Fitting GTR Bodywork
Discussion
Guys can I get an opinion/advise for the bodywork?!
I am about to order it, but cant make my mind up whether to fit it myself, or let the Factory do the prefit?
Im currently out of work so have a little time, but therefore also no income!
This project is already a tight one financially for me, so I could use the fitting cost to buy more parts, however I don't want to look at a 60K car and think 'I wish the panel fit was better'?!
what do you think? do I go for the pre-fit? or buy more parts?! Any insider tips on ways to fit the body?!
I am about to order it, but cant make my mind up whether to fit it myself, or let the Factory do the prefit?
Im currently out of work so have a little time, but therefore also no income!
This project is already a tight one financially for me, so I could use the fitting cost to buy more parts, however I don't want to look at a 60K car and think 'I wish the panel fit was better'?!
what do you think? do I go for the pre-fit? or buy more parts?! Any insider tips on ways to fit the body?!
Graeme
Did you build the 7even pictured in your profile?
If so then you will have no problem fitting the body yourself.
Body fitting is time related and just requires care and patience. You will move and measure, push, swear, drink coffee and then after 'time' it will all come together. If you collect the body yourself then plan an extra hour and arrange to talk with the guys who actually do it in the factory. They will show you the critical bits that are the key to it all coming together.
Steve
Did you build the 7even pictured in your profile?
If so then you will have no problem fitting the body yourself.
Body fitting is time related and just requires care and patience. You will move and measure, push, swear, drink coffee and then after 'time' it will all come together. If you collect the body yourself then plan an extra hour and arrange to talk with the guys who actually do it in the factory. They will show you the critical bits that are the key to it all coming together.
Steve
Hi Graeme
The bodywork fitting is not impossible, i did my own and think i have made a decent job of it. I would advise having a couple of friends that will be willing to man handle and offer opinions, keep in touch with the factory as i found that i had a couple of questions that i wanted answering before i put drill bit and grinder to certain parts of the bodywork. You really have to pay attention to what you are doing. The trickiest parts i think are getting the doors lined up and closing properly, perhaps a more local builder would volunteer an afternoon when you are at that stage.
It is awkward and quite scary at some points but.. you can do as good a job as the factory.
Dave
p.s, Steve has an excellent point about the factory, take a notepad and camera, there lots of little tricks to this job.
The bodywork fitting is not impossible, i did my own and think i have made a decent job of it. I would advise having a couple of friends that will be willing to man handle and offer opinions, keep in touch with the factory as i found that i had a couple of questions that i wanted answering before i put drill bit and grinder to certain parts of the bodywork. You really have to pay attention to what you are doing. The trickiest parts i think are getting the doors lined up and closing properly, perhaps a more local builder would volunteer an afternoon when you are at that stage.
It is awkward and quite scary at some points but.. you can do as good a job as the factory.
Dave
p.s, Steve has an excellent point about the factory, take a notepad and camera, there lots of little tricks to this job.
Edited by DHGTR on Friday 12th December 16:40
Steve_D said:
Did you build the 7even pictured in your profile?
Cheers guys, yeah I built the rush, infact the Ultima is the 4th Kit ive built, but the first where shut-lines are involved..
looking at the factory car the lines are so tight.. which is part of what attracted me to the kit..
seeing your cars at shows they too have excellent lines, but I think 'most' people on here have had there body's factory pre-fit..?
I must admit i'm leaning towards fitting it myself though..
Do you guys have any extra tips or points to look out for?
woohoo! Such a tasty shape..
typically i didnt manage to get to the factory and had to get it delivered, so didnt get to ask questions about fitting..
I can see i ll be on the phone Monday.. but does anybody have any tips? are there any 'normal' fixes.. ie places to file packers to add?
typically i didnt manage to get to the factory and had to get it delivered, so didnt get to ask questions about fitting..
I can see i ll be on the phone Monday.. but does anybody have any tips? are there any 'normal' fixes.. ie places to file packers to add?
I fitted my own body , but what a nightmare , but I am fussy.All the bodies have common/minor faults which will drive you mad unless you are aware of what they are and accept they can't be got rid of.
1.The rear clip is "high"on the off side by the fuel cap area.
2.The rear clip is more over to the off side than "central".
3.The passenger door fits fairly well so do this first to gain confidence.
4.The drivers door is difficult and the hinge needs shims between it's hinge and the main bulkhead.
5.The vertical joins between the main body and sidepods don't line up very well so plenty of full prefitting is required.Use 5mm X 15mm X 35mm plates with a central hole ,instead of washers ,to pull the side pods up to the body.This spreads the load , puts less stress on the fittings and gives a tighter fit line.
6.When you rivet up the rear bulkhead the door apertures deform especially on the nearside so trim the doors minimally at first.
7.Be carefull when you first fit the doors they will be in the open position,close very slowly keeping an eye on the shut just below the top hinge, there will be a collision here and the frames will need reducing on their insides at about 45 degrees .This then won't be visible on the outside.
8.Use nice thick washers on the inside door hinge studs 25mm O/D X 7mm thick , this will spread the load and when they are loosely tightened will enable you to slide the door to its correct place before fully tightening.Small washers may just self centre themselves on tightening , moving the door.
Remember to think several steps ahead and before rivetting check everything in the sides for rattles etc.
This is in no way a chriticism of the cars.I have worked on hand built cars all my life and perfection is not possible.If you think you have acheived it you havn't tried hard enough.I am very pleased with the look of mine and Ted thinks it looks good.
Don't fit the screen without posting for advice!Email for my tel' number if you get stuck.Or the factory are very helpful.
Frank Rabbets
1.The rear clip is "high"on the off side by the fuel cap area.
2.The rear clip is more over to the off side than "central".
3.The passenger door fits fairly well so do this first to gain confidence.
4.The drivers door is difficult and the hinge needs shims between it's hinge and the main bulkhead.
5.The vertical joins between the main body and sidepods don't line up very well so plenty of full prefitting is required.Use 5mm X 15mm X 35mm plates with a central hole ,instead of washers ,to pull the side pods up to the body.This spreads the load , puts less stress on the fittings and gives a tighter fit line.
6.When you rivet up the rear bulkhead the door apertures deform especially on the nearside so trim the doors minimally at first.
7.Be carefull when you first fit the doors they will be in the open position,close very slowly keeping an eye on the shut just below the top hinge, there will be a collision here and the frames will need reducing on their insides at about 45 degrees .This then won't be visible on the outside.
8.Use nice thick washers on the inside door hinge studs 25mm O/D X 7mm thick , this will spread the load and when they are loosely tightened will enable you to slide the door to its correct place before fully tightening.Small washers may just self centre themselves on tightening , moving the door.
Remember to think several steps ahead and before rivetting check everything in the sides for rattles etc.
This is in no way a chriticism of the cars.I have worked on hand built cars all my life and perfection is not possible.If you think you have acheived it you havn't tried hard enough.I am very pleased with the look of mine and Ted thinks it looks good.
Don't fit the screen without posting for advice!Email for my tel' number if you get stuck.Or the factory are very helpful.
Frank Rabbets
Frank,
Thank YOU! I too am very fussy over body gaps and fitting and haven't been happy with one area on my car and that is the right side where the rear clip meets the fuel tank area. The rear clip is about 1/8" too high and I can't get it to settle in. If I raise the fuel tank area then other areas move in out of alignment.
You present a great summary of fitting the body. It is a very high quality offering and I'm very impressed. Ultima really delivers a top quality shell and should brag about it more on their website.
Paul
Thank YOU! I too am very fussy over body gaps and fitting and haven't been happy with one area on my car and that is the right side where the rear clip meets the fuel tank area. The rear clip is about 1/8" too high and I can't get it to settle in. If I raise the fuel tank area then other areas move in out of alignment.
You present a great summary of fitting the body. It is a very high quality offering and I'm very impressed. Ultima really delivers a top quality shell and should brag about it more on their website.
Paul
For that area below the filler cap where the main body bolts to the top of the side pod I fitted 1,6mm thick ali shims. If you don't the shut line is much thinner than is possible elsewhere on the car so it looks better and solves the mismatch with the rear clip. Make the shims so they finish at least 6mm back from the side of the body then you don't see them unless you go looking.
Steve
Steve
k wright said:
Do yourself and any future owners of your car the service of having the body pre-fitted by the very experienced crew at the factory. They have done this more times than anyone and are very good at it.
Have to say after three days work on the car I dont agree.. unless you are in a rush, as so far it seems so be coming together okay, althought ill keep posted on here my findings and difficulties.. sure Ive definatly got alot of head scratching to go, but also Ive got as much time as needed to get it spot on...OK cheers for the advice!
so far biggest things are 'flanges' at the front cockpit section dont seem to want to go down.. this looks like the grp is stressed that way, not that it doesn't fit.. does that sound right?
also is the passenger door smaller?! seems to be about 1.5 cm's difference?
so far biggest things are 'flanges' at the front cockpit section dont seem to want to go down.. this looks like the grp is stressed that way, not that it doesn't fit.. does that sound right?
also is the passenger door smaller?! seems to be about 1.5 cm's difference?
Yes the pods don't pull up at the front.That's why I made plates to pull the side pods up to sread the load.I think my gap at the front was 10mm before tightening , also some vertical and horizontal filing was required to get a flush/horizontal fit line ; they should pull together if your gap is similar .After tightening I used a flexible wooden 6 inch ruler and pressed it flat/horizontal on the side of the car at the horizontal join to judge that the pods and body were at the same plane at this point .You will be able to lift the body partly off and support it to work on the side pods or remove them. Also holes may need enlarging.The doors are different sizes ; well spotted.
Some more points come to mind;
9.You may have to remove material in the coners of the inside body where the hinge plate goes as it may not go far enough into the corner to get the door in the right position.Similarly on the doors to get the tombstone shaped trims to fit.I used a 2.5 ich diameter carborundum wheel on a fast drill to get the worst out , then a smaller burr.
10.The doors may tilt in towards the body at theie trailing edges . I made ablock of solid rubber about the size of a small dice super glued in the corner to push out the corner of the door when it's closed.This was after fitting the seal.
11.The front clip rear wheelarch corners are a bit springy and out of alignment.I made a threaded/ adjustable in length , aluminium bar about 8 inches long to form a triangle to enable you to adjust this corner to fit perfectly and be very strong.The ands were bonded in to the clip with fibreglass.
The whole car took 550 hours which included 230 for the body , grills,lights etc.
Good luck
Remember to wear a mask at all times plus goggles where needed.I only took my mask off for eating and sleeping for 3 months!
Frank[email if you get stuck].
Some more points come to mind;
9.You may have to remove material in the coners of the inside body where the hinge plate goes as it may not go far enough into the corner to get the door in the right position.Similarly on the doors to get the tombstone shaped trims to fit.I used a 2.5 ich diameter carborundum wheel on a fast drill to get the worst out , then a smaller burr.
10.The doors may tilt in towards the body at theie trailing edges . I made ablock of solid rubber about the size of a small dice super glued in the corner to push out the corner of the door when it's closed.This was after fitting the seal.
11.The front clip rear wheelarch corners are a bit springy and out of alignment.I made a threaded/ adjustable in length , aluminium bar about 8 inches long to form a triangle to enable you to adjust this corner to fit perfectly and be very strong.The ands were bonded in to the clip with fibreglass.
The whole car took 550 hours which included 230 for the body , grills,lights etc.
Good luck
Remember to wear a mask at all times plus goggles where needed.I only took my mask off for eating and sleeping for 3 months!
Frank[email if you get stuck].
60mph said:
1.The rear clip is "high"on the off side by the fuel cap area.
Frank, Thanks for the advice.. I just spoke to the factory about this and apparently there is a shim included in the kit? - havent found it yet but will look tonight.. sounds the same as steveD did?
Im sure time will tell but so far nowhere near as daunting as I thought it would be..
You can't shim this area.When the clip is shut it's too "tall" and the horizontal plane on the clip is 2mm higher than the body where the filler cap hole is .They are all the same.I think the confusion is that shims are required in a nearby area , verticly between the flat chassis rail and the side pod.I think this is what Steve is referring to.It might pay you to visit me and see the car thinking about it.I took early retirement so time isn't a problem.I'm about 15 miles off M 42 in Stourbridge.
Frank
Frank
The area I fitted shims is the horizontal joint between the top surface of the side pod and the underside of the main body. This joint is directly below the filler. The result is that the main body is lifted relative to the side pod making the top of the body and top of clip align.
If your clip does not sit down far enough have you ensured the small rubber buffers are not too thick.
Steve
If your clip does not sit down far enough have you ensured the small rubber buffers are not too thick.
Steve
Steve_D said:
The area I fitted shims is the horizontal joint between the top surface of the side pod and the underside of the main body.
If your clip does not sit down far enough have you ensured the small rubber buffers are not too thick.
Steve
This is the shim I was told is supplied in the kit... also the small buffers need to be cut down to 3mm high..If your clip does not sit down far enough have you ensured the small rubber buffers are not too thick.
Steve
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