Rebody Door adjustments Z300S

[Tom Cheesewright]

I have a very tight fit on my doors at the moment around both sides. Fairly easy to adjust the winglets and take material off the bonnet if needed but less easy at the back. How have other people dealt with this? I can obviously unbolt the hinges and try to shuffle them forward. Is this advisable?

 

[IanA]

There's more to life than panel gaps. Easy for me to say because I had Tribute themselves fit the rear tubs.

 

[Tom Cheesewright]

There's more to life than panel gaps. Easy for me to say because I had Tribute themselves fit the rear tubs.

Wish I'd been able to do the same to some extent.

At the moment it's so tight it has chipped the fiberglass on one side. Thinking I'll have to shuffle the doors forward a few mm if I can.

 

[IanA]

The rear of the door shut could probably take the loss of a few mm if that's easier.

 

[Tom Cheesewright]

The rear of the door shut could probably take the loss of a few mm if that's easier.

Maybe. Doesn't feel like there's much material around that corner. Will post a pic when I can get back to the car. Moved the car out of the garage and into a storage container today.

 

[IanA]

Reinforce it with mat and resin from behind first?

 

[Tom Cheesewright]

Reinforce it with mat and resin from behind first?

No space I don't think. It butts pretty much right up to the original inner frame.

 

[DaveP]

I would get the back of the doors vs the rear clam right first. Leave a 5-6mm panel gap. Dont fully attach the winglets and bonnet yet and so get the doors how you want them. I did a lot of fettling on my rear clam to leave correct gaps and concentrated there initially. Once you are happy you can consider bonding it in place etc.
Then move to the front. As the bonnet shifts quite a lot on its hinges there is a lot of freedom of movement there. The winglets also stay pretty static so I would get them close before attacking the bonnet. To get it all to fit nicely took days and days and days for me. Then when i took it to paint they re-did most of panel gaps again anyway ! Take it slow and steady. And when you lift the bonnet and put it back down again and it doesn't fit again don't panic or throw your ratchet across the work-space (we have all been there).

Of course my experience is with the kobra (by far the most shells out of the molds by Tribute - could be 200+) so may not be the same but principle is the same I think.

Dave

 

[t-tony]

The thing here is the doors are in their natural position related to the car body. You need to make new GRP body panels fit to them. As Dave said starting with the rear body clam. The only experience I have with this type of thing is fitting a fibreglass front end on my Mini years (and years) ago. The principle is the same though. Making the new parts fit to the old.

Tony.

 

[Tom Cheesewright]

I would get the back of the doors vs the rear clam right first. Leave a 5-6mm panel gap. Dont fully attach the winglets and bonnet yet and so get the doors how you want them. I did a lot of fettling on my rear clam to leave correct gaps and concentrated there initially. Once you are happy you can consider bonding it in place etc.
Then move to the front. As the bonnet shifts quite a lot on its hinges there is a lot of freedom of movement there. The winglets also stay pretty static so I would get them close before attacking the bonnet. To get it all to fit nicely took days and days and days for me. Then when i took it to paint they re-did most of panel gaps again anyway ! Take it slow and steady. And when you lift the bonnet and put it back down again and it doesn't fit again don't panic or throw your ratchet across the work-space (we have all been there).

Of course my experience is with the kobra (by far the most shells out of the molds by Tribute - could be 200+) so may not be the same but principle is the same I think.

Dave

Did you move the doors at all Dave? Totally agree with Tony that ideally I would change the fiberglass rather than moving the steel. But there's just no spare to be trimmed away so I think I'll have to try to adjust the doors.

This is the sort of job that I would happily leave to the paint shop! Need to find a good one locally.

 

[DaveP]

Did you move the doors at all Dave? Totally agree with Tony that ideally I would change the fiberglass rather than moving the steel. But there's just no spare to be trimmed away so I think I'll have to try to adjust the doors.

This is the sort of job that I would happily leave to the paint shop! Need to find a good one locally.

Hi Tom,

I didn’t touch my doors no. I figured that they must be in in the correct place when it was all steel so left them as they were.
One thing I may have done (can’t recall as a few years back) would be to remove some grp from the back of the flanges that run along the inside of the rear clam. This would move the body in a rearward direction by a few mm which might be all you need. When the kit is made the grp thickness will be between parameters that you might be able to play with. Fettling is a “fun” process.

If you need more experienced advice try Ian @ ClassicCoachWorks as they are building Tribute kits regularly and may have hints and tricks. Bear with them comms wise though as they have been a bit rushed off feet for a bit of time.

Thanks

Dave