After a good few years gathering dust, the body is finally on.
Still to be squared up and settled properly but not too difficult so far. I know that's going to change and it's a long way off fitting properly but nice to see it looking like a car again.
Slightly disappointing to discover that the new body doesn't come with full sills.
At least I'f still got the old sections that went under the tanks albeit that they're badly damaged. Should be good enough to make up new panels from, though.
Just another task that I didn't expect to have to do.
Ok, so I've pulled, pushed, lifted, pressed down, grunted and groaned for a few days now and I've got the following:-
Body sitting on chassis and equidistant on both sides at least according to my bit of string method.
Body sitting on dashboard with no visible gaps and reasonable distance between screen lip and point where wiper spindles are likely to come out.
Ground to top of headlight rim (minus chrome trim) 32" both sides.
Ground to top of rear fin 30 1/4" offside, 30 1/2" nearside.
How is that sounding so far???
I'm struggling to resolve that 1/4" difference at the rear. Offside doesn't want to come up any more and any attempts to do so result in the chassis going up too. Nearside won't come down either as the bit of the body that fits over the rear crossmember is down on the rail as far as it will go. To get it any lower would mean cutting the body to let that side drop. Not something I really want to do.
Tbh, to my eyes, it looks fine and I'm maybe being a bit paranoid.
In terms of Peerless body fitment, am I just being silly trying to get it spot on all round?
Incidentally, I tried Nigels trick of placing both hands on the wings close to the leading edge of the bonnet. The one where you put your thumbs in the gutters. Thats a bit of an eye opener! But can I see it when I stand back and look? Not really.
Yes, doors are my next issue. I've stripped and repaired the nearside door but I believe that this is the one that has fitment issues with the new bodies. Drivers door is still as it came off the car. Once I fit the D plates in properly I'll do a trial fitment before I do any body fixing.
Glad to hear that the odd quarter inch isn't significant. I'm happy with the way it's all looking at this stage.
