8hrs

Heater Fan Cowling

Door locks

It's time to catch up with all that has been happening in the past week and a half.  In truth not a lot but little things that were both time consuming and to some extent frustrating.   I found out why I have been having so much problems with the painting of the heater fan cowling. I have been trying to do too many things at once and fitting in the painting of the cowling in between. This meant that there were longish periods between coats of paint. the crazing of the new coat of paint was caused by the fact that the previous coat had started to cure.  Hammerite needs to be painted in not more than about 1-2 hours  between coats.   I have stripped the cowling back to bare metal. Primed it with "Upol Acid #8" etching primer and painted it with 2-coats of Hammerite smooth black to complete the job all in one day,  The components of the bonnet catch are all painted and ready to fit but the weather has been pretty awful and I've not braved having the garage door open to fit them. 
The new door lock hasps have arrived.  But before fitting them I've cleaned up the mounting plates  and given them a bath in "Kurust"    I found some ¼ UNF x 2½" bolts to mount the door lock but these are too long.  Rather than go out and buy 8 shorter ones I got John Hopkins to run an extra  ¼"of thread to the shank and trimmed them to a length of 1¾"  I mounted the passenger door lock using these bolts and all is OK with no interference with the lock mechanism.  Mounting the hasps to the "B" post looks a bit tricky at first.  the main problem is getting the hasp in line with the slot and correctly positioned so that e door is flush with the bodywork.   I tried several methods to determine and mark the  the position of the hasp.  Each one aimed at checking the position was correct against the previous attempt. I closed the door flush with the body work and taped it in to position. Placing a rule inside face of  the door  I projected the edge of the door on to masking tape taped to the "B" post.  I drew a line down the marks I made to mark the edge of the door on the "B" post.    To give me a better guide to transfer  the position of the slot on to the "B" post  I stuck masking tape stuck to the inside face of the door. I drew two lines to extend the line and angle of the slot on to the masking tape. With the door in it's closed position I placed a rule long the lines and extended  the rule  until it touched the "B" post.  Where it touched was the corresponding position of the slot in the door.  I measured the angle of the slot across the back of the door. Transferring this angle to the "B" post using the line marking the edge of the door as a datum defined the angle for the slot to be cut in to the "B" post fro the hasp.  By measuring the hasp I determined the slot needed to be 40mm long x 10mm wide.  Now to check the accuracy, before I cut the slot.  Found the if I fitted on of ht old hasps to the lock I could just close the door. I was  able to mark the position of the base plate of the hasp on the "B" post.    With the door open I held the hasp in position and lined it up with  the marks. It seemed to agree with my position for the slot.  Lastly I removed the lock and  inserted the hasp inside the door, so that it was facing backwards and protruding the rough the slot in the door. I closed he door gently so that the hasp rubbed along the "B" post as it closed. The corr4espponding mark was dead central to the slot position I had marked on the "B" post.  Satisfied , at last, that I had got the position of the slot, for the hasp I  marked each end of he slot to accept a 10 mm drill. I drilled to pilot holes followed by a 10mm hole to define the ends of the slot.  I cut between the two holes with a cutting wheel fitted to the Dremel. I opened up the slot to size with a file.  I trial fitted the hasp from within the wheel arch. It was here I found a problem with a peel rivet strategically placed to interfere fitting of the hasp. I overcame this by flattening the peel rivet with a hammer to get sufficient clearance.   The hasp fits from within the wheel arch and protrudes through the "B" post.  Unlike the original from the XJ6 it is asymmetrical and is fitted with the curved edge outboard.  Holding the the hasp in position I closed the door. It was obvious the the slot on the inner face of the door needed extending to accommodate the new, lengthened, hasp. by trial and refit it was extended from 25mm - 32mm measured from the outer rear edge of the door.  The length is not too important, if necessary extend the slot until it just clears the hasp. I closed the door again and  It engaged with  satisfying "clunk and was locked.   The hasp ahs a face plate that fits to the front of the "B" post. I used this as a template fatted over the hasp to mark the mounting holes.  I drilled  a pilot hole and opened out the hole with a stepped drill to 14mm. This  was necessary to provide the hasp with some movement to adjust the lock and to accommodate the countersunk  holes in the face plate.  I assemble the whole thing and adjusted the hasp also that the door locked flush with the body. It will probably need some fine tuning when the bodywork is finished, shut lines set, painted and trimmed.  I will tackle the drivers door tomorrow.

4hrs

Door Locks

The drivers door was more difficult but only because I had restricted room, in which to work, on that side of the garage.  Having done the passenger door previously it was, of course, easier the second time around.  I marked the position of the slot in the door using the edge of the door as the datum. I opened up the slot drilling a 10mm hole each end  cutting in between using a combination of cutting wheel, pad saw . I positioned the paper template of the lock , on the door, using the slot alignment and the edge of the door to get the position correct. I marked the securing holes and drilled then out using a 6mm drill.   I tried fitting the lock with the modified ¼" UNF bolts . It was obvious these were too long on two accounts., the different thickness of the door and interference with the operating mechanism.  I had some 1½" x 1/4 UNF bolts which proved to juts the right length.  I changed the mounting bolts on both doors.   I found the most effective way to mark the slot in the "B" post for the hasps or door strikers, was to use to remove the lock, close the door to it's correct position.  Use the door strikers from the XJ6 marked with engineers blue and carefully placed from inside the door until they  touched the "B" post. The transfer mark indicated the position of the slot. I backed this up by marking the position of the inside edge of the door on the "B" post and transferring the  measurements of the position of the slot.  The two methods of marking broadly corresponded. I drilled and cut out a 10mm x 40mm slot in the "B" post.  I fitted the striker plate assembly through the slot in the "B" post from inside the wing and held it in place. I closed and opened the door to check the operation of the lock.  It was at this point we learn from our mistakes.  When I was fitting the rear body to the "B" posts I neatly drilled the "B" posts for equidistant rivet holes. I did not account for the position of the door striker plates.  I neatly managed to get a rivet exactly in place where it interfered with the position  and adjustment of the door striker plates on both sides of the car.  Nothing fro it but to drill out the rivets and  position them behind the line of the door striker.  I've yet to decide the detail of how I overcome this problem It may still be possible once the final adjustment of the doors is done to reinstate the rivets.  I positioned the striker plate one again and using it as a template drilled the securing holes i the "B" post.  I finally fitted and adjusted the striker plates for best operation of the door knowing that the doors will need final adjustment when trimmed and painted.
 

7hrs

Bonnet Lock

Now it was time to go back to the fitting of the bonnet striker plate.  Having spoken to Nostalgia I determined that the plate was best fitted centrally (fore and aft) over the cross member.  I measured the width of the cross member and transferred this centrally to the underside of the plate.  I clamped the plate to the bonnet sides and adjusted it's position until the mark on the underside of the plate was  aligned (using a steel rule as a guide) with the front of the cross member.  To ensure the plate was parallel with the top of the cross member in all directions I places a couple of  2½" wooden blocks on the cross member and made the plate sit squarely on them once the bonnet was in the closed position.  Yesterday I drilled 4x 6mm mounting holes in the side of the plate centred ½" from the edges.  I now drilled through these holes to mount the plate on to the bonnet.  Mistake number 2 had already happened.  I found that in drilling the lower rear holes in the plate I had not made an allowance for the fact the the GRP return of the bonnet was angled so that the holes were missing the fibreglass all together.  I repositioned the holed and re-drilled then such that they would meet the GRP.  I now have two extra unwanted holes in the bonnet slam plate but they will not make any difference to the strength or be noticed by anyone else other than me.   With the slam plate firmly in place M6 x 15mm bolts , penny washers and nyloc nuts, I needed to determine the position of the bonnet  locking pin.  I fitted the bonnet lock keep plate and made a dummy pin from  The spare XJ6 locking pin. Removing g the spring and the central pin and replacing it with a bolt. The dummy pin was placed, centrally on the keep plate and then  end of the dummy pin was marked with engineers blue. I closed the bonnet and the transfer marked the position for the pin on the slam panel. I removed the slam panel and drilled it to accept the pin in the indicated position.  Refitted the assembly and the pin was perfectly aligned.  I set out to mark and drill the position of the return spring and the operating cable stop on the cross member.  I did this by placing the lock mechanism on top of  the cross member measuring 80mm from the spring connecting hole and this is the position of the spring retaining bracket.  I was proposing to use  the cable stops from he XJ6 when I realised that I couldn't because of the modifications to the catch operating mechanism.  I made a right angled bracket from 25mm steel strip  25mm x 40mm. I drilled a 6mm mounting hole in the top and a 2mm pilot hole 30mm down from the top to align the cable with the operating mechanism.  This latter hole will need to be opened up once I have made a ferrule to fit the end of the cable.
 

Total hours this Month = 19 hrs

Total hours to date = 1374.0 hrs