More body repairs to do this week. I bought two front doors on my visit to Ricardo. The passenger door is pretty good, but the driver’s door needed a bit of work. The bottom edge was flakey, and the door was split at the middle seam. This is very common with UMM doors. When the seam splits, the door becomes very floppy.
Also, looking on the inside, corrosion has weakened the door casing. Time to get the cutter out!
After measuring and marking the position of the door bottom, the cut was made.
Then a repair section was made from 1mm steel and welded in. This proved to be difficult, as my MIG welder and skills, are not suited to such thin metal, and the weld blew into a hole in some places. Still, this can be dealt with later on, and the repair section was firmly attached. Then a piece of square tubing was cut and welded in to strengthen the bottom. An extra strengthening “U” section was also welded in diagonally, and a sheet metal panel used to box in the section of the inner door near to the lock.
This should stiffen up the door, and prevent “floppy door”. The sliding window was also removed so that some rust spots under the rubber could be fixed. The door will then be prepared and painted, before the window is replaced.
So I had better decide on the final colour for the UMM, so I can paint the door. I am leaning towards green at the moment. Exciting!
Geoff