- Thread starter
- #401
Build #27 red and white 55, full body restoration.
- Thread starter kelly saad
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- Thread starter
- #402
Impressive work Kelly, but legit question. How are you keeping everything square and aligned? I had a 55 come in that another body shop did something much more basic - replaced the rockers and some floor panels. The alignment was completely off. They had even built a jig to put the body on while doing it.
Padawan, he is Yoda! Observe you must!
That's the money shot we've been waiting for.
I'm just really glad it's not my money.
Will this 55 now outlast the cockroaches??
- Thread starter
- #406
Answering the question: checking dimensions and alignment carefully every step forward.
A more lengthly explaination: so far, only a couple spot welds haven't aligned but only in locations where I patched a rusted area next to it with new metal, so that seems justified. When I say "has not aligned", I mean a couple spot welds on a larger section are maybe 1/8" off, but with some manipulation, they finally align. Other than that, everything has been straight and square, if that makes sense. Everything is more organic in shape, so "square" doesn't technically apply, but it actually does from another viewpoint. We feel confident with the alignment so far, and have no reason to believe anything will be twisted or misaligned from this point forward, as the completed portion of the reconstruction is a straight and nicely aligned "foundation" that has shown no problematic issues.
The doors will be a closely monitored project in terms of alignment. I am replacing the entire door skin for all 4 doors, so the gaps will possibly present a challenge in some areas I am sure. This concern is specifically around the tight radius locations of the upper door skin body lines where I cannot use my pneumatic door skinning tool, but need to use a hammer and dolly. I am not too worried about any of the door skin project steps, but this phase of the project owns the highest possibility of gap alignment battles. In addition though, it is an exciting step for me. Installing new, complete skins that I fabricated will be enjoyable and satisfying to say the least.
We all know nothing is perfect and problems arise. In the event that something does show up misaligned, we will cut pieces loose backwards until the situation can be solved.
- Thread starter
- #407
That is funny. I just made the cockroach comment yesterday about this 55.That's the money shot we've been waiting for.
I'm just really glad it's not my money.
Will this 55 now outlast the cockroaches??
We assumed you had evolved beyond all of that...
That's a great explanation.
I was wondering how square and true the body was when it came off the frame. Did you observe any sections of the body that weren't square?
FWIW, the frame is true by my diagonal measurements and the body lifted straight off without issue. There's no sign of damage to the frame anywhere. If you recall, I took the body out to Kelly off the frame.
That's good news.
I know these Pig bodies were built in a different time...