Body to Frame Riveting

[LateApex]

I posted something along these lines last year on this forum, and am revisiting it now after the kit is complete - go figure :-) "Regular Maintenance" is not checking tire pressure and oil level on my kit. I am tweaking this or that, and chasing rattles, adjusting the suspension, cleaning up a few items that I hurried through getting the car on the road, yadda, yadda. This is one of those items I am revisiting.

As most here know already, there are precious few places to actually mount the body to the frame. There are the rear struts to the duck tail, and a connection series between pontoons and front wheel well aluminum, and friction fit with the dash and with the bonnet, and most importantly, rivets on the door post pillars and along the bottom of the door sill. That little "L section" of the sill is really how the body is secured to the frame. Have I missed something?

I really want to bolster the attachment in the vicinity of the door sills to stiffen things up a bit. Fortunately this is not hard to do after the fact. Just have to remove the side pipes and try not to screw up the paint ...

I have 3/16" SS rivets clamping the body door sills between frame runners and SS Door Sill "L-panels" that came with the kit. I am considering adding two or three more rivets along the inset body section where the twin pipes lie, directly to the lower outside chassis rails. If anything, just to pull the lower body in tighter against the frame.

I am wondering if others have done this already and what recommendations might be.

As an aside, I took the Coupe out this past Saturday for it's first showing at the Shelby American Collection's somewhat monthly "Cars and Coffee" meet. Even though they have one of the originals in the museum there, they don't get to see too many Coupes. I didn't really build my car to be a show car; rather a beast to run up and down the twisties on the CO front range and other places in my big back yard. However, bugs on the windshield or not, there was a lot of interest in this little beast - Hah!

Thx in advance for any comments ...

[edwardb]

Interesting. You reference the attachment along the sills as the major attachment point for the body. Important for sure. But I would cite the hood fit over the front of the body as probably the most significant. With properly adjusted spacers and with the hood locked down, the body is clamped in multiple places and very solid. I have all the attachment points you mentioned, although I used nutserts and sidewalk bolts (very large flatheads) on the door sills. The Coupe is in its fourth season and 5000+ miles. Zero rattles or squeaks. It's rock solid. I'd be concerned about your door alignment if you pull the sills in with additional mounting behind the side pipes. Plus IMO not needed.

Mine gets a bunch of attention everywhere I take it too. For those that know what it is (runs about 50%) many say its the first time they've seen one in person. Real or replica.

[LateApex]

Thx Paul. I have the hood pretty well dialed in methinks. I am mostly chasing (or trying to damp) noise coupled through the body. The body is "attached" in only a few spots (as you know). As such, it serves as a pretty good drum head :-) Especially around the doors, or adjacent to the pipes.

Did you also secure the body to the frame behind the side pipes?

[LateApex]

FFR sent me some door sills as part of my kit order. They provide a "sidewalk bolt" like function, i.e.: spreading the load from (in my case) the 3/16" SS rivets I used along the inside of the sill.

[edwardb]

Thx Paul. I have the hood pretty well dialed in methinks. I am mostly chasing (or trying to damp) noise coupled through the body. The body is "attached" in only a few spots (as you know). As such, it serves as a pretty good drum head :-) Especially around the doors, or adjacent to the pipes.

Did you also secure the body to the frame behind the side pipes?

No, I didn't attach behind the side pipes. Attached as I described in my previous post and I don't have any noise coming from the body. Including from around the doors. I have d-tube type self-adhesive all around and there's no noise from the doors.