I have a body that was hit hard at one time. I have all the panels I need but I need to do a little bird cage straightening before I finnish up the glass work. I was wondering what book is best at detailing dimensions of the bird cage and body. I have the AIM and saw the body checking section but there isnt much detail there. Does the Noland Adams Book have a detailed section on body dimensions? Im thinking that is the book I need.

 

No. Adams' book won't give you the dimensions you seek; sorry, I don't know where they would be found. I think commercial body shops have references, but finding a shop that has one that old may be a problem. Could you simply measure another car?

 

What area or areas of the cage has problems? Ex: door sill area? lock pillar area? hinge pillar area? etc. If you can post some pics, others and myself might be able to help.

Craig

 

Measurements would be helpful. I live in small-town Iowa and there aren't alot of mid-years around. Here's what I've discovered about my car.
The frame is straight and nice but not the original.

The front clip is off and there is evidence that the front right panel has been replaced ( because it wasn't a very good job).

I noticed that the right rear fender well is about an inch too far back.

The right Door hinge post is about 3/4" aft of the left Door hinge post. The right lock post is also too far back because the door works fine. There is evidence that someone had tried to repair the bird cage at some point but they obiviosly didnt care about dimensions.

I guess my main concern is getting the front posts in there correct places. I think moving the right one forward to match the left should do it but I'm not positive the left one is correct. If there both off then I'm going to have trouble getting the front clip on.

What would help is to know the dimension from any body mount (maybe #2 would be the easiest) to the door hinge post. Also is the post verticle or is there a slight angle. I should be able to use the parts I have to figure out where everything else goes.

I will keep trying to find a mid year owner around my house that wont mind me walking around his car with a tape measure. Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

 

65 RDSTR,

I would be very interested to hear details of how you approach and resolve your birdcage issues.
Your situation sounds somewhat similar to mine. I have a 63 convertible that I have owned for 20 years. I only paid $3000.00 for it back in 1984, so at the time I was willing to overlook some of the 'custom' features (headlights moved to grille, three tail lights, etc.). Upon further investigation I determined that the vehicle had sometime in its past sustained a right-side impact which distorted the birdcage right in the door sill area. Whoever did the repair(?!) work did a ****-poor job; with the right side rocker panel molding mounted to the body, there remains a 1-inch gap, at the center, between the body and the molding!
The car came with Hooker sidepipes, whick effectively disguise the imperfections at the rocker panel. Nonetheless, I would like to look into a proper repair, except I hate to think of how much it might set me back!

Good luck!

Good

 

Baring access to detail dimensions and a laser alignment rig to actually duplicate the factory settings .... here's a systematic brute force method based on how I have setup street rod bodies.

1) square up the cowl so it is symmetric side to side

2) Adjust the forward piller tops to fit the windshield so you have even gaps all around and the frame/flange matches the plain of the glass (faces are parrallel at the edges)

3) Fit the doors by adjusting the rear pillars.

4) Fit the rear fiberglass to match to doors at the roof and rear edges and position the wheel openings symmetric to the rear axle.

5) Fit the front fiberglass to match the doors and cowl at the front edges and position the wheel opening to the front axle, also make sure the hood opening is square (although you can adjust the hood edges some).

-Greg

 

Thanks Greg that was the basic plan of attack I was thinking of. What would help me out a bunch would be if someone could measure the distance from there hinge post to the #2 body mount bolt (the one under the sill plate. If anyone has there sill plates off this would be an easy thing to measure. I think I could use that measurment along with some 7th grade algbra to get her straight. As far as that 63 goes it sounds like your better off just living with it until you decide to do a frame off resto. Id hate to pull apart a car this much without putting it together fully restored. Ill let you know how it comes out though. Thanks

 

Door post face where the hinges attach (taken just about the lower hinge) to center of the (unused for a coupe) body mount hole in the sill plate is 5 3/4"

-Greg

 

Thanks Greg. I checked mine today and it turns out that the right post is fine. The left post has shifted forward about 5/8 inch. I looks like the car was hit on the rear drivers side. The entire "U" rail on the left side is shifted forward. It looks like the previous owner when mounting the body noticed this but just elongated all the holes to make it fit. What has me a little stumped is that the right rear wheel isnt centered but the left one is. I guess Im not stumped. Bubba just put it on crooked. If I could ask one more favor I would be . If I could get the dimensions along the bottom between the fenders where the rocker molding goes. I know the whole thing is 66 inches because thats how long the molding is but what are the three deminsions. Ie; in front of the door line, between the door lines, and behind the door line? I know I have my work cut out for me.

 

I can easily measure anything you see remaining on this birdcage.

In fact, send me $600 and I'll have AFL (another forum supporter) bring it to a shipping dock near you and you can take it home from there.

 

In front and behind the door lines I can't realy help with since the whelbase on my car has been stretched. The bottom of the door opening is 37 1/2. There are two seams on the body piece that goes behind the rocker panels at those locations.

-Greg

 

Thanks for the help guys. I think I found some sheets that will help. I found some collision repair sheets on ebay for $7.00. I will see if they help. If not I might be interested in part of that coupe bird cage from project 63. Thanks again.