Body set up and alignment

[Harley818]

I have seen alot of bits and pieces of setting up the body, but not complete. I thought I would try to document what worked for me and hopefully help out those who haven't got there yet.
I have this in my thread, but I thought I would post it here as well .
I have lots more pictures in my thread in the link here. Post #171 - 175
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...343#post196343

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So after a few weeks of setting up and aligning my body, I'm finally happy with the overall result.

Here is how I worked through it from start to finish.
I have to say that I started and stopped multiple times. I helps to put down the tools and re-think, and re-read other peoples threads.
I have to give credit to threads by Aloha, Metalmaker, Wayne, Bob & Cincy, Mechie, RMSepex, and others who have outline their process. Each of them has helped me make the decisions I needed to make to get this right.

Overall, my goal was to align everything without stressing the parts. We product fiberglass products, and the ones that are stressed, always have problems.

My goals were to end up with the wheels centered in the wheelwells, and to have nice even gaps. Like Aloha, I want the car to look as production finished as possible.

Today, I took it apart and started over from the beginning. This was my process:

I set up the rear sails at the 5/8 in back point to start, as suggested in the manual, and bolted on the rear bumper. I used two 1/4-20 bolts on each joint that I had previously drilled. When I am completely done, I will drill two additional holes with tight tolerance bolts to hold it in final position.
I had already trimmed a clearance on the bottom of the bumper for the rear transmission mount bolt that interferes on the bottom with the fiberglass.

I had already put together the front bumper fenders assembly on the floor, aligning the fender bumper joint, and aligning the front of the fender points where they join the bumper at the front of the hood. These were bolted together with 10-24 riv-nuts. I'll add one or two tight tolerance bolts later to lock the position.
I ground down the corners of the steel frame front bumper mounting points. This was suggested on the forum as the sharp corners interfere with the alignment of the front bumper. I hadn't done this before today.
Then I mounted the front bumper/fender assembly roughly in place.
I located spacer blocks under the bumper to get the correct height at 3/4 in. above the frame height. (apparently they are supposed to be higher than the frame).
The side sails were too far back to allow correct connection to the fenders without excessive stress, so I moved them forward, and bolted the front fender to the front of the sail using rivnuts.
I played with the whole assembly alignment moving it front to back until I had the front wheels in the center of the wheelwell.
The position ended up with the front of the side sail 1/4 in back from the front of the frame.
At this position, the distance from the inside of the rollbar square support tube to the front of the top corner of the door sill fiberglass was 7 5/8 in. on both sides.
The front bumper fiberglass height: top of steel support tube is 1 3/4 in below the top of the glass crossmember. The fiberglass is right back against the support steel.
The bumper is located slightly to the right (about 3/8 in.) on the upper steel support pads. I think this is due to the misalignment on the front rad support frame. Mine measured pretty square when i measured it crossways, but the fiberglass is not located symetrically on the pads.
I centered the rear bumper by measuring from the lower frame to the sharp point in the fiberglass behind the rear tire. 21 inches both sides.

I threw the hump trunk on when I was adjusting the side fender widths, and spaced it out with paint stick width.
Then I measured and adjusted the rear side fenders from the upper shock to the outside of the fender at the top of the wheelwell. I clamped it at 13 inches both sides with good gaps. Then I laid the rear trunk lid in and checked the gaps. OK at the front, but no gaps at the back side, and there is a 1/2 in gap at the very back bumper when there are paint stick widths between the two trunk lids. The lid is not curved as much as the bumper, so if I set some weights on it I'm sure the gaps will get better.

I laid the front hood in place, spaced it with paint sticks, and adjusted the width of the fenders.
I measured and adjusted the front side fenders from the upper ball joint to the outside of the fender at the top of the wheelwell. 11 inches both sides.
I installed an aluminum angle to hold them apart at the correct width.

For RMSepex, I measured at the rear crossbar. 9.4 mm on the passenger side from the welded tab to the inside edge of the fiberglass ridge. 9.3 mm on the drivers side.
Clearance at the rollbar both sides is zero. Fiberglass is touching, but doesn't need to be trimmed.

Last measurement was the soft-top distances. 26.25 to the corner of the windshield, but only 32 at the top of the middle to the rollbar. I haven't played around with this much yet, and I might be out of luck getting them both, but I'm pleased with all the other measurements and alignments.

I have nice paint stick gaps everywhere, except the trunk, and wheels are centered in the wheelwells.