TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Mar 17, 2024 7:56 pm

I brought the body back home, if you read my early posts you'll know it had been hit hard by something large (Tree? Bus? Rosie O'Donnell?) and was very poorly repaired.

So I picked up a couple of donor bodies, and grafted the left rear from what looks like a Deserter according to BIGMIKEY.

I horse traded a Harley Davidson I don't ride to my little brother (who is a retired corvette specialist) to have two operations going at the same time. Me on the chassis/pan and him on bringing the body around to something I can work with. Now that we had one day of 65 degree weather he's in motorcycle mode, the body is home with me and it fits great except for the front, the back and the sides.

It looked great the first setting but as I got closer I see I'm going to have to slice the front. The bulkhead fits fine over the tunnel, but is an inch shy on both the left and right front corners.

I could live with it, but the body is so tweaked from damage that had been bolted down for probably close to 40 years or more that the left front corner sits off the pan 5/8" causing the whole front end to look low in the right.

It seems to push down OK without lifting the rear but I haven't enough boltable area in the front unless I stretch those bottom edges to meet the ends of the napoleon hat. I plan to slice the sides of the body and push them forward with either a cargo bar or porta power (cargo bar because my porta power is kinda greasy and yucky from a hunnert years of hard use).

Any suggestions on how to keep the tunnel part where it is and only stretch the outsides? I'm thinking screwing in a wood frame from the upper corners down to the tunnel so that only the sides move. I'll probably do it right on the pan so there's no guesswork, and little picking up, putting down, and repeat ad nauseum.

I'll be building covers for the holes in the rear. Right side for the battery, left side gets a pocket with a cover and inside will be my fuse/relay center. I found it near impossible to get under my Manx dash when I was 28, and now that I'm at least 29 I have no desire to try it again!

Sun Mar 17, 2024 9:43 pm

The body on mine doesn't match the pan ('56) either and it's been on it since 1969. The left side hangs over about 10mm and the front wheel rubs the fender brace. Areas of the mounting surface either have some space or the pan gasket is very smashed.

The front hood and zero to 13mm gap between the fenders and fender beading does not fix that.

It's just they way it was made (it's an unknown body) and it still works fine.

Enjoy the imperfections!

Mon Mar 18, 2024 7:03 am

Oh I'll have plenty of imperfections to live with and I will! I just see too many uneven front ends and the anal retentive in me won't let that part go.
I also spent way too much time making sure the pan is straight and level to leave the body crooked in the nose.
My original tunnel didn't have what Heritage Parts Centre calls "outriggers" which usually comes at the rear of a complete pan set. I got a four piece pan set so I got the outriggers from Heritage.

The body doesn't fit as well on those rear mounts as I'd like, but it does sit level so I'll fill in where I need with webbing, foam, or whathaveyou but for me, level and straight across is a must.

There were a WHOLE LOT of steps between the first and last picture, as I'm sure everyone can agree. I live in The upState of Rust, the Salt Belt, Little Siberia, whatever you want to call it so finding a pan that only needs cutting is not an option. You Cali/Az/NM/Nevada guys will never know how real the struggle is... And still I smile!

Tue Mar 19, 2024 5:42 am

Cool pictures. My body fit was/is pretty bad. For me my buggy is for fun ie driving. So I haven’t gone for perfect anything. I think the pan shortening process was not perfect. They did, thankfully strengthen the outer edge of the pan with thick wall pipe. Being 69 years old I’m working on making the hood removable for ease of working on the back side of the dash as well as the wiring. Good luck with your project, it looks like you’re moving in the right direction! :D

Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:05 am

Hope these pictures work. Firstly I’m not much of a photographer, secondly I’m pretty much internet illiterate. The metal reinforcement is bed frame metal. I used camper shell mounting foam between the body and pan. The hole where the steering column went thru the body was HUGE so I made a metal repair patch with a mount for the steering column. Also included a pic of the buggy as she sits.

Tue Mar 19, 2024 7:34 am

Thanks, Pilotmike, I have a LOT of bedframe angle and I work in what it probably the most equipped machine shop in the country if not the entire world. I don't know if there are enough drill bits to borrow for drilling that stuff! I have ruined more unibits, HS drill bits, and cobalt bits punching holes in that stuff. Most are made from old railroad rails and are harder than Chinese algebra. I have taken to burning holes in with my "hot drill" but that's inexact.

If I pick up the rear about 2", the front lays flat and even. I have decided since I am going to build a roll cage I'm going to make two large plates to cover that inside edge at the front, bolt them down in two places and let it slowly relax in the sun (if it ever comes back out). I already have enough glass work to do so no need to make more for myself. I'll be living with the gap at the front, probably use heater hose to fill it instead of body webbing.

Since I'm making a cage and not just a roll bar I may just make a full length base front to back for it. Hot rolled flat bar isn't as cheap as it used to be but hey, gotta spend it on somethin'!

Speaking of which, I was going to flake it from House of Kolor, but that gray is starting to grow on me. I'm beginning to think Jeep gray, with black interior and black accents (everywhere else).

Anybody got opinions? As a former auto painter I'm kinda jaded over colors but I've seen that gray on new jeeps. I think all those newer pastel colors are pretty cool.

Tue Mar 19, 2024 12:14 pm

Living with any gap around the pan rail makes me a little queasey. I can tell you for a fact that you can pull that body gap down. I did it with mine. Use long bolts after getting the body centered over the chassis. Drill straight up through the front and back mounting holes. Run in a long bolt and nut, big washers and start easing it down. It will go. Use some heat if needed. Little at a time.

I used C-vlamps in the shift coupler opening to draw the body down and used the stock crossmember holes to bolt it down. Drilled up from underneath.

Bringing the front and rear down to meet the body also brought the side rails closer to lining up. My Deserter body was off of a chassis for a decade maybe more and curled up. I uncurled it.

Mike T

Tue Mar 19, 2024 12:39 pm

Murphy's Law wrote: [snip]
It looked great the first setting but as I got closer I see I'm going to have to slice the front. The bulkhead fits fine over the tunnel, but is an inch shy on both the left and right front corners.

It looks like you are a little short of the Napoleon's hat, and angled where you make contact. To undo both you would need multiple cuts. Are the Napoleon hat bolt holes in front of the tub when the body is lined up at the rear of the floor? On my first buggy that was the case so I bolted and bonded a couple sections of angle iron to the front side of the seating tub and bolted those down to the ends of the Napoleon's hat.

Murphy's Law wrote: I could live with it, but the body is so tweaked from damage that had been bolted down for probably close to 40 years or more that the left front corner sits off the pan 5/8" causing the whole front end to look low in the right.

If you can push it down so all 4 corners of the tub are against the corners of the floor does the front look strait? If so I would just do that. The force will be spread out over a large area so it shouldn't cause any problems.

Murphy's Law wrote: It seems to push down OK without lifting the rear but I haven't enough boltable area in the front unless I stretch those bottom edges to meet the ends of the napoleon hat. I plan to slice the sides of the body and push them forward with either a cargo bar or porta power (cargo bar because my porta power is kinda greasy and yucky from a hunnert years of hard use).

That is the common way of handling the pan fit. If you could get the inner lip on the front of the body to drop over the top edge of the Napoleon's hat a bit more the body itself could likely hold the center in place while you stretch the sides. It may not take much force, but you will have to patch up the fiberglass and that might show, depending on your plans for the sides.

Murphy's Law wrote: Any suggestions on how to keep the tunnel part where it is and only stretch the outsides? I'm thinking screwing in a wood frame from the upper corners down to the tunnel so that only the sides move. I'll probably do it right on the pan so there's no guesswork, and little picking up, putting down, and repeat ad nauseum.
[snip]

Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:01 pm

Yes I've come up with a couple of plans, one is to add fill to the front, another is to add a couple more bolts to both sides of the front with some well shaped plates (gradually pulling the front down and letting the rear relax over time), slicing and dicing the front of the body since I have side pods, adding material to the bottoms just to get the shape closer, or using the plates, living with the shape and using some good sized heater hose instead of webbing to fill that nasty gap.

I do like the idea of pulling the body to the Captain's side to match the Nap Hat, bolting it down and then pulling/stretching the Drinker's side to match up leaving the center where it is. That would be a long process with this body and will have to take place when it gets sunny out again, if it ever does!

It's been a light and easy winter here thus far, and I'm grateful for that but the warm can't come too soon for me. I have a heated shop but I don't keep it heated all the time. Propane heater, open flame, yada yada yada. I'm not cheap, just cautious.

Thanks all for the ideas, I will post more when the Big Decision is made. Tomorrow, off with the body again while I have help. I have a plan to be able to move it alone, but I'm waiting for the final parts to build my hoist.