Pontoons

[Smiley]

Inspecting my freshly delivered Coupe, I have a question or three about the pontoons.

The top of the pontoons is not in the same plane as the bottom of the doors, they rise towards the front and the PS rises more (about 5/8") than the DS (about 3/8"). Is the hood just made to fit what's there?

The top of the PS pontoon is relatively square to the horizon while the top of the DS pontoon slopes down noticeably towards the engine compartment. Again, do I just look past it and make it work?

The rear top of the PS pontoon is almost in alignment with the PS door opening, while the rear top of the DS pontoon is noticabely lower than the door opening, maybe 1/2" or so. Is this another "make it work"?

Looking at a couple of pictures of other Coupes and drawing an imaginary line along the bottom of the doors, it looks like it might just be a case of "it is what it is".

Thanks in advance, Steve

PS Pontoon
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209432&d=1737503255

DS Pontoon
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209433&d=1737503276

It is what it is
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209434&d=1737503579

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209435&d=1737503598

[wedel456]

@Smiley, this is to be expected. Lots of threads on here about this. See this from from @Jeff Kleiner (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?45197-Pontoon-Alignment-Question&p=516465&viewfull=1#post516465).

[Smiley]

Thanks for the link, while it sounds like its a little fixable, like the DS that is "twisted", it's mostly like I thought, make it work,

[Rsnake]

Love seeing my car on the forums:)
The pontoons are the pain in the *** part of the body work. I had to pie cut my passenger side and reglass. I think I have a video regarding the process on my youtube site.

[lewma]

I did the same thing on my pontoons so the bottom edge would line up correctly

[nick729]

I had the same issue as @lewma, but i decided to take a different route, since i did not fancy cutting and fiberglassing. I trimmed the driver side splash guard bottom (~12mm - ~1/2") , to be able to move the pontoon higher up and twist it back straight and then locked it in. To my surprise it worked out well, the gap is now set to 3/16" all the way along the hood and pontoon and i don't see any issues arising from this decision.

Before:209483

After: 209482

[edwardb]

I had the same issue as @lewma, but i decided to take a different route, since i did not fancy cutting and fiberglassing. I trimmed the driver side splash guard bottom (~12mm - ~1/2") , to be able to move the pontoon higher up and twist it back straight and then locked it in. To my surprise it worked out well, the gap is now set to 3/16" all the way along the hood and pontoon and i don't see any issues arising from this decision.


My Coupe build was few years ago now, and I know Factory Five has made some mold changes since then. But my pontoons didn't fit great either. I found advice similar to the above during my build and it worked for me too. By installing the bottom splash guards during body fitment and using them to locate and lock in the pontoons, was able to get mine to fit OK.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=106662&d=1556919068

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=106661&d=1556919060