I did similar to Trevor, but rivetted a steel "sandwich" over and behind
the crack. I used a piece of heavy sheet metal on the inside portion and a
piece of thin sheet metal on the exterior. Several holes were drilled
through the sandwich and rivets were added. Before doing this, I also
drilled a 1/8" hole at the base of the crack (to keep it from spreading).
I tapped the repair in a bit with a hammer and applied bondo (gasp!) to
smooth it over.
Purists may flame me, but I don't have easy access to a welder and this
method was recommended by one of our listers as reliable. I made the
repair about six months and 1,500 miles ago and haven't had any signs of
re-emergence.
One key point to remember is that you must fix the cause of the crack or it
will reappear. In my case, the vent frame was being pushed outward every
time the door was closed. I readjusted the entire vent assembly so that it
just starts to make contact with the windscreen frame when the door is
fully closed.
YMMV...
Scott McKorkle
1978 MGB
----------
> From: Trevor Boicey <tboicey@brit.ca>
> To: Rick Jennings <ahhclem@kcnet.com>
> Cc: mgs@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Crack of Doom
> Date: Thursday, July 30, 1998 9:26 PM
>
> Rick Jennings wrote:
> >
> > Can anyone explain what needs to be done to repair the crack. What is
the
> > fix to keep it from happening again once fixed?
>
> What I did was to put a plate of steel behind the crack. I drilled
> a half dozen holes in the doorskin on both sides of the crack, and
> plug welded through them to attach the plate.
>
> Then weld up the crack, also welding it to the plate in the process.
>
> The welded up crack will hold, because the plate takes the
> "design defect" stress off the area.
>
> --
> Trevor Boicey, Ottawa, Canada.
> tboicey@brit.ca, http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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