Trouble mounting body
 

I am building a Classics Roadster Cobra (manufacture date was March '99). I am the 3 rd owner of the kit (the first 2owners did little more than bolt some parts together and look at it). Anyway, I spent the winter building up the chassis, and today was the day to drop the body back onto the frame.

The body dropped down and everything seemed to initially line up OK, but upon closer inspection there is an approximate 1" gap floor cross members and floor & between the rear deck and frame cross member. The body is sitting securely on the cowl bar and everything up front seems to be pretty good. The rocker panels seem to have about a 1/4" gap to the outriggers on the frame. (Based on the manual, this seems OK to allow for door adjustment).

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations as to what might be my problem?

Thanks.

SGR,
I have not personally dropped my body on the frame so I'm probably not going to be much help with advice except your description of the problem leaves me wondering. Can you be more specific with your explanation? I'm sure others will try and help.

John

Are you positive that the front lips of the rear inner fenderwells are not setting on the frame? That will give you the gap that you describe if they are.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I tried to get some pictures of my problem. This picture is taken through the rear wheel well, without the fender liner in place.

Here's another picture. This one shows the gap between the floor and the frame. It seems that the body may be hung up on the frame member that supports the parking brake assembly. Could this be caused by the body needing to be shifted rearward? I also noticed that the body is caught on the front sway bar, preventing it from going farther rearward. Related???

Are you sure that you got the upper lip of the firewall in the correct location? If the body is not going are enough back, that could be an issue. Look to see how much of a gap there is between the upper firewall lip and the lip on the body in the engine compartmant. There ahould be "NO" gap. The upper lip on the firewall should be directly "inside" of the lip in the engine compartment.

Also, see note #5 on page 5-1 in the manual about guiding the body in place.

The body is tight against the firewall with no gap. However, we had to push the top of the firewall back to get everything in place. The firewall seems to be slightly warped at the top. The body is definitely touching the sway bar (preventing it from going farther rearward) and there is a front to rear gap between the defroster duct and cowl bar.

FYI...my manual does not have a note #5 on page 5-1. Is it possible that my manual is out dated?

Your manual could be out dated or maybe not up dated. PM me your e-mail address and I will scan the page and send it to you.

Note:

The tall lip on top of the firewall tilts forward a quite a bit of an angle. You will probably need to press the body back on it fairly hard to get everything lined up. The upper lip on the firewall will be almost vertical when the body is set on correctly.

SGR it seems that I have the exact same issue. I little bit ago I posted questions about if the front lip on top of the firewall was supposed to be slanted forward...
tcrist, can you PM me about getting the updated manual. (I think I asked before but I don't remember ever getting the manual, could be I forget to download it).

Hope I don't have to redo the mounting points I already did on the body/firewall and redo the door mounting procedure outlined by DV.

WS,

You have a PM.

Mine was also made in '99 and the gaps your questioning on yours look identical to mine.

I think the gap along the tranny tunnel is supposed to be there for the brake and fuel lines to run according to the manual.

I remember really questioning that 1" gap between the body and the rear cross member too because the manual shows putting that rubber weatherstrip on the front and top of that rear cross member, but the body isn't close to touching either side. My body sits firmly all along the outside frame beneath the doors, and the lower body curls in flush and level with the bottom of the frame from front to back. I had a concern with the rear support because of that gap, but the bent plates on either side of the gas tank provide solid support for the rear of the body. I think you'll find that 1" gap will even slightly increase when you lift the rear to set the door gaps when installing those bent plates.

The thing that convinced me that the body placement was good is when I checked the fit up of the door latch assemblies to that rear cross member, and the matched up to the rear of the door opening on both sides of the body just about perfectly. Its seems to me that if the body is on wrong you would see it there.

Maybe there was a change in that area at some point before '99 with the bodies, but I don't think there is any way the body you and I have can have that rear tray sit on the crossmember.

SGR like yours, the top of my firewall seems warped forward. One thing I have noticed is that if I take a straight edge on run it across the firewall and the two bars on the cowl, they all line up.
You mentioned that you had to push the top of the firewall back to get it to line up. I tried pushing the top of mine back and it's not giving... Would you post a pic of what firewall against the lip of the body looks like?

Thinking about it, would pushing the slanted top of the firewall back effectively lift the body off of the cowl?

Thanks.

Hey WS,
Here are some pics of my firewall and body. If you look close, there is a chip in the gel coat on the body. This is where they initially hit due to the warped firewall. The body was sitting on top of the firewall. We had to lift the weight off of it and push the firewall rearward to get the body down.

Here is another shot. This one is looking up through the passenger side fender vent.

Let me know if this is helpful.
Steve

Wadeh,
When you set your body, did the floor of the body (where the seats would sit) set on the frame cross members between the frame rails and the outriggers? Mine has about 3/4 to 1" gap here as well.

Thanks,
steve

SGR, couple of questions for you...
When mounting your body, is the bottom front of your firewall pushed up against the car frame or is there a gap there?

Was the firewall pushed back against the cowl when you mounted the firewall?

Did you use the existing mounting holes from the cowl bar or did you tap new ones?

From my understanding, you use the factory pre-drilled and tapped holes for the cowl bar. Do not move it.
This resulted in mine having a 1/2 to 1 inch gap between the bottom front of the firewall and the frame.

There seems to be a lot of help with this, and if I should repeat what someone else says - then it is just reenforcement.

On my body, there were gaps intended to allow the builder to place hard rubber strips put between the body and frame.

AND, there was an inspection of the body sitting on the frame to check those points intended to be frame to body contacts.

These are points I would have when I started to put the body on.

Mine took 9 people about an hour once all of the prep work was done.

It was turned 90 degrees to the frame and lowered slowly to see what was "in the way" and what needed to be welded/changed or cut off.

Hope this helps and good luck.

:D

The cowl bar location and then placing the firewall in its proper location is critical for locating the body.

Do note also that some of the people that I have talked to state that they had to cut/trim the upper lip of the of the firewall to get the body to set correctly. With that upper lip being at the angle that it is and also possibly being too long, the body will set high and forward. If it is cut slightly short you can add some bubble gasket material to the top of the lip to seal the cabin area from the engine compartment.

Thanks everyone for the tips and info.

Here is what I have confirmed:
The cowl bar is mounted I the factory holes.
The firewall is pushed against the front of the frame outrigger (results in about 1/4" gap to the cowl bar at the bottom.
The firewall has approx. 1/2" gap to the cowl bar at the top (should this gap be zero?)
The body is sitting on the top of the cowl bar (so I do not think that it is hung up on firewall, although I do think the firewall is positioning the body to far forward).
I temporarily placed the door strikers on the rear frame and there is approx. 3/4" gap to the door jam. (Confirming my suspicion that the body is too far forward).

2 questions for everyone...
1) will it hurt anything to unbolt the firewall from the frame in order to allow it to 'float' while I reposition the body? Once I get the body position fixed, I can resecure the firewall to the frame as necessary.

2) can anyone tell me the correct location of the holes in the body where the rear spring adjusters pass through? They were cut into my body by a previous owner, have a very jagged edge, and are currently adding to the limitations of adjusting the body position. I am planning on opening up the size of the holes in order to allow for some body movement, but I want to get them roughly in the right spot.

Again, thanks for all of the help. Sorry for the long post...

SGR,
FWIW, almost all firewalls from day one are contoured forward. (Yep, they should be 90's but as a result from pulling them from the mold to soon, this is the results. Simply get the firewall mounted to the floor and force the top of it in place.

ALSO: A problem in the making.... your brake line at this point should not be on top of the frame, the floor tunnel needs to be mounted flush to the frame upon final fitting. Their is plenty of room to mount the line on the side of the E-Brake support, still allowing the tunnel to fit into place.

Where are you in Ohio if I may ask? Want a visitor for a day? Might be able to get there for a few hours if you want??????

DV