Body Fitment - Initial

[maclonchas]

As I prepare to get the body on the car for the first time (I know first of many),

My plan is to do the following:

1.Trim the underside return of the cowl roll ~¼” for clearance to the dash (Leather Dash)

2.Drop the body over the chassis and send it forward so that the body's door flange is just ahead of the chassis' striker tab, about ¼”

3.Check the rearmost lip of the trunk floor aluminum to see if it comes in hard contact with the body below the trunk opening and trim as needed

4. Using Kleiner’s coupler mod at the rear with threaded rod and nuts on the inside, run all-thread through the body and into the rear couplers

5. Center the front of the body. Measure from the front top shock mount to the edge of the fender flare and get these as close L and R as possible.

7. Locate the nose. Nose spacing above ¾” tubes using ½” - ⅝” spacers on top of the ¾” tube just next to the hood hinge bracket.
Fitting the Metco Rubber Grommets in the front Quick Jack holes looks like it will require those holes to be enlarged. Is that right?

Thanks

Bill

[GoDadGo]

7. Locate the nose. Nose spacing above ¾” tubes using ½” - ⅝” spacers on top of the ¾” tube just next to the hood hinge bracket.
Fitting the Metco Rubber Grommets in the front Quick Jack holes looks like it will require those holes to be enlarged. Is that right?



Yes, the nose spacing floats above the 3/4" square tubes.
Jeff Kleiner places rubber spacers up near the hinges to maintain that float.
On my car the front quick jack holes needed No Enlargement but I'm sure these holes vary from car to car.
Also, consider getting your car aligned while it is in Go-Kart mode because it makes it super easy.
You just need to maintain the ride height to maintain the alignment.

[egchewy79]

Make sure the bulb seal is on the right places. The underside of the body will tear up the bulb seal so I cut wide strips of heavy duty trash bags and taped it to the seal loosely and pulled it out once I was satisfied with the body adjustment.

[maclonchas]

Good idea. Will also do trash bags.

[Jeff Kleiner]

As I prepare to get the body on the car for the first time (I know first of many),

My plan is to do the following:

1.Trim the underside return of the cowl roll ~¼” for clearance to the dash (Leather Dash)

2.Drop the body over the chassis and send it forward so that the body's door flange is just ahead of the chassis' striker tab, about ¼”

3.Check the rearmost lip of the trunk floor aluminum to see if it comes in hard contact with the body below the trunk opening and trim as needed

4. Using Kleiner’s coupler mod at the rear with threaded rod and nuts on the inside, run all-thread through the body and into the rear couplers

5. Center the front of the body. Measure from the front top shock mount to the edge of the fender flare and get these as close L and R as possible.

7. Locate the nose. Nose spacing above ¾” tubes using ½” - ⅝” spacers on top of the ¾” tube just next to the hood hinge bracket.
Fitting the Metco Rubber Grommets in the front Quick Jack holes looks like it will require those holes to be enlarged. Is that right?

Thanks

Bill

That's pretty much the gist of it!

#1 The 1/4" trim at the cowl is just a start; it may need a bit more.

#2 You probably won't get a full 1/4" ahead of the striker tab. 1/8" or so will do.

#5 The front "outriggers" (the 3/4 square tubes that run to the bumper mount plates) may need to be moved slightly---usually towards the passenger side---to bring the nose to center. A good sized plastic dead blow hammer is the weapon of choice.

#7 Front Quick Jack/Bumper tubes need to be replaced with .75" O.D. (the FFR supplied tubes are .0625" and don't fit the grommets). I get stainless tubing from onlinemetals.com. You need 24" of #12927; 0.75" OD x 0.065" Wall x 0.62" ID Stainless Round Tube 304 Seamless.

Jeff

[Jeff_J.]

I needed to trim/ straighten the rear cockpit cowl as well, maybe give that a look before & after you put the body on. good luck.
I used paper over the rear side panel bulb seal but mine still ripped a little - there is discussion about trimming those back as well - you might want to look into some posts on this - there are different experiences.

[Mike.Bray]

Yes, the nose spacing floats above the 3/4" square tubes.
Jeff Kleiner places rubber spacers up near the hinges to maintain that float.
On my car the front quick jack holes needed No Enlargement but I'm sure these holes vary from car to car.
Also, consider getting your car aligned while it is in Go-Kart mode because it makes it super easy.
You just need to maintain the ride height to maintain the alignment.

You know the spacers are correct when the front quick jacks line up with the holes in the body. I ended up with 5/8" spacers, used a piece of square wood on each side and attached it to the body with flat head screws that are hidden by the hood weatherstrip.

Definitely set the ride height and do the alignment before the body is on, it is sooooo much easier.

I used Jeff's ballpark recommendation for placing the body fore/aft with the striker plate. To insure you're correct install a door. The hinges are attached to the frame and if the body is too far back for example you can run out of adjustment in the slots to get the door in the correct place. This is your checksum.

[rich grsc]

I would say, DON"T install the build seal for you 1st fit. You need to be able to see where the body is too close to the aluminum, you need a small amount of clearance for the build seal to fit correctly. I never installed the bulb seal till the final body install.