Jim's RCR Build

[Fran Hall RCR]

Looks like your B pillar is sitting inboard of the edge of the rocker a little too...Is the body square on the chassis?...that small mount of misalignment can be reversed by a slight rotation of the tail to tuck the front edge in...it only takes a minor adjustment to get that lined up.

Check out Eglitoms build thread for body alignment...in typical German fashion its very concise..:thumbsup:

edit...the scoop may also have pulled just a little when the flares were installed too, again it only takes a slight tweek for something to move a 1/4 inch.....didnt think of that initially

 

[Randy V]

Hi Jim,

You may need to adjust the spider pillar outward just a bit. There should be a consistent arc from the sill all the way up to the adjacent spider B pillar.

That said --- even after careful alignment -- I had the exact same problem and ended up cutting a long wedge vertically from the inner liner of the quarter panel and re-bonding..

More info here - although I have yet to update my website with the solution I have taken the pictures of same - just need to find them...

GT-Forty.com

 

[Jim]

Thanks for the ideas. I think it's a combination of things. The body is square to the body and the B pillar is flush to the rocker, the photo is a little deceiving. The driver side is flushed out nicely with the B pillar and the door. That fits great. If I move the rocker outward then the door will be an issue. I'm still playing with the adjustment/ alignment of the back deck lid. Randy, I was on your website the other night! Trust me, I'm also all over Tom's build log. I have a friend helping me with this car and every time we are stumped he says "what did the German do"..... Tom, your car is amazing!

 

[EGLITOM]

Thanks for the ideas. I think it's a combination of things. The body is square to the body and the B pillar is flush to the rocker, the photo is a little deceiving. The driver side is flushed out nicely with the B pillar and the door. That fits great. If I move the rocker outward then the door will be an issue. I'm still playing with the adjustment/ alignment of the back deck lid. Randy, I was on your website the other night! Trust me, I'm also all over Tom's build log. I have a friend helping me with this car and every time we are stumped he says "what did the German do"..... Tom, your car is amazing!

Hi Jim

Thanks for the cudos. There may be not all of the information in my build log, so if you cannot find any specific information, just send me a pm and i try to help.

TOM

 

[Jason Ferraro]

Same on my RCR. Must be the way we put them together!

Just separate the outer edge from the inner and move it in. A few of us have done this now.

 

[Jim]

Same on my RCR. Must be the way we put them together!

Just separate the outer edge from the inner and move it in. A few of us have done this now.

Did it today. I took a 1/4" material out of the inner shell and pulled the outer skin inboard. I still have to glass it in but it was't that bad. I'm actually making pretty good progress with the door gaps and body panel alignment. Just takes time and a little patience.

Tom, thank you for the offer! It's great how helpful people have been with my build (Chuck comes to mind here....).

I'll post door gap pictures this week.

 

[Jim]

Joints - I have been working a lot over the last couple of weeks trying to get the gaps and "rough" edges smoothed out. My garage is a total dust bowl but the gaps are looking pretty good! I wasn't planning on going this far into the body work but my painter has been busy working on my Shelby clone. I included a few pic's of that one too... I have a 2012 supercharged coyote engine for that one.. Don't ask me why I have two projects going at once....

 

[Mark R]

Shaved the drip rails on the 67? I have seen that treatment on a 66 mustang that looked nice. Are you keeping the rest of the body pretty close to shelby spec?

I have severe disdane for Eleanore clones. FWIW.

 

[Chuck]

GT looks good. Nice seams. Do you have weatherstripping in place? Weatherstripping can affect alignment a bit.

 

[Jim]

Shaved the drip rails on the 67? I have seen that treatment on a 66 mustang that looked nice. Are you keeping the rest of the body pretty close to shelby spec?

I have severe disdane for Eleanore clones. FWIW.

Yes.. The rest of the car will be like the original except the fiberglass will fit way nicer! A lot of cutting and re-shaping to get that to work. I also took about 1/2" out of each number so it fits flush to the outside edge of the quarter panels. I debated on the drip rails... I wanted to do something that is a little different. Kind of clean it up a bit.

 

[Jim]

GT looks good. Nice seams. Do you have weatherstripping in place? Weatherstripping can affect alignment a bit.

Yes sir! One of my first purchases. Still a long way to go but I have been chipping away at it. I should say grinding and sanding away at it! It's funny when you first start you wonder how the heck it will all come tougher. Time and patience is the answer to that one! I'm so grateful to have all of the information on this build. It's nice to see how people solve the common issues with the body. I think the trick is to not be afraid to attack it. ....but be smart about it!

 

[Mark R]

Yes.. The rest of the car will be like the original except the fiberglass will fit way nicer! A lot of cutting and re-shaping to get that to work. I also took about 1/2" out of each number so it fits flush to the outside edge of the quarter panels. I debated on the drip rails... I wanted to do something that is a little different. Kind of clean it up a bit.

Where did you source the fiberglass for the GT500 clone? I need to replace the trunk on my '67 vert and was thinking of adding the shelby tail for the 'california special' look. I have built the car up to be a virtual clone of a '67 GT350, and will probably add the shelby nose & hood at some point.

 

[Jim]

Where did you source the fiberglass for the GT500 clone? I need to replace the trunk on my '67 vert and was thinking of adding the shelby tail for the 'california special' look. I have built the car up to be a virtual clone of a '67 GT350, and will probably add the shelby nose & hood at some point.

The fiberglass came from Tony Branda. The fiberglass on this car has been worked over "big time". Mustangs to Fear has the best glass but I'm not sure if they sell the shelby front end. They tend to specialize in the Eleanor panels. I know most fiberglass requires some messaging but with this stuff I had really took an effort.

 

[Jim]

A small update.... Cut the headlights out today.

 

[Jim]

I also fixed the rear deck lid issue on the passenger side. I cut 1/4" out of the inner panel and applied epoxy while clamping it together. It brought it in just where it needed to go.
I was happy with the result. I will grind it smooth so it won't be noticeable when I paint. You can notice the milky area is where I removed material.

 

[Jim]

Quick question... My steering shaft comes up on an angle through the dash. Is that correct? The steering shaft mount (under the dash - huge bolt) is in the factory location. Fran mentioned to me that it was for safety reasons. So the steering shaft doesn't impale you in an accident. Seems like it needs to move towards the middle of the car for proper alignment. The dash is perfectly centered on the chassis. Any ideas? Thanks. The angles looks a lot worse than the photo is indicating.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Jim, check the online build manual...it shows that the universal joint is located after the spherical bearing mount/support (not a big bolt...wink) this will allow you to angle the column to wherever you want it to be...if you also want to move the flanged bearing mount behind the dash that is also very easy to do...

Check Chuck and Ryans installation...as it offers a lot of great insight

If you shorten or lengthen the threaded section of the spherical bearing support using the jam nuts it will also angle the steering column up or down..

 

[Chuck]

Jim

Once I had the location of the dash exactly where it needed to be we did relocate the support bearings for the steering column slightly to center the steering column. I believe it is discussed in the "book". If not let me know and I can send along more details.

 

[Tom]

Jim, to piggyback on what Chuck said, I used a plumb bob to locate my new mounting points once I determined where my steering shaft should be. For me, it was centered between the clutch and brake pedal, then centered to the dash. This change required the spherical bearing to be mounted about 3/4" away from the factory hole and spaced up as high as it would go. This brings the u-joint pinch bolt head real close to the frame, but I prefer my steering wheel to sit a little lower.

Probably best to locate where you want your pedals and have the dash in it's final position FIRST before you drill your new hole for the spherical and flanged bearings.

The flanged bearing behind the dash had to be relocated so it's centered with the dash steering cutout.

After this change, the steering wheel is now perpendicular to the centerline of the car, not angled off to the left when viewed from above, and it's centered in the dash.

 

[Jim]

Jim

Once I had the location of the dash exactly where it needed to be we did relocate the support bearings for the steering column slightly to center the steering column. I believe it is discussed in the "book". If not let me know and I can send along more details.

Thanks Chuck. I was digging in the book this afternoon. Didn't see it but I was covered in dust and a little impatient... (still working on the headlight openings). I did notice on your car that you used a different setup for the "fog light area". The square and the small round type. Were you mimicking a particular car with those lights? I have seen that setup before on another car. My car didn't come with either the round or the two small lights. I have that turn indicator lights, headlights, and the rear brake lights. I owe a visit to Fran anyway. He's always has good stuff around the shop!