British Motor Heritage Shell On 9/11/91 I paid £2235.00 for my dream car, and within a few weeks it arrived. As you can imagine I was a very happy person and looked forward to the day when I could start work on it. Unfortunately due to work commitments and a back injury I wasn't able to start looking at the shell straight away. When I did this is what I found.
May I draw your attention to the BMH sales leaflet where it states and I quote you here "Electropheretically Painted - All bodies are supplied ready for your colour coat application having been phosphate, electropheretically dipped, seam sealed and primed."
So bearing in mind the quote I found the following:-
1, rust coming through undercoat paint throughout the shell.
2, rust coming through undercoat and coating on inside of wings.
3, behind the structure of bonnet no paint just lots of rust.It was also stated this will replace the original body, so why did I have these problems
1, no drain holes in the battery tray. Like they don't rust fast enough!
2, no brackets or alternately holes for affixing the starter solenoid.
3, nuts welded on in such a position that you can't get bolts through them.
4, throttle peddle assembly could not be fitted
5, rear lights have large gaps below them.
6, no holes for the dash bracesAlso
1, footwell floors were covered with anti-drum pads which had ripples over 3/4" high.
2, anti-drum padding on the tunnel was hanging in pieces.
3, lots of MIG overshot.
4, lots of lethal edges.
5, places that should be, yet have not been, welded covered with sealant. This being most worrying on the cross member where under the sealant there's an 1/8" gap between tunnel X member and no weld just sealant.
6, spot welds on the edge of panels so they blow the metal away.
7, where 3 pieces should be welded, often one piece is positioned wrong and missed the weld
8, an extra square hole in the transmission tunnel by the gear stick opening, for which no-one has an explanation
9, ripple in the floor panel where the forward rear spring carrier bolts in.
After a visit from MD David Bishop it was also explain to me that the brake assembly cut-out position was moved inboard by an inch. This only came to light when he saw I was in the process of modifying the pedals. Which raises the point that perhaps some sort of documentation should be given with each chassis explaining the exact build. He also told me that I should check that the front suspension fitted properly as some went out wrong. On a visit to the factory I was told the shell was built to a price and it wouldn't be economic to produce the shell I thought I was buying. I was also told if I complain too much I'd ruin it for everyone as if BMW got too many complaints they would close the place!!
He also said when I'd finished what I was doing (modifing and rewelding the shell) they would pay to have the shell sand blasted and reprimed and put it back on the jig to make sure it was straight. And he also sent me a pair of replacement wings and bonnet and a pair of new wishbones and a catalogue for my troubles.
The shell appears to be made from at least 1275 and 1500 parts and to have been welded by someone who either wasn't interested in the job or didn't know what they were doing, as an example when I went to the factory I was told if they'd been doing sprite/midget that day I could have had a go at a few welds myself!!!!The newer shells are at least galvanised now so shouldn't rust like mine did. Talking to other owners I'm one of the lucky ones, many have had their shells painted before trying to fit parts.
Update - 9 years on and still not on the road yet
19:11:00 - I am now now at the point where I need to get the shell blasted, I've tried getting the sealant/underseal off to check whats going on underneath, and the bits I've done are worrying, missing welds, rust under the underseal etc. I've tried alsorts to get it off but it's very hard work so I'm contacting BHM to see if they'll honour they're earlier promises.22:01:01 - Well it's been 2 months and still BHM hasn't even had the courtesy to reply to my inquiry! I guess that says it all !!!
Watch this space !I bought a bare heritage shell for my midget back in December 98, and have yet to finish it!
Tales from Other People
I found most of the problems you found including:
Holes which did not line up
Captive nuts which were either not there, or broke away
Large gaps under the rear light fittings
Windcreen mounting which had to be butchered to get the screen in and which I still cannot line up with the quarterlight frame
Drivers door which is a very tight fit and will probably need some metal work to make it fit properly
Rear shockabsorber mounting out of alignment
I was unfortunate to have sprayed the shell before I found these various problems.
I hope to finally complete the project ready for this summer after a lot of cursing.
If you've got a BMH shell or have any stories of one, click here and let me know good or bad I'm interested