Initial Body Fitment Check / opinions

[Morrisett]

Hey Gents,
Just put the body back on for the first time since disassemble to check the fitment (without bulb seal) to see if any changes needed to be done. Please feel free to critique and let my know your thoughts (Kliener & Miller opinions encouraged).

Overall I feel like it’s a good start but few things I see.
Back right side seems a bit high 1/4” as it’s hitting part of the passenger rear aluminum near door latch (trim as required)?
Upper door hinge hits body at full extension both sides (maybe I still need to pull the body forward more) I’ve trimmed the cowl and still have a little more to slide it forward more if need be.
How does the body at the door jamb strike look? About a 3/16 - 1/4” forward of the strike mount.
Front nose is hovering about 5/8-3/4” above the out rigger angle down turn. Both rocker panels slide under the frame fairly easily and pretty close to where ff originally secured them for shipping.
I have roughly 3-3/4” from the inside edge of the body to the frame at the rear QJ as directed in the manual
I’ve got a little contact at the left side breeze panel (trunk cubby). I suspect once the right is drop down it will be contact across the entire arc and will probably trim slight to allow for bulb seal room.
How are the dash ends suppose to terminate? Inboard of the door hinge attachment (drive side pic correct)?
Still need to trim the passenger side portion of the dash back as others have encountered to get it to arch back correctly.
My breeze hood hinges are hitting the body so I probably will have to slide the mount up on the out riggers so it clears correctly. Anyone else have any advice on these? The arms are very close to the radiator fins so I 160020160021160022160023160024don’t have much adjustments down.

I want to confirm next steps would be as follows. Remove body. Adjust at contact points. Install bulb seal (protect) and refit for fitment check. Move forward with Jeffs procedure (front / rear QJ, window shield install, doors, rockers secured, trunk and hood fitment.

Not the best at posting pics so forgive the disorder and disorientation.

[Morrisett]

160028160025160029160030160027More pics

[Norm B]

I will only make one suggestion the let the experts respond to the rest.

The bulb seal needs to be in place to get the body sit correctly. Making any decisions and changes without it there is a waste of time.

HTH

Norm

[Morrisett]

Understood, I had just read several builders did the first test fit without it to see where the aluminum might need to be trimmed or adjusted. Made sense to me that installing the bulb seal would hide that but realize it’s been done successfully both ways.

[egchewy79]

cut up some heavy duty trash bags and lay strips over the bulb seal and tape them in place. once you're happy, undo the tape and pull the plastic out. this helps save the bulbseal while you're doing multiple fittings/trimming.

[ggunter]

You want the body about 1/4" in front of the door striker bkt. It looks like you already have that so front to back your probably good. But put your bulb seal on and retry. How does it fit where your body rolls under the frame at the rocker area. Did you trim the roll under area at the dash and behind the seats by about a 1/4"? The door hinges are going to hit at this point, that's what your limiting straps are for.

[Morrisett]

Rockers slide under the frame relatively nicely. I did trim 1/4-3/8" off the front cowl at the dash. I haven't trimmed anything off the body roll behind the seats and seems to be fitting nicely as is but might need to add a little clearance for the carpet I imagine.
Pulled body and install bulb seal last night (protected with tape). I'll work on refitting this week. Seems I am still getting some body contact at the dash panel where it curves back on the ends (dash is 3/8" below the dash hoop mount on the ends). Does anyone have a picture of how these terminate? Is it suppose to follow the body or curve in more sharply behind the door hinge attachment point at the frame?

[Norm B]

For the dash I followed Jeff Kleiner's instructions and recurved the ends to just tuck behind the door hinges. The right side Breeze hood hinge interfered with the body so I used a sanding drum on a Dremel tool to sand a relief into the fibreglass. Make it a little bigger than the hinge arm so adjustments are possible.

HTH

Norm

[phileas_fogg]

I had a bear of a time getting the back right side of the body to fit. My first test fit with bulb seal I was at least an inch high, with big gaps between the aluminum & the body. After convincing myself that the rest of the body was right, I trimmed the aluminum A LOT. I think the root cause was improper fitment of the three aluminum panels that make up the rear cockpit wall. I riveted the side panels so that their edge lined up with the crease for the tab on the center panel. This resulted in the top of the rear wall being too wide.

A long way of saying, that if you find you need to trim the aluminum, trim it. You can always make a patch that will be covered in carpet if you trim too much.


John

[Norm B]

The front splash panels and the rear right side and trunk extension needed a little trimming. The splash panels are put on after the body is fitted for the last time and I trimmed them at the top in a couple of spots to make them seal to the body better with the bulb seal. The right rear was trimmed so the body could be pulled in a little to match the trunk lid better.
Everything else fit well.

HTH

Norm

[Morrisett]

Thanks Norm, I like that turn signal you have there. anyone happen to have the thread link for Jeff's write up on that (dash ends) and they body fitment? I read it at one time but having trouble pulling it back up.

[Norm B]

The forum search function isn't as good as it used to be. Try a Google search like "FFR roadster dash installation" or something similar. Might take you to the correct thread.

Norm