Re: Roadster door alignment
Posted by Marco Tahtaras on July 14, 1998 at 10:53:57
In Reply to: Re: Roadster door alignment
posted by Michael D on July 13, 1998 at 09:37:24
Posted by Marco Tahtaras on July 14, 1998 at 10:53:57
In Reply to: Re: Roadster door alignment
posted by Michael D on July 13, 1998 at 09:37:24
| Michael, Bob & Paul indeed gave good advise but a little more detail may be helpful.The photo above shows speading the opening.This is ONLY correct because my car was broadsided at some point (and incompletely repaired).Some Roadsters are tight at the bottom of the opening from the factory and the only proper correction is to move the cowl assembly forward and rerivet the floor rail to the cowl. Assuming you don't have this problem, there are generally three basic steps to getting the fit near perfect.First, The door hinges should be adjusted (bent) so that the door gap is even (1/6"- 3/32") from top to bottom.Be sure whatever rebuilding required is done to the hinges first because any change effects fit. Second, bolt the body down on your (straight!) frame using all the wooden blocks required and rubber shims.The original starting point was two layers of rubber totaling 5/16"-3/8" except the round shim at the front bolt which was made of more (thinner) laminations since this was the primary adjustment.Since new body blocks are rarely quite the same don't be alarmed by some of the corrections required by shimming. Shim as required to get the the rear of the door aligned in both hight and gap.Keep in mind the front body bolt and the double carriage bolts at the cowl can severely tilt the cowl altering door hight at the rear as well as gap (that's why it was the primary adjusment), but will usually only get you close.With the open models the floor can be arched from front to rear also effecting door gap at the rear.The rear section can also be raised or lowered relative to the cowl and door assembly.Simply stand back and visualize which way the floor has to be moved to get the alignment desired.The gap at the beltline should end up similar to the front gap (possibly up to 1/8"). Third, Roadsters usually will have a severe outward gap at the bottom of the doors.The first impression is tht the doors are twisted.This is rarely the case unless the doors were run over by a car!!!The rear quarters sag outward at the top with time (and abuse), eventually cracking about 13" behind the door.A cable, turn buckle, and a couple of home made brackets will allow the top of one side to be pulled towards the floor on the other side to correct.It will require pulling somewhat beyond to take a set in the correct position.If cracks (as mentioned above) are to be repaired, it is a good time to do it with the cable holding the quarter in the correct position.If a severe correction was required, step two may need to be repeated to loosen the gap at the beltline. Additional notes:The cowl tank (gas tank) should be properly bolted in place during the second and third steps.If there seems to be a problem with one side negatively effecting the other side when shimming, loosen all the gas tank mounting hardware to allow the cowl to twist and relax, then retighten. Sometimes one door will fit well at the bottom and the other has a severe sag outward.Be sure the rear body section isn't leaning over making one side look better than it really is.If not properly corrected the body will not be symetrical. View the top of the doors, quarters, etc., from both front and rear.The curvature should flow smoothly from front to rear and the body should be symetrical. Good luck and don't give up!!! Marco P.S. Check out a couple other examples |
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