As mentioned previously it is critically important to install the
inner sills parallel with and 3 inches above the top face of the chassis
rails. This dimension sets up the whole car. Before removing the front
bulkhead from the old car I placed a hacksaw cut into the front hinge pillar
flange at the point it meets the top of the inner sill. This simplifies
reinstalling the front bulkhead.
The front bulkhead was in a rather sad state as can be seen below.
I decided it would be easier to replace most of it rather than try to carry
out repairs. Replaced were firewall, cold air box, both footwells and L/H
hinge pillar face plate. The replacement of the hinge pillar face plate
led to a huge problem related to the way in which the car was originally
constructed, as replacing this component corrected a twist in the hinge
pillar that I can only assume was created to make the doors hang correctly.
Rather than cut off both hinge pillars to correct the problem I decided
to re twist the L/H pillar to match the right. These were mass produced
cars?
At this point I would like to thank Rob and Ken Rowland from The
Healey Factory for allowing me to check my work against cars they were
restoring, My brother Dennis Varley for this assistance in general, and
Theo Van Heel for his advise.
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