T70 Spyder progress and assorted questions

Well, the T70 Spyder is home from the chassis shop, and ready for me to continue the work. Unfortunately, after 6 months of "sitting on my hands" from a work perspective, my work schedule went ballistic about the same time the car arrived. I'll get to posting pictures when I return later this week. Meanwhile, plotting and planning from a hotel room far away, here are my current questions that need answered to move forward. This car is based upon a real Maclendon Lola body, not the more common Heritage Engineering sourced body. It has 2 piece doors: an inner shell and outer shell. The inner shell appears quite oversized for the opening, so I assume it needs to be trimmed to fit. The outer shell fits quite nicely into the void intended to accept it. So, first question: anyone know whehter trimming of the interior panel is a critical issue (ie do I cut the front or rear equally, or bias my cut)? Second, once the interior section fits, what is the best way to bond the exterior panel. Third, is there any "magic" to determining the hinge centers? Finally, anybody have a recommendation on what indicator lamps (ie parking light/turn signal) units were used? I see them placed in front of the headlamp, inside the bezel, but cannot find any mid '60's British sports car lamp that looks like the same unit. Thanks for the help. I'm sure more questions will be forthcoming.
 
As promised, pictures of the current state of affairs
 

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And the door parts I am trying to properly assemble
 

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Hi Ron
I have a T70 recreation which uses all original lola panels unfortunately they are at the spray shop until the 15th July I can get pictures for you after this date. My original doors are the same as yours they have a "lip" all the way around the sides and bottom, the inner shell should really bond to the outer panels with little modification I would have thought.
I would consider sorting out your door mounting using the inner shells with the outer skins off, once mounted you can align up the outer skin correctly before bonding. the original hinge is a simple metal pin top and bottom which fit into a metal sleeve bonded into sill panel and top of door aperture. I can get you a picture of the pins as they are currently off the car.
The doors do not fit that well to be honest and there may be better ways to mount them. The wide original passenger door makes it awkward to carry passengers. I wouldn't cut my original door but if I could find another passenger door I would trim it down to give more elbow room. I think many original cars used a side repeater mounted in front of the headlight looks similar to an early Mini item, I If I can be of anymore help let me know.
Mark
 
Thanks Mark, I was considering your method as well, but think it might be a 2 step process. First, trim the inner shell to the dimensions of the outer shell so the inner shell fits the opening. Get it close, then tape or otherwise temporarily attach the outer skin to the inner skin so the final fitment can get the outer skin as close to filling the door opening and flush with the body as possible. One issue I have noted is that the inner door on the left side does not follow the cowl topside opening very accurately, so if I bond the panels together as they sit, I'll have a huge amount of fill needed to get the proper shape. I suspect I'll need to build up the inner panel in this area to mate with the proper location as defined by the outer shell. Once ot fits the opening closely, then finalize the hinge position holes. I have a set of pictures of the spring based hinges. They look relatively easy to create. You are right about the left side door intruding into the passenger compartment. That sill is HUGE in comparison to the drivers side. Could you be more specific on the Mini lamp? Here Stateside, the 59 to 67 Mini's that were legally imported had no side repeater, and the front repeater was the traditional "Beehive" style lamp which is much too large (tall) for use here. Did early UK mini's have side repeaters as well as the ones on the front fascia? Thanks for the info. I look forward to any pictures you wish to share. ron
 
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