Michael Graham wrote:
>
> Currently helping a friend with a total restoration of a 4A. Does anyone
> have dimensions for the body shell? All of the references I can find are to
> leg room, hip room and such. What I am trying to locate is dimensions to
> check alignment of floorpans, sills etc. Given the common sizes between the
> 4 and 6, I am making measurements on my 6 to check the dimensions as we
> piece together the 4, but "blueprint" type measurements of a body shell
> would be most useful. Does anyone have those or know of a source?
Fairly good dimensions of the frame are available in the factory manual.
Checking diagonals on the frame (to make sure, first, that the frame
were square) and then transferring measurements to each side of body to
the various body parts would probably be the only way to determine this.
I suspect that the only complete blueprints reside in an archive vault
in England.
If the body is already off the frame, most of the body part registration
is going to come from the shell itself, and that can still be checked
using the measurement of diagonals from various points which one can
presume should be identical (for example, joint of firewall and LH inner
fender to joint of RH inner fender and front apron, and the opposite).
If every bit has already been removed without taking any measurements,
then the biggest problem will be in aligning door a-posts and inner and
outer sills. Floorboards should not be a big problem unless they have
already been removed and the body was not secured first to prevent
lozenging. In that case, the same kind of diagonals should be taken at
identical points at the openings for the floorpans and the shell then
tweaked and secured to the buck before trying to fit the new floorpans.
If the floorpans then do not fit, it's only a matter of taking diagonals
of the floorpans, comparing those to each other (to determine if the
replacement part is incorrectly made), and if they are slightly less
than square, adjusting the body slightly to match them. If they are
quite wrong, it's time to return them for better examples.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
[mailto: mporter@zianet.com]
`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`71 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
`80 TR7 (3.8 liter Buick-powered)
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