Door Fitting

[erictharg]

Jon - I do believe you are a bit of a perfectionist! You need to meet Stephen Grant. You'll get on famously! Regret I'm from the "perfection is the enemy of good" school.....

[jonclancy]

Errr.... I have a sneaking suspicion I may be, at least partly, guilty as charged!! I'm looking forward to meeting all of you at some stage, let alone Stephen.

I was pondering the method of fitting the door check straps and it struck me that rifle sling swivels might fit the bil perfectly. We have a tack shop up near us and the owner's already said he could make custom leather bonnet straps no problem. I'll look into this and report back. A more elegant solution that a couple of penny washers and M5 fasteners.

[Westfield 129]

My early car has simple Terry Springs to hold the doors closed. Light, simple, and require no alignment. This is important, as none of the body panels to which the latchs or strikers attach are accurately attached to the bodywork. Every time the body is removed, everything will have to be re aligned. Vibration may even cause the doors to pop open, which is problematic for both the limit straps (they often break) and the windscreen (which can hit the pavement, and is known to be VERY expensive). The Terry Springs always latch, and the doors never need to be slammed. The doors will stay closed, even if the body is distorted due to impact.

The pin latches used on the later cars also work pretty well, mainly due to the taper pin, and the ability to drill the hole in the body large enough so that it will latch. I have stainless strikers for my new RHD chassis so that the pins don't wear the body holes. Having cars with both systems, I prefer the springs.

While it seems to be fun to put custom touches on these cars, note that they are really '50s sports racers, and should be simplified as much as possible. My car arrived with numerous "improvements" which complicated its operation. Over a period of a couple of days, I was able to remove most of the complexity, and 45 lbs of weight along with it.

While leather straps seem like a good idea at the time, they really don't go along with the aero bodywork. There are numerous flush latch systems that would work well on the bonnet other than the Dzus or CamLock fasteners.

[jonclancy]

Westfield 129 wrote:

> While leather straps seem like a good idea at the time, they really don't
> go along with the aero bodywork. There are numerous flush latch systems
> that would work well on the bonnet other than the Dzus or CamLock
> fasteners.

Yes, Aerocatches have been mentioned a few times to me. Still not entirely convinced, because of the period thing. Door check straps with eyelets is the next step for me, and I'm going to call CBS about these Bear Claw catches today.

Seeing as it's warm outside (and almost a hint of sun), I'll going to drag the car out to change the brake fluid.

[Westfield 129]

Period latch mechanisms of the time included versions of the terry spring, and the flush type latches used on such cars as the Triumph Spitfire and Harald. Any type of flush latch from the aircraft industry that would go back to the mid 50s would have been used.

There is also the problem of solidly attaching the front or rear clam shell without any give. If the car gets bumped, it is amazing how much distortion that fiberglass can take if the latches (Terry Springs) give. Yes, it is possible to damage a Terry Spring, without ripping or cracking the bodywork. Something to think about.

It's warm here as well, so I am inside the air conditioned garage, getting ready to change out the pair of master cylinders that are too small... Not fun, really.

Next, that miserable, too thin new production bonnet. It flexes at the hinge point with the extra weight of the headlights installed. Much work to do to fix this little Westfield original problem.

[jonclancy]

Well, the door straps are fitted now. I got an eyelet kit from the 'Bay and the job's a good 'un.

Best news is that the guys from the local race workshop dropped by this afternoon and we've arranged to get the car in for clamshell catches, body alighment and a couple of other minor things. With the new carb needles I'm picking up soon, that should take me to MOT standard.

I can't wait!

Jon