Riley RMA
Riley rear end is wobbly so Theo and Danny get stuck in…
The bottom of the C-pillar on a Riley RM is a well-known haven for enthusiastic and easilly-hidden, corrosion. After sitting under a dripping roof for 10 years my RMA had plenty of unpleasent issues on display once the wings were off and carpets up. I hoped I would get away with a small patch and a nicely made inner wing panel. But, oh no. Time to get fabricating, time to call Theo Gillam.
Luckily Theo was free and happy to join me in sunny Cambridgeshire for a spot of metal fettling and forming. One thing I have learned over the years is don’t put a sticking plaster on a gaping wound… and so we assessed the magnitude of what RMA’S rotten hidden corners and decided to measure up, cut it all out and remake. Gulp.
Theo had brought with him a variety of homemade metal forming devices, most of which he made himself. If you were reading the magazine through 2015 and 2016 you will have seen his marvellous creations: English wheel, folder and cutter… his angle grinder stand is a thing of eternal beauty, I could look at it for hours.
Now they were in my shed and we were carefully taking measurements, cutting and forming new panels before removing the filth from the areas concerned. Theo is good for me. My instinct is to go in hard and fast, remove metal and then make do and mend. Theo is more methodical. He takes twice the the time I would but does a job that is twice as good. The offside
‘Theo set to work with his homemade machines of many wonders’
C-pillar bottom had already suffered from my attention. Theo’s first job was to work out what needed to be made to replace the metal that now wasn’t there. CAD (cardboard aided design) was employed along with judiciuous checking of the intact nearside piller bottom.
Theo set to work with his machines of many wonders and I started cleaning up edges, tack welding and testing the panels and patches required to remake the inner wing to floor, pillar and sill joins. It is a complex area to rebuild so, as an experienced RM restorer, Theo’s presence was a serious help.
Under the sill we found some wood rot. Not a lot, but the rear 10 inches of the sill plank were crumbly. I didn’t have an ash repair section to hand so I grabbed a seasoned oak offcut from the wood used to build my barn and fashioned it into shape.
Digging deeper we found the rear chassis to body mount had seen better days, so it was out with the measuring rule, before setting to work cutting, stretching and folding. It makes sense learning to form your own panels. It doesn’t take long once you know what you are doing and saves time and money (And you feel good about it afterwards).
Time to get busy
I left Theo to weld between my tacks and started to prepare the many panels and outer body parts for transportation to the paint shop. Once again my painter of choice would be John Spencer, who painted my Triumph 2000. He is a genius with cellulose, but has just teamed up with business partner Paul who also does 2K jobs. I was going to go for a straight respray in black for my RMA, nothing fancy. The question was, 2K or Cellulose? John would previously have said cellulose all the way, but Paul can work wonders. He has the ability to make 2K look original; not too plastic. So maybe I will take the chance. My instincts are to go for the older paint system. Back in my car cave the beautifully made inner wing panels were
now in place with the wing lip to boot floor join plug and seam welded. I made the rear finishing side panel templates from an old cereal packet and after Theo nibbled the shape out of virgin steel and joggled the edge it was welded into place.
Once the new sill end was glued and screwed into place the cover sill was carefully tacked over it (with me on fire watch) and then the inner sill, floor section, inner wing and wheelarch finisher were all welded into place, datum measurements being taken regularly.
Suddenly it was complete and I was grinding welds to finish it off. Before the chassis black paint went on the outer wing was offered up to the inner panels and securing hole positions marked out and drilled.
Then I grabbed a van and took all the outer panels to Ripley in Derbyshire so John could start bare metalling and preparing each one for paint. I deconstructed the nearside front wing for him but left the offside to do in his workshop. 67 years of corrosion had left the nuts firmly stuck on their threads – even XCP couldn’t shift most of them – but hot tools sorted it. Apart from the holes the wings were in tip top condition. The aftermarket indicators and radio aerial had been removed and John offered to weld them up before starting the process of creating curvy black loveliness. Pictures next time… you can tell me then whether or not you think I went for cellulose or not. The rest of my fleet has changed a bit with Betty the Subaru now living with Bert Youell and my Rover 216 GSI at Craig Cheetham’s place. The Viceroy project is now elsewhere as well. That happened as soon as I saw the Riley rot. I am plus one Jeep Grand Cherokee Orvis and a super-rare Mazda 626 coupé. As for the Jensen… more next time, too.