Body fitting

[Wizzle]

Evening all.

This weekend I'm fettling the body to get it to fit, and I've come up against a... lumpy bit.

Hopefully the picture shows this, but on each side - roughly where your bottom sits - the 'lip' that wraps under the chassis has a step in it that's stopping me fitting the bodyshell snugly. I've tried to draw this with the red line...

The distance from top chassis rail to bottom is about 3-4mm longer than the corresponding distance on the bodyshell. Can I just cut the flange / lip off at this point? For perhaps 30cm? Or will I regret not letting the body 'wrap' around the bottom of the chassis at this point? It needs a bit more than just vigorous sanding as there isn't enough material to remove at this point - if I cut it all off am I going to regret it?

Thanks! GRP is a bit new to me, I don't know what I can get away with!

Alex

[peakrock]

If it was mine, I would grind off the inside of the body so that it follows the curve of the lower chassis rail. Whilst the fibreglass can be flexed and possibly have the flange forced round, any prolonged force can cause gel coat cracks to appear, spoiling the paint finish. You will still be able to bond the side of the rail to the body using PU adhesive which should be strong enough. It would be also be easy to apply some fibreglass tape to the inside of the body onto the top of the chassis rail if you really wanted to. Or, use P40 which is a fibreglass paste and apply a fillet between the body and the top of the rail..

Dave

[Wizzle]

Thanks Dave - I was wondering if I could do away with the flange completely, it would make life easier all round. Thank you!