Last weekend I got about an hour in on the Scout and pulled the body to line it up better (hooked a come along to the pillar in the garage) and it worked. Last night I finished buttoning down the mounts, with the exception of the two passenger mounts amid ship. The front one, of course, doesn't exist at the moment and the rear needs to have some more metal welded in. Once I did that, I *tried* to line up the door, so I could start welding in the rockers. As it sits (with suppor under the firewall to the point of lifting the frame), the door is sagging about 1" and isn't even close to closing. This tells me that the bottom of the A pillar is pushing forward towards the front (probably from the weight of the door). Not surprising, since there isn't any metal there to hold it in place.
If I jack the door itself, I can get it to shut cleanly, but the gaps are not square (more gap at the top of the door and less at the bottom, less at the top of the wing window, less at the bottom. In fact, when the door skin is lined up square with the quarter, the top of the wing window is nearly touching the windshield frame. I may have to hang the fender to see how the front of the door is lining up with the fender (whoa is me, that means taking the door off again). The hinge-to-body bolts only adjust the in-out of the door, so I don't think that any adjustment there will help me. The hinge-to-door bolts might be where I need to play some. Of course, this not the door that I ultimately will be using, so perhaps all this fine tuning isn't necessary, so long as I can get the A pillar squared up enough for the door to close easily. I hate adjusting doors.
Advanced Surgery
1 day ago
4 comments:
I'd say come over and borrow my empty doors (i.e., no glass or hardware) because they are so much lighter and easier to take off & put back on, but then you'd lose the reference points between the door windows and the windshield frame & travel top. As you've observed, a small tweak on one corner of the system can have large effects on the others, so I guess it's best to just deal with the added weight. It sure is a hassle though!
Who you tellin! I thought I'd get at least one been-there-done-that suggestion on the BB, but not a peep. I guess I'm on my own. :-) I *think*( that my plan of attack is sound, but we'll see how it all unfolds.
I think I know why suggestions are not forthcoming: It's really hard to remember let alone write down all the little tweaks, bends and pulling one does to get the door aligned right. Also, no one wants to admit the unpleasant truth of it all -- that it is darn near impossible to get everything lined up like the factory did. The best advice out there about getting the alignment right is "leave the hard top on." But you knew that. :)
Yes indeed. As it turned out, my fancy schmancy pipe vise door frame bracket lasted only long enough for me to bang my head on it and knock it out. :-)
Post a Comment