A was for Austin, but now B is for Bedford

Very nice work PDU. When you talk to panel beaters or welders, to have a small gap in your joins is a good thing. It helps penetration and gives less distortion of flat panels as the metal has somewhere to expand when hot.
Do you have a plan for the top hinge nuisance?

Sarge: The floor below is 90% not there now, all that is left is an inch edge around what I assume is an access hole to the starter motor. Before it is welded (above and below) even the remaining edge might come out as I'm not excited by layered metal; still undecided and considering what will happen down there as cab will need to be rolled back to do the underneath properly.

cobbadog: When placed correctly there are no gaps at all, and if there is any distortion down there it won't bother me one bit, as long as the floor is solid. As for the hinge area on the pillar, door off, weld up the two splits on the outer edge, heat the pillar with a tyre lever in the space where the hinge slots in and try twisting the face back to where it should be. I tried putting my porta power from the lower back corner of the door opening up at an angle onto the outer edge of the hinge (between the door and pillar) to try to push the outer edge forward, with limited success. It needs heat, and then it should move a little easier??? Beats me how it came to be pushed forward on the inside edge in the first place, it's an odd sort of twist and doesn't make sense. If no success with the pillar I'll slot the door holes, then the door can be moved forward on the hinge slightly.

After thinking about the door pillar overnight I would say that at some stage the hinge was bent backwards on the outer edge causing the door to jam. The way it was corrected was probably by jacking the pillar forward at the hinge (from back pillar to front pillar in a horizontal manner) subsequently collapsing the inside edge of the pillar in the process. Obviously it worked but not as well as it could have. :oops:

ALSO While checking back through this post I noticed a comment by Mrsmackpaul about me posting what length of spring I need to fit my existing situation. In my state of mind at that time I did not give it the consideration it warranted. There possibly are springs out there that might actually fit without any need to modify them (?) so I will amend my oversight later Paul . . .

Sounds like it have have been reversed somewhere with that door open and got caught on something. This is something I know about as I did it once and only once, ruined a good rear door on the little car.

Don't forget that you need a little door in the floor for access to the brake master cylinder.

The floor on the driver's side is fine, and the little door is still good mammoth, except if the cab stays on the M type chassis I will have to make a new "little door" under the seat, as that is where the master cylinder sits with the cab being 220mm forward compared to what was there before. (Hope that pleases the metrically inclined members? It was easier than writing 8 3/4 ") :whistle:

Whatever happened to the door pillar, they had managed to get the original door working, even if it was sticking somewhat when purchased. As I'm writing this it occurs to me that the original door may have the hinge holes slotted to counter act the twisted hinge. I'll check that tomorrow . . .

And cobbadog, going back several decades, after picking my three daughters up from primary school, they all piled out while I was opening the driveway gates, but one of them left the rear door of my '39 Oldsmobile open (suicide doors on the back) and in the hub-bub of kids clambering out I didn't realise it was still open and drove through the gate . . . ~"*#x! :sick: :oops: :huh: :pinch: She was not in my good books for some time, enough said!?


My Olds, original build all steel wheels and no side pipes (exhaust was hidden behind the sill panels) and this picture No. 2 daughter made for me from a slide (arse about and making it LH drive! :oops: ) this shows the rear door after I fixed it, looks good, but never opened and closed as well as it did before the gate incident.

I felt your pain with mine too and took the weekend to get it straightened out and in primer which then started the ball rolling for my first respray back in the mid 1980's.

Brain dead me thinking I could slot the door so I could slide it forward - the door hinges don't work like that, front face of door sits up against the door pillar, so no fore and aft adjutment possible. :oops:

Over the last few days I drilled out two spot welds and cut the door pillar open, straightened the (5/16" or thereabouts thick) pillar reinforcement metal, flattened the piece of door pillar that had been cut out and refitted ready for welding. The indentation WAS between 1/8" and 3//16", so quite substantial, especially considering the outer edge of the pillar was torn so the hinge had moved backward also. Now everything is as square as the left hand pillar, although I guess the proof will come when the door eventually goes back on?


Much welding today, and an equal amount of grinding tidying up behind sidekick Ernie and his mig- welder (personally I'm not overly impressed when using one myself previously, but Ernie's is a gas unit and he improved by the time he had finished, :lol: sorry Ernie) . . .



Wow, does this make my Bedford a prototype tilt cab? :dry:

PDU,
Ernie is smarter than you think. He has practiced on someone else's stuff.

Funny.

Good one Morris, he is smart and a good mate

He has been behind the Bedford from the word go, and has a project of his own in mind - that will no doubt come later . . .