Frame measurement drawing

Remco,

I don't know of any site but if you can't find it and you measure yours after putting everything on right place you take that measures for future reference. If you don't find anything the best option is to put everything together and welded a few points before take everything apart again. Ear stories that on the end people welded the heater channels and frame because holes are not align. Even if you find the information I would trust it. I would put everything together first. You are working on your car so the time isn't an issue, but the quality is. On the end you will feel better. I have the same issue with my suspension :-)

Jo=E3o

Thanks, Jo=E3o - yup, that's exactly what I was afraid of: I decided to weld the floors in after all so I can use them as a template to weld the heater channel "ring". In other words, I intend to weld the channels, front firewall and rear cross brace together while it is laying on the floorpan. Then I'll slip the body over this whole assembly, align everything, tack it in, remove the pan and weld it all to the body properly.

If I am already 'off' by over a cm, the channels mounting holes may be off by another cm -- the errors usually accumulate and rarely cancel (by Murphy's law, anyway :). I'll probably take the time to try and bolt the frame back to the body, bolt the floor pan to the channels and then tack the floor panels in. Then take the whole thing apart again, weld the whole floor in properly. It actually is not as big a deal as it sounds. After than, I am pretty confident that the channels will at least line up with the body so can attempt the 'ring' trick, described above.

I do tend to over-analyze and over-design stuff (professional habit) - maybe I am making this a lot more complex than it actually is.

Thanks for the sanity check (you're right - I'd also question drawings :)

Your IRS is not back together? What's the problem?

Remco

"Remco" wrote

Weld the body to the pan? You know there's a gasket there, right?

My problem is time :-) Only today I had a few minutes to buy longer screws to be able to put all in. I don't work at home so during the day I can't do anything. On evening I have the kids and wife to take care :-) I only have a few minutes and I like to check everything and read a lot before try to do anything. I know Murphy's Law :-) I only have graphite powder to put on the rubbers and I don't know if it's enough. May be I can use a twin layer of normal lube to help the graphite powder to stick to the bushings. I would like to have a help on this.

Jo=E3o

This one?:

Jim

No, that's not what I meant: I am going to weld a ring of heater channels, front firewall and rear cross braces together while it sits on the pan. That ring is then welded to the body - not the floor, obviously.

Exactly what I wanted! Thank you, Jim!

So you're looking to put graphite powder on the bushings, but it doesn't stick? Couldn't you just use graphite grease? That stuff that looks like high temperature grease?

Remco

yes, but I can't find it here. I have already ask for it in 3 shops. I will keep looking until tomorrow.

Jo=E3o

This could be a totally BS suggestion, but you are only looking for something to carry the graphite into the joint, right? The stuff doesn't stay put while you're installing the joint, right? why not use some of that waterless soap? (waterless soap is something one might use when water is not available and you want to wash your hands - they sell that stuff at the grocery store here).

Mix this stuff up with your graphite, put it on the stuff you want to install, install it quickly. The waterless soap evaporates after a couple of minutes and leaves no residue. The stuff is non caustic, so should not affect the bushings nor the metal. After the soap evaporates inside the joint, the graphite stays behind.. I use that soap a lot to drive wood screws into hard wood so it goes in easily. It also works great when installing grommets, making no mess nor leaving moisture. I suspect it works fine as a carrier as well.

Or let me know and I'd be happy to send you graphite grease (and some waterless hand soap to wash your hand with after :)

Remco

Hey Remco

Glad to see you are making progress.

When I did mine, the holes of the new panels were miles off !

I put every thing together loosely getting as many holes as I could nearly lined up. Then I tacked everything in place. I drew with a marker where the holes needed to be. Then I took the body back off, welded proper and ground out new holes.

It is amazing, how far out the aftermarket panels are !

Rich

Hey, Rich

Yes, that's what I am finding - they are off by a lot (well, thus far

1.5 cm - that's a lot in what should be a near exact science) Right now, I am worried about tolerance build up. I wanted to use the floor as a template to align my channels but that won't work right with my holes off as much as they are.

I'll probably need to do the same, put the body back on the frame, dry fitting the new channels so they fit to the body properly, aligning the floor pan, marking where the holes and tack the floor pan in.

Thanks for the tips. Remco