Initial body fit [Archive] - Factory Five Forums

phileas_fogg

06-26-2023, 10:25 AM

Here are the notes I've amassed over several years. Note that I stopped collecting information ~2019.

John

FITTING MK4 BODY..by da Bat Jeff Miller

You start with the rear quick jacks and that shoves the body forward and elevates the rear of the body where it needs to be (no bulb seal on top of the rear cockpit bulkhead). Driver side, make sure the door opening is pulled forward enough (just in front of the square tube that the latch peg attaches. Fasten the under body lip (at the front down from the door hinge post) to the frame with #12 X1in self tapper(make sure the body is pushed in as tight as it will go. Now do the rear but pull the body out 3/4 in and secure with self tapper. Pass side is the same except both front and rear are pushed all the way in. The body floating above the square tube is as it should be.

don't trim the doors until the rear Q-jacks are on and a two self tappers per side (one under the front edge of the door and one 4" forward of the rear wheel opening) Pass side you push in as far as you can, Driver side, the body under the front of the door opening gets pushed in but at the back you want to pull out about an inch...da bat
ALSO:

I've done another Mk3 and found it to be exactly the same---after seeing how many other forum builders had the identical situation I wasn't surprised. I was surprised to find that it still existed when I did a very early Mk4. I tried the hinge manipulation as well but it was futile. You've got to make the door meet the body at 4 areas in both the horizontal and vertical axis. If you get the lower front and lower rear aligned with the body the cowl intersection goes wonky. Make the lower front and two top corners of the door meet the body and the lower rear is out farther than you can pull the body. Get the uppers and the lower rear of the door good and that leaves the front lower corner in and the chassis frame members won't let you push the body in far enough to make the intersection flush. In the end the consensus is that having to do the bodywork to correct the mismatch at the lower front corner of the door is the lesser of all evils. I just adjust the door position to get the other 3 intersections as close as possible and roll with it, barely giving it a second thought anymore.

Cheers,
Jeff
POST BY JEFF
RE: Quick Jacks
Get rid of the washers between the angle cut tubes, open the holes so the tubes go through the body (butt the angles of the tubes together)...when you are ready for bodywork, order just the front grommets from Finish Line and open the holes to fit the grommets.......When fitting the body start at the back with the quick jacks (that pushes the body forward) Pass side, push the body all the way as far as you can and attach with a #12 self tapper 3in in front of the rear fender flair and another even with the leading edge of the door....on the driver side, pull the body out 3/4 to 1in and attach the back then push the body in as far as it will go under the leading edge of the door opening and attach.......now do the front Q/Js.........and before you do all this trim the bottom lip of the cockpit rolled edges (front and back ) We have a lot of cars coming into the shop with the cockpit edge digging into the dash and limiting forward movement of the body......cut two inches off the end of the Pass side of the dash and hand roll it toward the firewall. Hand roll driver side. Make sure body is not sitting on the dash.....If you mount the dash so that you can see a 16th to an 8th in" of the top of the 3/4 tube at the outside ends you will be good to go...da Bat

Looking at your pics....pretty normal. One side is closer than the other....it does look like your body may need to come a bit more forward....one place to check this is at the door opening where the striker bolts to the tab...your rear door edge of the body should be just a bit forward of where the tab is welded to the 3/4 tube (even with will work but best just an 16th to 8th forward........if all this is a bit "UNCLEAR" give me a call and I'll talk you through it.....Shop # 951-676-0191

Fitting the doors (http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-factory-five-roadsters/567009-driver-door-fitment.html):
There is a spacer that goes behind the door latch.
Here’s a few things most guys don't realize. A. If you hold the latch in your hand and retract the handle you will notice the tip of the pin is not all the way retracted....File the tip down until it goes into "full hide mode". 2. The hole in the dove tail is too small, the pin won't fully set (you can see this when holding both latch and receiver (latched together) and looking at the detent on the pin that the handle pulls the pin back with....drill out the dove tail so the pin fully seats. D. (everyone knows this) Get rid of the visible spring on the latch handle, there is another spring in the pin slot to get the job done......lastly, lube the latch pin and the round thingy that you put the bolt through for the latch repair ( I like Tri Flow).....that's all I have to say about that...da Bat

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/5297025-post2.html: Put the bulb seal on before trying to fit the body. You'll need to trim the underside roll of the cowl about 1/4" so that it doesn't contact the dash and prevent it from moving forward enough. While you're at it straighten out and clean up the roll at the back of the cockpit too. More than likely you'll need to trim the rearmost edge of the trunk floor and possibly the back of the trunk side panels to allow the rear valance to move in to meet the deck lid edge. When the body is in the right place the flange around the door openings will be just ahead of the striker tab on the chassis as shown here:

Yes the front QJs hold the nose up. Don't know whether you have the full length sleeves or two piece angle cut spacers. In either case raise the front of the body as you put them into position. You need 3/4" or so between the underside of the body and the very front of the square tubing (before it turns down to the QJ mounts). If you don't get the nose high enough you'll have trouble with the hood and hinges.

Good luck,
Jeff

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-factory-five-roadsters/569362-3link-centering-rear-wheels.html Post #9: Check the front body position by picking a fixed point on the front suspension mounting and measure to the edge of the wheel well lip on each side. I typically use the upper shock mount and it will be in the 17-18 inch range on each side. Adjust the body front on the QJ bolts to get it centered. If your tires are still off center, check your alignment.

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-factory-five-roadsters/618786-mk4-body-fitment-check.html Post #2: as far as being too far forward, look at the front of the hood opening and see if the hood jamb return is an equal distance from the square tubing above the hood hinge mount. If the opening is even or very close you are good. If the body needs to swing a bit (takes very little) take your quick jacks off, unscrew the self tappers on the side that needs to go back and adjust, self tappers back in, rear quick jacks on.....now go to the front and see how your holes line up for the Q-Js....what you will most likely find is that the driver side holes don't line up...(the solution) use a 2x4 about 3ft long and going through the wheel well set it against the tubing outrigger at the front and whack it with a 5lbs sledge to drive it over. (most times about 3/4 in to 1in) to line up....don't pull the body, move the outriggers.