I'd be grateful for some advice from anybody with coachworks experience.

This Triumph Spitfire has rotten sills and I believe, as a result, the body has gone out of shape slightly so that the doors do not close properly. The body is still on the chassis.

Obviously, the car needs new sills and struts need to be welded between the A and B posts but I would have thought that the apertures must be adjusted first. Is there a preferred way of doing this?

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

John

you must put the car up on supports (several axle stands) to remove the weight of the car from the wheels. This should/will get the doors to fit and go around checking that all the panel gaps are correct. Then replace one sill at a time only (very important!) do not remove the body till the sills are done or you will have no way in checking the chassis is correct. I have seen many cars with removable bodys welded totally twisted due to folk jumping in and taking the bodys of cars just to make a rust free banana. Once the doors fit it is a good practice to weld in tubes across the passenger compartment and door gaps till all the welding has been done that way you will end up with a straight car.

Mark Evans show "A MG is reborn" shows to some extent the care and importance of what Mr Whippy said. Even if it's not the same car, I believe it could be interesting to watch that show as I believe many tips on keeping the structure straight while replacing panels should apply to the Spitfire.

Anyway, his shows are funny.

Have fun,
HappyFather

Thanks chaps for the good advice. I'll post some pictures when I get started.

John

I had this problem and, when fitting the new sills I jacked the body (not chassis) under the door and it opened the gap back to where it should be.

this may be of some help as it shows the panels used in the body

My brother in law (who lives next door) did a full rebuild of his spitfire, unusually for chassis based cars they do seem to need their bodyshells for a lot of the cars strength

You're right Mr Whippy, the Spitfire chassis is little more than a backbone so the sills are structural unlike the Herald where the body is better supported by its chassis.