reshelling restoration

[512BB]

Having thought about it Rich, I am sure it is not to late for your '7 DAY NOTICE OF ACTION' letter to drop neatly on Spydercars mat. If you need any help with it, or would like to talk it through, drop me a PM.

Alternatively, perhaps Spydercars spokesperson in the South East could make some enquiries as to which draw in Sean's desk the keys reside, and retrieve.

Leslie

[RichC]

thanks Leslie, but I've moved on . That bone has been chewed and buried .

[Spyder fan]

Rich,
The keys are on Sean's Desk I have asked him to post them to you and will remind him tomorrow when I am there with my +2 for it's annual service & MOT.

Report from Sean regarding the transport and handling damage

The car was not transported by Spyder, the collection and delivery including loading and unloading was done by the customers insurers contractors from the holding depot at Clacton. No forklift was used at Spyder to load or unload the car, anything of this nature that occurred was down to the insurance company's contractors back at their depot.

The car was on a 4 wheel dolly all the time it was at Spyder as one of the rear wheels was effectively unusable due to the accident damage.

We took good care of the vehicle whilst it was in our possession. It was a real shame that the car was underinsured and that we were not able to carry out the repairs.

[elan66]

Hi Rich,
sorry to hear of your troubles.On another point when you get the shell off it will pay to throw a tape(measuring) over the chassis and visual check if hit at 40mph
Good luck,regards
Paul

[elanfan1]

Rich,
The keys are on Sean's Desk I have asked him to post them to you and will remind him tomorrow when I am there with my +2 for it's annual service & MOT.

Report from Sean regarding the transport and handling damage

The car was not transported by Spyder, the collection and delivery including loading and unloading was done by the customers insurers contractors from the holding depot at Clacton. No forklift was used at Spyder to load or unload the car, anything of this nature that occurred was down to the insurance company's contractors back at their depot.

The car was on a 4 wheel dolly all the time it was at Spyder as one of the rear wheels was effectively unusable due to the accident damage.

Pleased to hear the additional damage was not caused by Spyder.

This being the case Rich I would be reporting the damage caused by their contractors to the insurers. If the damage caused has tipped you over to replacing the shell rather than repairing it then you have suffered a further loss for which they are ultimately responsible. How you quantify this I don't know but unless you persue this with them then their contractors will continue to treat customers vehicles with contempt.
We took good care of the vehicle whilst it was in our possession. It was a real shame that the car was underinsured and that we were not able to carry out the repairs.

[RichC]

yes Paul !
Now i have OSR wishbone and brake caliper replaced there is a noticeable 'toe in' !
It would seem that the front wishbone pivot on chassis has been pushed inboard just a few mm . Once the body is off I can have a closer look to see if that's all it is .The OSR wheel is about 10mm futher forward than NSR. I am hoping it will be possible to jack out the OS chassis wishbone front pivot with a long lump of wood against the NS chassis wall to spread the load .
In hindsight it was just as well I didn't have the handbrake fully on....the plus 2 was shunted about 60 feet.
R

[kstrutt11]

I had a similar rear end shunt on mine about 10 years ago, in my case it was a toyota land cruiser, the good thing about this is that being so high all the damage was contained to the upper part of the body, I got 4k from the insurance ilo repair ( so not a write off) partly because I refused to let them take the wreck.

I repaied it myself by replacing the upper moulding from the doors backwards and the bootlid with parts from Boss motors which cost just under 2k, this was suprisingly easy to do using all the original joins except for a tapered butt joint mid way along the sills.

I painted it with cellulose and it still looks fine now, it is also carnival red.

Subsequently the seam on one of the doors also started Seperate but I managed to repair this by opening it up and forcing resin in.

Good luck with your repairs.

Kevin

[RichC]

I've had my shiny stainless steel sill members delivered now so I started on the shell no 778 to recommission it .
i reckon it's been off the road quite some time judging by the remains of the old sill members (now in a heap on the floor)
here's a few pictures of the RH sill to start .

note the bowing of the sill with no sill member supporting it

It didn't take long to grind off the old bolts & remove the old patch repairs to the floor

poor patch repair maybe from the 70's or 80's

easily lifted

reveals the original damage

[Sea Ranch]

Awesome, Rich. Have at it!

Interesting to see the "patching" around the sill plate on the inside.

Regarding the bowing of the sill, front to back: I believe the factory molds have quite a curve to the lower edge/flange of the sill. Certainly mine are curved. If you attempt to jack it to eliminate this, you'll find it won't work, and that your doors won't fit. Lower edge of door aperture (opening) should run straight/true front to back. That would be important.



Regards,

Randy

[el-saturn]

.......this may generate an awful answer: all of these repairs look a tiny bit better than duck tape!!! this type of artisanal addition will certainly NOT help to increase the value ----- a qucik diagnosis by a swiss restorer (among other things) sandy from the alps

[Jason1]

Rich is a dab hand with the fibreglass he will soon sort the repairs out. He did some great repair to the boot floor on the last shell.

[bob_rich]

Hi Rich

Glad 2 C that all the worst is behind you and that a suitable shell of the correct age has been sourced. When I lifted my body shell to move it around I made up a system using two scaffold poles with some pegs that slotted into the jacking point in the sill members. This made it very easy for 4 people to lift and move the body around without having to handle the body in some ad-hoc way that might damage wings, wheel archs etc.

You are most welcome to borrow these if they would be of any help. I've attached a picture of my +2 body when it was prepared for lift.

if you need a hand dont hesitate to contact me

best of luck with the work

Bob

[RichC]

Thanks Bob !
the offer is most appreciated and I'll drop you PM.
i had already been following your posting with interest.
progress is slow at the moment as there are other more pressing demands on my time. i think i've spent about 2 hours on the +2 in the last month but that should change soon.
with best wishes
RichC

[tcsoar]

Hi Rich,

Not been around much lately but remember your orginal thread on the accident. Glad you are on your way to getting it sorted with your 'plan C'.

I can vouch for Bob's lifting system as I borrowed them from him while doing my restoration, worked well especially when the body came back from the spray shop.

Chris.

[EPC 394J]

Hi

Hope this isn't hijacking the thread, but it does seem 'on topic' and of significant interest to many of us. This caught my eye:

Regarding the bowing of the sill, front to back: I believe the factory molds have quite a curve to the lower edge/flange of the sill. Certainly mine are curved. If you attempt to jack it to eliminate this, you'll find it won't work, and that your doors won't fit. Lower edge of door aperture (opening) should run straight/true front to back. That would be important

My current, and previous Plus 2s both had a distinct longitudinal sill curve between the front and rear wheel arches. These were originals and I don't recall any problems with door closure? Where did the idea come from that they should be straightened by the use of a jack under the door? Am I correct in thinking the workshop manual doesn't cover sill replacement?

This being the case, what is the correct method of fitting a straight steel bar in a curved fibreglass sill??

If the new sill members are exact duplicates of the old design, then isn't their precise location effectively 'fixed' by the body shell positions of the three inner plates?

Mods, please feel free to move this elsewhere if necessary.

Regards

Andy