Time to start on the dreaded roll hoops!! Now Craig at GD convinced me that it is easy enough to fit the roll hoops once the body is on....... well we are just about to find out.
Firstly it's time for the rear wheels to come off - if you look at the photo you can see it is possible to get an axle stand under the rear of the diff carrier. To be doubly safe (as you can see on the right) I also packed under the body just in case:
The first step is to transfer the centres of the fixing holes in the chassis onto the boot floor. This can be done easily using a 1/2" UNC bolt cut down and drilled down its centre - this centres the pilot drill nicely:
The next step is to cut out two oversize holes for the main legs of the hoops. I used a 63mm hole saw which gives a decent clearance around the 51mm main legs:
Next I cut a piece of 9mm MDF and transferred the hole centres from the chassis onto it and drilled a couple of 1/2 inch holes. I checked the hole centres of the hoop against this template and they seemed to be cock on (the hoops are CNC bent and the plates with the fixing holes are welded on using the chassis jig). By bolting the hoop to the template you can mark out where the bracket for the back leg goes:
By drilling a pilot hole in each corner of the cut out, and fitting the template to the two main leg holes you can transfer the rectangular cut out onto masking tape on the boot floor. With the trusty Dremel you can then cut out a clearance hole for the bracket:
On the Jag Chassis the back leg of the hoop fits to a bracket that bolts through the shock mount as shown below:
In the vast majority of cases this bracket will foul the boot floor so you need the clearance hole for the bracket rather than just the tube. Clearance holes are needed as you have to remember that the body is mounted to the chassis via rubber mounts so there needs to be some allowance for relative movement between the two.
It's a bit awkward working within the confines of the boot and you will need to wear a decent mask to avoid breathing in copious amounts of fibreglass dust.
Also don't worry about the gaps between the floor and the hoops / bracket - I've got that sorted you'll just have to wait!
Just need to do the other side next.
4 Comments:
A nice methodical and exact approach, looking forward to seeing the hoops in and how you do deal with those gaps ;o)
Looking good, suitably technical approach as always I see. Now, transferring the boot floor holes to the top of the body, this I'm really interested in!
Thanks Chaps.
I too am interested in transferring the boot holes to the rear deck!!!
As Baldrick would say.... I have a cunning plan..... needs a trifle more thought yet.
For one minute there I thought you said you were going to use a trifle! Now that would be worth seeing!! ;)
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