned up, pin-holes filled, and  everything seam sealed and painted. I haven't fully decided on what I'm going to use underneath, but I've been very happy with the POR-15 stuff, so either that, or their bed-liner product. Jury is still out.
Being an old pro at it, I snatched the tub off, got the chassis to the back of the garage, and brought the body back up for work.

Still makes me nervous to see this!

Front strap.

Rear straps at seat belt hold down points.

With the body off, I moved on to making templates for wooden "bucks". This may not be the most appropriate use of this term, but I consider it a "poor man's rotisserie" solution. I have the materials that I need (at least I hope so) and that will be the focus on my next visit, so more to follow. If you want to see what I'm talking about, ChefTush has his in action on a lot of his recent videos. Here's a good example (and the rest of his videos are great, too)!

Rear template that will attach to B post.

Front template looking forward.

After that, I moved on to putting in the A-post to sill transitions. This wasn't that difficult, but it did require some metal persuasion, as you would expect. Again, nothing too bad and I didn't need to make any  real modifications. The transition for the driver's side that I pulled off the black car fit much better than Dorothy's original (I had to repair both the A post and transition piece), so I went with that one (and it was in better  shape), but I used Dorothy's on the passenger's side.

Driver's side transition (black car's original).

Passenger's side transition.

Essentially that was about it for the day. I apologize if my write-ups seem to be getting away from the instructional side a bit. However, I've gotten better at the videos (I like to think so, anyway) and those are really better than my write-ups for more of the instructional side of things.  I do intend to provide a more detailed write up of the wooden buck fabrication however, assuming it actually works, so stay tuned for that soon!

Triumph Spitfire Body Repair # 48 - Driver's Side Outer Sill Installation

For full transparency, I submit the following second try:

Now that that pain is over...finally!!!

I don't know how long I've been working on getting these things in (and I don't want to know), but I finally got the driver's side outer sill installed. It actually lines up pretty well, too!

I had done a lot of the fitment leg work already with the bonnet and the door, but that was now done and there was little left to do except get that puppy welded in. One critical piece did remain, however, and that was the front sill cap. This is a unique fit because the cap sits inside the outer sill, but outside the tub,  so getting it right can be a bit tricky. It's not flush to the tub yet, but it's nothing that  a few sheet metal screws and some welding won't take care of.

The sill cap needs to go into the  out sill first, then is adjusted to the tub from there. At least, that's how I did it. I almost made the mistake of putting the sill on first...that would have been bad.

Putting the sill cap in the sill.

Final fit! And, yes, looking at old factory pictures the gap between the bottom of the bonnet and the sill is a bit wider than the vertical door/sill/bonnet gaps.

Prepping the sill cap for installation.

Sill cap welded in. No going back now.

With the sill cap installed, it was time to get the outer sill up and clamped in.  But first, I had to repair the flange piece that I had originally made at the rear wing. It wasn't that great of a job to begin with and, as I had to grind some of it away to get the sill to fit, I ended up cutting through the welds. So, I made a new piece and plug welded it in. Thing is solid, now.

Front of the rear wing where the flange should be. Holes for plug welds punched.

New flange welded in.

Nothing left but the crying after that, so I put the sill back up, clamped it in and checked all my gaps. Of course, some minor adjustments here and there,  but once that was set, I used sheet metal screws and the clamps to help keep it secure.

Front view.

Rear view.

I was especially concerned with  the area at the upper A post since there is not place to get a clamp in there, so the sheet metal screws (and some hammering) did the trick.

Most of the plug welds done on the front portion.

I did put holes in the rear of the sill where it meets up with the B post.  I don't think they did this at the factory; I think they just did a brazing job. I don't have that equipment, so I punched holes and used some sheet metal screws to tighten it up and plug welded it in. There's still some gaps, so I'll have to figure that one out.

Rear of the sill showing the plug welds to the B post.

That was about it for the welding. Seems like a lot of time for a little work, but I can't tell you how many times I check gaps and fitment. It was A LOT! I did prepare the transition piece that forms the front of the door jamb at the A post to sill, but I didn't weld it in.

Inside of the transition piece. I definitely cleaned that up!

Transition area prepped and ready.

All in all, I was very happy with the day. Like I said, I have the transition piece to put in and  still a bit of a gap between the front sill cap and bulkhead, but I don't believe they will cause me any problems and I should be able to get both of those things knocked out on my next visit. I do regret not punching some plug weld holes in the sill cap, but oh, well.

Looking down at the sill cap, trying to show the gap. Hammer and dolly, and some sheet metal screws, should take care of that and allow me to weld it up.

On a related note,  I came into contact with another local Spitfire owner (recently purchased 1978)  via my favorite forum. He came over the garage to check out Dorothy and I went over to his place later in the afternoon to check out his acquisition. She's in really good shape for being a Connecticut car. Problems, as you would expect, but definitely seems to be a solid platform to improve!

Triumph Spitfire Restoration - Mind the Gaps

So close to getting an outer sill in!

I picked up where I left off on my next visit and fought with the gaps for about half of the day. It was back to working the hinges up and down and back and forth in an attempt to achieve the 3/16" gap (5 mm) that manual calls for <yeah, thanks Triumph>.

Workshop manual directions for adjusting the bonnet.

I brought the  bonnet catch plates from home and got them installed. These are what the bonnet latches hook into to draw the back of the bonnet down and in a bit. Getting these in removed another potential adjustment issue.

Interior of the bonnet showing the catch and latch plate.

After that, I needed to take care of the passenger's side hinge assembly. As I showed in a previous post, the interior of the hinge bracket has a few spacers. I couldn't find one for the passenger's side when I put it together the first time but had since located it. That hinge bracket was also bent pretty good, so I decided to take care of them both and pull it out and get it done right. I didn't take any pics of the hinge bracket after straightening, but I did show  what and how I did it in the video.

With that, it was back to adjusting everything 50 million times until I get it all just right. It eventually came in pretty good. There's nothing difficult here, it's just that when you move one part, something else changes and you chase your tail a bit.

Passenger's side gaps. Looks like 5 mm to me!

Driver's side gaps.

The only thing that I wasn't completely happy with is that the bonnet pops up a bit in the center. I don't know if there's a way to fix this without bending something, but it's not a concern for me now. Maybe I can adjust that center support tube...not sure...future me problem.

Center moves up about 1/4" or so.

Once I got those gaps done, it was time to throw up an outer sill and see what I could do  with that. Again, nothing technically difficult here, but a lot of moving and adjusting and fidgeting to  get it to fit. Once I was happy with the fit, I pulled it back off and punch lots of holes in it for the plug welds and also removed paint from outside in preparation for welding and painted the inside seams with weld-through primer.

Bonnet up here, but here's the fit in the front.

One thing that was gratifying was the fit of the sill under the bonnet. Once I got it where I wanted it, I looked a bit closer and found that the spot welds that I drilled out seem to be in just about the same exact position as my holes for the plug welds. Guess that means I'm pretty close!

Almost a perfect alignment! By luck, I'm sure.

Once I got the outer sill set, I did the sheet metal screw thing again and got about 8 of them in there all around. Much like the rear valance, the outer sill goes in under tension, so you get the bottom set and then press down pretty hard on the top (in the door well) to get it even with the top of the inner sill. I'll take some better pics of this next time.

One thing that remained was the support bracket that goes between the body and the outside of the outrigger. These were still floating, so I needed to get it locked down before I put the sill in and covered access. I drilled two holes in the bottom of the A post and plug welded it to the bracket. This is not my final solution, but it will prevent the bracket from moving around on me when I pull the body back off.

Plug welds done. I left that repair patch portion of the A post long on purpose just to give me something to grind off. Clean-up work.

I was getting close to put the sill in, but I was to use some seam sealer on the joints. The stuff that I bought  is brushable and it sets up  in about 15 minutes. Since I was running out of time for the day, I was afraid that I wouldn't have the time to get all of the plug welds done. I didn't want the seam sealer to set up between flanges that were not tight together and have to deal with that in the future when I was ready to finish welding. I'll do it all in one shot on my next visit,  assuming I get that far.

That was about it for the day. I did note that, with the all new front suspension, the front of the car is really high up off the tires.

Man, I really hope this settles down. That's a bit crazy. I don't think there will be much more weight up there. Maybe some good road bumps.

In hindsight, it was a darn good thing that I decided to wait on welding up the outer sill. I had completely forgotten about the front sill cap, which needs to go on the outer sill before it's welded in. It came to me on my way back home and and shouted out "the sill cap, you dork!" I would have been really, really upset!