Locating Spider Foot
- Thread starter swede30
- Start date
Hi all,
the 350mm distance on mine is the same as Pats. The door striker plates are 2 15/16" on the right, and 3 1/4" on the left. The door-spider gaps have needed slight adjustment but nothing too bad. the door to front clip gaps were quite good, just small amount of filling/cutting.About to start the rear clip to spider gaps, but need to raise the rear clip up by half an inch to get correct alignment with the roof, which will require fiberglass filler on the clip where it sits on the sills. is this normal?????
the 350mm distance on mine is the same as Pats. The door striker plates are 2 15/16" on the right, and 3 1/4" on the left. The door-spider gaps have needed slight adjustment but nothing too bad. the door to front clip gaps were quite good, just small amount of filling/cutting.About to start the rear clip to spider gaps, but need to raise the rear clip up by half an inch to get correct alignment with the roof, which will require fiberglass filler on the clip where it sits on the sills. is this normal?????
Robert Logan
Defunct Manufactuer - Old RF Company
Jim,
Pat Barry's post of 1 March showing a picture with a rule in it is CORRECT.
Hershal , I know, moves the spider and the front and rear clips round to get "the BEST FIT" and this can make every car vary slightly (up to 1/4").
The reason for this is that a very small movement in the spider is magnified to the front and rear of the car. This means that every spider has to be adjusted slightly to get that BEST FIT.
Hershal has done many of these fits for our cars (5 I believe) and he knows what he is doing. Further more he is sitting beside me at the moment and for all those who know him and me , Hershal is at least 1 1/2 the size of me and I ain't about to start argueing with him.
On a more serious note , my staff take up to 120 hours to fully fit the body work on one of our cars and initially a lot of time is spent chasing your tail and getting the best fit.
Any more questions please call of e-mail me,
Best wishes,
Robert
Pat Barry's post of 1 March showing a picture with a rule in it is CORRECT.
Hershal , I know, moves the spider and the front and rear clips round to get "the BEST FIT" and this can make every car vary slightly (up to 1/4").
The reason for this is that a very small movement in the spider is magnified to the front and rear of the car. This means that every spider has to be adjusted slightly to get that BEST FIT.
Hershal has done many of these fits for our cars (5 I believe) and he knows what he is doing. Further more he is sitting beside me at the moment and for all those who know him and me , Hershal is at least 1 1/2 the size of me and I ain't about to start argueing with him.
On a more serious note , my staff take up to 120 hours to fully fit the body work on one of our cars and initially a lot of time is spent chasing your tail and getting the best fit.
Any more questions please call of e-mail me,
Best wishes,
Robert
Ron Earp
Admin
Dan,
Those door strikers are not the standard strikers. Those are ones that Hershal helped me make, and, have to say much more study and positive in door location and latching than the original design on the early cars. So, measurements for the strikers may mean nothing for your car since I think the others are using different things, except for the ones that Hershal fitted and made the same pieces for.
Hershal worked with me for a week, thanks again Hershal, and doing so full time we only got the body fitted. But, when it was done the gaps were the best they could be and it fit well. I'd be paying more attention to gaps and panel alignment than measured dimensions as they take a lot of tweaking. Dan, make sure you left the shims under the front part of the spider because they are critial to making it align well with the front clip.
Robert, you fellows working on my car or are you down there drinking beer, playing golf, and watching races? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Ron
Those door strikers are not the standard strikers. Those are ones that Hershal helped me make, and, have to say much more study and positive in door location and latching than the original design on the early cars. So, measurements for the strikers may mean nothing for your car since I think the others are using different things, except for the ones that Hershal fitted and made the same pieces for.
Hershal worked with me for a week, thanks again Hershal, and doing so full time we only got the body fitted. But, when it was done the gaps were the best they could be and it fit well. I'd be paying more attention to gaps and panel alignment than measured dimensions as they take a lot of tweaking. Dan, make sure you left the shims under the front part of the spider because they are critial to making it align well with the front clip.
Robert, you fellows working on my car or are you down there drinking beer, playing golf, and watching races? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Ron
Hey Guys
I knew there was something different. The extra length of my strikers explain why everyone else thought the strikers did not make any differance. I guess lesson here is there is a differance from car to car as Robert says. The pictures I posted with the even gaps are showing the spider right where Hershal mounted it. Thanks Hershal.
Jim, I'm sorry if I lead you down the wrong path.
I knew there was something different. The extra length of my strikers explain why everyone else thought the strikers did not make any differance. I guess lesson here is there is a differance from car to car as Robert says. The pictures I posted with the even gaps are showing the spider right where Hershal mounted it. Thanks Hershal.
Jim, I'm sorry if I lead you down the wrong path.
Jerry, I did lots of filling on front brow of the spider, the rear top of one of the doors and the front top of the rear clip. In reality, most of these were fairly close to being level, but I was anal to the point of obsessive. If you need, I can send some pictures of what I filled when in case you're doubting yourself, but is sounds like you are in a similar position as myself.
Dan, I'm with Ron, if it fits and looks good, LEAVE IT! Is your sill panel located of just hanging out, as it appears set too far to the rear.
Dan, I'm with Ron, if it fits and looks good, LEAVE IT! Is your sill panel located of just hanging out, as it appears set too far to the rear.
There is probably an ideal fit and I would recommend that you go with Robert and Hershal's advice on this, but here is some extra "FYI".
I found that the forward and aft location of the body relative to the space-frame is actually quite variable. The physical limits are actually the sills as they but up against the s/frame, but the truth is that you don't want to get anywhere near those limits.
During the build, I made the decision that the ultimate consideration would be to locate all wheels as close as possible to the centre of their respective arches. I achieved that goal to a surprisingly high accuracy, but in doing so ended up with a body that is located about 10mm rearward of any factory cars that I have seen. However, if I were to do it all again, I would do it as per the factory fit for no other reason than to make it that little bit easier to get in/out of the car. In my opinion, the original designers put the windscreen (and therefore the door openings) too far back, making for an interesting entrance and exit technique.
Having said that though, everything fits regardless of the fact that my body is 10mm rearward of factory fit (although the dash consequently needed a little extra coaxing) and would have fit just as well had it been 10mm forward of factory fit.
PS. I'm not sure if the later kits are supplied with pre-length door strikers, but I had to cut and weld mine to length. A bit of advice is to fit the strikers before securing the aluminium panel that is immediately rear of the striker. This allows you to fit the striker with the doors closed, so being able to easily achieving a perfect fit.
I found that the forward and aft location of the body relative to the space-frame is actually quite variable. The physical limits are actually the sills as they but up against the s/frame, but the truth is that you don't want to get anywhere near those limits.
During the build, I made the decision that the ultimate consideration would be to locate all wheels as close as possible to the centre of their respective arches. I achieved that goal to a surprisingly high accuracy, but in doing so ended up with a body that is located about 10mm rearward of any factory cars that I have seen. However, if I were to do it all again, I would do it as per the factory fit for no other reason than to make it that little bit easier to get in/out of the car. In my opinion, the original designers put the windscreen (and therefore the door openings) too far back, making for an interesting entrance and exit technique.
Having said that though, everything fits regardless of the fact that my body is 10mm rearward of factory fit (although the dash consequently needed a little extra coaxing) and would have fit just as well had it been 10mm forward of factory fit.
PS. I'm not sure if the later kits are supplied with pre-length door strikers, but I had to cut and weld mine to length. A bit of advice is to fit the strikers before securing the aluminium panel that is immediately rear of the striker. This allows you to fit the striker with the doors closed, so being able to easily achieving a perfect fit.
Hi Pat,
will need a thin skim of filler in the same areas as yours. Nothing too major. Luckily i find sanding filler to be quite relaxing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif. intend to be a bit obsesive with the body-work due to a bet being placed on the finished quality! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
will need a thin skim of filler in the same areas as yours. Nothing too major. Luckily i find sanding filler to be quite relaxing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif. intend to be a bit obsesive with the body-work due to a bet being placed on the finished quality! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
