The 'E' Type Forum

I'm replacing these whilst I re-do the interior.



Whilst I'm holding off shaping and tweaking them until the very end, as their shape is determined by so many things (the wheel-arch-to B-post panels need to be in, the doors aligned, the door-cards fitted etc), I'm not clear what their top profile should ideally look like once fitted, as I've seen various finishes.



Do they bend to tuck around the back of the door-pillar edge, in the gap next to the hood-pivots ? There's something about them that doesn't look quite right to me, as delivered.



Were these always in alloy ?



I find they get easily bent, and their trim easily perforated, by hips getting in and out of the car - is the alloy to cushion the blow ? - and was wondering whether to either to make them in steel, or double up the protruding lip thickness, or TIG a 2mm wired-edge to them, to stiffen them up and render them less sharp.

Has anyone else ever bothered to do this ?

Well, looks like a bit of Stony Ground there !

My experiences with the Shut Panels might then be of some use to others.

I would suggest that these should be bought bare and untrimmed - mine were in alloy (maybe they all are) and came from BAS in Wales. I had previously asked elsewhere and everyone wanted to sell me versions that were already trimmed.

Their shape and fit are so dependent on where everything else around them ends up that I don't see how you can get their forms right and optimised until you know how the wheel-arch panels fit, and where the door cards will lie once the doors are fitted and the locks adjusted etc



I actually had them trimmed by BAS, as the car was there for the hood, which meant I had all the surrounding components trimmed and fitted before I completed the Shut Panels, which makes it possible to tweak their shape, edges, bends etc to perfection.



I don't like the standard original shape of the Shut Panel up by the hood pivot, as I feel it looks like they didn't know what to do with it, especially on my car which has no hard-top brackets, so I changed the way it fits by bending it - prior to trimming - into the gap between the hood frame and the door pillar ; non-original but to my eyes it sits more elegantly, and is stiffer.



The vertical strips of the standard Shut Panels are constantly exposed to being bent by ones hips upon exiting the car, in my experience, and the sharp-edges of this single-thickness edge mean the vinyl trim lasts about 5 minutes before being nicked and split.



We folded these thin channels up from 1mm alloy sheet, and then Jack at BAS glued and slid them over the edge when he trimmed them - so there is now a rounded 3mm-thick section on the upright, which a) stops it getting dented and b) means the vinyl is less prone to hip-damage.



(These pictures are with 5.000 + km on the interior, hence some traces on these parts already, sniff)

Note also the MX5-type sound perforations in the wing panels where the rear-tweeters are hidden, again thanks to BAS.

PS. All the mods on my car are destined to withstand it being used, a novel idea to some, but you'd have to be pretty clued-up to spot (and a Johnny-No-Mates to criticise) the rare tell-tale signs that this is not original.

There's a free spare pair of edge-trims to the first Forum contributor that asks for them via PM, some limitations may apply ; you have to be 100+ posts, have contributed useful stuff, not just dithyrambic bar-room conjecture and, and you must use your car !

Rory, I'd send you a PM but I've no idea what "dithyrambic" means.

If nothing else, I find these write ups you do very useful reference and I bookmark them for future use. So thanks for them.

Geoff

Geoff, You're in !

PM me your address and I'll pop them in the post.

No signs of dithyrambic excesses on your account !

I'm using the word incorrectly anyway, I use it to refer to the bar-room conjecture from key-board prolifics who never actually do anything on their cars, and whose multiple postings do nothing to add value to our "data base" of accumulated understanding.

My intention always is to contribute stuff to the Forum that I would have found useful - making no pretentions about primogeniture or innate E-Type wisdom ; it is however amazing what a difference a moment of reflection can make.

well done, well said Rory, i agree...