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Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:48 am

Having another little fettle with my long side panel repair piece while I wait for the inner support posts to arrive and it feels like it's slightly too short.

I can kind of get it to line up with the rear arch by pushing the B post back a little:

But then there's going to be a horrible gap where it meets the dogleg:

Obviously having it sit slightly lower would make it line up, but then I'm thinking it's not going to be tight against the inner supports.

The lower lip of the panel should be pretty much flush with the bottom of the inner rocker, right?

I'm thinking I might have to make a cut to lengthen the panel by a couple of mm, either down by the B post, or at the other end and move the wheel arch lip back a little. Option 2 seems like a better idea now I think about it...

Tue Sep 05, 2023 11:21 am

I vote option two. Get the panel to set correctly on the b-pillar and horizontally on the inner rocker. Lengthen the rear or widen the rear wheel well. Good luck
Ken

Tue Sep 05, 2023 11:41 am

Make sure that the contour matches the dogleg. Adjust the fit to the dogleg, then move the panel downwards. As the panel moves down, the diagonal trailing edge will get “longer”.

Tue Sep 05, 2023 1:16 pm

I used a nos repair panel for that, it also was a little to short, i put a flat metal in the rear section front of the wheel arch and hammer it so strech the panel till it fit, now i would use the english wheel to strech it.

Stretching a panel is easyer that shrinking🙂

-Christian

Tue Sep 05, 2023 1:28 pm

TDCTDI wrote: Make sure that the contour matches the dogleg. Adjust the fit to the dogleg, then move the panel downwards. As the panel moves down, the diagonal trailing edge will get “longer”.

That is true, I'll get the lower door gap set right and clamp the dogleg in place and see how it's looking, but then shouldn't the contour of the panel be right up against the inner vertical support posts?

Huetti_1989 wrote: PostPosted: Today 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: Schofield Long side panel too short?
I used a nos repair panel for that, it also was a little to short, i put a flat metal in the rear section front of the wheel arch and hammer it so strech the panel till it fit, now i would use the english wheel to strech it.

I did a bit of hammering against the front edge, but then I realised that it seemed to making the edge less crisp.

Kb65single wrote: I vote option two. Get the panel to set correctly on the b-pillar and horizontally on the inner rocker. Lengthen the rear or widen the rear wheel well. Good luck I think that's the way to go!

Cheers everyone!

Tue Sep 05, 2023 9:52 pm

Mr Margaret Scratcher wrote:

Huetti_1989 wrote: PostPosted: Today 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: Schofield Long side panel too short?
I used a nos repair panel for that, it also was a little to short, i put a flat metal in the rear section front of the wheel arch and hammer it so strech the panel till it fit, now i would use the english wheel to strech it.

I did a bit of hammering against the front edge, but then I realised that it seemed to making the edge less crisp.

not on the flange, you need to stretch the front do move the flange.

-Christian

Wed Sep 06, 2023 6:34 am

Huetti_1989 wrote:

Huetti_1989 wrote: PostPosted: Today 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: Schofield Long side panel too short?
I used a nos repair panel for that, it also was a little to short, i put a flat metal in the rear section front of the wheel arch and hammer it so strech the panel till it fit, now i would use the english wheel to strech it.

not on the flange, you need to stretch the front do move the flange.

-Christian

Do you mean using a hammer and dolly on the main face of the panel in front of the rear flange here:

How do I do that turning my nice panel into a big wobbly mess?

Also can anyone confirm whether the curved lips on the side support posts should be in contact with the side panel right the way round to the bottom? That would mean there's no adjustment to be made to the long panel up and down without them no longer connecting.

Wed Sep 06, 2023 10:50 am

Basically this is how I predict it will unfold:

Wed Sep 06, 2023 12:46 pm

:D :D :D

Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:44 pm

Mr Margaret Scratcher wrote: Huetti_1989 wrote:

Huetti_1989 wrote: PostPosted: Today 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: Schofield Long side panel too short?
I used a nos repair panel for that, it also was a little to short, i put a flat metal in the rear section front of the wheel arch and hammer it so strech the panel till it fit, now i would use the english wheel to strech it.

not on the flange, you need to stretch the front do move the flange.

-Christian

Do you mean using a hammer and dolly on the main face of the panel in front of the rear flange here:

How do I do that turning my nice panel into a big wobbly mess?

Also can anyone confirm whether the curved lips on the side support posts should be in contact with the side panel right the way round to the bottom? That would mean there's no adjustment to be made to the long panel up and down without them no longer connecting.

Yes. Or in the front, or both.
Try it on a spare pice of metal, it is like cut and weld, but nicer.
It may work if its not to far off.
I would maybe use a flat dolly and a big rounded hammer.
Metalwork is so much fun!

-Christian

Wed Sep 06, 2023 2:09 pm

Huetti_1989 wrote:
Try it on a spare pice of metal, it is like cut and weld, but nicer.
It may work if its not to far off.

I'll give it a go on some of my offcut bits of the old dogleg

Huetti_1989 wrote:
I would maybe use a flat dolly and a big rounded hammer.
Metalwork is so much fun!

-Christian

Thanks!

Wed Sep 06, 2023 2:20 pm

I would flatten out the bend and rebend it such that it fits the bus

Wed Sep 06, 2023 3:56 pm

edgood1 wrote: I would flatten out the bend and rebend it such that it fits the bus

If it was just along the flat section I reckon that would be the obvious approach, but with it going through the curve at the bottom I'm not sure it would be that simple.

I'm going to try to Huetti's approach and squidge some scrap metal around and get a feel of what's possible :)

Thu Sep 07, 2023 8:40 am

Yes practice on metal first. Take a piece of metal, bend 2 ends at 90deg. Then measure the overall length of that piece. Then start hammer and dolly and see if the 3-4 mm stretch is possible. Make that piece at least 300mm wide, don't use a thin piece. Thin pieces are easy to bend and shape. Then you can decide if that's how you want to proceed (and how the piece looks). The b-pillar repair section has to line up with the top section via a straight edge. You can cheat the dogleg to b-pillar a little either way, but the bottom gap of the front door might fight you. You might have to adjust the dogleg if the b-pillar alignment ends up way off. The video was hilarious, yes Don't be Father Ted.

Thu Sep 07, 2023 8:50 am

Mr Margaret Scratcher wrote: edgood1 wrote: I would flatten out the bend and rebend it such that it fits the bus

If it was just along the flat section I reckon that would be the obvious approach, but with it going through the curve at the bottom I'm not sure it would be that simple.

I'm going to try to Huetti's approach and squidge some scrap metal around and get a feel of what's possible :)

Yep. it comes down to what method you're most confident in and what tools you have at your disposal. There are many solutions. Stretching is one, rebend is another. In more extreme cases of this I've cut off flanges and welded new metal on. Many ways to skin this cat

Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:07 pm

Well, I had a little attempt:

Started with this:

and I managed to get an extra 1mm

And a surface that is as rough as a badger's arse, as we say here in the UK:

Leaning towards the cut and re-join method, but also I think the brand new round hammer I got today has some sort of weird laquer on it that was making the marks, so maybe I'll look at trying to smooth that off and give it another go tomorrow

Fri Sep 08, 2023 8:03 am

From what I'm seeing, you don't want to stretch the panel in that location, you just need to redress the flange at the wheel well.

Lay the outside of the panel flat on a bench. Take a dull chisel (corking tool), stick it inside of the flange, hold the panel tight against the bench and tap the chisel to move the flange to the rear.

I use this technique when installing rockers so that the flange ends up in the correct location once welded.

Right side set and locked into place:

Left side short:

Halfway throgh dressing with a dull chisel. It's not stretching so much as a controlled way of moving the flange over. No metal is getting stretched:

Personally, I would just weld it on and blend the opening at the rear once it's on the Bus.

Sat Sep 09, 2023 9:02 am

This looks like a good plan - trying to move the flange at the B post was ending up with the edge getting less sharp and so the join between dogleg and side panel would be inconsistent. The rear flamge diesnt have this join so should be more forgiving in this respect

Sun Sep 10, 2023 3:07 am

Okay this might just work, going from this:

to this:

Obviously still some straightening out to do to get it perfect

Thanks everyone for their advice!

Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:35 am

Nice work. A little hammer and sharp dolly work and it'll look perfect.