Body mounting

[ggunter]

Planning to mount the body this weekend and want to understand what role the quick jack bolts play other than centering the car left to right. I see no attaching points of them other then going through the body. I see the body attaches at the front turn signal mounts, under the rocker panel along the frame, and the rear view mirror mounts. Does the body mount anywhere along the frame rails in the engine compartment? I think it just sits on foam there, correct? I assume the windshield holds down some. What attaches the rear of the car? The manual shows different length spacers on the rear quick jacks sandwhiching the body with washers. All my spacers on the rear are one piece. Should I cut them to length?

[nuhale]

There are a TON of posts on this subject. A quick search will pop up many threads and point you in the right direction. I highly recommend the Jeff Kleiner method and exclude the "C" mounts on the front that meet the body at the front signals.

The quick jack bolts up front hold the body in side to side position. Using the Kleiner method the body really doesn't sit on anything in the front other than the quick jack mounts thru some rubber grommets in place of the hardware FFR provides. I used some 1/4" x 3/4" rubber strips where the 3/4" tube angles down by radiator with body just sitting on them. At very least the coupler system in the rear is a must as it's near impossible to get at the bolts.

[jrcuz]

I believe Mr. Kleiner eliminates the brackets on the front turn signals because he has seen them cause cracks around the lights
JR

[CraigS]

You have the option up front. Either the light mount brackets FFR provides or the quick jacks w/ rubber grommets. Other than those the body sits on the seal on top of the firewall, two fasteners under each rocker panel, then the rear quick jacks. A note on the front mounts; it is quite common for the quick jack frames to be off a bit left or right. So look at them after the body is sitting to see if they need a bit of massaging. Measure from the front top shock mount to the edge of the fender flare and try to get those equal L and R.

[ggunter]

Are the 3/4 top engine rails a good let to right reference and are the turn signal mounts a good reference for front to rear?

[j.miller]

Kliener and I both use 5/8- 3/4 spacers (K's are rubber I use plywood) on top of the 3/4 tube just next to the hood hinge bracket. This take the weight off the Q-jack tubes and holds the nose at a good height . I'm not a fan of the C bracket...….before Kliener chimes in,,, I do use an anti termite treatment on my plywood ...da Bat

[nuhale]

Nope. If you attempt to find symmetry in this step you will go insane. My experience was more of an eyeball approach.

Front to rear is pretty simple. Make sure the door striker plate sits about 1/4" behind the fiberglass.

I measured the L/R from the shock tower mounts out to a plumb bob off the fender. Got it pretty close. After done and alignment done I noticed my DS tire out more than PS. I have mine in the garage now getting it adjusted as I was off somehow. Again same process with a little more eye to make sure the body over the tires even (I had professional alignment and my tires are perfect). The DS sits about flush with hood mount plate welded to the 3/4" tube. I preferred the grommet method with full length tube so the front really isn't fastened anywhere. Once the rockers are locked down it's pretty secure. I did use some 1/4" x 1" rubber strips at the front 3/4" tube where it meets the front of the hood opening on both sides. This propped it up perfect. Note that you may need to adjust the front arms slightly to get the L/R correct. It doesn't seem right but the best method is a sledge hammer and a 2x4. Couple good wacks on the end get them to move where they need to. Once this is all set start the doors... :)

Somewhere there is a pretty good step by step write up by Mr. Jeff K that should be put in the damn manual...

[Peeker]

Craig,

When you say the quick jack mounts may be off a little, are you talking about the 3/4” tube that comes down at approx a 45 degree angle from the area where the radiator mount is and the quick jacks connect? Also, are you saying if looking at the front of the car, they may be off left to right? I ask because I just put my body on. The passenger side where the quick jacks mount have plenty of clearance but my drivers side is touching the body right near where the brake duct is. I’m wondering if grinding a bit of that off and/or bending the entire bracket towards the center of the car would work. I really don’t want to grind since it is powder coated.

Thanks,
Ed

[edwardb]

Craig,

When you say the quick jack mounts may be off a little, are you talking about the 3/4” tube that comes down at approx a 45 degree angle from the area where the radiator mount is and the quick jacks connect? Also, are you saying if looking at the front of the car, they may be off left to right? I ask because I just put my body on. The passenger side where the quick jacks mount have plenty of clearance but my drivers side is touching the body right near where the brake duct is. I’m wondering if grinding a bit of that off and/or bending the entire bracket towards the center of the car would work. I really don’t want to grind since it is powder coated.

Thanks,
Ed

The front QJ frames (sometimes called frame "horns") can be off left-to-right. With the body lined up left-to-right by measuring the wheel lips against a fixed point on the frame, as suggested, sometimes the QJ bolts holes will not line up. Or even interfere as you noted. They bend left-to-right pretty easily. I used a 2x4 block held against the frame and a dead blow hammer or even a light sledge. Couple of bumps and they move pretty easily. I've only done it with the body off, although maybe could be done with the body still on.

[ggunter]

The bodies on these cars are so flimsy its like trying to drape a jelly fish over a clothes line. This weekend I'll try to fit it, maybe it won't be as bad as it looks in my head... maybe worse. The chassis was a joy to build. I hope the body doesn't turn into a "kit car nightmare". I think I'm over thinking this... If anyone knows where a good thread on mounting these is I would like to read it. Please post if you know.

[Jeff Kleiner]

The bodies on these cars are so flimsy its like trying to drape a jelly fish over a clothesline... I think I'm over thinking this... If anyone knows where a good thread on mounting these is I would like to read it. Please post if you know.

Do you have the cockpit brace in? {{{My buddy da' Bat isn't a fan but I use 'em}}} That helps stiffen things up; I put bodies on and pull them off by myself all the time. As for threads, both Miller and I have contributed a bunch to other's build posts and body fitting questions but I can't cite any of them specifically...maybe somebody who is more organized and keeps track of such things will post some up but otherwise I'd have to find them the same way you can by searching with our usernames and terms like "fitting" "striker" "mounts", etc.

A few quick constants, some of which have already been mentioned:
---As Miller said he nose needs to be 1/2" or so above the tubes at the front
---I don't use the "horseshoes" (C bracket) between the chassis and turn signal lamps any more
---Trim the cowl roll lip 3/8" or so
---The inside edge of the door jamb needs to be ~ 1/4" forward of the striker tab
---Center the front of the body based on measurements from the wheel well edge to the shock tower, NOT the tubing surrounding the engine compartment.
---Life will be easier if you use my coupler mod at the rear and use threaded rod with nuts on the inside, not the tubular spacers (I know that I've written up a thread on this which will turn up in a search using "coupler" in the title).

Let us know if you get stuck.

Cheers,
Jeff

[CraigS]

EdwardB covered well the QJ mounts and left to right alignment. I will just add this. Think about the frame w/o the body and people needing to move it around, at FFR, onto and off the truck, in the garage etc. If you tug on them at the front end they can easily move 1/4-1/2 inch sideways and the person may not even notice it. OTOH, vertically they are pretty strong. Overall, as I mentioned, the front left to right should be set by measuring fender opening edge to top shock mount. Nothing else matters. One further thought. While it may seem, when looking at just the QJ or park light mounts, that the front isn't located and locked down real well. But all the mounts together add up to quite adequate body mounting. To add strength, slot the holes in the underside of the rocker panels (slot oriented left to right) where FFR has two screws per side. Then ditch the screws and use bolts w/ nice wide fender washers. As you get into aligning the doors you will find that pulling the rocker area in/out (especially driver side) will be a huge help. And once that adjustment is done and the bolts tightened, these 4 bolts really help lock the body into position.

[j.miller]

The front QJ frames (sometimes called frame "horns") can be off left-to-right. With the body lined up left-to-right by measuring the wheel lips against a fixed point on the frame, as suggested, sometimes the QJ bolts holes will not line up. Or even interfere as you noted. They bend left-to-right pretty easily. I used a 2x4 block held against the frame and a dead blow hammer or even a light sledge. Couple of bumps and they move pretty easily. I've only done it with the body off, although maybe could be done with the body still on.


Yes,Yes,Yes. I seem to need to move driver side 1/2in inboard and pass side 1/4-1/2 outboard on all of them...da bat

[ggunter]

Jeff you mentioned the cockpit brace? I have not seen that term anywhere before. What is it? Are you talking about the piece of wood laid front to back to keep the rear from flexing so much when you lift, then yes I have and use that. I also put the body on and off by myself using ropes and pulleys hung from the ceiling and a method I saw here with Electrical conduit bent and zip tied to the door hinges to spread the body flanges over the frame. That works great and thanks to who ever posted that little trick. I have trimmed the front and rear cockpit rolled flanges so I have a good bit of fore and aft movement if needed. I have had the body on and off before and a quick look at how it sat and appearance around the tires looked good, but that was with no doors. I am going to test fit and put the doors on this weekend and see where I'm at. I've been looking at windshield threads and see that's no picnic to get in and tighten the drivers side attaching bolts. I would love to hear any tricks for that. Someone said thread the posts with 1/2 tap for fitment purposes then do the lock nut after everything is where you want it. Is that worth doing? I want to thank everyone who has posted here to try and help, it's what I love about this forum is that everyone here has done one or more of these cars and the talents here are remarkable.

[AC Bill]

I see the body attaches at......and the rear view mirror mounts.

I don't believe the mirror mount as an attachment point is used by many builders any more. The mirror is now commonly attached to the top of the windshield frame, for better visibility.

[ggunter]

To be honest I never looked a the mirror I was looking at the manual and it showed mounting on the dash .

[CraigS]

If you don't want to buy a 1/2 coarse thread tap, just throw away the lock nuts and buy 8 standard nuts. This way, while you do you 10 trial fits, you can thread 4 of them on by hand and use a wrench for just the last turn or two. Once you have the w/s installed for the last time thread the other 4 nuts on as jam nuts.

[ggunter]

I've seen a lot on the windshield fitment from bending the arms to fit and spacers up to an inch wide. I haven't opened the windshield box yet but if its that far off I would think FFR would make some mount changes for a more precise fit.

[Jeff Kleiner]

ggunter,
Yes, when I said cockpit brace (AKA spreader) I was referring to the temporary wood piece between the front and rear.

I prefer to tap the posts because that way you don't have to deal with a nut at all.

Not sure where you got the idea that an inch worth of spacers may be required; I usually end up with none on the driver's side and 1/8" to 3/16" on the passenger side.

Jeff

[ggunter]

I was looking at a MKIII youtube video where he had almost an inch of spacers, and another guy was bending the posts to make them fit. Most all of this car seems to be fairly well thought out by FFR. I'll just try my fit this weekend before I say much more. If I have a problem I'll be back on here Monday asking for help.

[ggunter]

I installed the body this weekend and it went fairly well. QJ bolts all lined up front and rear, I can't imagine trying to get the QJ bolts in the rear and put nuts on them. The coupling nut is a great idea. I got the original screws in the FFR holes under the rocker panels. Bolted on the doors and started fitting the right door, I can see I will have to move the body out a bit under the door to get the correct spacing. Mounted the truck lid and see there I will have to remove material off the bottom edge to get it to lay down. It will take some time to get everything properly gapped but I'll get it.

[ggunter]

Installed the windshield this weekend and it was a non event, just had to open up the holes in the body a bit and finesse the frame screws a bit because they didn't line up. I did thread the left hand post with a 1/2 fine thread and that made life easy. only needed a 1/8 shim in the left hand post. I made a fixture from a 2x4 to hold the windshield at the 27" measurement. Everything lined up and got my 27" measurement. I have watched some you tube videos and listened to horror stories of how terrible it was to install but I sure can't say that...Piece of cake. Now to gap and adjust the doors.

[mlewis]

Hi all,

Resurrecting this tread as it is very timely and informative.

I did do some searching on the forum for my question before posting (note that my searching skills are limited to my patience :))

I am following all of the advice found on fitting/adjusting (including the great summary by Jeff):


A few quick constants, some of which have already been mentioned:
---As Miller said he nose needs to be 1/2" or so above the tubes at the front
---I don't use the "horseshoes" (C bracket) between the chassis and turn signal lamps any more
---Trim the cowl roll lip 3/8" or so
---The inside edge of the door jamb needs to be ~ 1/4" forward of the striker tab
---Center the front of the body based on measurements from the wheel well edge to the shock tower, NOT the tubing surrounding the engine compartment.
---Life will be easier if you use my coupler mod at the rear and use threaded rod with nuts on the inside, not the tubular spacers (I know that I've written up a thread on this which will turn up in a search using "coupler" in the title).

I can't seem to move the body forward to get the target 1/4" at the striker plate/tab. It seems to be hanging up at the bottom lip on the trunk floor at the back end of the car. Before I cut some relieve, just wanted to confirm this this is a typical area of interference or If I need to looks around a bit more.

fitting this body is a learn as you go process ...

Mark

[egchewy79]

Hi all,

Resurrecting this tread as it is very timely and informative.

I did do some searching on the forum for my question before posting (note that my searching skills are limited to my patience :))

I am following all of the advice found on fitting/adjusting (including the great summary by Jeff):



I can't seem to move the body forward to get the target 1/4" at the striker plate/tab. It seems to be hanging up at the bottom lip on the trunk floor at the back end of the car. Before I cut some relieve, just wanted to confirm this this is a typical area of interference or If I need to looks around a bit more.

fitting this body is a learn as you go process ...

Mark

correct, you might need to trim the horizontal lower lip of the trunk panel as well as the vertical side curved panels a bit to get the body forward enough. also check the cowl lip that overlaps the dash as this might hold you up from moving the body forward.

[phileas_fogg]

I had to trim all three areas Chewy listed, some more than others, but nothing more than 1/4" - 3/8".


John

[mlewis]

Thanks both. Wanted to confirm before I cut.

All panels are already PC'd, I believe all edges get bulb seal, correct (?) so the resulting cut edges will be concealed.

[egchewy79]

Thanks both. Wanted to confirm before I cut.

All panels are already PC'd, I believe all edges get bulb seal, correct (?) so the resulting cut edges will be concealed.

correct. won't see the cut edges once bulb seal is installed.

[Sweetx3]

Yes,Yes,Yes. I seem to need to move driver side 1/2in inboard and pass side 1/4-1/2 outboard on all of them...da bat

Hello, I had the same issue with the left or right lineup with these front horns. My issue now is the vertical distance to have the front of the body mount on the QJ bolts. I understand that it’s recommended to have the body about a half an inch above the frame rails. And several folks use rubber and wood to relieve the stress.

With my body, however I’m looking at having to pick the nose up 1.25” which seems to put way too much stress of the body where the windshield is mounted. Has anyone had to bend these horns down to get the appropriate alignment. I have the body on with 3/16” from the latch plate to the inside edge of the door jam, and the windshield installed., i’ve been using Jeff’s recommended progression for getting the body set up.

I’m also using rubber grommets and the right size stainless steel sleeves.

[Jeff Kleiner]

That’s just normal droop. Raise it up, insert the sleeves and bolts, tighten them and you’ll be good.

Jeff

[Sweetx3]

Thanks Jeff- bolting it down this evening