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From the number of times I've heard this and
variations of it, I conclude that it is a common problem made worse when
there is the necessity of having a new floor or part of it made. Once
the body is off it may be re united with the chassis (and not necessarily
the original chassis) in a bewildering number of ways. Not just ‘right
or wrong’ but an almost infinite number of variations of ‘almost right’
or ‘good enuff’.
During sleepless nights wrestling with this problem and its consequences
on the fit of the bonnet, (read non-fit of the bonnet) I came to the
conclusion that I was the only one in the universe to have encountered
the difficulty.
Two observations have since encouraged me to think that I am not alone.
Firstly I noticed at a recent event, a car with a nicely fitting bonnet
(one gets to be very critical about such things) only to find on viewing
the other side that the bonnet was a deplorable apology for a decent fit.
Big gaps, tapering gaps, skewed locking catches - the lot. Clearly the
owner had been having a major problem (I can't think he didn't notice it)
and had resigned himself to driving a banana shaped car, "with luck no
one will spot it… ". Well they have, and it can be improved. Read on...
Secondly the observation that one purveyor of parts offers to make you a
new bonnet to fit your car but you have to leave said car with him while
he tailors the new one. Surely in this is a counsel of despair? But it
only goes to show.
Given a pristine, undrilled floor, or a body which has only just been
introduced to the chassis the unhappy owner discovers that there are
four ‘little’ problems
viz: -
1 The body is too far forward or too far back along the chassis.
The radiator position is a fixed by the chassis brackets but the bonnet stay has several
degrees of freedom ‘cos the holes are slotted and said stay can be fitted, on the top of
the radiator and a body brackets, or underneath them, or one on top with t'other underneath,
not to mention skewed or right or left, and this is only the start.
Obviously the body must clear the engine, but by how much? There's about ⅜” (all metric?
Work it out!) float fore and aft. In fact it is only restricted by butting the front against
the cylinder block, in which case the rear cylinder head nuts are pigs to remove (been there),
or too far back so that the foot pedals have insufficient travel. I kid you not, because
I … no, I won't unburden myself further on that score.
2. The body can be skewed. It's not easy to spot this one and you
can't rely on the front wings which join the running boards, which join the rear mudguards,
which bolt to the rear wheel arch to be precise enough to ensure that are both sides are the same.
The bits can fit quite well, apparently, and the body can still be quite badly out of line.
You need lots of measurements from the centre line of the chassis, which you have previously
chalked on cross members to make sure body and chassis are parallel. You didn't mark the
centre lines? Oh dear!
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3. The body may be up or down. During assembly the
body could be, and was; raised or lowered on the chassis by felt pads. These were
fitted “to reduce body drumming caused by vibrations being fed from the chassis”,
said Austin. Oh yeah? At the risk of being sued for defamation of character I
take leave to suggest that much more likely is that this was another "adjustment"
available to make everything fit. And it just to confuse matters still further
it didn't have to be the same on both sides! The body could be tipped relative
to the chassis.
4. This is the delicate one. The body could be tilted
up front or back by the judicious insertion of shims, packing pieces, distance blocks,
call them what you will, between the chassis and the floor. Austin used bits of wood,
"to reduce body drumming". Ha ha.
If your bonnet won't fit after you've got items 1-3 sorted, number 4 is likely to be
the culprit because, it turns out, it is a very sensitive adjustment which has a
profound bearing on the bonnet fit. I needed ⅜” of extra height at the front end to
match body and bonnet. But my bonnet was miles out to start with, so it proved to
be a very effective adjustment. And of course it doesn't need to be the same on
both sides. Have I said that before?
A real codge - but it works if the other 'adjustments'
are inadequate . The rubber 'twixt bonnet and at body doesn't have to be the same
both sides or uniform all round or the same back and front but it has to look the
same.. In fact you can fine-tune the apparent bonnet fit by bodging the holes through
the rubber, which take the wires securing this strip to the body, anywhere you like.
And no one will notice this because the bonnet, which you have now made to be,
apparently, a beautiful fit, covers it over. Easy.
Although the foregoing concentrates on the problems associated with new floors
and mismatched body/ chassis combinations, the problem can, and does, arise when
bodies are removed and on replacing, don't match. This, I am convinced is because
the felt and wood "anti- drumming" pieces have rotted away or compressed over the
years. Avoid, at all costs, the temptation to make the body fit back again. It
can be done I know, and the two structures can be reunited by pulling down the
chassis bolts firmly but the body twists and stresses and it quickly shows up as
cracks at the corners of the doors and windows.
The aluminium body of the Chummy
or Tophat is very easy to distort but resist that temptation and restore the
various packing pieces until a stress-free fit is obtained with the holding bolts
fitting without ‘persuasion’.
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