Rebody Roof and Windscreen issue

[Pond]

Hello again

I have 17" wheels and 245/40 tyres, giving an effective diameter of 24".

As you can see from the pictures the ground clearance at the rear of the wheel arch is about 265mm and the lip height at the boot is 500mm.

Is this the same for anybody else?

What are you saying? Your car is sitting too high?

 

[Dave in Southampton]

Hello Pond

What I'm asking is: If your car has the same rear wheel size and you are happy with the ride height, are the measurements at the bottom of the rear wing and the boot aperture, the same as mine; 265mm and 500mm?

I still don't see how pushing the body down at the back will solve the windscreen issue, particularly if the ride height at the back is about right.

 

[Duncodin]

My kit is Tribute. I don't have a coupe but the principle, ie how the rear shell mounts to the frame, is likely the same as yours.

Pond's car isn't Tribute so potentially a different design.

Ir's quite obvious when the boot extension panel is in the right place. It fits snug against the back panel of the z3 then bolted in place. Trying to fit or line up the rear shell without first anchoring the boot extension is a hopeless exercise.

So it's mega important, on a tribute kit, to get that boot extension right first.

Then it's also quite obvious when the rear shell is in the right place. It rests nicely on the boot extensiion. On my kit the gaps between the wheel arches steel frame and the grp shell are all over the place but here is no gap between the rear shell and the boot extension. They're bonded and bolted together. Also the B pillar lines nice.

if you have those 3 points lined up without gaps, ie boot extension and B pillars lined up nice and fitting snug then the shell in the right place.

Once the rear is right I wouldn't try to fix the leading edge of the roof by moving the back again.

 

[Pond]

Also the B pillar lines nice.

B pillar? On a Z3? Where's that then Ted?

 

[Duncodin]

B pillar? On a Z3? Where's that then Ted?

Is this the 5 minute argument or the full half hour?

You know what I mean? Surely you know that I mean the part of the car where where a B pillar would be on a saloon car.

But, to me, and many others, a B pillar extends from the floor to the roof. The fact a 2 door convertible and many coupes don't have a B pillar window frame doesn't stop the structural frame, the pillar where the door shuts on to being called the B pillar.

 

[Pond]

Is this the 5 minute argument or the full half hour?

No argument my end, just discussion!

 

[mittaw]

Once the rear boot shelf is in place and the coupe body on its easy to see where the door edges line up as the coupe shell bolts to the existing bolt holes. Once you have the boot shelf in place and thr bolt holes lined up (some may need extending a little) you have it all set up correct. Its just on mine the window sat too far forward. Wheneve i pushed the window wdge back the alignment with thw bootshelf and bolts were off...hense i cut the window edge back. Id be interested to see what chris says but this worked for me anyhow.

 

[Duncodin]

No argument my end, just discussion!

Not a monty python fan then

 

[Dave in Southampton]

Hello again

I have measured the distance between the rear lights as roughly 1080mm, which is roughly double the 500mm height of my boot lip. If I look at any rear view pictures of finished cars, it looks like the boot lip is lower that half the distance between the rear lights. I'm thinking Chris from Tribute is correct, in that the back panel needs to go down. Given the position of the parcel shelf, boot extension, and B pillar (still the B pillar - even though there is only half of it). I'm not clear how it is going to happen.

I'm going to ask Chris to come for a look. At least I'm only an hour away from Dorchester.

I'll post again once that has happened.

 

[Dave in Southampton]

Happy Christmas everyone!

So, Chris had a back injury that stopped him coming to see my car. I hope he has recovered but he has not been back in touch.
The panel sits so beautifully in the wrong place. I'm convinced the Tribute kit was designed like this.

I have decided to go the mittaw route. If the rear of the body panel could possibly go down far enough to solve the windscreen issue, there would be other problems, not least, with the exhaust pipes.

I have cut the panel to clear the windscreen seal and I'm now thinking of trhe best way to get the shape back on the edge.
Once I get this done, I'll crack on in the new year.

 

[mittaw]

Hi Dave, merry christmas to you. Please let me know if you need any help or photos. Im off tge car for a few weeks but if I can get you anything when back up let me know. Ive spent a lot of time on the roof profile. Ive managed to get to a good place with it noting its fibreglass and will always flex to a degree. It could always do with more but you have to stop somewhere.

I'm glad ive done this route as my windscreen has cracked and i need a replacement which is easy with the roof like this.

Good luck, its worth the pain

 

[Dave in Southampton]

Hi Dave, merry christmas to you. Please let me know if you need any help or photos. Im off tge car for a few weeks but if I can get you anything when back up let me know. Ive spent a lot of time on the roof profile. Ive managed to get to a good place with it noting its fibreglass and will always flex to a degree. It could always do with more but you have to stop somewhere.

I'm glad ive done this route as my windscreen has cracked and i need a replacement which is easy with the roof like this.

Good luck, its worth the pain

View attachment 354201View attachment 354203

Hi

 

[Dave in Southampton]

Hi Mittaw

I see you have the Grassbank rear windscreen. Why did you go with that, rather than the MGB GT option, which apparently fits the aperture?

MGB GT heated rear windscreens are a lot less money and, given that all the wiring is there, a heated screen could be a useful option.

I'm thinking of boding it in. Am I bonkers?

Dave

 

[mittaw]

Hi Dave, i went with the grassbank rear window as i wanted get the curved screen look like the origirnal 250. It was pricey and a lot of work to get in.

I'm not worried about the rear heated screen as i dont intend to use it in the winter. It was just something i wanted to do. To be honest i like the MG screen look too, i just wanted the curved edges look more.

Hows the build going?

 

[Dxbolton]

Hi Dave, I’ve only just seen this thread. I’m over in Hythe so close to you. If you want a second pair of eyes to look at your car I’m happy to come over.
I had issues with my 507 rear tub fitting properly which was caused by two tabs on the underside of the body catching when we fitted the tub. After a bit of wiggling around it all fell into the right position but wasn’t obvious to spot in the first place.

 

[Dave in Southampton]

Hi Dan

My rear tub is also an issue, but the real issue is at the widscreen. The tub fits beautifully to the door shut. The screw holes even line up! but I do have those tabs at the bottom in the wheel arch. I'll post some pictures. Perhaps you can tell me how you handled them.

Dave

 

[Duncodin]

Hi Dan

My rear tub is also an issue, but the real issue is at the widscreen. The tub fits beautifully to the door shut. The screw holes even line up! but I do have those tabs at the bottom in the wheel arch. I'll post some pictures. Perhaps you can tell me how you handled them.

Dave

I would say that if the tub sits straight and the door shut lines up nice then it's correct and the error is at the windscreen surround. If indeed it is an error.

Looking at the earlier pictures of the grp covers for the windscreen pillars it really does look like they were designed to overlap and hide the surround/trim of the windscreen. Therefore also the front edge of the roof would overlap too. I can't think why. But chopping it off is likely the only solution.

 

[Dave in Southampton]

Hi Dan

Here is the rear panel on the car in Primer and guide coat

This is how the tabs sit and the panel fits to the door shut. As it sits "naturally" the tab sits out. I could make a brocket to attach it in this position using the hole in the car body. With a little effort I can push the tab behind the wheel arch but this doesn't help the panel fit compared to the sill.
Any advice welcome

Dave

 

[mittaw]

Hi Dave, i went back and forth on this for a long while trying to work it out..I finally i made the decison to align it where it met the doors and the at the bolts by the door. I then bolted the sills in place to align it to those too. I found that while all those fitted well, the front still came over the glass windscreen. When i raised it to fit the windscreen it threw the alignment out everwhere else. No matter what I did I couldnt get everything to work so I committed to where it fitted well and then cut the window back to fit. I was very nervous about it as it was a big commitment to do but it worked for me.

If you ever want to pop up and take a look at mine part built please let me know, youre more than welcome. Im up in worcestershire.

Good luck