Body Misaligned in the front wheel well.

[bcski175]

We recently put our body on and after getting it secured (tucking the body under the 2x2 frame and everything like that...) and we put it on the quickjacks, the body was still 2 inches too far forward in the front wheel well. The back wheel well looks okay and is aligned. We haven't done an alignment on the tires yet but still the body shouldn't be this off in the front... The main issue is the tires can't turn without hitting the body, so something must be off.

Any thoughts?

[egchewy79]

Is the body sitting correctly to the frame? Should be just in front of the door strikers. Might need to trim the dash cowl to move it forward enough. Get alignment done for the front as this can dramatically shift the wheel in the opening. Lastly make sure car is off jack stands and at desired ride height as wheels will rub if up in the air

[michael everson]

The bodies are molded as one piece. There is no way yours can be that far off without all of them being that way.
Mike

[Presto51]

Pictures would help in the diagnosis, so we can see what your experiencing

Ron

[Jeff Kleiner]

Two things, both echoing what Chewy said:

The body should be positioned so that the door flange is around 1/4" forward of the latch striker tab (this usually requires cutting back the roll on the underside of the cowl):

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=130540&d=1571711049

Front end alignment will have a significant impact on the wheel position in the body opening. Similarly on a solid axle car the pinion angle will affect where the rear wheel sits in it's opening. Finally, the body wheel openings need to be trimmed to remove the excess, particularly the front edge on the front wheels.

Get the body in the right position, set ride height (and pinion angle if applicable) then do an initial alignment and I bet you'll find that things come into place

Good luck,
Jeff

[CraigS]

Pics would help a lot. Maybe you don't have them installed yet but the dash and the aluminum panel behind the seats locate the body front to rear. It fits in between them and there is usually little to no room for it to move. Usually the roll over at the dash needs to be trimmed so that the edge of the fiberglass isn't abrading the dash cover. It is also nice to trim it so there is a constant width gap between it and the dash.