Panel gaps
It's easy to bolt on the wings,doors, bonnet and boot but it's much harder to line them up correctly.
These cars are notorious for the chassis, over time, sagging at the back (I know the feeling). The result of this is that the door gaps get bigger at the top and narrower at the bottom.
There are two fixes:
1) Shim the rear of the body back up, to close the gaps
Or
2) The nuclear option. Cut the chassis rails, behind the rear axle, jack it up from the rear and re- weld.
I wasn't keen on 2).....
But the problem with 1) is if you shim it too much, you can no longer mount the rear bumper- slight problem! Luckily, mine wasn't that bad. I managed to get panel gaps I could live with (I'm not sure they were ever that great when they came out of the showroom in any event).
All of this is being done pre sending everything off to the Bodyshop. Better to do everything I can think of now, rather than be doing it after an expensive paint job.
These cars are notorious for the chassis, over time, sagging at the back (I know the feeling). The result of this is that the door gaps get bigger at the top and narrower at the bottom.
There are two fixes:
1) Shim the rear of the body back up, to close the gaps
Or
2) The nuclear option. Cut the chassis rails, behind the rear axle, jack it up from the rear and re- weld.
I wasn't keen on 2).....
But the problem with 1) is if you shim it too much, you can no longer mount the rear bumper- slight problem! Luckily, mine wasn't that bad. I managed to get panel gaps I could live with (I'm not sure they were ever that great when they came out of the showroom in any event).
All of this is being done pre sending everything off to the Bodyshop. Better to do everything I can think of now, rather than be doing it after an expensive paint job.