Body-onto-chassis experience

Finally it was time to get the boys together, and mount the body back onto the chassis. I had waited months for this.

During the last three years (sorry, it has really taken that long...) the body has been completely stripped down, all the cracks has been repaired, and the unoriginal sunroof has been replaced with concrete fibreglass. The body was painted last september/october, but unfortunately we got the wrong yellow color - so it will be a repaint during April/May 2003.

Engine and gearbox has been rebuild, new front- and rear-suspension has been mounted, and new brakelines fitted.

And now, after three years (not too hard) work, it was time to see if the parts fitted....

Together with 5 friends I started the work at noon Sunday. First we tried to fit the body, but the foam I had put on the chassis was too thick. I removed one layer of foam, and the body fitted perfect around the chassis!

Apart from on the front part, where it by no means would slip down onto the crossmember. We were laying all around the car, trying to see where it was too tight. We found out that the rearmost of the new Banks upper wishbone was mounted outside on the crossmember, whilst the original Lotus part was mounted inside. Due to this there was no room for the nut between the upper wishbone and the footwell on the body.
We figured out several ways to solve this problem, until I gave a thought to all the holes I had filled in the body.

When looking into the footwell, I could clearly see one hole on each side that had been filled. Found the drill, and made two new holes - one at each side. Removed the nut from the upper wishbone bolt, knocked the bolt into the wishbone, and slipped the body down onto the crossmember. It matched perfect!

But; the body had a 6mm lean towards the front LH side. When looking in the Europa Workshop Manual I found that this lean is way inside the 'allowed' measurements. So, I'll just have to shims the left hand side to make it equal heigh as the right hand side.

Another strange problem;
Distance between the right hand side frontwheel and the wheelarch was some 4 cm less than the same area on the left hand side. We couldn't turn the front wheels towards the right hand side without the tire touching the body. What was wrong?

Luckily, after some minutes of hard and intense (...) thinking, neighbour Morten gave a look at the wheels dimensions. Right hand frontwheel was 165X13, whilst left hand frontwheel was 165X70X13. The same phenomena was with the rear tires...
So; switched the left hand side rearwheel with the matching right hand front wheel. Now the two frontwheels were equal, so were the rear ones.
And guess what? Distance between wheels and wheelarches is the same all over the car.

Only remaining problem now;
Righthand rearwheel is further'out' from the body than the lefthand wheel. I haven't figured out why, yet. If anyone should have any clue, I would be most happy to know. Please do not hesitate mailing me.....

Here are some pictures from the 'happening', click on the photo to se a bigger one:

	This is just before the work starts. Painted (thought in the wrong yellow color) body, and finished chassis is soon to be 'married'...
	The boys, not from Brazil but Ski, Langhus and Siggerud, is about to start lifting the body for the first time...
	...and off she goes! I admit, my heart was beating rather fast when the body first was lifted into the air, but luckily the fiberglass is much stronger than I feared.
	Hmm, very tight, indeed. Nut on outside mounted upper rear wishbone made no room for body to slip down.. Solution; drill holes in the footwell for nut, remove nut and push the bolt into whisbone, lower body and push bolt back again. Then mount nut from inside car. Result; near perfect match!
	Nearly there! And she sure looks great! Though; the wheels fitted when receiving the car does NOT fit the yellow Europa. Guess I'll have to start hunting for new wheels soon...
	The she is, my yellow beauty! Still haven't bolted the body to the chassis, due to lack of bolts... But, then again; perhaps it is wise to let the body rest on its new 'underlay' for a couple of days before fastening it? Doors is not painted yet, this will be done when the car get its correct color during late spring. Big thanks to Thor, Morten, Olav (the painter), Sigurd-Magnus and Ronny for lending me a lot of hands ,-)

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