1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

Instead of using files, you could use different grids sandpaper glued to wooden paint stirrers, works a treat.

Thank you for the tips. Reckon I've got some of those sandpaper drums for the dremel-a-like as it happens which would help with the smaller bits that might be difficult to do with sandpaper-on-a-stick. Now, I'm off to try and do some welding before I run out of free time today. Really hope it doesn't get any hotter!

Today could have gone better, it could have gone worse. I only intended to do a trial fit of the repaired door and fold the outer skin over. That progressed into dressing back the welds and getting it as close to being read for filler as I could. It's not the finest repair in the world, but it'll certainly do the job. I was going to put the drain holes in, but Mike has the only working drill with him today elsewhere. Still, the door is as finished as I can make it before the pretty stuff now and it should do the job for a few ,more years, I hope.

20180706-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180706-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Since the driver's door was off, I thought it'd be a good idea to get the wing stuck on properly. I abandoned my idea of converting it to bolt on because, honestly, I cba. When I started this I could, but now I most definitely cannot, so if it gets replaced in the future I'll be cutting it off and may consider converting to bolt on then. After much faffing and clamps and more faffing and clamps I got the wing lined up as well as it would with everything else and welded it to the cleaned up wing rail. When I've got the drill I'll put a few more welds in on here, so don't worry about how few there are for the moment.

20180706-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Got the edge that joins the valance tacked together. I'm not going factory for the join, I'm just welding it smooth and flattening it all off when I'm done. I need to get this on the ramp or stands or something to do it properly, I hadn't the patience today to do more than tack weld it in place.

20180706-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

The most satisfying bit was getting the headlight surround area stable again. The gaps on both my plastic headlight surrounds have always been terrible and they're about as good as they're willing to get now. The gaps on both are the same, so it's balanced at least. There's more work to do here, things are tacked together so it's stable enough, but there's some more welding and a little trim alignment fettling to be done in the near future.

20180706-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Then there was a problem. After getting everything all tied togther nicely I closed the door and... it didn't close. The panel gap between the door and wing had gone. Now, I went around everything and adjusted things and moved things and fannied about for ages to try and figure this out until I eventually admitted defeat and decided to instead slice the back edge off the repaired wing and weld it back on about 2mm further forwards. This was difficult and stressful to do because I was too hot, I was not taking the time I should to be making a really nice job of it, and I was a bit fed up. I was also really eager to get the car back in one piece properly so I could get home for something to eat.

20180706-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

I sorted out as much of it as I needed to so that the door would open and close again, tidied up, and went home which is where I took the pictures in this update. I am at least happy that the panel gaps are better, not perfect, but certainly better. This job was still easier than the last round of welding, and the next job of dressing this back and finishing the welds will be easier still. Each job will continue to get easier, because each job is progressively smaller now. I hope.

20180706-07 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Ah yes, should've mentioned, it was thanks to @grumpynorthener and his tireless efforts that helped me out. He's got a bit of a head start on me with the old experience side of things though so he made it look a lot easier than it is!

Wouldn't it be easier to just get an SD1 that was rotten on top and a Princess that was rotten on the bottom and squash them together? For starters the rear axle is going to foul the petrol tankm and you're going to have to make the central tunnel bigger for the propshaft, and find somewhere for the gearbox to go, and the engine bay isn't long enough on the Princess to fit the full length of the V8 unless you mount it transversely... it'd be pretty awesome though.

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Welding did not happen today. Instead I stayed at home and did paint, getting regular football updates from the cheering of the neighbourhod. I gather we won. I don't care about that though, I care about getting paint on this door so I can fit it to the car and have a window that actually opens.

20180707-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

I didn't do any filler work on this at all as the bits that are visible are going to be easier to do the filler work on the car and the bits that aren't visible, I'm not putting filler on. There is literally no point putting filler on bits of this car you cannot see, so I will not waste my time on it. At least not this year.

20180707-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180707-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Amusingly, I now have the drill but both times I've gone out today I've forgotten to get the drill bits (only got masonry ones here) for putting the mirror and drain holes in, and have also forgotten to get the door glass since I can't use the one in the orange door because of rotted out window guides. That's okay, it's the weekend and a scorcher, so it gives the fresh paint a bit of time to harden before I start bashing chunks out of it fitting the door back to the car. No welding happened either, it was almost too hot to be painting in the shade and it's definitely been too hot to be driving a car with no air conditioning and a window that you can't open.

Nearly there now though. I'm excited about how much better the car is going to look in a couple of days.

20180707-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Got a little further today. I've been very patient about getting a pair of Austin A30 sidelights for an idea I've had for ages which I nicked from the Citroen DS of old. High level indicators.


20180709-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr


20180709-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr


They're only designed to be supplementary at a level more common for modern drivers. The high level brake light made quite a difference so high level indicators felt sensible. I wanted something that would blend into the rest of the car and options were very limited. I didn't want to go modern and had tried a few things before settling on these. The only issue was the price, with pairs often going for £50+ which is frankly insane. My pair cost me about a tenner It took a while to find a spot I liked them, I wanted them to be fairly invisible, even though they're a substantial chunk of chrome, and to flow from the line of the gutter as much as possible. This was the best location for them to go so that everything could be installed. I still need to add some grommets/rubber washers to prevent water ingress, I just have to wait for some of the correct size to arrive. Inside the car you can access the nut on the back by simply popping the interior C pillar trims off and the wires can run straight down into the boot since it's open from the gutter all the way to the bottom of the wing. Routing the wires is really easy with lots of space to work in.

20180709-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr


20180709-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr


It's been pleasantly overcast and cool today so between other jobs I did what filler work I could before it got late enough that I had to get paint on. The areas I've done are presentable but, like a few other small spots, will need me to go back later to make them perfect. For now, I'm happy that the areas painted look smart. The rear wing is lots better now there's no a hole in it. Not really sure how I got overspray on the rear tyre, everything was covered up.

20180709-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr


Top of the wing just over the side repeater had a dent. You can't see it now, of course.

20180709-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr


The paint wasn't drying fast enough to mask so I did a rush job to just finish this corner. I can redo the overspray bits when I've a bit more time.

20180709-07 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr


Front end looks hugely better. When I've finshed the wing-to-valance seam underneath I can get this all painted properly. It's just nice having it look fairly uniform at last.

20180709-08 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Absolutely love this Vulgalour. Those DS style lights are awesome. The when car is really coming together.

I reckon you should think about finishing this off with some badging on the back that is visually very similar to the production badging, but not quite right. Just that little bit of a designer's creative energy to it that makes it different and makes this whole this thing seem like it's genuinely a prototype car.

Hey look, that scabby old orange door is gone!

20180714-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

It was a bit of a faff, as always, to fit the door. Fortunately Mike was here to help so getting it aligned wasn't as bad as doing it myself. Even got it opening and closing and fitting as well as the orange door it replaced, so that's a big bonus. I didn't get everything back on, just enough to get it operational, as I still have to fit the door mirror. It's a bit late to be drilling holes and painting raw metal edges so I'll do that bit tomorrow, for now this is fine and will keep the weather and local cats out of the car.

20180714-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

The door fit about as well as it did when it came off the car, though my repairs needed a little fine* adjustment with a rubber mallet in a couple of places. That exposed a crack on the outer door skin, presumably where the metal is a bit thin as this isn't an area I repaired on the outside. I'll clean it back and give it a buzz of weld when I'm at the unit next, it's not a big job.

20180714-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Got the B pillar gap as good as it ever gets on this car. Good old BL panel gaps here, not a great deal you can do about them apart from live with it.

20180714-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

BEHOLD! An opening window. Since putting the orange door on temporarily I've not been able to open this window which, let me tell you, has not been fun in the recent warm spell we've been having! You haven't really lived until you've driven a car with untinted glass, no air conditioning, and no windows you can operate from the driver's seat while the UK is experiencing a heatwave. It's quite something.

20180714-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Finally, the scruffy paint blend on the front wing was tidied up properly and I got the majority of the filler work done on the back edge of the wing so it's now all nice and presentable. I'm a bit fed up of working on doors so my attention will turn to the other jobs on the car now, rather than fixing and repainting that rear door.

20180714-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Tomorrow I'll get the mirror fitted to this door and the door card reinstated, then it'll be time to give it all a much needed bath.

We're getting there, aren't we? Six years though. It's been a long old slog. That Quatermass is a troublemaker, I'm sure of it.

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Today, I ended up doing some welding. I didn't want to, but there you go. I had gone to unbolt the nut that goes on the bottom of the driver's door mirror so I could both clean up the base easier and mark the holes for drilling in the new door easier. Unfortunately, on the first turn of the socket it sheared the threaded end off the mirror stem without any warning nor excessive force. Oh well, I guess that meant my easy day of fitting the mirror and washing the car would involve sweating while welding instead. First thing I tackled at the unit was the bit of split outer skin. This actually went very easily and when I've finished adjusting the bottom edge of the door so it sits against the sill a little nicer, I can now get all of this cleaned up and in filler properly. For now, it's just got paint on to keep it stable.

20180715-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Inside the door I'd noticed, like on the orange spare, there were two stress cracks. This is I think from the door having sagged in the past and needing to be slammed to close for years and it's the nearest weak point to the grab handle. I don't think it's a design flaw that's caused this as the passenger side doors haven't suffered from it, just the front driver's. Welded them both up, sloshed some paint on, but didn't waste time grinding it down since it won't be seen and this way it should be stronger. The door handle did feel more secure after having done this, previously it felt like it had a bit of flex to it and now it doesn't.

20180715-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

Repairing the mirror stem was a fussy job. I used a bolt that I ground the head down on and then welded to the stem. There's a plastic insert this side where on the other stem it's just plain metal, and I couldn't get the insert off. That made the job a bit more awkward since I was trying to avoid grinding or melting the plastic bit. Still, on the second attempt I got the bolt somewhat like it needed to be and a trial fit on the bench proved it to be good enough. I also used a nyloc nut on the bottom to prevent it coming undone as opposed to the plain nut that was there before and had rusted solid.

20180715-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

I made the decision to mount the mirror slightly further back on the door this time, which means the A pillar/gutter doesn't obscure the top inner corner now. What I also managed to do was align the top hole in the most awkward way possible so it's nearly impossible to get a nut on the back of the bolt because it sits exactly behind the window runner guide. The other two were much easier to access.

20180715-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

20180715-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

I also noticed the GB grille badge was not only wonky, but now loose. To save it falling off somewhere, I popped that off and discovered it was only just held on with one of the bar clamps on the back. The front end does look tidier without it, but I think I'll get some new fixings and reinstate it anyway because I quite like it.

20180715-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

After all that it got a quick bath to get rid of the filler dust but really, it was too hot and humid to do a decent job. That was also the point I realised that after building up the inside of the door I'd totally forgotten to refit the moisture membrane. A job for another day. Happily, this front door now closes almost as nicely as the passenger front door and certainly better than it ever has before, so I'm quite happy about that.