Help - Supporting 911 body while renovating

[Fixanything]

I am in the process of renovating my 1976 911, I want to make sure I am supporting it correctly before I conduct any significant repairs. I would like to understand what is best practice with regard to supporting the body/chassis (engine, running gear and suspension all removed).

What I am currently observing is that when the body is supported on a rotisserie (fixed to bumper shock absorber mounts) the door gaps are spot on however, when I lower the body on to axle stands rears under torsion tube and front under front foot wells the door gaps degrade mainly closing up where the top front edge corner of the door window and body window frame. This is opposite to what I expected.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Regards
Mark T

[C4ME]

The right way to do it is to use a Celette jig with the correct Porsche brackets. is that an option?

[Slippydiff]

This was the shell that I'd planned to use to form the basis of my '73 2.8 RSR.
Roof and outer sills removed (prior to acid dipping).
You can see the two braces welded into the door apertures to ensure the shell didn't twist in this area.



However the shell was also mounted onto a frame :



which supported it (squarely) from the torsion bar tube ends at the back of the shell (I can't remember where the front of the frame picked up the shell, but probably here IIRC) :

[Fixanything]

C4ME,

Many thanks looks like this type of jig would be used as a reference to get either an accident damaged car straight or you are doing major panel replacement. My car is very straight and original, just kidney bowl's, and general tidy-up.

Cheers
Mark T

[Fixanything]

Slippydiff said:

This was the shell that I'd planned to use to form the basis of my '73 2.8 RSR.
Roof and outer sills removed (prior to acid dipping).
You can see the two braces welded into the door apertures to ensure the shell didn't twist in this area.



However the shell was also mounted onto a frame :



which supported it (squarely) from the torsion bar tube ends at the back of the shell (I can't remember where the front of the frame picked up the shell, but probably here IIRC) :

Slippy, very helpful, this is very close to how I am supporting, I just need to move the front supports from the front of the foot well to the front torsion load points, will see if this helps tomorrow.

[Jevvy]

Fixanything said:

I am in the process of renovating my 1976 911, I want to make sure I am supporting it correctly before I conduct any significant repairs. I would like to understand what is best practice with regard to supporting the body/chassis (engine, running gear and suspension all removed).

Some light reading to get you started, plenty more on DDK:

http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2...

Good luck with the resto.

[SRT Hellcat]

Fixanything said:

C4ME,

Many thanks looks like this type of jig would be used as a reference to get either an accident damaged car straight or you are doing major panel replacement. My car is very straight and original, just kidney bowl's, and general tidy-up.

Cheers
Mark T

C4ME is absolutely correct in what he says. What I cannot remember is if you ensure all of the jig brackets line up prior to putting it on a rotisserie or after. Or both. Your potential problem is not having the knowledge and experience to jig the entire car square. From memory there are 36 or 38 jig brackets that ensure the cars perfect alignment. My 911 guy has a degree in metallurgy and I believe builds the best 911 shells out there. After he straightened an earlier 911 project the corner weights were out by 1kg

[Fixanything]

Slippydiff said:

This was the shell that I'd planned to use to form the basis of my '73 2.8 RSR.
Roof and outer sills removed (prior to acid dipping).
You can see the two braces welded into the door apertures to ensure the shell didn't twist in this area.



However the shell was also mounted onto a frame :



which supported it (squarely) from the torsion bar tube ends at the back of the shell (I can't remember where the front of the frame picked up the shell, but probably here IIRC) :

Slippy, very helpful, this is very close to how I am supporting, I just need to move the front supports from the front of the foot well to the front torsion load points, will see if this helps tomorrow.

[Fixanything]

Thanks to all, perfect door gaps all round.

[RSVP911]

Slippydiff said:

This was the shell that I'd planned to use to form the basis of my '73 2.8 RSR.
Roof and outer sills removed (prior to acid dipping).
You can see the two braces welded into the door apertures to ensure the shell didn't twist in this area.



However the shell was also mounted onto a frame :



which supported it (squarely) from the torsion bar tube ends at the back of the shell (I can't remember where the front of the frame picked up the shell, but probably here IIRC) :

Now that is genuinly very impressive - nearly as good as the home made axel stands discussed on another thread

[Slippydiff]

RSVP911 said:

Now that is genuinly very impressive - nearly as good as the home made axel stands discussed on another thread

A lovely shell which hadn't been subjected to the vagaries of our weather, and it would've made one of the best, if not THE best and most accurate replica's available according to the well known (in air cooled circles) gentleman charged with its construction. A complete money pit (the project as a whole, not the shell)
What might have been .... Ahh well.
Glad to hear the OP's doors still fit nicely, always a bonus that.