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Fitting body work


oilman

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I have got my RAC roll bar in position now and I have been trying to clamp the rear of the body to the bottom of the car and failed as a result I have tried gently jacking the rear of the body up to the bottom of the car.  

The body work is up to the strut but the wheel now looks off centre.  

Any ideas How I can get both the body up to the bottom of the car and the wheel centred?

p.s. I have tried searching.  Although I would be grateful if someone would point me to the thread

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Try Steppenwolf's build site. Probably the most comprehensive guide there is on fitting all things Westfield with handy hints and tips on problems encountered.

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The body work is up to the strut but the wheel now looks off centre.

When you say 'the wheel looks off centre' what do you mean? The rear wheel in the wheel arch? If so are both wheels symmetrical in the arches? What size wheels are you using?

I too was surprised by how much the bodywork needing 'persuading' to get it close to the bottom chassis rail at the back end. The build manual does acknowedge this. IIRC I just lay on my back and pushed it up into place while I drilled, Dave Hackett used a jack. I think the critical thing is making sure you've got the top bit of the body tub in exactly the right place where it clamps between chassis and roll bar - that then dictates where the rear end will be.

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If you have the single piece body tub (without detachable arches) The mouldings are not 100% symmetrical  ;)  :)  :D

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Why not just line the body work up so the wheels are centered in the arches and then use some alloy box section as an extension to the rear mounting point ?  It would stop the wheels looking as off center.

Just a thourght.

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Thanks Guys.  In reply to the earlier query, I have 15" wheels (195/50/15)(I think I got that right).  The body has detachable arches and the measurement from the crossmember to the body is as per the manual.  The car is currently up on axle stands again but with the stands on the chassis so the wheels are dangling.  The wheels appear to be closer to the front of the arch( by say 3/4" ).  Currently I have a jack onto the bottom of the body (with a lump of wood to spread the load) as per steppenwolfs site.  Both wheels look the same.

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I suppose with 15" wheels any discrepancy is going to be more noticable - mine are 13" and looked OK. I didn't measure them, partly because I realised that if they weren't spot on there probably wasn't anything I could do about it!

Looking through my photos the only one I can find that shows this reasonably straight on is this one. Looks pretty centred to me though, a tad closer to the rear of the arch if anything. I think this is before fixing it in position though.

Is there anything you can do about yours? Sounds like you've got the same body as mine (detachable arches). The body is fixed pretty much dead on the centre of the wheel arch by the flanges which go under the roll bar and the position at this point is dictated by the measurement of 400mm from the rear bulkhead rail to the bootbox lip, so presumably altering the fixing point to the bottom of the chassis at the rear will make little or no difference. Or is the rear of the wheel arch getting pulled up and back, in which case Rob's suggestion might help?

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