is my chassis twisted? (fitting new bottom plates heater Channels)

[wookey]

Hi all

I have done some repairs to the heater channel drivers side. namely the rear cross brace, bottom A repair and a bit on the side/front



The channel has not been replaced just patched and not detached from the body.

However I done a test fit of the bottom plate to line it up and check before finishing.

With the body on, i have a gap between pan and body.


I put a bolt in the front 2 mounts and that closes up about half, but not tight like on the other side thats not been messed with yet.

The otherside, no issues.


the Heater channel is straight across the door gap, but the door does not shut nice. Put a jack under the bottom of the door and the gap between the pan and body close up, and door shuts.




before i go further, any help? has the body twisted where the bottom plate has been off and the channel weakened with the repairs?

I am not sure what to do and not sure if welding it together will fix it as i dont this when i bolt the pan down it will pull everything right?

cheers
wookey

[raygreenwood]

Is the car still on jackstands? If so....put it back on wheels and check again. Ray

[Ol'fogasaurus]

^^^^^ What he said^^^

This is a unibody but unlike most unibody vehicles it's not welded together but bolts together and things will pull together. As Ray said, put it on it's wheels, do the 9 side bolts per side, the four rear bolts and four front bolts before you panic. There is also a body seal but it isn't necessary for just a fit check... in my opinion.

You could also put the jack stands on both of the torsion housings, front and rear. Make the stand height the same height setting on both sides to see if the frame head has a twist to it. Also it might be worth to use a level front to rear (on the tunnel) and side to side. A twisted front head is not uncommon in buggies but for a full bug???, it might be worth a look-see.

[wookey]

thanks for the hints and tips.


the car is on its wheels. Good shout, I have taken a few nights off to calm down and not panic! Next ill bolt up the body and try the axel stand suggestions too.

Hopefully its something trival like that. Thanks for the good advice. Ill report back.

Wookey

[Piledriver]

If you look at body/chassis repairs on Porsche 914s and such they (should) build a simple internal "cage" that connects to the door hinge holes and where the latch would go to keep things straight before cutting out/replacing the chassis support.
It would probably beneficial to do the same for a T1 just to keep the door openings correct.

[asteff1]

You didn't really report back though. An update, please? If you're still around