Stripe question with 2 roll bars and scoop...final prep for primer

[Valkster]

Hey, all. I am "oh so close" to removing the body for the last time so I can move on to the priming, final body work, and paint phase of our build. We are putting stripes on ours: the typical two wide-stripes with a 1/4" stripe outside of each wide stripe. I have the front of the car and scoop looking correct for stripes after my third attempt over these last several months. I swear that scoop used to point in different directions randomly from one week to the next, lol. I am referring to the "centerline" down the body to base the stripes off of. I have started drilling small reference holes per one of Jeff Kleiner's posts so I can find this centerline again during painting.
I found information in a few older stripe-painting posts in the past for those with two rollbars...those posts made reference to having to "make a little adjustment" or something to that effect for the stripes between the two roll bars. For me, when I pull a string from rear to front of the car and all "looks" correct (even after several days of looking), I am slightly off center between the roll bars. I am talking about having to shift the string over 1/8"-3/16" to be centered between the roll bars. When I do this the "centerline" string has a noticeable but slight shift from the front of the cockpit to the rear of the cockpit. I have one of those trunk lids that came grossly overcut from FFR, so I don't know if that is throwing the reference at the license plate bracket off, or if that is just the nature of all of the bodies.
My question is, should I put a shift in the stripes from the front-to-rear of the cockpit, so the stripe is centered between the roll bars and also the front of the car and scoop, or leave the centerline "looking" correct along the entire length of the car and have a slight "non-centering" of the stripes between the roll bars? I ask because some, like Jeff K and others, shift the stripes at the license plate bracket so the stripes are vertical and centered on the trunk latch handle for that last bit of the stripes at the very rear of the car. In that case, the shift is hidden behind the license plate bracket and is not noticeable and makes it look correct in the end. However, I do not know if shifting the stripes between the front and rear of the cockpit will have the same result OR have a very noticeable shift to anyone looking down the center of the car. Thanks for any guidance!


-Mark

[CraigS]

I absolutely would center the stripes to the roll bars. Looking at the car from near any angle other than perfectly centered behind it, the stripe to bar centering would be very obvious. The line up of front vs rear of the cockpit very hard to tell if they matched. To me the centerline of the car is hard to discern. You are comparing by eye from the stripes to a large and very rounded surface relatively far away. But stripes to oil cooler inlet, stripes to scoop, stripes to roll bar, and stripes to trunk handle are all close to a very defined object. So they need to be right because they stand out to one's eye.

[Norm B]

I centred the stripes on the roll bars. As Craig said, it would be obvious otherwise.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Mark,
Yes, it is often necessary to shift the centerline a bit to get it centered on the bars...it's one of the benchmarks. But just make that change from the rear of the cockpit on back over the deck lid. As you said, 1/8" or so is pretty normal. Trust me, your eye will not see it but WILL see of the stripes don't hit the same on both bars. By the way, when we talk about center between the bars we mean on the bars, not on the cutouts because there will likely be some variation on those. What I do is when mocking the car up and establishing center I find actual center between the bars themselves and then measure from that point to both the left and right cutout and make notes of those dimensions so that I can get back to that true center when the body is on the paint buck.

As we've said so often, make it look right even if a tape measure says otherwise!

Jeff

[Jeff_J.]

You timing is great Mark. I have been driving my car for a while just waiting on my appointment with Jeff K. for body and paint to come around but figured I'd install the hood scoop myself. I noticed the difference in the centerline and the measurement between the bars as well 1/8" - 1/4", I wasn't completely sure how to deal with it till now. Good luck with primer and paint, keep us posted..
Jeff_J.

[Jeff_J.]

You timing is great Mark. I have been driving my car for a while just waiting on my appointment with Jeff K. for body and paint to come around but figured I'd install the hood scoop myself. I noticed the difference in the centerline and the measurement between the bars as well 1/8" - 1/4", I wasn't completely sure how to deal with it till now. Good luck with primer and paint, keep us posted..
Jeff_J.

[Valkster]

Thanks everyone for the reply. That makes sense. Oh, Jeff Kleiner, my measurements are between the posts, not the cutouts. Thanks for questioning that. Can you please clarify one thing for me, though...in your reply above you mentioned I, "just make that change from the rear of the cockpit on back over the deck lid". I am still centered on my license plate bracket, correct? Whatever shift I have to do between the roll bars (actually closer to 1/4" at this point) to center the stripes between the bars, becomes a reference point for a straight shot to the center of my license plate bracket, right?

I appreciate the help and advice...I have about 1/8" to remove from one side of my passenger side pipe opening and I am ready to pull the body and start with priming.

Sincerely,
Mark

[Jeff Kleiner]

... Can you please clarify one thing for me, though...in your reply above you mentioned I, "just make that change from the rear of the cockpit on back over the deck lid". I am still centered on my license plate bracket, correct? Whatever shift I have to do between the roll bars (actually closer to 1/4" at this point) to center the stripes between the bars, becomes a reference point for a straight shot to the center of my license plate bracket, right?

Yes

Jeff

[Valkster]

Thanks again! Nearly done with this phase of body work then. Still a lot to go but hopefully the amount of mud will drop off from here. That stuff makes expensive yellow flour all over my shop floor with all of the "apply/sand off/repeat" that I have done...I guess that is why they call it gold, lol. Ready to see gray flour on the floor.

-Mark

[CraigS]

A funny aside re; gold flour. My grandson is building a helmet to look like spiderman. Started w/ cardboard and epoxy then needed filler. The website he was using for guidance said use drywall mud. We quickly realized that stuff has no strength and cracked too easily. So we got some body filler. It is similar to Rage Gold made by the same company Evercoat, but in a 13 oz can at $23. I thought wow, glad I am not doing an FFR.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...t=store_pickup

[Jeff Kleiner]

...So we got some body filler. It is similar to Rage Gold made by the same company Evercoat, but in a 13 oz can at $23. I thought wow, glad I am not doing an FFR.

Yeah Craig, for years we were paying about 35 bucks for a gallon size bucket of Rage Gold. Then the pandemic thing happened and that same can is now about $110

The dust, it never stops it just changes...first pink...then yellow...then gray. When I did my Mk5 it was a nice change to substitute blue dust for the pink!

Along with the mountains of dust come these piles



Cheers!

Jeff

[Valkster]

That's a lot of paper! It is funny, Craig, that you mention that. Be proud he is building with his hands. My son, Lucas, that has been awesome helping me with this build tried to make an R2-D2 out of various scrap items in my shop (old trash can, old bowl, etc) and used a similar filler long before he was old enough to help on this build. I had forgotten about that... I remember it fondly to see him build something from scratch with his hands as a pre-teen. He didn't actually ever finish it, but it was a seed for things to come later, lol. Now we are building a Roadster together, and he is at UT Knoxville as a freshman engineering student...wanting to do something automotive after he is done.

Thanks again for all the input,
Mark

[rich grsc]

Gonna buy some 3M stock

[Jeff Kleiner]

Gonna buy some 3M stock

Rich, that's only the first primer worth. Add in the initial gel coat sanding plus the bodywork plus the second prime and the pile gets much bigger!

Jeff

[rich grsc]

Jeff, I see several pieces in that pile that could still sand..

[Valkster]

Hi, again. A quick question about using the string line I pull after spraying the stripe base color on the body to mask everything off. Is it typical to pull a 1" temporary tape line using the string as a reference down the body, or do I use the string to measure for small pieces of tape offset on both side of the string to pull my fine-line tape? Most photos I have seen show the string pulled down the center, then later the fine line 1/4" (I think) to make the inside border for the wide stripes but nothing in between.

Thanks yet again,
Mark