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Old 09-05-2020, 11:44 AM   #1
Ed in Maine
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Default 1931 68C Cabriolet Fitting Quarter Body Panels

I am at the critical stage of the restoration, trying to maintain good door fit. At the moment the hood is on with very good fit, the doors are hung with very good fit with new hinges. The curvature of the doors matches the body and the door gaps are very good on both sides. I have the door pillars completely assembled and braced in position. The turn buckles have been assembled and tweaked for a perfect door fit. I also have the heavy rear cross piece assembled to the rear of the quarter panels. The next step is assembly of the drip rail to the quarter panels and this is the problem. I can see that to complete this step, the quarter panels have to be pulled together. The drip rail at the top is 37 3/8 in. wide. The quarter panels just floating there are 38 in. wide. I can see that I will be putting a lot of stress on the door pillars to pull the quarter panels 5/8 in. for assembly. After I remove the braces on the door pillars, they will undoubtedly move inward screwing up the alignment with the doors. There are no adjustment points for the drip rail, it just bolts together



My question is what braces this whole assembly so that I can hold the position of the door pillars? Thank you for your help, Ed
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Old 09-05-2020, 12:04 PM   #2
Oldbluoval
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Default Re: 1931 68C Cabriolet Fitting Quarter Body Panels

Well you don’t want anything is a bad stress.
Believe it or not the package tray helps as well as the wooden belt rail
The lower top brackets add strength to the corners
The lower triangular brackets have a lot to do with the door post stabilization
You do have the upper panel and lower panel for the rear body in place. When correct those should dictate the span on the deck lid opening
Just my $.02
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Old 09-05-2020, 06:22 PM   #3
Oldbluoval
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Default Re: 1931 68C Cabriolet Fitting Quarter Body Panels

Another thing you need to allow for in the door fit is for the top irons
When the landau irons snap closed they push (or should) they push forward about 1/8”
At least that’s my experience. So you should allow for or fit the top as part of assembly
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:28 AM   #4
Kevin in NJ
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Default Re: 1931 68C Cabriolet Fitting Quarter Body Panels

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The turnbuckles are not for body adjustment. They are structural as the top connection to the cowl will exert a lot of force at the triple hinge as the body flexes.

The adjustments for the cowl doors to qtrs fit are done with cowl movement/ shims. The bottom fit has to do with how the bottom of the wood pillars are fit. The top fit wider or narrower is done by shimming the 2 braces that go from the upper panel seams to the wood sills.

The landaus work by having a bit of compression. This is done during top installation. If the center hinge point is loose then you will have problems making this happen properly.
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