Posted By : William Davies, 16-May-2005,
09:14pm
Welcome to the jolly world of Herald/Vitesse body alignment! The very nature of the car's construction means that the whole structure can shift, though
I would want to ensure that there is no structural damage (rust or previous poor quality repairs) in the area beneath the A-post causing drastic
movement of the bulkhead. Convertibles are particularly susceptible to body movement because of the shell's relative flexibility with the roof down.
The Mk2 Convertible has been particularly prone to bodged repairs because of the relatively high value, ie a quick buck for those who bodge and sell on
a desireable car.
The factory workshop manual specifies a panel gap of 3/16" between the doors and all adjacent panels. There are plenty of notes on how to achieve this,
moving the bonnet forward is possible, but if your current panel gap is around or above this dimension it won't be the cause. In my experience this is
usually caused by the gap not being parallel in the vertical plane, or the wing lieing inside the line of the door, ie the back edge of the bonnet is
effectively boased to one side of the car.
Beore you start messing with the bonnet adjustments, buy a copy of the workshop manual and study what adjustments are possible. Work out for yourself
what each adjustment can and can't achieve in it's own right, only then start loosening mountings.
Sorry if this has sounded negative, but you could easily end up making things far, far worse without doing the background reading. Heralds and Vitesses
have a dreadful reputation for panel fit, this is largely because many otherwise well executed restorations have been carried out by people who don't
understand how the panels are adjusted.... and that includes many professionals,
Cheers,
Bill.