I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the thread or not, but as I was loading the body shell onto the trailer for paint...I tore all the muscles in my lower back. Of course, the next day I dropped the car OFF for paint...which meant unloading the shell again. In the process, I managed to drop the back part of the body off the trailer. Oops! We knew instantly that we bent the back part of the engine bay...but, Gerry and Lorne of GLI Autoworks straightened it all out for me.
Now for the bad part.
After getting the car home, I had it up on the steel saw horses to fit the rear shocks and then attach the pan. In the time that the body was resting on the saw horses, it was slowly bending out back. Enough so that I actually had measurement points and was working feverishly as it was bending an 1/8" an hour. Come rear fender time...I knew it was going to be a problem. Initial fit was like so:
Now, at first glance you might not think this is so bad. But all the fender bolts aren't even in yet. Can't get them in. You can see how the body splayed out at the bottom, and bent inwards further up. To fix it, I needed some specialty tools...
What's that? A piece of aluminum barstock, two bolts and a scrap of aluminum plate aren't a specialty tool? In the hands of an expert (or, in this case a complete nutter with no sense of bodywork what-so-ever), they are the perfect solution. Simply pull, bend, flex and mangle the bodywork until you think you've done enough...then double it...and finally mount the fender to check your work. Alignment after the first try:
Now, we could probably get that just a little bit better. In fact, if you were my friend Geoff and saw these photos you'd probably insist that we get this a little bit better. But sometimes, playing it safe and not going any further is smarter. And, sometimes, a few ripples and potential misfit of the rear Apron are okay. Why?
Because Race Car.
;-)
Moving on, we add some fender beading...a bit of frustration over the exact order to tighten the bolts to snug up your fender and make it look as absolutely straight as possible...stand back, and enjoy the view.
Tomorrow I'll mount up the other fender, and then perhaps mount a rim and tire to see if the gravel tires I already own will even fit. Oh sure, that might have been something to check
before I painted the car...but where is the fun in that!?!
-Dave