zvezdochka Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 I will be fitting rear arches to body tub this week and from various build sites have seen two methods, 1.Clamp to body and drill all holes 2.Drill arch, then clamp and drill holes The advantage of 2 seems to be that I can drill the arch from the join side first. Is this any easier? Also on one site I read that having fitted the arches it was then necessary to remove them when fitting tub to chassis, to allow the tub to flex. Is this recommended? Apologies if these are in the trivial league, but having now collected my shiny crimson fibreglass I don't want to damage it. TIA Rick Quote
neilb Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 I fitted mine after the body was on the chassis and clamped them in place and drill thru both together - it's the best way to get the holes to line up. Neil Quote
steppenwolf Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 I clamped the arches to the body and drilled through both flanges in one go. This worked very well for me. I do NOT recommend removing the arches, fitting the tub to the chassis and then re-fitting the arches. Some people do this as it makes it easier to pull the rear of the tub up onto the bottom mounting brackets but as the tub flexes whilst doing this, I reckon that you want the tub and the arches (attached) to 'flex' together and keep the join line correct .... Quote
Mark Stanton Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 Just a thought - I've seen rear arches involved in "incidents" from time to time. Those fixed with steel bolts not only damaged the arch when crunched but also damaged the bodywork flange where attached. Arches secured with "plastic" fixings caused much less damage to main body tub as when crunched the plastic fixings simply sheared off leaving a mangled arch. But main body tub less damaged and simply able to receive a new arch Quote
steppenwolf Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 Arches secured with "plastic" fixings caused much less damage to main body tub as when crunched the plastic fixings simply sheared off leaving a mangled arch. But main body tub less damaged and simply able to receive a new arch I like this idea ....... can you still stand a pint of bitter on the arch without it falling off though? Quote
Mark Stanton Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 ain't you got enough room on top of the boot box lid Quote
Sideways-Darren Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 i held mine on with number plastic number plate nuts and bolts. the idea being that in case of an accident it hopefully wont take the tub with it. no problems yet. if they do start to come free i can always fit steel bolts. Quote
steppenwolf Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 ain't you got enough room on top of the boot box lid Having just the black vinyl cover type of boot 'lid', this doesn't work too well as a table Quote
markg Posted January 26, 2003 Posted January 26, 2003 thanks very much mr stanton! good point on plastic fixings! Quote
JonnyBoy Posted January 29, 2003 Posted January 29, 2003 Those fixed with steel bolts not only damaged the arch when crunched but also damaged the bodywork flange where attached. Now why couldnt i have read this before i put my car together!!! Bought detatchable arches in case of an incident with the arches.....trouble is, arches are a #### sight stronger than the body tub! So now my arches are fine, but my body is split....b*ll*x! Quote
Pembroke Pat Posted February 2, 2003 Posted February 2, 2003 What kind of plastic fixings did you use? Nice idea as long as they last well enough and do not fatigue. Incidentally, I drilled all holes connecting the arches to the wheels separately. First of all I drilled the tub, then I clamped on the arches, marked the arches and drilled them separately. I did it this way because I have a big one ( drill that is and it is a bit unwieldly ). I fitted the arches and tub together and put on the chassis as one. No Problem at all. Quote
zvezdochka Posted February 2, 2003 Author Posted February 2, 2003 Having just fitted the arches, I find there are 3 bolt positionsthat my drill won't reach. I followed the "clamp and drill" route, so I guess I will have to unbolt and drill arch and tub separately for these. Unless any one can suggest an easier way? Is there such a thing as a 90 degree adaptor for my drill chuck? Just one observation, the offside arch required a lot of work on the locating blocks to get a good fit, the nearside hardly needed any. Presume this is GRP tolerances at work? Cheers Rick Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.