SHEERLINE DOOR RESTORATION.

The doors of the A125 Sheerline are probably the single most troublesome part
of the whole car!!!.

This is brought about by the fact that the doors have WOODEN FRAMES !!!  - 
and as a result suffer the ravages of  "wood (or dry) rot" quite readily and
more easily and quickly than they do rust.

I believe that the same can be said about the A135 Princess cars, with wooden
framed doors.

My only experience though is with the Sheerline, and all of the following
relates explicitly to Sheerlines, although some or all of it may apply to the
Princesses.

As I see it there is no satisfactory way of easily building a steel frame for
the doors, so we are stuck with wooden frames and their associated problems.

I will endeavour to present my experiences of  restoring the door frames, but
right from the outset I can assure everyone, IT IS NOT AN EASY TASK.

I have gone through the process and restored all 4 doors on my Sheerline.  I
can say with a fair degree of authority that it took at least 4 full days,
maybe even 5 days, PER DOOR, from the time of removing it from the car,
completely restoring it to a solid, serviceable condition, then refitting it
to the car. 

THERE IS A LOT OF WORK IN EACH DOOR, so if you are not prepared to devote the
better part of a week to restoring EACH door, or do not have the
skills/equipment to carry out such a restoration  -  FORGET IT,  -   get
someone else to do it, and be prepared to part with the $'s.

I would estimate to have a frame built by an Auto frame
builder/carpenter/cabinet maker to be about A$750 - A$1000, per door.  Then
on top of that there is the cleaning of rust, painting, renewing window
"Bailey" channels, and all the other bits and pieces of rubbers that would go
to making a complete restoration.  All in all I would suggest that if you got
a door completely restored for A$1500 you would have good value.

Anyway lets get past the "doom and gloom" and get onto the things I did with
my doors.

Firstly remove the door from the car.  Good luck! 

You will find that removing the door from the hinges is the best way to go. 
In all probability the bolts holding the hinges onto the body will be so
rusted they will be almost impossible to undo and remove.  If you contemplate
heating these bolts to remove them, you will in all probability be
successful.   HOWEVER, you will destroy your paint work on and round the
hinges, and again, in all probability you will find there has been a
considerable amount of lead filling on the pillar in the vicinity of the
hinges.  So ultimately you will have to repair the body filling and paint
work, in addition to any work on the door.  (Lot of probabilities in there!).

The ends of the bolts holding the hinges onto the doors will be the most
accessible, but will also be rusted, particularly the bottom ones.  However
they can be coaxed apart with some heat and a lot of 'friendly' swearing and
cussing!  Don't be afraid to put some heat on them,   so what if the frame
catches alight,  it's R.S. anyway,  -  put some water on it and put the fire
out.

Next I stripped the door completely of all the 'bad' rotted wooden frame.

At this stage you should be made aware of just how the craftsmen at Austin
put the doors together.  That is a drama in itself, and it will affect the
way you approach this job. 

First they built the original wooden frame, from the inside out, ie they set
the wooden frame on a 'jig' or pattern, so that the part of the frame that
faces the inside of the car,  was on the bottom of the 'jig' or pattern. 
Then they built, and attached the outer steel frame to the wooden frame, and
finally attached the steel skin to the whole structure.

The result of all this is when you come to take to wooden frame to pieces,
FROM THE INSIDE OF THE DOOR, you cannot find any screws or fixing devices,
they are all on the other side of the frame, next to the steel skin.  If your
doors are in such a state as that shown in the photos, that  should not
present a very big problem.  (You will probably have burnt some of it getting
the hinges undone!)  Simply cut away the bits and pieces, starting with the
cross members,  TRYING TO SAVE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FOR PATTERNS.  Generally
the cross member pieces that join the main front and rear upright frames can
be remade in any size, but it's the main upright frames and upper ply
sections that are fairly critical, and need to be remade accurately.

For bits and pieces that you need to separate, you will need to cut through
the screw/s that are holding them together at the joints.  I found an air
hacksaw invaluable for getting between the joints.  If you don't have an air
hacksaw, you can improvise by fixing a hacksaw blade to a handle, (file
handle, homemade handle, anything that you can hold comfortably, and that you
can attach a hacksaw blade to) so that you have a free open end of the
hacksaw.  This can then be inserted into the joint and you can cut through
the screw.. 

When I had the door stripped of all the frame I was going to remove, I had
the interior sandblasted clean.  This removed all the rust, dirt and gunge
that had built up in the door over the years.  When this was completed, I
sealed the joint between the skin and steel frame with "3M brushable seam and
joint sealer".   I guess any good quality seam and joint sealer will do
though. 

When this had cured I primed the inside of the door and finished it with an
Acrylic lacquer paint.  It is most important that you do not leave the
surface finished in just primer.  Primer is porous and lets moisture into the
metal, eventually allowing it to rust.  When this was complete I was ready to
attack the rebuilding of the frame.

To build a successful frame you need to choose some good quality, straight
grained medium density hardwood.  The type used in good quality furniture
should suffice. 

In Australia we have these qualities in timbers such as, Coachwood, Tasmanian
Oak, and Victorian Ash, and perhaps to a lesser degree, good quality Mountain
Ash.  For people elsewhere in the world, I am not familiar with the timbers
you may have available, but providing you choose well, you should not have
any problem.  I suspect that the original timbers used in England were of the
Oak or Beech variety.
 
I started with rough sawn 8" x 2" Coachwood.  Its hard to advise what size to
start with!  There are so many different sizes in each door, that all I can
say is start with whatever you can obtain, but be prepared for some waste,
due to the odd sizes.  Its hard even to standardise on a common size, for use
within the door, you will see why when you start to restore the frame.

In addition there are some ½" or 12mm plywood panels in each door so in
addition to the above you need to select a good quality plywood.

As you can see from the photos, my car had bad rot up about 3-400mm in each
door.  In addition there is some rot in each of the cross member pieces,
which carries through into the mortise joints of the main uprights.  You will
have to gauge just how far up each main frame needs replacing.  In my case as
you can see in the photos, some of the main upright frames have been replaced
totally, but in some of the others I only replaced a part of the upright.

If you only replace part of the upright, be sure to strengthen the joints, so
as to make a solid frame.  Where I joined the uprights I made a 'stepped'
cut, glued and screwed the joint, and then added a plate to the joint, which
was glued and screwed to the joint.  Probably a bit of overkill, but it is
strong and will not break, or distort.

You will find that both uprights in the front doors, and the front upright in
the rear doors will stand this treatment quite ok.  However the curved rear
upright in the rear doors will be a disaster, and almost certainly will need
to be completely replaced.  It will be a matter of using the old one for a
pattern, with a lot of fiddling to make the new one fit. 

Check the door lock 'blocks', they will probably have some cracks round the
screw holes, and maybe even the screw holes stripped out to oversized large
holes.  Check particularly in the area of the screw holes that hold the door
lock mechanism in place.  Again if you find cracks and breaks there, as I
did, I dealt with it by making plugs for the screw holes, which I glued into
the holes, at the same time forcing the glue into cracks round these holes. 
Then I clamped it all together and finally used some fine screws to hold the
repaired/glued parts together.  I spent a considerable time fixing these
blocks,  -  I just could not imagine making, or reproducing one.

If you have to take the rear block out it's a drama!!  With the front unless
you cut the upright out, you will not be able to take the front block out. 
To remove the rear, you will have to prise the outer steel skin away from the
upper frame, near the upper extremity of the block and locate 3 screws that
hold the block onto the upper ply frame.  When you locate these screws,
carefully measure their position, marking it on the outer face of the steel
frame skin.  When you are sure you have correctly located the position of the
screws, carefully drill a 1/2" hole in the steel frame skin, over each screw.
Once you have the hole drilled, screw the screws out in the normal manner. 
Be careful here though, I found one of my blocks was screwed and glued, but
the other was only screwed.  It becomes a matter of how much you need/want to
take the block out, as to whether you go to this much trouble.  When I
completed the door I simply fitted 3 x ½" grommets into the holes to seal
them and to make the job presentable.

If you replace the front upright in the front door, you will find that you
will only have to go up to about the bottom of the window, or ¼ vent window. 
However there is not much there to fix the new upright to the upper part of
the frame.  I made a couple of fairly complex gussets to fit the joints in
the gap at the front lower corner of the ¼ vent, and below the horizontal
frame under the window, where it attaches to the front upright.  The result
was very strong, solid frame which should not give any trouble in service.

When I completed my frames I dismantled them and soaked them in a mixture as
follows:-

3 litres Linseed oil,
2 litres Danish oil,
2 litres Mineral Turps
250 grams beeswax.

Melt the beeswax in the mineral turps, by warming the turps.  Warming the
turps, SAFELY, can be carried out by putting the turps in a 4 litre can, and
sitting the whole thing in a bucket of hot water.  It will take a while and
you will probably have to change the hot water a couple of times.  When the
beeswax and turps have combined, add the Linseed oil and Danish oil.  Stir
well.

I used a large plastic bag to put the dismantled frames into, added the above
mixture, extracted as much air from the bag as possible and sealed the bag. 
You will find that the mixture will then cover most of the frame.  Leave to
soak for 5-6 days (or even longer if you want, it will not hurt the frame)
turning a number of times so that all of the frame gets a good soaking of the
mixture.

When you feel that the frame is adequately soaked, remove it from the
mixture/bag, sit it outside in the sun and allow to dry for another 5-6 days,
or until the timber is dry to the touch.  It will always feel greasy and
oily, that's the aim.  When you are satisfied, put it all together. There is
no need to paint the frame. You now have a 'treated' frame, with a mixture
that is better than all the paint put together, plus it has a most pleasing
aroma, it's the linseed and Danish oils.  It will permeate the whole of your
workshop, very pleasant indeed.

A further refinement I made was to incorporate a 'turnbuckle' into the steel
strap that holds the front door square (the one that runs from near the inner
door handle mechanism, to the lower rear corner of the door).  It only needs
to be a fairly light turnbuckle, I used a 5mm turnbuckle.  That way if the
door is out of square, or 'hangs' out at the bottom, its just a matter of
screwing the 'turnbuckle' up a couple of turns, and it pulls the door into
shape, and holds it in shape.  Experiment with it, its much better and more
positive than the strap.

Having said all of that, the only thing I can now add, is that if you have
made all of your joints carefully, with the 'right' chamfer or mortise
surfaces etc, and put the new frame back together,  without stressing,
stretching or twisting the metal outer frame, then it should now fit into the
hole on the car, properly.  If not its just a matter of trial and error to
find which joint is the wrong shape, then to adjust that joint so as to rid
the whole thing of the 'wrong' shape, angle or stresses.  When you have the
door fitting onto the car properly, then you can carefully close the small
metal 'tack' tabs and tack the metal frame to the wooden frame.

Be careful to reinstall all of the little pieces, metal and wooden that come
off the old frame,  ie the metal square/bolt washer plate under the ¼ vent,
the bolt washer plate on the bottom hinge, the window stop block on the mid
cross timber, and so on.

You should now have a door that has absolutely no lateral flex in it, and
which should have a nice sharp, positive "Ker-lunk" when you close it.

Make sure that the body striker plate is in good condition and is located
properly.  The biggest problem with the striker plate is the small bolts that
hold it into the body, and the 'Silentbloc' rubber that holds the actual
striker wedge in the rest of the plate.  If the 'Silentbloc' rubber has
deteriorated and allows the shaft of the striker wedge to "flop" about, you
will have to try and locate the right sized 'Silentbloc' somewhere, and
replace it.  They are getting harder to come by all the time, but keep
searching you will find one!

It is most important that the striker wedge is kept tight, but flexible to
accurately fit into the lock mechanism, thereby positively closing the door.

With the locating screws, if they are good then you are lucky, usually they
are 'butchered' with the slot 'twisted/screwed' out and all that good stuff. 
Originally they were raised head, countersunk, ¾" x 3/16"  B.S.F. bolts.   If
you cannot use the existing ones, and cannot obtain new ones, then the next
best thing is to drill the hole out and tap it with ¼" B.S.F.  If you do this
it will not be original, and you will have to re-size the counter sink holes
in the striker plate.  NOT A PRETTY SIGHT, OR NICE JOB.  Better you try and
persevere with the 3/16" bolts. 

If the plate inside the frame has had the thread stripped out, then its a
matter of  tapping out to ¼", as above, or replacing the plate.

If you replace the plate you will find in both the front and rear there is a
slot in the body/pillar adjacent to the rear of the plate.  It is only a
small slot, not big enough to get the plate out, but it may be able to be
used to facilitate the removal of the plate.  I cannot tell you positively ,
I did not have to take mine out.  I would suggest though if you cut a small
neat hole in the panel immediately on the inside of the panel next to the
plate and the slot, then the plate could be slid out, a new one made and
inserted in the body.  If you're careful when you cut the panel, cutting it
neatly, just turning it up out of the way, then when you replace the plate it
will be just a matter of tapping the turned up panel back into position. 
There should be no need to weld it or anything like that, it will probably be
strong enough to keep the plate in, until you replace the striker plate.

AVAILABILITY OF RUBBER PARTS.

The rubber, Bailey channel and window glass lifter channel (steel) parts are
available in Australia at:-

SPECTRUM RUBBER & PANELS PTY LTD,  (formerly Peter Jacksons Old Auto Rubber)
4/4 Appin Place,
DUNHEVED,
Ph 02 9623 5333

or by post at:-
P O Box 328,
ST MARYS, 2760.


The relevant part numbers are as follows:-
    Widow glass lifter channel, 1 metre lengths,         Part No. 368.007
    Bailey channel, rigid, 2.4m lengths.             Part No. 350.050     * see
note
    Outer door seals,                    Part No. 231.001    * see note
    Outer weatherstrip sealing, 1 metre  lengths,        Part No. 216.014    *
see note
    Inner weatherstrip sealing, 2.4m lengths.        Part No. 350.199    * see
note
¼ vent rubber   Not available, you will have to persevere with what you have,
or if they are old hard and perished, seal them with "Silastic" or "Sikaflex
255 Extra" .


NOTES TO ABOVE PARTS.

* 350.050, Bailey Channel.

The original Bailey channel used was a solid metal frame, with a very hard
felt insert. 
This appeared to be a satisfactory method, but the problem now is obtaining a
felt that is of sufficient hardness to replace the original felt.  To date I
have not been able to find a felt that is similar to that used in the
original channels.  To use the 'soft' felts available, they compress too
readily and next thing you know is the glass is rattling against the metal
frame.

If your channel and felt are still in good order, and control the movement of
the glass, without  any rattles or striking the metal frame, well then I
suggest that you use the channel.  However if the felt is worn out, squashed
out of shape or otherwise unsuitable then the above channel is recommended.  
It is a rigid channel, and to bend it at the appropriate points it will be
necessary to cut through the rigid channel, FROM THE BACK, with a fine
toothed hacksaw. Make the cuts to about within 1-2 mm of the front rolled
edges, at about 10-12mm intervals, from one extremity to the other extremity
of the glass curve.  When the cuts have been made place the channel over the
window glass curve that is required to be reproduced,  with the centre cut at
the centre of the glass curve and carefully bend the channel round the glass.
There may be some slight distortions of the rolled edges of the channel, but
these can be carefully straightened out with a pair of pliers.

WHEN WORKING WITH THIS CHANNEL,   -    SLOWLY, PATIENTLY AND CAREFULLY ARE
THE PRIME REQUISITES.  There are no prizes for making the fastest  curve!!!

*231.001, Door Seal.

The length of this seal through the section is, probably a bit too long. 
Ideally it needs to be shortened about 5-6 mm.  This can be achieved,
although it is very fiddley,  by making a wooden frame that the outer edge
will slide past, mounting a razor blade in the frame the required 5-6 mm from
the guiding edge, then sliding the rubber along the frame, past the razor
blade, so that the required 5-6mm is cut off from the outer edge.  To assist
with the cutting make sure that the rubber and razor blade are well
lubricated with water and liquid detergent.  Again there is no prize for
being the "fastest cutter in the west" (or south or east or wherever).   Take
it slowly and carefully and you will achieve a neat cut.

*216.014, Outer weatherstrip seal.

This is the seal that goes along the length of the door on the outer edge,
where the glass appears and disappears.  (Right where you stick your elbow!).
This particular strip was made for Toyota Corolla.  It has a solid plastic
form in the back and screws onto the door very nicely, forming a very
positive seal between the door and glass, minimising the volume of water that
may get into the door cavity.  HOWEVER it needs to be shaped to fit the ¼
window frame and the curve at the rear of the front door and both the front
and rear curves of the back door.  This can be achieved in a similar manner
to that employed to shape the Bailey channel.

*350.199, Inner weatherstrip seal.

This is the one in the same position, but along the inside of the door glass,
on the wooden frame. 
If the original one is in fairly good condition, it may be a good idea to
take it off and turn it end for end, thereby placing the good edge next to
the glass.

HOWEVER, if the original is rusted and R.S. then this one can be utilised by
screwing it to the inner edged of either the door frame or the wooden dress
surround,  -  the choice is yours.

Good luck.

Ken Gardiner