SM: Preparation for the body work

2007 has been pretty calm for this restoration because I’ve been mainly busy on my other SM. But I gave the fenders and the driver side door to a sheet metal specialist and he offered me to find other fenders and doors, which he did. I don’t have pictures for now, but these parts are in pretty good shape and need only minor sheet metal work. I hope these parts will be ready for spring 2008.

During January 2008, with a huge delay regarding my initial planning, I start preparing the body parts I have for the paint work, hoping it will happen this year. I plan to give the body and all body parts to the shop, so I think that the best way to do so is, temporary, putting back everything on the body.

I currently have in my hands the passenger door (new), the rear hatch and the engine hood. I start with the rear hatch. The goal is to remove the glass and then put the hatch back onto the body.

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I start by trying to remove the trim pieces

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I need to cut the sealing between glass and trim pieces, and then between trim pieces and the hatch itself

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The result is not nice, nothing barely moves and it damages the hatch, hopefully it will get a new paint

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I go ahead with a air powered cutting tool, to try to remove the glass with the trim pieces still in place

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But it doesn’t work, the glass moves but the trim pieces still sticks to the hatch and avoid removal. So I try a cutting steel wire

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With a wooden piece, I push one of the trim pieces joint

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With a little screwdriver, I remove all sealing in the area and I install the wire through

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But the wire brakes after only a few centimetres, and does so multiple times

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After some time for reflection, I decide to sacrifice the trimming pieces to remove the glass

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I can remove some of them, which probably will not be reusable…

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… but on the left side, I can’t remove them, they are blocked by the glass and too well sealed

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I even tried to brake the glass, but I didn’t succeed 😉

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I eventually succeeded in removing the glass by leaving the remaining trimming pieces into place

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Even without the glass, I had to use a cutting wire to remove the trimming

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Finally, I just have to grease the holders, nicely zinc plated, to put the hatch back onto the body

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And here is the hatch temporary back into place

I’m not proud of this result! The trimming pieces mounting is that it seems not possible to remove them without damage. But the Citroen documentation just say that they should be released before the glass itself. The best solution certainly was to remove them with the glass and then separate them from the glass, but I don’t know why I’ve not been able to cut the sealing correctly with a cutting steel wire. This sealing was extremely hard and sticky, it caused me a lot of troubles. Everything seemed so simple on the documentation 😉

After this bad experience with the rear hatch, I go ahead with the passenger door. I’m alone, so I have to pay attention not to damage anything when putting it back onto the body.

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I start by preparing the holders and the associated bolts

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I put the “female” holder pieces onto the body

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I finally put both parts of the superior holder onto the door, because the shape of the door doesn’t allow inserting the axle afterward

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Then I use my crane to lift and present the door

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It all goes well but it’s a bit stressful

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Here is the door in its place. I don’t do any fine adjustment because it’s only temporary and the car is in stands

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I’ll have to put back the door lock to have a correct standing point for the rear of the door

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This time I’m happy with the result 😉

It was the beginning of the preparation work. If everything goes well, I should be able to get the fenders and the other door for April (2008). I will then be able to go ahead and finally plan the paint work.