Page 24

Front door the easy way!

This was my original door and if you look carefully you can see lots of rust at the edge to the left of the door, this was very badly corroded but didn't really look that bad until I had a bit of a dig. So at this stage of the restoration a was getting a bit tied of the restoration and so I decided to cheat! I brought imported door! If you decided to repair your doors be very careful and read this little bit.
When you strip down the door the vertical metal channel that retains the quarter light (and guides the window on the other side) will be very fragile and may well fall to bits, in which case you cant replace it. You may be able to make another one but that would be difficult, or you could change the fixed quarter light for an imported opening unit.

Anyway to save time and my sanity as explained I brought imported doors from "Osterley Californian Classics" The doors come complete in most cases and some include the opening quarter lights. I went down to London to pick the doors and had a choice of about 8 doors. After driving down to London in a borrowed friends car (thanks James) I was a little bit disappointed with the doors that were put out in front of me, so let me explain, Imported doors come from sunny climates but they still come from scrap yards in most cases and nearly all of them will be old. so you have to accept that they will be dented scratched and will need a bit of work, having said that it still saved me a lot of time. Both of my doors came with opening quarter lights, and were generally complete.

So this web page cant really some you how to restore your doors as I didn't restore mine!

So I have shown in the pictures how to rebuild the door mainly looking at the opening quarter lights because you may well be fitting them if you have problems with the channel as explained above. I also brought a seal and chrome kit for both doors, this includes all bits required some which will be spare if you are using the opening quarter lights.
so I will try and list the correct order to rebuild the doors, if I get it wrong (sorry if I have) will someone please tell me so I can correct it! I have presumed that the whole door is striped down as if like me you have brought imported door you will have to change the locks as you don't get the keys!

  1. Firstly replace the lock mechanism but not the door handle.

  2. Then put the window winder back into place the plastic section must locate in the hole.

  3. Replace the felt channel as shown in the second picture, this is clipped on at the top and has a Allen head bolt at the bottom.

  4. Put in the new chrome finishing strip.

  5. Now put in the felt clips, you should be able to see where they were originally.

  6. Put in the new felt channel but don't clip it in at the top where the screw for the quarter light is.

  7. Now slide in the main opening window, you don't have to fix it to the winder yet.

  8. Working from the inside of the door, push in the quarter light as shown in the 3rd picture.

  9. Once in place push it to the correct place making sure that the glass is in both channels, then screw in the top screw and bottom bolt.

  10. Now you can finish putting the felt in properly

  11. Now put in the inside scraper and make sure you have the correct side as shown in the picture below.

  12. Now push up the glass and screw it back onto the winder bracket.

  13. Wind up the window and replace the door stop and door handle don't forget the two plastic gaskets.

I think that is it!
you should try to put a plastic sheet over the inside before putting back the inside panel or you may find that water (which will get in) will run down the inside of the doors and wet your nice new panels at the bottom. (believe me I know!)

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Please feel free to e-mail me with suggestions or questions and I will try and oblige.

E-Mail me : fid@fid-tech-ltd.com

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