Pull the motor!
Allright, so you don't want to pull the motor, but it sure makes mounting the hood easy, if done first.
Install the rubber insulation on the frame, per the manual:
1. Drop the body on. Now move it forward as far as possible. (The defroster duct- fiber-glassed under the car cowl with two nipples facing downward should definately be between the two upper rails of the cowl bar.)
2. Check the squareness of the body on the frame, there is a little "wiggle" room but not much.
3.) WE STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO NOT USE SELF TAPPING SCREWS AT THIS POINT! Start with either side but for our purposes we are describing the left/drivers side. Look at the left front corner of the body floor pan. See where it goes up and over the frame rail? It is an area approximately 1/2 inch wide. This is where the first "bolt" will go in. Move back from the front edge about 1 1/2 inches, drill and tap for a 1/4x20 bolt. (Any hardware store can supply the tap and drill bit) A note, you should be drilling a hole straight down through the floor pan (rocker panel) into the frame rail.
Do the same for the passanger side. Then repeat about the middle of the rocker on both sides, and finally about 2 inches forward from each rear corner.
4. Start by tightening the middle bolts. Tight but not to the point of cracking "glass". Now tighten the front two bolts. Do NOT tighthen the rear bolts yet. Keep rotating the front two bolts on both sides until you are satified they are all tightened evenly.
5. On the doors, drill out both holes on each door just a shade bigger than the stock holes. We use two drill bit sizes larger. (Sorry, I don't remember the exact size.) Do the same for all the hinge plates holes. Install the doors per the book.
Hopefully you have the new slotted type door hinges. If not it may take just a little bit more work to adjust the doors.
What you are aiming for is alignment on the top front to cowl, front edge to the body, and 2/3's of the bottom door edge to the rocker. (Don't worry about the back edge or back top of the door just yet.)
You may or may not need to add some spacers between the hinge and the cowl, or the hinge and the door-possibly even both. You may even have to elongate the cowl plates holes a little to get perfect alignment. If you do use shims, record the number, the size and where you used them. This way you can remove the doors for body work and painting, and replace them properly.
5A..if you do need more than a "few shims", OR if you have to grind out the cowl bar mounting holes more than an 1/8th of an inchs, we stongly suggest you go to plan "B".
Plan B- using a cut off tool, or better yet a plasma cutter if you have one, is to cut out the cowl plates as close to the cowl uprights as possible. Clean them up a little with a hand grinder then bolt them directly to the door hinges. Get a friend, two is better and a Mig welder. Have two guys, if possible hold the door in place, paying strict attention to the alignment. Up/Down, in/out and the rotating axis.
Again just keeping the above mentioned tolerances in mind. Having both guys hold the door in plae the third guy will pull the hinge plate into place and tack weld it back to the cowl bar. Just a couple of tacks please. Check to make sure the door fits as perfect as possible and swings without a bind. Check this again.
Proceed to door #2, repeat.
(We do it this way on every car we build-saves time. No elongating the holes anywhere, and the fit is perfect.)
6. Take a floor jack under the rear panel at the fiberglass only. Use a short piece of 2x4 on the jack and raise the entire back of the body up until the rear door gap is perfect. One side may have to be lifted a hair more than the other.
6A. Now install the back/rear ward 1/4x20 bolts in the top of the rocker panels pulling the back of the body down and inline with the rear of the doors.
7. Take the 90-degree steel plates supplied with the kit and place them on the frame rails pushing them up very tight to the body. (Trunk floor pan) Clamp both plates in place to the frame. Now drill 4 holes in each plate and frame. Tap for 1/4x20 bolts then bolt in place. (Do not mount the trunk pan to the plates until after the body is mounted permanently.)
8. Back to the rocker panels. From the inside out, space three drilled and tapped 1/4x20 holes between the previously installed bolts. (These are installed parallel with the floor pan, approximately 1/2 up.) Install the bolts. (Now you will be able to re-mount the body exactly as you have it. When replacing the body just bolt the body down until the side bolts go in, re-install the side bolts and your body will be exactly as you placed it the first time.)
9. Mount the front wheel tubs per the manual.
10.-Congratulations your body is mounted!
If you have any questions, or if this is a clear as mud, feel free to call me at 740-852-5280. I will be in ALL weekend including Monday. Do NOT hesitate to call if you need more help!
DV..it "aint" that hard!
putting body on
Linear Mode
