ALC 68A
Donation Time
Wayne - most Alpine restorations begin with replacing the door sills, as these give the strength to the shell. If the sills are weak, the body will sag in the middle and the door gaps will be wrong. In severe cases, the top rear door gap will close up altogether.
The sills are a three layer box section design - the visible inner and outer panels and an internal centre diaphragm which is the strengthening member so that the welded seams top and bottom are three thicknesses of steel. The diaphragm always rots out along the bottom seam because water gets into the sills from inside the front wheel arches. The sills pass behind the front and rear wing panels, and tie together the ends of the X shaped cruciform strengthening member below the floor pans and also the bases of the A posts. However, as your floor pans are so heavily corroded, it is likely that the cruciform is also affected, together with the forward ends of the rear leaf spring mountings. I would check these carefully.
To repair your Alpine properly, I think you have a major restoration project that will take up a lot of your future Saturdays! It will require a complete strip down, the shell bracing, serious welding time and many panels replacing. Good luck!
The sills are a three layer box section design - the visible inner and outer panels and an internal centre diaphragm which is the strengthening member so that the welded seams top and bottom are three thicknesses of steel. The diaphragm always rots out along the bottom seam because water gets into the sills from inside the front wheel arches. The sills pass behind the front and rear wing panels, and tie together the ends of the X shaped cruciform strengthening member below the floor pans and also the bases of the A posts. However, as your floor pans are so heavily corroded, it is likely that the cruciform is also affected, together with the forward ends of the rear leaf spring mountings. I would check these carefully.
To repair your Alpine properly, I think you have a major restoration project that will take up a lot of your future Saturdays! It will require a complete strip down, the shell bracing, serious welding time and many panels replacing. Good luck!