Anyone ever omit the quick jacks?

[MB750]

I realize the bolts have a structural component to keeping the body in place so they're required to some extent. What I'm talking about something more flush with the body and omitting those metal pieces and some of the length of the bolts. Perhaps a SS 7/16" stud with a washer and a cap nut up close to the body?

Just wondering if there's anything I'm missing regarding the importance of the quick jacks as FFR sends them. I really think it would clean up the looks.

[Jim1855]

I'm not going to use the quick jacks. Probably just a vertical bar/tube that's a lot closer to the body. I have seen others that eliminate the jacks and just use bolts through the body into the mount points. Not sure I like the look, but it could be dressed up a bit.

What you'll find by not using the quick jacks is that your shins will be a lot happier and have way less knots, dings, scars and such.

Jim

[Blitzboy54]

I’ve seen it done a few times. NY state requires a bumper of some kind. The quick jacks count. For me I like them but if I was going to do a more street build I would omit them and do and under body exhaust.

I definitely think the car would look cool without them.

[MB750]

Thanks for the replies fellas. I ordered some SS materials on McMaster Carr last night that'll be incorporated. I bought some 7/16" all thread that I can cut down to size instead of being dictated to a specific length with a bolt, and some cap nuts, washers, and rubber washers just to keep the rear from scratching the paint.

[CraigS]

I got rid of them. I started on hanging some old sneakers on them so I got banged but the blood stayed in. Then one day I had them off for some reason, car on stands, me under the front on a creeper, pulled out, sat up, and saw stars for a few seconds from getting punched just off center of my forehead. Just laid back down and used the shop towel in my hand to wipe away a bit of leakage. Once I recovered, I finished up what I was doing and immediately started removing them. Quick fix was just shorter bolts and sleeves I had on hand. Later improvement was short studs and nickle plated acorn nuts and washers which went fine on a silver car.

[Jeff Kleiner]

No QJs, bumpers or visible fasteners of any kind on this Mk4 that I did for a customer about 5 years ago. Really clean look.





Here's the left rear mount looking back at it from the trunk area.



Studs are bonded to the inside of the body. The 90 degree angle bolts to those and is slotted vertically to allow for up and down adjustment. There is another 90 degree angle bolted to the chassis through the original bumper bolt holes and is threaded to receive a bolt horizontally. The piece bolted to the body is also slotted horizontally to allow for fore/aft adjustment. Finally as you can see the two pieces have about 1/4"-3/8" gap between them... after the bolt that joins them is in place (not installed in the photo) shims between the two allow the body to be moved side to side. This all allows the body position to be adjusted in all 3 axis; up/down, forward/back, side to side. The front mounts are done similarly.

On my old Mk3 I eliminated the QJs front and rear by a simpler method. The rear simply has a single stainless buttonhead on both sides.



At the front of Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 the nose is secured by two buttonheads inside the brake duct openings. You can see them in this photo.



Although the Mk4 uses the tubes it would be easy to abandon that method and with some simple fabrication go back to the earlier system.

Hope that gives you some ideas!

Jeff

[cob427sc]

Great ideas Jeff! I used on one of my builds threaded rod with stainless acorn nuts but I like your idea of the brackets and bonded studs inside the body.

[efnfast]

you don't need them - i never installed mine and it's been fine for almost 20yrs now

[gbranham]

I eliminated the quickjacks on my MkIII, and plan to do the same on my MkIV. I am on Kleiner's paint and bodywork wait list, so I'll ask him to do as he did for the blue car above.

Greg

[AtlantaCobra]

Mine is without...

Cobra (2).JPG
Cobrapic.jpg

[MB750]

I know this is kind of a stretch, but does anyone have a detailed picture of what's going on behind the fiberglass on those examples with the front quick jacks gone?

I've got mine bolted up now and considering how much I had to pull up on the nose to get them to support the body, there's quite a bit of weight pushing down. Or does the fiberglass relax a bit after sitting like that for a few months/years?

[efnfast]

I know this is kind of a stretch, but does anyone have a detailed picture of what's going on behind the fiberglass on those examples with the front quick jacks gone?

I've got mine bolted up now and considering how much I had to pull up on the nose to get them to support the body, there's quite a bit of weight pushing down. Or does the fiberglass relax a bit after sitting like that for a few months/years?

I wouldn't be worried - after almost 20yrs mine hasn't printed through/crack/etc.

The fiberglass will eventually form itself.

It's like on my 917. The rear clip body panel fitment was meeeeeh at best, but i found 1 position where it was really really good. So I bolted it down into that position. For the first 5 years it was a total SOB to get my bolt holes to align anytime I removed the bolts to open it - I had to sit on it with all my weight and then the bolts would barely go in straight, and I was concerned that they might rip out of the holes one day with how much the body wanted to lift up after I stopped sitting on it and the tension it was under. But then one day 5 years later I undid the bolts and magically everything lined up perfectly, with no force, and has stayed that way since.

TLDR - fiberglass has magic black voodoo re-shaping abilities

[MB750]

I wouldn't be worried - after almost 20yrs mine hasn't printed through/crack/etc.

The fiberglass will eventually form itself.

It's like on my 917. The rear clip body panel fitment was meeeeeh at best, but i found 1 position where it was really really good. So I bolted it down into that position. For the first 5 years it was a total SOB to get my bolt holes to align anytime I removed the bolts to open it - I had to sit on it with all my weight and then the bolts would barely go in straight, and I was concerned that they might rip out of the holes one day with how much the body wanted to lift up after I stopped sitting on it and the tension it was under. But then one day 5 years later I undid the bolts and magically everything lined up perfectly, with no force, and has stayed that way since.

TLDR - fiberglass has magic black voodoo re-shaping abilities

That confirms why mine was kaddywampus at first. For the last almost two years my body has been hanging from my garage ceiling, only supported by a 2x4 across the cockpit and wide ratchet straps in the tops of the fender wells. I'm sure gravity made some tweaks.

It's not summer, but maybe in the coming hot days I'll park it outside in the sun to try exacerbating the "continental drift" of the fiberglass so there's less internal stresses.

[gbranham]

I know this is kind of a stretch, but does anyone have a detailed picture of what's going on behind the fiberglass on those examples with the front quick jacks gone?

I saw a video on the forum a few months ago where a forum member walked through the process of fabricating front mounts, bonding them to the back of the body, and bolting them up. I've been searching for this for the past 30 minutes, and I can't find it. But, it's very similar to what JKleiner shows above for the rear mounts.

[MB750]

I saw a video on the forum a few months ago where a forum member walked through the process of fabricating front mounts, bonding them to the back of the body, and bolting them up. I've been searching for this for the past 30 minutes, and I can't find it. But, it's very similar to what JKleiner shows above for the rear mounts.

I wonder if that was Frank. He posts a lot of his work online, and has given me some great guidance at times.