Help please - bent chassis leg.

Has the dust settled?

By pointing out that I am an engineer I was trying to say that I understood the importance of getting the chassis and suspension pickups in the right place - panel gaps etc are secondary - but enough of that.

Anyway. This is a '71 Pantera - and I think was coachbuilt by Vignale - so the panels, and indeed the door skins always were fitted last to suit the chassis. Add to that the front wings are (under closer inspection) two wing portions gas welded together, and the exceptionally nasty way that all other work has previously been done, I want to get the thing straight before anything else is done.

I've got the front drivers wing off now, and it appears drivers side structurally is straight. I did find a large lump of GRP covering the fact that the lower section of the door post was absent, but that's a relatively easy fix.

I'm thinking that if I weld up a frame that picks up on all 4 of the suspension arm points, plus the shock mount on the drivers side, I could then transfer this to the pass side - I'd have to have a look to see if they are all in the same plane to see whether this is doable.

I'll be the first to admit that I've not done a huge amount of hands on work of this kind. I've helped with the re-build of the rear end of a mates mini, and I've built the floor structure and rear subframe of my mini to a high tolerance despite a far from ideal working environment, but I've not worked in this field, so don't have masses of experience. I apologise if I wasn't as polite as I could have been in my previous replys, I was just a bit shocked at how PRC had reacted to the OPs post which extremely politely, and very respectfully suggested that the info given might not be relevant in this case. I can also be a bit of a pedant when it comes to sweeping statements in engineering, hence why I was being picky about that one sentence. So yeah, sorry about that, but one thing I do have experience in is assisting students with learning difficulties at practical automotive work, and trust me when I say no-one, regardless of intellect, qualifications, experience or disability will learn anything from throwing insults around and dismissing actions as incorrect without explanation.


So anyway, to get back on topic, it's not something I've done much of before, so this is just how I'd approach the task, but if the suspension mounting points are not in the same plane (which I expect is the case), then 2 approaches spring to mind.

The first one would be to make a frame/jig in a vertical fore-aft plane, a set distance outboard of the suspension pickups (measured from points known to be straight on both sides). To this horizontal arms could be added reaching out to the suspension points, these arms could then be extended from the opposite side of the frame/jig as a mirror image, giving a symmetrical jig that can be used on either side of the car. In fact if you were to position it outboard of the bodywork you could use this jig for any other reference point you wanted, rather than just the suspension.

The other would be to do as Dez suggested earlier and make a frame under the car (which it looks like you might already have made a start on?), to which brackets reaching up to the mounting points could be attached, again, mirroring this would give the points on the opposite side, it would just be slightly less simple to create the mirror image as everything would be further away, and may not be a simple horizontal bar.


PRC, if you feel that any of our advice is incorrect, or not the best way of going about the task, then I'm sure your input would be welcomed, you clearly have experience in this field and feel you are qualified to assist in this case. However please do so respectfully, and with explanation as to why you are saying what you are, so we can all learn from your experience, rather than simply being insulted.

1st drop test the whole car
2 take measurements of wheelbase both sides
3 measure both sides fwd and back from same point drop test to floor
4 cross diagonal it
5 panel it up before jigging it check gaps before pulling it.
6 if both wings have been bodged then pound to a penny they have been done for a reason
7 try and source new s/h.
8find out what and get wheelbase length castor camber all before and after

It does not matter that the car is coach built at all it still needs all the panels on before you go about straightening the chasis,when you pull the bulkhead can move incluidng the door pillars that is why it is important to have it paneled up.

As for qualifications well 30 yrs plus in the body trade,qualified to ins standard of car Assesement ,owner of body shop,coded welder.

Spelling is wibblepoo I don't care a curse word about it it is only trumped up little shites who complain and take the curse word

Posts reported as if I really care


Dave

Here: retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=readersrides&action=display&thread=76074