Doors

My Zero has been driving well since my last blog. Now well over 2000 miles on the clock, mainly from short blats around the local Staffordshire countryside. I've found a great route over Blithfield reservoir and up to Uttoxeter but that's for another blog.

I was disappointed not to be able to join the RhoCar crew on their trip around Scotland last week (  ). I was actually in Scotland on holiday with the family, so took advantage of the great weather over the Bank Holiday, but the photos and videos from the RhoCar guys looked superb. Maybe next time.

But back to the main subject of this blog: a new set of doors. The doors have been on order for well over 12 months now, but GBS' supplier seemed to be playing games. Promising new stock each week that never arrived. But they are here now. I had imagined simply taking them out of the packaging and dropping them straight onto the hinges - but were would be the fun in that? They come flat packed and without the hinges attached. The challenge is to bend them to the right shape to fit around the car whilst also positioning the hinges correctly so the doors open around the mirrors and the half-hood, as well as looking aesthetically reasonable at the same time.
Firstly I mounted the lower hinges on the Y-frame on both sides and installed the half-hood. Then I bend the doors into roughly the right shape. There was a helpful post from Simon@GBS recently on the GBS forum, where he explains how to do this (http://www.gbsownersclub.co.uk/forum/technical-talk/doors). I didn't follow it exactly, but it is useful to read though to acclimatise yourself with the complexity of the job. I have reproduced the text below as I am not sure if old posts will be archived on the forum.

"This could become complicated to explain, although relatively easy to do.

the first bend is to the mid bar approx 12 inches (I have never measured it) from the front, bend from the inside over knee. note this tends to bend the top bar slightly so reshape with knee so straight - this is to make the door follow the scuttle line.

The next is to the front edge of the door, approx at the mid bar, again with knee from outside - this produces the bend out for the lower front part of the door. Next a bit of shaping to the lower part of the front bar, again with the knee so that it follows the shape of the scuttle.

Fit roof, if you have one, fix hinges to screen brackets, assume you have holes drilled already, put door part of hinges into screen bracket part. Offer up doors to side of vehicle, align top part of front of door with screen bracket, also the top with the roof gutter, and check rear of door on rear wing, two pairs of hands make it easier.

Make sure the door frame will sit under the door hinge holes and mark the top hinge top mounting hole. Remove door, and door part of the hinge. drill marked hole. and loosely secure top hinge part, fit back onto vehicle, the front of the door will now hang on the fitted hinge, the rear can easily be held in position to check fitting against roof gutter, screen bracket and rear wing. mark one hole of lower hinge, drill and fix loosely.

On refitting door should hang roughly where required, NOT exactly because nothing is tight. check both hinge pins are fully down. you can now twist the rear of the door so the bottom bar sits against the side of the car and the top bar rest against the roof. when happy with fit you then drill and bolt the last two holes.

Place door back into position, take load off hinges by lifting rear of door, if you don't the door pins will be out of alignment and fitting and removal of doors will be trickier. tighten the hinge bolts. tweek door for perfect  fit"

And here is the finished result, although the anchoring straps to keep the doors closed couldn't be fixed because there were no poppers in the door pack. I will call GBS tomorrow. I am sure Will@GBS will drop some in the post for me.
A quick blat down the road and all is well - any excuse!!