Earlier this Summer, we drove up to Connecticut to pick up a very solid Series 2 roadster shell (see earlier blog posting titled “The latest adventure”. The tub needed to be converted to Series 1 specs, but also turned out to need a little rust repair as well – the floors had been repaired somewhat in the past, and I was not happy with the work, so I made some changes.
The task on this shell was to convert it to Series 1 specs, fix any rust issues, remove any dents, and prime. The crate the shell, and ship it to it’s new home in Alberta, Canada. Take a look at some of the repairs and metalwork we performed.
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- We have agreed to strip the entire external skin bare, inspect the surface, fix any problems, and prime with self-etching primer.
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- That means the doors too.
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- This filler looks relatively shallow, but we will stip it out and improve the door surface so that hardly any is necessary.
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- Decklid looks good – we improved one shallow dent.
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- Series 2 tail – for now.
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- The firewall and cowl is excellent.
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- This is VERY common – speaker holes crudely cut into the rear bulkead of roadsters. We are going to have to remove these crude aluminum plates and do something here.
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- A new LH footwell was installed in the past, but the work was not up to our standards, so it will come out.
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- This patch is also messy – made up for with some filler…
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- This is the RH side of the crossmember – badly corroded, but the floor was salvageable – pitted, but solid. This will also come out.
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- Here we are melting the leaded seams out of the rear end to start the conversion to a Series 1 tail.
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- RH side factory seam.
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- Everything Series 2 has now been removed.
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- Including the shut face panels, which are different on a Series 2. The inside of the B-post is excellent, but will get sanded and liberally coated with red oxide, as always.
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- LH side is also pristine inside!
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- The doors weren’t bad – a couple of dent puller holes were welded up and some dents removed.
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- These pieces are all completed – excellent virgin originals that just need a little light filler here and there.
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- This is the new RH crossmember piece before being welded into place. It has been uprated to 18-gauge from 20.
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- New Series 1 shut face panel has been welded into place. This was an NOS panel from our stock that came from a parts house that had allowed their stock to surface rust. Last year, we purchased a large collection of those panels, glass-beaded them, and coated with red oxide.
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- RH crossmember welded into place.
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- These speaker holes were NASTY!
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- We carefully cut new, larger sections that will be solidly patched.
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- This is all hidden under carpet, so this non-factory repair was deemed acceptable and was a good compromise. The patches were flanges for a flush fit, and plug-welded into place.
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- Made from thicker 18-gauge steel, these patches were a solid solution to this problem.
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- A close inspection of the floor revealed FILLER! It was smeared into badly pitted steel, and the whole thing lookd great, but was deceiving – and weak. We cut out all of the bad areas and started over. A complete new floor was not the way to go here – that would have opened alot of things up un-necessarily.
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- The front was not much better, and also removed.
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- We also cut out the previous patch in the inner sill.
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- The area was prepped and then I went totally BERSERK inside the sill with red oxide – as far as I could reach – and then some!
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- Next, a new section was formed from thick, 17-gauge cold-rolled steel, and solidly welded along its entire length.
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- Here is our custom floor patch – patterned to match the original floor beading EXACTLY.
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- After fitting, we formed and spot-welded a new seat mounting rail.
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- This is a BIG improvement over where we started.
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- Here is another shot of the piece fitted into place.
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- And another.
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- And another showing the reapirs to the forward section of the floor and a new footwell.
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- After welding everything into place and grinding down the plug welds, a new crossmember was formed for the LH side as well from 18-gauge steel.
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- This seat mount was also corroded, so another piece of 18-gaige came to the rescue with the help of the TIG welder.
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- This is a new rear license panel for a Series 1, and the Series 2 lower tonneau that we removed from this shell.
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- Using the original shell and modifying it to Series 1 specs saves time, and also ensures that the decklid is going to fit just as well as it did originally.
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- The Series 2 cars do not have the little reverse light pod that the Series 1 cars have, so we need to carefully remove this rear section of the center boot floor brace to make room for it.
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- We’ll need to make up a couple Series 1 license lamp panels as well.
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- The reverse lamp recess is now welded into place – donated from a Series 1 boot floor that has been replaced on another E-Type.
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- Some trial fitting – things are starting to look a little different!
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- Top half is done – next, we’ll flip her over once the rotisserie is free in a few weeks and finish the conversion on the bottom side.
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- After we completed all of the repairs and changes that could be done in the cart, we scuffed the whole shell down and coated it in 2 coats of self-etching primer.
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- The floor is better than new, since many panels have been upgraded to thicker pieces, and even William Lyons himself would think this was a factory panel!
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- In all one color, the speaker hole patches are hardly noticable, and are flanged and recessed so the surface is flat under the carpet. We have eliminated a few strengthening beads in the rear bulkhead, but the thickness of these patches makes up for that nicely and this rear bulkhead is rock solid.
