Rear clip alignment

Eric · 13th January 2005, 12:12 AM

Ok this may be a stupid question but........
Keep in mind this is a scratch build I am doing. I am trying to line up my rear clip and I cant help but notice that the lowest part of the body is a good 3 1/2 inches above the bottom of the frame, looking at various pics this may be correct but there are no pics that are low enough to the ground and detailed enough to convince me this is right. Can anyone confirm??? Is this how it is supposed to be or is the rear clip extremely distorted? Thanks

Simon · 13th January 2005, 06:34 AM

Eric,

I'm not sure EXACTLY what you mean, but do these pics help?
I tried to position the camera at about the same level as the bottom of the sill.

Simon

Simon · 13th January 2005, 06:35 AM

From another angle.

Eric · 13th January 2005, 10:07 AM

Wow, thanks very much. I had no idea that you would be able to see that much of the car hanging out the bottom. I guess it is right. All the dimensions I took tell me the back end of the clip needs to go up another 1/2" even.
Thanks again

Kalun D · 13th January 2005, 12:20 PM

Body fit is one of the trickiest parts of a build, especially from scratch. I tried to first center the wheel well arches over the tires then establish the rocker panels from that. The bottom of the rocker panels should be at the bottom of the car. Essentially the rocker is centered between the tires and aligned with the bottom of the car. Then all the other parts are aligned to the rocker panels.

My rear clip wasn't trimmed on the front edge so that made it even more problematic. That trim made it possible to tilt the rear clip to align it with the rocker panel.

The rear bottom edge of my rear clip is 4-1/4" from the bottom of the car. The original cars have a nice curved assembly of aluminum sheet/steel tubing that goes from the bottom of the car to the clip rear bottom edge. You can see it in the parts book.

Another thing you have to keep in mind is these bodies aren't symmetrical. I spent a lot of time trying to get the clearance the same all around the back tires and it just wasn't possible because the fender curve is different side to side.

One other note, the front clip bottom is flush with the bottom of the car.