Bird Cage fitting?

[Three Peaks]

Scratch builders and owners of Shelby fiberglass Cobras-

I've pretty much got my front and rear bird cage supports fitted and ready to weld in place- now comes the part I've been putting off until I had the courage to start on it. I have to get the door area and dash supports bent, fitted and installed.

I've looked at the Kirkham pictures but they really aren't helping me out much so I need to ask a couple really basic questions here (for now, I'll have many more later ). This is one thing I can't seem to figure out by looking at a completed car, unless somebody will let me put their car up on a lift!

When fitting the framework around the doors, do they fit into the channel under the door, outside the channel under the door sill, or just under the channel and just touching the body skin for support?

The Cobra restorers drawings show the birdcage but not how it fits to the body and I don't trust the dimensions on the drawings at this point.

Also, when doing the hood, trunk, and door hoops, are you using 1/2" OD pipe for these hoops? How do you form an inner door skin, or do you simply fair the hoop in with epoxy when finishing the inside of the piece? Does anyone make an inner door and/or hood liner that could be bonded to these door skins to give a more finished appearance and mount the hinge points to?

Thanks, Bob