[Peter Bremner]

Why do they bother making repair panels that almost, but not quite, fit?
It took three sessions to fit the inner door skin, or about 7 hours.
I used a large copper bar behind the welds to try to stop distortion.
On the left front door I had to use the corner repair sections. They definitely don’t fit without a fair bit of hammer work.
Both corners are on.
Before the skin goes on, I’ll clean and epoxy prime the insides of the door. The inner skin will get a couple of coats where the stainless steel rubber mounting strip is riveted on.
Before the skin edge is folded over, I give the edges a coat of epoxy and fold whilst wet.
I hope this will seal the edge and add rigidity.
By the time I’ve done the fourth door, I will be quite proficient and hope to never do another one.

[Peter Bremner]

The left front door had various creases and dents. I used the spot welded dent pulling tabs, except I don’t have the proper spot welder.
Using the MIG was ugly but effective. I used a slide hammer to pulled on the tabs. You have to give them quite a hefty thump. Tickling them is pointless.

[Peter Bremner]

In the door, beyond resuscitation

[Peter Bremner]

The right hand driver’s door developed ‘oil canning’ after welding. At the rear end of the door, the outer panel would pop in and pop out. This is caused by the metal stretching.
I watched plenty of YouTube videos on the subject and an interminable load of adverts.
Essentially you push up on the area from inside with a dolly and using glancing blows with a hammer, massage the area outside of the tin can towards the centre. This hopefully pushes the metal towards the tin can.
This is done ‘off dolly’. If you hit the dolly through the metal, it stretches it.
With my 20 minutes of experience, once it stopped tin canning, I called it a day and broke out the filler.

Next time I’ll use my folding panel stand rather than the Workmate. I’ll also let each plug weld cool before doing the next.

[Peter Bremner]

How are you getting on with the roof?

[Peter Bremner]

I’ve spent too many hours using polystrip discs in the angle grinder removing paint from two doors.
Two doors and four wings are going for pyrolytic paint stripping. In an oven and burn the paint and filler off.
Next week’s job is to strip the doors and wings of anything combustible. Then off to Welwyn Garden City.
Or I could just build a bonfire.

Tempting.

[Peter Bremner]

For information. I’ve shown a Cleco pin ready to insert into the hole through two panels. The two prongs are fully extended. Once in the hole, the spring pressure pulls the two prongs back. The stationary central part opens up the prongs and the two pips grip the inner panel, pulling it tight against the outer panel.
Hole size on the inner panel is critical. My pins are 1/8″. I used a 3mm drill as the hole will always be bigger.
The hole on the outer panel can be bigger, this allows for adjustment.
The 8mm holes are for plug welding, I got a bit carried away.

[Peter Bremner]

I’m not going to bother with the token rubber finishing strip. Masking tape and a sealant tool (or a wet finger) seems easier.

For the bolt heads buy yourself an angle grinder or two (Lidl, keep the receipt, 3 year guarantee) and safety glasses. Then use a grinding disc followed by a flap disc.

[Peter Bremner]

Hello, if you look at the doors thread, the first two pictures show my roof channel. It is naked. Once it has the inner finishing rubber strip and the outer trim it will look like Paul’s picture.
Don’t forget that image includes the door trim, the interior rubber and so on.
Can you upload a picture to imgbb.com then copy and paste the bb fully linked shortcut into this thread.
Has your roof channel just disintegrated? It is a habit of the DS.

[Peter Bremner]

More door stuff. Front right this time. I will cut out the bottom corner edges and weld in steel from the old door skin.
The corners are a pain as they spot welded them, plus brazed at the swage line.
Penetration of the plug welds looks good.
The wood formers are an attempt at getting the correct curve without resorting to a load of filler.

[Peter Bremner]

The roof on a Safari is steel. I want to add heat insulation but if headlining is stuck to that, it will look horrible. I have a plan, certainly involving ambition versus ability.

[Peter Bremner]

I haven’t reached fitting the roof yet. As usual I’m going off piste with the headlining, all will be revealed. Unless it goes wrong.
The Safari roof is bolted on. I expect I’ll use black windscreen sealant as it is flexible and doesn’t fade. I’ll 3D print some spacers then fill the gaps with sealant.
The finishing strip in aluminium isn’t available for the Safari. I’m hoping to bend some from 0.2mm strip.
Doors, wings, tailgate and bonnet first.

[Peter Bremner]

Not much happening at present, some celebration or other going on.

I did treat myself to a Cleco temporary rivet kit from Amazon.
I used them today to hold the inner door skin in place. Simple to use, 1/8″ drill through both panels, use the Cleco pliers to insert the rivet, release and it pulls the sheets together.
Inner skin now plug welded in place.

https://amzn.eu/d/0VYHGfL

[Peter Bremner]

Welcome to DS wiring!
Mostly the same colour wires with coloured sleeves at the ends. Except now they are all beige.
If you are really unlucky, the insulation disintegrates leaving a mass of discoloured copper.

Looms are available. Paul has bought and fitted one.

On the Safari I dumped all of it.

I wanted to include other circuits so I made my own. It is pretty straightforward. No Canbus or other modern gizmos to catch you out.
Vehicle Wiring Products supplied the cable and fittings.
I used British Standard wire colours where possible.
I also used Japanese connectors, these are almost the same size at Citroen.

It’s an ideal time to change the alternator to one with an internal regulator.

A multimeter and or a simple continuity tester are your friends.

https://amzn.eu/d/jeN8MFN

Have fun.

[Peter Bremner]

Hello, a ballast resistor is used to drop the voltage down to about 9 volts so a 9 volt coil can be used.
The clever part is that when cranking the engine, there is a wire from the starter solenoid, the same terminal as the one going to the starter windings. This gives the 9 volt coil 12 volts whilst cranking, increasing the spark by 25%.
Once cranking stops and the engine is running, the coil gets 9 volts via the ballast.

It was just a way to boost coil output when starting.
Ford used a special wire to the coil which slowly heated up increasing its resistance thus reducing voltage to the coil once started.

They are not needed in modern cars, planetary gear starter motors, thinner oil and a coil per cylinder with no dizzy has made them obsolete.

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