How did I screw up this time?

[h3towel]

I am soooo close to finishing the car that will help me find wife number 2, but am having problems with the body. First off, both the passenger and driver roll bars are in, so the body must be in the correct position on the frame? Problem 1: When the hood hinge is bolted to the car, the hood won't sit flush on the body in the front. There is about a 1/4 inch lip. When I unbolt the hinge, it sits just fine. Problem 2: I feel like I'm having to sand away too much of the body to get the windshield in. It's the drivers side, and I need to expand it outwards and I'm afraid that windshield won't be centered. Problem 3: The passenger side pipe cut out was way too small. I cut out the template from the instructions, and needed to cut about 1/2 inch off the back of the hole. Even with this, my pipe doesn't fit like it should. It's having to be angled really far forward. I would be happy to send pictures or video to anyone who could possibly help. Help me Obiwan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

[Railroad]

Check the photos of the hinge assembly. The 2 parts, hood and frame pieces are easy to mate up wrong.
The hood piece goes under the mating frame part of the hinge. This should lower it to fit.
Sorry for no pics and poor description of parts.

[nuhale]

Couple questions were asked... If you think that body will meet chassis and all pre cut holes will line up perfect then you are mistaken. Lots of these issues can be worked out in body work. I wouldn't use the roll bar holes as primary alignment. There are many threads out there but I found Jeff Kleiners step by step is most beneficial including his rear coupler mod. Best method is to have the body sitting about 1/4" in front of the door striker mount which will/may require some trimming of the front cockpit roll over and aluminum pannels in the trunk. Again this is out there with details and pics.

I had to shim the body up using (2) 1/4" rubber strips at the front of the 3/4" top rail where it transitions down to front mounts. This props the body up to the correct height to get the hood to fit. The body is pretty good centered off the rear mounts. Measure off the shock frame mounts to get the front centered to chassis. The windshield slides in and may need to be shimmed on either side to be square to the frame. I found that I only needed 1/8" shim on PS.

This part of my build was frustrating but with a little patience, reading on the forum, consult with the Jeffmesiter I was able to get thru it. In hindsight wasn't a big deal.

Just wait til you have to fit the DS door! :)

[h3towel]

Thanks for the help. Jeff is going to do my body work and paint. Just waiting for him to give me the go ahead to ship the car up there.

[rich grsc]

I am soooo close to finishing the car that will help me find wife number 2, but am having problems with the body. First off, both the passenger and driver roll bars are in, so the body must be in the correct position on the frame? Problem 1: When the hood hinge is bolted to the car, the hood won't sit flush on the body in the front. There is about a 1/4 inch lip. When I unbolt the hinge, it sits just fine. Problem 2: I feel like I'm having to sand away too much of the body to get the windshield in. It's the drivers side, and I need to expand it outwards and I'm afraid that windshield won't be centered. Problem 3: The passenger side pipe cut out was way too small. I cut out the template from the instructions, and needed to cut about 1/2 inch off the back of the hole. Even with this, my pipe doesn't fit like it should. It's having to be angled really far forward. I would be happy to send pictures or video to anyone who could possibly help. Help me Obiwan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
Thats the real problem:rolleyes:

[AC Bill]

Thanks for the help. Jeff is going to do my body work and paint. Just waiting for him to give me the go ahead to ship the car up there.

Well then why even screw around with that stuff? Jeff will deal with that, when he does the bodywork. You might muck it up, so he has to do additional work..

[h3towel]

Well then why even screw around with that stuff? Jeff will deal with that, when he does the bodywork. You might muck it up, so he has to do additional work..

I just spoke to Jeff. It doesn't look like he will be able take the car until the end of the summer. I would like to be able to drive it around before then.

[Avalanche325]

I am soooo close to finishing the car that will help me find wife number 2.

The problem is that you should have bought a Mercedes. Most girls think these cars are cute.........until they ride in them. Most don't come back.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Josh,
Sounds like you have the nose too low with the underside of the body resting on the tubes at the front (where they angle down toward the bumper mounts.) If the front of the body is low you can’t adjust the hinges far enough downward without the forward arm hitting the tube above the radiator which prevents the front of the hood from coming down to meet the body. Since the hood can’t come down you have to bring the body up by shimming the nose up at the very front---I use two, sometimes three thicknesses of this rubber that is a little less than 1/4" thick and run it about 6" back on the rails. Here's a pic:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=132309&d=1593171081

I’ll send you the contact info for the transporter when I get back in the house this evening.

Cheers,
Jeff

[cv2065]

The problem is that you should have bought a Mercedes. Most girls think these cars are cute.........until they ride in them. Most don't come back.

So true!

[j.miller]

Get the nose up like they said. Don't trust the roll bars to locate the body. You need to put the body where it works then trim the holes for the roll bar. Make sure you have the body attached up under the doors on the sides (changes things). Windshield hole is no problem to enlarge. The cut outs from FFR aren't exact but they are a great starting point...da Bat

[CobraboyDR]

The problem is that you should have bought a Mercedes. Most girls think these cars are cute.........until they ride in them. Most don't come back.Truth.

They are "cute" until you scare the 0-60 bejeesuz out of them, and when they exit the sled in abject terror get a snake bite on the calf.

You want chicks? Get a Corvette or Porsche.

Want to raise your testosterone level and become the envy of every red-blooded male within a 100db range? Get a Cobra.

[Fixit]

Jeff is just finishing up #9365 for me as we speak.
I had a good 6 months to drive it, sort out the bugs, catch a few in my teeth & hair, and enjoy the car before delivering it to Indiana. Trust me, you'll love it, and Jeff will appreciate having a sorted out car, instead of something that barely runs/moves under it's own power.

Throughout my build process, anything involving the body fitment issues referred me back to a few phone conversations & emails I had with Jeff, the tips/tricks he related, and more importantly the "Don't do that" warnings...
I'll relay a few here (in no particular order):
- Front & Rear cockpit opening rolled edges - I trimmed off a good 3/8" on the front, and 1/4" on the rear. The visuals of the rolled edge aren't impacted, and allows for wiggle room of the body and no chance of rubbing on the dash or rear bulkhead.
- If you're going to do some type of coating on the underside of the body, mask off/stay away from any of the body openings by an inch.
- (as mentioned) The nose of the car needs to be raised, between 1/2" and 3/4". Some type of semi-hard rubber works well.
- In my case, the rear of the car literally just about fell into perfect position. I just had to open up the rear Q-jack/bumper holes a little bit.
- Windshield slots 1. From FFR they're in the ballpark, but not anywhere near the "no rubbing on the side-bars" fit you want.
- Windshield slots 2. The little aluminum firewall extension on the passenger side needs some lovin'. To get the windshield angle correct, the slot needs to be lengthened/deepend a bit.
- Windshield 3. In my case, the DS was flat against the mounting plate, and the PS needed about an 1/8" shim on the top bolt, 3/16" on the bottom. DO NOT "pull in" the side bars with the bolts! Shim as needed to take up the gap(s).
- Door trimming/fitting 1. Bolt the hinges on, but leave the all the fasteners barely snug. Wiggle/Push/Shove the door around until it fits (kinda) in the hole. Tape it in place. Gently snug down the fasteners.
- Door trimming/fitting 2. Un-tape the door, and mark it where there's interference. Sand off JUST ENOUGH material material to get about 1/8" gap to the body opening. Do Not fret about making the gaps even all the way around - that's the bodyman's job. You just want enough clearance for the doors to work without binding. The object here is to leave enough "meat" for the bodyman to work with, and not have to rebuild material needed later!
- Door trimming/fitting 3 - Plus body attachment. You may have to (read that probably/will) pull the body out at the lower rear of the door openings to get the doors to fit.
In my case there was about an 1/8" gap between the frame tube and where the rocker of the body (should) meet. Since my body was already sitting on the frame correctly, (again) don't use the fasteners to "pull" the body & frame together and torque things out of whack. I made some shims from sheet plastic stock, inserted them between the body & frame. I also slotted these attachment points to allow moving the body (wider/narrower) on the frame.
- Hood & Trunk Fitment 1. Lay the parts in the holes. Forget about hinges at this time. Make markings of interference, and (again) just sand off enough material to achieve about 1/8" clearance (at the tight spots) all around.
- Hood & Trunk Fitment 2. Now start to muck around with hinges. Be prepared for a LOT of back & forth, fudge this way/that way, frustration. Just get them to fit in the holes, and open/close without binding or scraping.
- Hood "bumpers". The only bumpers I used were the 4 that concealed the mounting screws for the hood latch "catches". The rest went to Jeff in a bag for him to fit during/after bodywork
- Trunk Latch & Gasket. As I was going to drive the car for +/- 6 months, I needed to seal & latch the trunk. Carefully cut & trim the trunk gasket (with the seam at the bottom center) and fit the latch mechanism. Try to get the trunk to "pull down" snug, but not needing a lot of force/twist on the handle.
- Roll Bar Holes. Once the doors/hood/trunk are fitted, then pay attention to the roll bar holes. The object is to have about 1/8 to 3/16 clearance all around, and have enough "meat" for the attachment screw of the grommets. Layout/Drill the attachment holes with a screwdriver in mind...
- Side Pipe cutouts. Again, FFR is in the ballpark, but they need a lot of sweetening. Again, keep tools in mind. You'll need to get an Allen wrench in there, and you don't want too tight a clearance due to heat and engine vibration. I think I wound up with between 3/8 and 1/2 inch all around.

Hope this helps.