Posted By : Chris Taylor, 17-Apr-2007,
07:33am
Very hard to tell someone how to do this. You just need to see by eye what's wrong and work out what needs moving where to correct it. If in any doubt
as to what you are aiming for, have a close look at panel gaps etc on photos in books and really good cars at shows, club meets etc.
IIRC, theoretically you should not need ANY metal spacers at the body mountings, just a rubber pad. BUT, tolerances were never that close, and will
probably be even more variable once some rust repairs have been undertaken. That's why metal spacers or washers are used where body to chassis gaps are
a bit wider.
So I suggest you trial fit the body to the chassis with just one rubber pad at each mounting point, and then look to see where there are any gaps
between body and chassis. Check the body is on square (measurements to front bumper rail, straight and diagonal etc) and insert enough metal spacers to
take up the gaps if and where they exist, aiming to get a similar amount of "squish" on each pad when bolted down.
Once you are happy the body is on the chassis true, square and bolted down evenly, you can start hanging the doors, and then finally the biggest job
(but you should have more practice by now!), the bonnet. Things like valances can be left till last and will be welcome light relief after the rest of
the job!
But just be glad you don't have a Herald, where you have to separately align front and rear body sections on the chassis, and nearly all the body
mountings rot!
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Posted By : Ian Osprey, 17-Apr-2007,
08:11am
Thanks for that Chris. I now know where to start, and what I'm looking for in a mounting kit, although it doesn't seem to the Saturday morning job
I was hoping for!
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Posted By : Chris Taylor,
17-Apr-2007, 10:40am
Time spent on getting the body aligned correctly and properly secured on the chassis with no inbuilt stresses through uneven bolt tensions will
repay itself many times over during the life of the car, so don't rush it. It may go right first time and indeed only be a Saturday job, but be
prepared to shut the doors on the thing and come back another day! Providing the body has been repaired reasonably true, you should only need
the odd spacer, and as long as the doors have been checked in the gap while sills are replaced, you should not have any major problems. The
bonnet can be a different matter, but leave that well alone until you have the main tub and doors sorted to your satisfaction.
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Posted By : Ian Osprey,
18-Apr-2007, 11:34am
Hopefully this update will help others
I've been speaking to the people at James Paddock, and ordered a body mount kit. I asked them about 'what goes where', and they agree with
Chris, but were able to suggest a chassis diagram from the Moss catalogue AS A STARTING POINT.
This shows (if you've good eyesight) the sequence of washers and packers used at the different mount points.