Post Body Fitment

Once the body was in place and bolted along the sills, I made sure that the body was sitting right then placed rivets along the boot lip area and the mounting tabs on the front and rear bulk heads. All the mounting points aligned perfectly which made the job easy however the body is 15mm off centre but this is the way it was originally fitted which I think is very poor as it was easy to get correctly aligned when initially fitting the body. Pace jig the body to maintain the profile which is good but no one was looking at how the body aligned with the chassis. I have some other issues with alignment that I will go through latter.

When I was satisfied that the mounts where as Pace fitted them, I removed the "4 x 2" that holds the body in place making it easy to move around and the lip that is moulded into the dash area and the rear bulk head.

I cut the lip with a plastic blade in my cordless Dremel and used a sanding disc to clean up the profile and smooth everything out as well as remove all the sharp edges.

Having got to this point I was able to fit the windscreen washers and demisters. I had pre-fitted these items prior to mounting the body as it is much easier to do.One of the things to watch out for when fitting the windscreen washers is the threaded section may not be long enough to get a nut on due to the thickness of the composite in the cowl area. In my case it was 8mm thick so I got out the trusty Dremel and a face mask and ground an area large enough for the nut and removed around 4mm of the thickness so the the washer can be securely fastened.I also changed the washer hose to a rubber type over the plastic as the one supplied has a serious kink in the wrong spot and the rubber was more pliable to weave though the areas that was required

I also installed the demisters that I had previously fitted while the body was on the trolley. Doing these things where you are clear of wiring etc makes it so much easier.

Time is slipping away tonight but I have so much to share in the next few installments so until then,

Cheers
Russell