AD DOOR FRAMES AND FITTINGS

[Steve Bryant]

Hello all,
I am in the process of putting the wooden framework together for the  doors of my AD van but sadly John Heath's instructions for these are VERY vague. The basic structures are easy enough to figure out but there is no information as to the location of the hole for the door handle and latch mechanism, wrapping the door in alloy etc. and whether the thicker door frames are flush with the surrounding body frame or sit proud of it etc.

If anyone has any information from John Heath on putting the doors together I  would be most appreciative to hear his instructions.

Thanks
Stephen

[Steve Bryant]

Well the penny dropped today and I understood how things are supposed to be. My AD 7 has doors that overlap the body so are not flush with the surrounding bodywork. This allows the door skin to be folded over a lip that is screwed around the door edge. This then sits on or very close to the body skin. It took a lot of picture study of other cars to confirm this.

Hopefully my drawing and photos will explain this. By the way the marker pen writing on the wood was John Heath's!
Cheers, Stephen
   
   
   
   
   

[duncan]

Disclaimer: I know nothing about the construction of Austin doors.
The link below shows the commercial manufacture process of coachbuilt overlap doors. The poster is ex-Morgan Motor Company so accurate for that marque.
https://youtu.be/rhcxC-824f8?si=DOGrs2QeTrFHQBtZ

[Howard Wright]

Hi Steve

Glad to see you making good progress on the van.

The AD Chummy, which I assume is the base vehicle for your van, had doors with edge beading. The door timbers were 3/4” thick and fitted flush with the bodywork.  A T shaped 3/4” half round bead was fitted to the door edge running all around the sides and bottom of the door.  The aluminium skin folded over the top of the door but I’m not sure if it folded over the sides and bottom. 

I built two new doors for my AD van and talking with Dave Prior I think my construction accorded with theirs. I pinned the aluminium to the face of the door with the pin heads covered by the beading. My van in no way resembles the Startin van on which, I guess, the Heath van is based but I think the doors are identical to AD Chummies.


  IMG_4428.jpeg (Size: 111.04 KB / Downloads: 62)

It may well be that the Heath van had overlapping door skins on a wider frame.

Cheers

Howard

[Steve Bryant]

Howard, my doors are not the same style as yours, being plain with no raised edge. They are basically flat withe edges turned and clenched over.
   
   
Stephen