The body was a bit of a dilemma. It wasn't that bad, and the paint, in particular, was quite acceptable. I considered doing a minimal job on it and just getting the car on the road as quickly as possible. As I took it apart, however, I kept finding things I wanted to address, and taking the body apart was the easiest way to do it. Before long, it was almost completely disassembled, and I was knee-deep in a full, tear-down restoration.
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The Arrival pictures show the condition of the car as I received it. The condition of the body and interior was not bad; it just wasn't really good. I decided to keep the paint as it was and redo much of the other cosmetics. The interior, especially, needed help.
One problem was a slightly crumpled left rear fender. It wasn't a big deal to fix it.
Another problem was the "scuttle," as it's traditionally called, the part of the body that protrudes into the engine compartment. It obviously needed cleaning and paint. Just below the battery box, two large holes needed to be patched, and the electrics were a nightmare. The footwell inside the scuttle was a problem, too; it looked old and decrepit, with lots of crud, worn out paint, and rust. There were some obvious rust holes in the battery box. All these problems had to be fixed.
The underside showed a lot of crud and light rust. I wanted this to look good, too, not that anyone will stare at it.
The Arrival section also shows pictures of the interior. It could be worse, but there still were problems. At some point, the seat slides were removed, and some of the wood in the seat bases was not in good condition. The seat coverings were not bad but showed their age. I chose to replace them.
After the engine and transmission were removed, access to the front of the footwell and firewall was improved. I spread some old flannel sheets over the fenders for protection as I worked on the car.
Removing all the ratty carpet and the wood floor panels provided good access to the frame and driveshaft, which had to be disconnected to remove the engine, transmission, and rear end.
The portion of the body behind the seats, made of quarter-inch plywood, was easily removed. That gave good access to the rear end and to the rear parts of the body and frame. The box in the rear of the picture is the sidecurtain container, which was rusty and full of dirt.
With all the interior pieces removed, the metal wheel wells and wooden parts of the body could be evaluated. They looked pretty good; the rust was superficial and the wood was mostly OK. There were small areas of dry rot, and many of the screw holes were worn out. These problems look worse in the pictures than they really were. The third picture below is about as bad as it got; a couple inches of wood and a big glob of wood filler had to be replaced.
The view below is the outside rear part of the passenger compartment, behind the gas tank. The wood was a little checked from water exposure, but still very solid. I sealed it with wood restorer and primed and painted it with oil-based paint.
The frame was packed with 60 years of greasy crud. Some of it was still gooey, some had mixed with dirt and turned solid over the years. The problem was to get it off without making a colossal mess. The first picture below actually shows one of the cleaner parts of the frame.
The pedal box was really gross, full of dirty, oily crud. The inside was not very accessible, so it was a pain to clean. I didn't reweld the small piece I took off to get the gunked-up pedals out; the box carries no load, as it's just for protection and (ha, ha!) to keep dirt away from the pivots.
By the way, I have no idea why two brake-light switches were installed. Just one of the charming things you find in old cars.
I started with the dented fender, which you can see at the top of this page. I first hammered out the dents with a hammer and dolly. Getting the dents out was not easy; the sheet metal on this car is about 40 mils thick, almost twice the thickness of the metal in modern cars. After getting it straight, I took off the damaged paint and gave the fender a coat of primer to prevent rusting, since I knew it might be some time before I'd have a chance to paint it.
I decided it would look best if I repainted the entire fender, so I sanded off all the paint, added a skim coat of body filler, and sanded it to smooth out any remaining irregularities. In the process, I discovered a thin layer of body filler under the existing paint, so clearly the fender had been fixed at least once previously. I sprayed a coat of polyurethane primer and left the fender in the sun to cure. At the same time, I primed my new right-side running board (the one that came with the car was a cheap, plastic replacement) and some other parts. Sometime later, I sanded all the parts with 320 grit wet/dry paper and did the final painting with some rather expensive color-matched paint.
I finally polished and reinstalled the fender. I left it loose, so I could install the fender beading somewhat later. Once the beading was on, the fender's mounting bolts were tightened.
There were two large holes below the battery box left over from a heater. Heaters were not standard equipment in TDs; given the cold, wet British climate, that's a surprising fact. A heater was an option, and, like many options in those days, was dealer-installed, and the dealer cut the holes for the tubing. In any case, I wanted to patch them. First, I cut out a square area, so it would be easier to make a patch. I then cut out a patch to fit the hole and welded it into place, first tacking it around the circumference. The "C" clamp held a slab of copper that served as a back-up plate. This is a standard trick for welding sheet metal; it helps to avoid burning through.
I finished the weld and ground it flat. To smooth out the irregularities, I coated the area with body filler and sanded it smooth.
A few more spots in the front had to be patched similarly: holes in the battery box from rust-through and two drilled holes near the top, which had been cut for wiring modifications. I sanded the patches smooth and removed most of the paint from the front, disk sanding with 80-grit paper. The front was still a little beat up. I tried to hammer out its dents; I couldn't make it perfect, but I still fixed the worst of it.
I finished sanding off all the old paint and gave the scuttle a coat of polyurethane primer. I sanded the primed scuttle with 320 grit paper and painted it to match the body color.
I was happy with the way the paint turned out; it looks good, and it's impossible to see where the patches were made. The newly painted areas now look better than the rest of the car, but after some washing and polishing, the entire body should look really nice.
The underside of the scuttle, the footwell, was also pretty grim. After cleaning it, I had to hand-sand it, as there wasn't anywhere near enough space for a sander. It received a coat of Eastwood rust encapsulator, a good, rust-resistant paint. I finished with a coat of my standard gloss black, covering the primed wood as well as the metal. This part of the project was very laborious.
I treated the checked wood in the rear of the car with wood restorer and plugged the many old nail holes with wood filler. I gave the wood a couple coats of oil-based primer and oil-based gloss black paint, like the rest of the frame and interior.
There were a couple areas of minor dry rot in the lower wooden parts of the frame. Most were fixed simply by applying wood restorer, priming, and painting. The worst area was in the bottom rear corner of the passenger-side door, where missing wood had been replaced by a huge glob of wood filler (see the Teardown section). I hand-fabricated some new pieces of wood to replace the lost material, then primed and painted. I used wood filler to close up the remaining cracks so water would not penetrate.
The screws in the corners of the driver's door, which supposedly hold the wood pieces together, were loose and rusted, and the diagonal brace, a home-made part, was also loose. I added corner reinforcements to the door and moved the brace a little, so I could drill new holes and fasten it with larger screws. Somewhat later, I added a turnbuckle. This allowed the adjustment of the door's warp, so it fit properly.
Some of the body panels needed work. I cleaned the rear valence and put a coat of rust encapsulator on the underside (even though it had only minor rust) and a layer of undercoat. I polished my new right-side running board, installed its treads, and gave the underside a layer of undercoat. This is a real, metal board, a replacement for a cheapo vinyl replacement running board that came with the car. I took the treads off the left-side running board too (not shown), polished and undercoated it, and put it back together.
Installing the new, right-side running board was tricky, because it was not drilled. Getting the holes in the right place required care and concentration. I'm happy with the way it turned out, though. Finally, I added the beading around the running boards, rear, and front fenders.
The paint on the outer parts of the front fenders was good, but the undersides and the parts that face the engine compartment needed help. I began by washing the undersides with strong detergent and scraping loose paint and undercoat. I scraped, cleaned, primed, and repainted the parts that face the engine. Finally, I painted the bare parts of the undersides with rust encapsulator and sprayed a layer of undercoat.
Here is one fender, all cleaned up and painted. I still need to compound and polish the outer surface, but that will be easier once it's on the car.
Installing the fenders was tedious work. They were not heavy, but they were unwieldy.
Here are views of the rear and front. At this point, all the body panels are installed and I'm starting to install the lights and other electrical parts.
This part of the restoration was dirty and laborious. I scraped the gunk off the frame manually, washed it down with naptha, went over it with a rotary wire brush, and finally washed it with a strong detergent. That took off all the gunk, rust, dirt, and loose paint, and it cleaned the oily surface so it could be painted. Even the scuzzy pedal box was successfully cleaned!
I didn't clean the front-suspension yoke immediately. I did it later, as part of the suspension restoration, when it was more accessible. Same story for the rear axle and some of the frame bits near it.
Here the frame has a coat of Eastwood "rust converter," which supposedly converts the rust to a paintable, polymer surface. The chemistry sounds suspect to me, like something cooked up by the marketing department, but the stuff does serve as a good primer for lightly rusted metal surfaces. I gave the rear wheel wells a coat, too. It goes on white and turns a purplish black when it dries.
At first, I painted the frame and wheel wells with a flat black paint. I put a coat of oil-based primer on the unpainted wood bits and later followed it with oil-based black paint. Originally, the wood in the TD was not painted, and that led to deterioration, especially in the lower parts where water could puddle. I wanted everything to be painted: no more rot, no more rust.
The flat black was fine for the body, but it didn't look right for the frame, so I painted over it with glossy paint. I think this looks much more correct, and, of course, an extra coat of paint is never a bad idea.
Finally, I took all the suspension bits off the front yoke so I could restore it. The usual procedure: scrape, clean with solvent, rotary wire brush, wash with detergent, rinse, dry, prime, and paint. As before, I applied a coat of Eastwood rust converter and a coat of gloss paint. At this point I was ready to reinstall the front suspension; see the section on Suspension and Brakes for that story.
After restoring the low-fuel sender and other parts of the tank (that story can be found here), I washed and polished it. I use Turtle Wax cleaner wax, as it does a good job of removing stains that the painted surface has absorbed. I also cleaned and polished the back of the car, where the tank sits, and the frame. The paint looks very nice once the dirt and stains are removed.
I cleaned the frame towers in preparation for repainting and found cracks in the corners of one. I welded the cracks and ground the welds flat along the mounting surfaces. The rusty surfaces look worse in the pictures than they really were; the rust was just superficial. I gave them a coat of rust converter and painted both the inside and outside.
Here are the finished towers and their installation on the frame.
The panel that fills the opening in the front of the scuttle was in pretty bad shape. I scraped it, cleaned it with solvent, wire brushed it, and beat out the dents, which were plentiful. I also had to weld a couple small cracks along one edge. It isn't perfect, and of course never will be, but since it's largely out of sight, a few minor ripples shouldn't matter much.
I painted the inside to match the footwell and the opposite side to match the scuttle. I won't install it until the engine and transmission are in place; that should make the engine installation easier.
Here it is back in place, with the engine and transmission reinstalled. The footwell is starting to look really good.
The box that holds the sidecurtains had a lot of superficial rust and oil gunk. Some of the spot welds had broken, so I fixed them with small tack welds. The first picture below shows it cleaned and largely derusted. I gave it a coat of rust converter and finally painted it black. It is held in position by a row of small wood screws.
The parts below represent the last great marathon cleaning and painting effort. At this point, all the main body and frame parts have been refinished, and only some odds and ends remain. The transmission and drive-shaft covers had about a quarter inch of crud on their insides, and their outsides were pretty scuzzy as well. The end of one radiator-support rod was bent and cracked; I straightened it, welded the cracks, and ground the weld smooth.
In the pictures above, the parts have been scraped and washed in naptha. I used a rotary wire brush to take off all the dirt, rust, and loose paint. Finally, I washed them in detergent, rinsed, blew the water off, and let them dry completely in the sun.
Because there was a lot to paint, it was worth the trouble to use the paint gun instead of spray cans or a brush. I primed the parts with Rustoleum clean-metal primer, then painted with the gloss black. Both paints had to be thinned substantially.
Yet more bits and pieces that needed wire-brushing, priming, and painting. These are from the front bumper, seats, steering column, and crank.
I repainted the inside of the engine cover black, as I didn't have enough remaining color-matched paint to make it the body color. Installing the cover required quite a bit of fitting and adjusting, but finally it fit acceptably.
I replated the latches for the engine cover. This was for preservation purposes, not cosmetic ones. I had the handles chrome plated though; they are a nice exterior detail.
The bumpers were not bad, but I decided to get them replated anyway, as they are highly visible and, well plated, will make the car look spectacular. The overriders were in worse condition; I had them plated as well. I primed and painted the bumper bars and their mounting pieces.
The windshield wasn't bad, but it did look a little tired. Since it's a focal point of the car, I decided to get its frame replated; that required disassembly. The screws holding it together were corroded, so I got quite a bit of practice in drilling out screws and using screw extractors. The screws in the frame are all 2BA size, which has almost the same pitch as 10-32 and only about 5 mils smaller diameter. As long as the thread is not too deep, it can be retapped to 10-32 easily. I did this, so I could use readily available 10-32 stainless steel hardware to reassemble it. The greenish color of the glass isn't tinting; it's just the way auto glass was made in the 1950s.
The lower angle brackets, which hold the bottom parts of the windshield frame together, were so badly rusted that I had to drill the screws out of them. I made new brackets out of 1/8" steel stock. The upper brackets were in better shape; still, I replated the posts where the top was secured.
The windshield frame and supports were replated. To prevent surprises, I set them out on my workbench and trial-fit the parts. I'm very happy with the plating job.
Assembling the windshield required a little more work than you might imagine. The corner pieces, which hold it together, don't fit flush with the insides of the frame pieces, so you need to assemble it with the screws loose and then tighten them a bit at a time, so the corner joints align properly. I added the wipers somewhat after the project was finished, as it was a fair amount of work to restore them.
