wonky wheel

[JPD]

Hi Roger, luckily I'd only screwed mine in position so it wasnt too difficult to go back and remedy the situation (except for splitting the sill halves - but that's another story). Today I'll get them positioned correctly and tack them in place before I forget where they should be! I'm sure ST had a good reason at the time???? Maybe they had a big batch of sill caps left over and modified the car to suit

 

Thanks to you and Stuart for pointing this out though, if I'd carried on and modified the sill caps to fit then the sills would have been 1/8 inch outboard which could play havoc with door alignment & shutting.

 

David - be careful of putting too many shims at the rear mounting or your bumper brackets might not fit. It's worth measuring your chassis to check it before going to far. I started with a refurbished chassis but wasnt sure of it's history so spent a day levelling it and checking the key measurements before starting the tub rebuild. I'm glad I did because one of the front mountings was 1/2 inch out where a poor repair had been made.

Jeff

[Steve Zodiac]

I agree wholeheartedly with the advice that Stuart has given but would like to comment on one point.

 

The suggestion that the outer sill is welded along the top edge first and then the lower edge is pushed up to meet with the lower edge of the floor can lead to problems with the door gap along its lower edge.

 

If the sill isn't formed into a reasonable profile of the correct sill 'section' when the lower edge of the bottom part of the sill is pushed up it is only the lower 'curved' section the will accommodate the movement and no change will take place on the heavily pressed area adjacent to the bottom of the door. This can lead to a large bowed gap along where the door meets the sill and no amount of post welding beating will improve things.

 

I would suggest that before any welding takes place the sill is put on the floor and the door 'tread' area is forced down to approximate the correct dimension during the 'fit up period' and prior to welding. If the dimensions of the two panels to be fitted together are checked the outer sill is always considerably greater, probably due to the 'economy' press tools. You need to approximate these measurements prior to fitting and don't be tempted to correct things by solely bending the curved part - the poor pressing is across the whole section.

 

I'm not sure that is particularly clear and its in no way a criticism of Stuarts advice. Its just my personal experience.

 

Steve

[david c]

Hello Jeff

I had heard that 3 to 4 shims was just about OK more than that and bumper irons were going to be a problem. Hung front and rear wings on this morning and strangely enough they don't look too bad, except the top rearward curve of the door does not corespond with a similar curve on the rear wing, they are not the original doors so will have to check that out.M y major concern is the lack of gap between the rear suspension cross brace and the body tub. This area of the tub is one of many I had to weld new metal on to, perhaps I have made it a bit too deep. Will look again when I go back. It'll all make sense in the end.............

[stuart]

I agree wholeheartedly with the advice that Stuart has given but would like to comment on one point.

 

The suggestion that the outer sill is welded along the top edge first and then the lower edge is pushed up to meet with the lower edge of the floor can lead to problems with the door gap along its lower edge.

 

If the sill isn't formed into a reasonable profile of the correct sill 'section' when the lower edge of the bottom part of the sill is pushed up it is only the lower 'curved' section the will accommodate the movement and no change will take place on the heavily pressed area adjacent to the bottom of the door. This can lead to a large bowed gap along where the door meets the sill and no amount of post welding beating will improve things.

 

I would suggest that before any welding takes place the sill is put on the floor and the door 'tread' area is forced down to approximate the correct dimension during the 'fit up period' and prior to welding. If the dimensions of the two panels to be fitted together are checked the outer sill is always considerably greater, probably due to the 'economy' press tools. You need to approximate these measurements prior to fitting and don't be tempted to correct things by solely bending the curved part - the poor pressing is across the whole section.

 

I'm not sure that is particularly clear and its in no way a criticism of Stuarts advice. Its just my personal experience.

 

Steve

Perhaps I havent made it clear enough in this post though in previous threads on this topic you will find that I not only recommend welding the top section of the outer to the inner sill first but also that I recommend seam welding the base of the "A" & "B" posts to the top of the outer sill at the same time before bringing the lower edge of the sill up to meet the floor. This negates any movement of the step below the door and makes for a much stronger shell. The bases of the "A" & "B" posts can then be leaded around to put back the original join lines. The current crop of repro sills are so badly pressed that if you try doing much with them before fitting then you will end up with more problems than you solve.

FWIW the slight offset of the inner sill to the floor drop section makes for a much stiffer box section.

Stuart.

[Steve Zodiac]

Hi Stuart,

 

Thanks for that, I had no doubt whatsoever that you had it covered. I just hadn't seen the previous posts and have seen some rebuilds where despite peoples best efforts they have ended up with a massive gap under the door.

 

I like the idea of welding the bottom of the A and B posts to the top of the sill. I've always shied away from doing that as it would be quite difficult (for me) to get the panel joints to look right afterwards. Your well known skills with the lead loading no doubt sort that problem on your jobs!

 

As an aside has anyone considered putting a triangular 'reinforcing box' within the sill, below the 'A' post to stiffen up the front bulkhead? I think an 'E' type has a similar hidden structure inside the sill.

 

Has anyone done it? the only downside I can see is that of rustproofing inside the sill. Would it do any good?

 

Just a thought,

 

Steve

[stuart]

If you seam weld the bottoms of the "A" & "B" post properly and the plenum isnt rotten and you have the "H" frame bolted in correctly then you should have a pretty stiff shell so I couldnt really see the point. Improvements can be made on sidescreen cars by inserting fillets behind the "A" post to help.

If you have a shell dipped then you can see why you get movement in the panels as very often spot welds have been missed and small corner joint sections that on some cars were brazed together during assembly often arent on others!

Stuart.