On Wed, 15 Dec 1993, Bill Wagner Jr. wrote:
> I do have a question for any big Healey folks. One of the
> more knowledgable British folks around here says it's a bad idea to
> remove the body panels from these cars. He didn't really give me
> reason other than that they are spot welded to the frame. In looking
> things over and studying the Haynes manual, I don't see any problem
> with removing the panels. I've got to replace some portion of the
>
> Bill Wagner Jr. |'67 Healey 3000 MK III | wcwagner@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu >
Big Healey types will doubtless give you more authoritative answers, but I
can say that total restorations of big Healeys generally does involve a
total removal of all body parts, i.e. removal of all fenders, doors, front
and rear shrouds, down to the understructure. The "frame" appears to be
heavy gauge sheet metal in a semi-monocoque, welded to a couple of
parallel tubes. That is a welded structure, and I would not dismantle any
more of it than necessary. I guess I always thought all the body panels
bolt on. Apparently (I've never done it) one place to be super careful is
when removing the fenders from the shrouds. The shrouds are, I believe,
aluminum while the fenders are steel, and there usually is corrosion in
the join despite an isolating beading. I suspect you would be well
advised not to destroy the aluminum bolting flange on the front and rear
shrouds; it would take a wizard tig welder to reconstruct the flanges.
Ray Gibbons
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