Positioning the body and the Scuttle

Patent measuring stick

The Westfield build manual places great emphasis on getting the critical, 400 mm, distances between the rear of the bodywork and the upper rear space frame member exactly right. We began by rechecking this distance. We had to adjust it by about 1mm. we clamped the body in place with "G" clamps.  The scuttle is positioned on blocks molded in to the bodywork, with corresponding sockets molded in to the scuttle. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? The position of the scuttle is all important to the final fitting of the bodywork, bonnet, nose cone, windscreen, hood and doors We positioned the scuttle over the blocks.  Finding the final position of the body using a steel rule had been fairly easily. 

Positioning the scuttle with a steel tape was much more fiddly and of doubtful accuracy. We solved the problem by measuring 915mm on a straight piece of wood. Using this we were able to get pinpoint accuracy.  The scuttle was clamped in place.  We were unhappy with the fit of the scuttle in relation to the body on the LHS.  We determined that the front lhs sealer plate was pushing the body out .  We also noticed that the front of the bodywork was partially covering the rivnuts intended for fitting the nose cone. We marked the front of the body with the intention of cutting it back the bodywork to clear the rivnuts.  So it was, that we removed the body again. We trimmed the front plate, refitting the edging strip. The bodywork fitted better in relation to the scuttle when re-fitted. However the fit could still be improved. We thought that the locating block on the body and corresponding socket in the scuttle were not fitting correctly causing the scuttle to be proud of the bodywork.  We decide to modify the socket slightly to improve the fit and give a little more free play. We drilled a line of holes in the top of the socket to create a slot. We opened the slot out to ensure that the locating block and socket were not binding. It did improve the fit but only marginally. We decided we would probably have to put up with it, or it may improve when the body properly fixed in place.