So it looks like all the modifications I did to the frame, and all the panels I replaced, caused some rather large panel gaps. Of course I’m not happy with that on a car I’m treating so well, so I had to fix it.
In the first picture below you can see the huge gaps between the wings and rocker, and the bonnet actually overlaps the scuttle panel even when all the way forward. I’m attributing this to my combination of massive modifications to the firewall and the modifications to the frame causing it to probably bend up a bit at the front. After a solid four days of scratching my head and moving things around, I decided the only fix was what I do best: cutting, welding, and grinding.
I ended up taking a full 1/2″ off the back of the bonnet, extending the wings in some places and grinding them off in others. I also added some metal to the inside of the front-bottom door gap on the rocker side to close that gap. I’m happy to say the gaps are now pretty much perfect all the way around the car at 3/16″ to 1/4″! And in the final shot, you can see she’s on rollers for the first time again since I bought it a little over a year ago.
She’s going to paint this coming Tuesday… so pretty exciting!
