Intro to Body Shims: 101
05-10-2004, 11:35 PM
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Intro to Body Shims: 101
Could someone school me on body shims?
1) is the purpose to make the body a certain height off the ground, fill in gaps between body and frame, make the doors fit correctly, etc...
2) does the number of shims needed change over time? How do you determine the correct shimming? (is shimming actually a word?) Let's say if you screwed up and thought you recorded the right number of shims from each location but found one on the ground after you were done... (not that i did that or anything :bb )
3) my '63 did not come with rubber discs under the body, should I add them? What was the benefit to them?
4) DocRebuilds catalog shows shims that are NOT slotted like mine in the photo. He shows square shims with bent down corners and no slot. Not that I will not use what I have, but just wondering...
5) The driver's side rear mounting point had zero shims. Is that possible or did they probably fall out at some time? (The rear bolts were so rusted that I had to cut the head off and punch them out, luckily the retainer plates that held the square nuts in was so rusted it just distingrated allowing the bolt to pop through...)
Whoever answers, thanks for the lesson. I really don't understand the theory behind these shims.
-Dwayne (63 vert driver)
[Modified by dlord, 12:22 AM 5/11/2004]
05-11-2004, 12:48 AM
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Re: Intro to Body Shims: 101 (dlord)
The plant used a special jig along the frame brackets to determine the shim count at each station The birdcage sill was considered flat. Assuming no major corrosion the shim count should not need to be changed with time. If you lost some of the shim count notes from when the body was off or miscounted use a long straight edge and tape measure as necessary to shim the frame brackets as best you can using the body side as a reference.
Do not attempt to install rubber cushions on a '63. The frame brackets were redesigned for '64 to account for the extra space needed by the cushions.
Duke
Do not attempt to install rubber cushions on a '63. The frame brackets were redesigned for '64 to account for the extra space needed by the cushions.
Duke
05-11-2004, 12:58 AM
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Drifting
Re: Intro to Body Shims: 101 (dlord)
Here is my understanding:
The frame was fitted with shims at the factory by fitting certain points on the frame to a precision jig, on the assumption that the body was built in a properly-dimensioned dolly, so it would be dimensionally correct.
The conventional wisdom for a restoration is that you shim the cockpit area body bolts (3 pairs of mounts) with perhaps 3 shims each to start before lowering the body. Ignore the shims at the front & rear corners of the frame for the moment. Install the bolts and washers and tighten just a bit past finger tight. Inspect closely and see if there are any spaces between the shims and/or body at any mount location (the body should rest on the shim stack, holding all shims firmly in place)... wherever there is a space, remove that mount's bolt and shim as needed to eliminate the space, retighten the bolt, etc, until all shims at all the cockpit locations are held fast with all bolts torqued about the same. Then torque the cockpit bolts to spec.
The real juggling act comes next: adjust the doors using the hinge bolt shims to try to center the door in the door opening at the bottom, and add or delete shims at the corners of the frame (radiator mounts and rear body mounts) to get an even gap from top to bottom on both ends of both doors... this may require multiple iterations, ie, adding shims to the rear corner body mount decreases the gap at the top rear of the door on that side, and may necessitate juggling the door hinge shims again to get an even bottom gap on the door, etc. Keep at it until you have a satisfactory door gap front, bottom, and rear, and the door surface aligns with the body surface, or until you convince yourself that bodywork has to be done because they never WILL fit correctly!!!
Your shims look like the correct ones.
The rubber disks were added in 64 as a vibration-reducing comfort enhancement, but the frame mounts were lowered slightly to compensate for their height. I have heard of people adding the 64 rubber disks to a 63 without changing the mounts: the small change in body height can probably be absorbed by the steering column angle, the front and rear frame mounts can be shimmed further, and the brake lines may have enough play; personally, I am not convinced it would make enough difference to chance that, as I have no complaints about road vibration in my 63.
The frame was fitted with shims at the factory by fitting certain points on the frame to a precision jig, on the assumption that the body was built in a properly-dimensioned dolly, so it would be dimensionally correct.
The conventional wisdom for a restoration is that you shim the cockpit area body bolts (3 pairs of mounts) with perhaps 3 shims each to start before lowering the body. Ignore the shims at the front & rear corners of the frame for the moment. Install the bolts and washers and tighten just a bit past finger tight. Inspect closely and see if there are any spaces between the shims and/or body at any mount location (the body should rest on the shim stack, holding all shims firmly in place)... wherever there is a space, remove that mount's bolt and shim as needed to eliminate the space, retighten the bolt, etc, until all shims at all the cockpit locations are held fast with all bolts torqued about the same. Then torque the cockpit bolts to spec.
The real juggling act comes next: adjust the doors using the hinge bolt shims to try to center the door in the door opening at the bottom, and add or delete shims at the corners of the frame (radiator mounts and rear body mounts) to get an even gap from top to bottom on both ends of both doors... this may require multiple iterations, ie, adding shims to the rear corner body mount decreases the gap at the top rear of the door on that side, and may necessitate juggling the door hinge shims again to get an even bottom gap on the door, etc. Keep at it until you have a satisfactory door gap front, bottom, and rear, and the door surface aligns with the body surface, or until you convince yourself that bodywork has to be done because they never WILL fit correctly!!!
Your shims look like the correct ones.
The rubber disks were added in 64 as a vibration-reducing comfort enhancement, but the frame mounts were lowered slightly to compensate for their height. I have heard of people adding the 64 rubber disks to a 63 without changing the mounts: the small change in body height can probably be absorbed by the steering column angle, the front and rear frame mounts can be shimmed further, and the brake lines may have enough play; personally, I am not convinced it would make enough difference to chance that, as I have no complaints about road vibration in my 63.
