Replaceing the wings

P

Phoenix

New Member
Guys.... I am fairly sure this is a silly question but heck I am going to ask it anyway :wink:

I have 4 brand new original wings and will in due course put these on the car prior to having it resprayed. Can you please tell me what other parts I will need to allow me to do this work? I feel sure the old wings will be reasonably easy to remove but what is involved in fitting the new ones?

I would like to have the required parts to hand at home before I even commence the work. Many thanks :)
 
Also i think it is a good idea to try the new wings for fitting and alignment BEFORE you paint them.
It is almost certain (especially if they are late pressings) that they will need some effort to make them fit properly, something that you won't do comfortably on freshly painted panels. Otherwise, it is a simple bolt-on job.
 
I have seen mention of metal straps that are used in fixing the new wings :?

Does anyone know what I mean and what they are?
 
The front wing to valance tags sometimes snap on the way off if not moved for a while, nuts/bolts and large washers will do the job or they are cheap to buy in advance. The lower rear spider bolt thingies sometimes give up on the rear wings too :)

Some rivetts are needed to move your rear wing seals accross and your front wing mounting top tags :)

A trial run is a good idea to make sure your lamps fit the wings before paint and the wings fit the car clearing the rear pillars etc :wink:
 
Lets assume you are reasonably happy with the fit of the doors :?

The front wings ought not to be too bad, but make sure and trial fit them before any other actions and check you can get a decent line between wing tops and bonnet.

The back wings are likely to be a major effort if the new wings are recent pressings. It is extremely possible that you will have to cut and reweld the double skin section towards the underside front of the wings in order to get them to sit far enough forward. They are likely to foul between the D post and this double skin section before you reach the desired forward position. Judge this against the fit of the cut out to accomodate the bottom of the 1/4 panel as well as the gap to the door. Confirm settings by checking the panel gap to the boot lid and that the rear valence fits successfully in the gap!

Back to the doors. The gap between the window frames and the roof trim, A post trim, B/C post trim and the 1/4 panel should be completely even across both doors and the window frames should be flat with the B/C post. If they are not then you need to adjust. And very few cars left the factory anywhere near correct in later years of production. This was partly due to problems with the pressings - the press tools had far exceeded their anticipated number of pressings by then - and partly due to a lack of interest in getting it right - it was the red 70's by then!

So how to adjust? I think I would start by hoping that the door shells were somewhere near correct. Therefore I would limit early adjustment to loosening off the window frames within the door frame and trying to adjust the fit of the frames to the glass openings in the shell. See how near you get this way first. Then, if this is not adeqaute, look at how well the door locks fit to the strikers on the pillars and take some guidance from here. Then it's the real deep breath moment. Only do one door to start with. Undo the hinges and start altering the number of shims under each hinge. This is a really difficult exercise because you first have to learn how the fit changes relative to the shimming changes - and it is quite confusing. Plus it is not the case that the door case is a fixed iem. It is entirely possible to get the door case to fit better by use of the "well placed knee" - ie racking the door in the direction desired. Considerable force may be required. Leave the window frame loose at this stage and try to get the fit of the case correct. Only when you think you are somewhere near with the case, move on to having another try at the window frame. Perhaps the criteria to use in setting the door case is to get the lock and striker in mid settings plus a neat even gap to the cover sill. But this is the bit where you use what works for you! Move on to the other doors only when you are happy with the first. DON'T judge the case alignment by the line of the wings - you are going to adjust those later!

Hope that helps

Chris
 
:shock: Does anyone nearby want to fit a set of wings for me :?

I'm hoping the job, when I get round to it, will not be as tough as it appears when reading the above posts. The 4 wings, I have, are original Rover stock and should therefore be as good as any wings ever made. With that in mind I am thinking that it may not be as tough as it might be otherwise be! Knowing that what do you now think?
 
Don't be put off...but also don't be tempted to have your new wings sprayed on the car!

They absolutely need to be painted then fitted. Have a look at the pics on my thread earlier this year...

http://www.classicroverforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6840&start=90

The door-to-wing seals need to be riveted on after paint...and as has been said...your heart will be in your mouth! :)

But by 'eck, it'll be worth it!

Cheers, and Good Luck! :D
 
Also having them painted off the car allows you to get the insides painted too, a good paint finish (and stone-chip where appropriate) on the inside really helps to prevent future rusting.
 
I didn't intend to put you off! Just a bit of a prompt to do the job properly once and not have to come back and revisit it!

Trial fitting the wings before paint is important, and so is getting them pinted off the car for all the reasons Richard says above! Taking wings on and off is really easy, so once you've trial fitted and painted you can come back to any discussion about the door fit later. The only real hazard is in the back wing fitting if you do have poorly pressed ones - and really age is not a hugely useful guide there.

Chris
 
What's the worst that can happen? :)

Trial fit one, you can soon give up and pop the old one back, then shout HELP :wink:
 
I have just gone through refitting most panels to my V8 and I can assure you if it didn't come off your car, it won't fit well. I used a lot of packing washers and I also slotted the holes on the wings so I have more movement when fitting. Don't worry if you can't make it perfect. I gave that idea up a long time ago! Look at other cars and you will see that the fit of most panels is poor on even the best restored cars. I have just refitted the stainless steel door frames to my car doors and the shape on the body between the posts and roof isn't the same as the shape of the door frame so getting it to fit properly is actually physically impossible (and they are the original doors!). The one thing I would add though is that it is somewhat pointless struggling for too long, as when all the chrome, lights, and trim is fitted, you don't 'see' the gaps anyway!
 
The real problem here is that the wings are aftermarket .... you are almost guaranteed to find these to be an inferior fit to the original 1972 pressed, genuine Rover wings. You will probably find that you will have to elongate the locating holes and do a degree of flexing and twisting to get to fit. The rears unless good, will give hideous panel gaps between the rear door and against the bootlid.

If you want this done, call Paul or Terry on 0208 586 1717. They will achieve as good a fit as you will get with what you have. To put this into perspective, I travelled in total over 300 miles over 4 journeys, knocking back peoples so called rot free panels, to buy a nsr 1/4. The osr is brand new heritage and is a crap fit ... it is the wrong shape .... we fettled for hours and concurred it was a crap moulding, which is evident when you look down it. I spoke to the vendor of new panels when I needed mine and they would not commit to the quality of the fit... so I walked away.

Easiest thing to do, is give it a go. Alan at Classeparts will supply you all the new fixings needed by post (Google Rover P6 Classeparts).
 
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