Body mounting " D-Day Coming" Help!

[zies8]

Ok "Tech Heads" I am days away from putting the body back on the 74 convertible. I ve done everything according to the book.
I built custom braces for the door openings (essential for lifting the body off of the convertible). I even built a custom rack to roll the body in and out of the garage or to the paint shop on.
Putting the body on is going to be exciting!!!
The thing I need help with is in setting up the shim layout at each of the four per side mounting brackets. The resto guide says to save the old shims for reference in reconstruction. My shims were nothing but a pile of perverbial pixy rust dust. Does anyone know how to determine the proper shimming? Im not in the mood to take the body on and off to get a proper shim job!



Thanx in advance............. Mike

 

[ssvett]

Mike, I was really hopping that someone would post a reply to this. I have done too many body offs to remember however, I can't asnwer your question with an easy answer because I don't know if there is a "formula" for doing it. But, here is what I do (1st I must say, you need to count the ones you took off and record that somewhere (when possible), and I always do this..........but, then loose my paperwork. Then one day I got smart, I thought. I wrote the number of shims for each mount on the WALL...................I later had the shop walls painted......yea, you guessed it, not only did I loose my shim count, I also lost all the phone numbers that I had used for years. I still look on the wall for those numbers and this was 3 years ago) Anyway, I put at least two shims on every mount, I then set the body down and shug the bolts, I then check my lines, door operations, etc. If all looks good, I leave it. If not, I add and take away until things begin to line up. Now, I must also say that I use a "lift" that has been "modified" for lifting the body, I'm not too sure how long you could get 6 or 7 big buddys to hold the body up and down for you..........But, That's how I do it...........Good luck.....Steve

 

[69MyWay]

Mike,

From my limited experience I found it best to put two shims on each of the four center mounts (these are the hardest to access when the body is on) by putting a piece of tape around them and punching a hole where the bolt goes through.

On my convertible I found myself closing/opening the rear door gap primarily with the extreme rear mount shims. I tweaked the front just a tad.

This is how I did and it came out fine. I did end up however using all of the new shims and two or three that I was able to salvage from the original set.

It is VERY difficult to get to the inner four when the body is in place.

 

[zies8]

Thanx for the info!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I appreciate the reply to my tech question! Ill post the results of my experience.











Reguards Mike :s