Volvo 240 Rally build

Quote
dreamsofjvl
Do you know/have heard of Jan/John (pick whichever way you want to call him) out in Cochrane?
He'll tell you what is what if you can drop the car off. I was very happy with the $1k I spent with him after Rocky. It might cost some money as time is money, but he'll probably do an assessment for basically free if you bring it to him.

Highlander Auto Frame
(Polish Highlands)

---

First Rally attended (2000), First Rally competed in (2001)
Cars Built (1), Engines Built (0) Cages Built (0)
Driver (8), Co-Driver (47), Drivers (19)
Clerk (29), Steward (1), Official (17), Volunteer (5)
WRC Spectator (1), WRC Photographer (6), WRC Observer (4)
Rallies attended (120) Countries attended rallies in (11)
Last Updated, May30, 2022

Quote
Not Trolling

Quote
dreamsofjvl
Do you know/have heard of Jan/John (pick whichever way you want to call him) out in Cochrane?
He'll tell you what is what if you can drop the car off. I was very happy with the $1k I spent with him after Rocky. It might cost some money as time is money, but he'll probably do an assessment for basically free if you bring it to him.

Highlander Auto Frame
(Polish Highlands)

That's the one. Just an awesome gent to deal with, I won't bother with anyone else anymore.

Thanks for the body shop suggestions! I've had a few rally guys also recommend him. I'm at the point with this where I need someone with more knowledge than myself to have a look at this.

Quote
Eric Ewert
I atleast now know why it doesn't close proper... the bottom corner of the door is interfering where the b pillar merges into the rocker panel. You can see the scuffs where it has been hitting in the photos. Fyi it still hits with all hinges detached (did this to eliminate the idea that I could get away with just opening the hinge mounting holes up a bit)

So I took some measurements both vertically and horizontally. Things seem to match up with the good side of the car. With that in mind i am aware that body shells aren't known for being the most symmetrical of things.

From what I see separating the b-pillar is far from ideal: The inside portion of the pillar is actually stamped with the rocker panel. in other words moving the outer b pillar would result in some seriously misaligned panels.


Suggestions, ideas? Am i missing something obvious?

As a guy what writes estimates for a living, frame machine set-up is 2.0 hours standard. Not sure what your local body/frame rate is like, but around here it's $44 or so. This means less than $100 to have a bodyshop set it up on their machine and have it computer-measured via laser or sonic or whatever their system is. Hell, even tram gauges are better than eyeballing it. If you walk in to a shop, talk to them about your issue. Say you'll pay for set-up and measure and maybe a budget of a couple hours worth of pull.

Alternatively, g nuts with a tape measure running X's in symmetrical parts (good luck with that) or have someone with the same year and model run X's on theirs and compare to yours. Personally, I can generally just eyeball it and tell, but I've been doing this 20 years.

In this case, you taco'ed your car and bent the crap out of the left side right along the most important structural sidemembers (the a-pillar, b-pillar, and rocker), then tossed new parts at it with properly straightening it to begin with (ie on a frame machine with the right measurements). It's just not going to be properly straight, period. There's a reason shops do thing in certain order. That said, a body shop might be able to recover from the misalignment with some pull. They can certainly do it with some rework, but that ain't cheap. In the future, when you wallop your car's structure, take it to a shop for a measure and pull if needed, then weld it up. It seems like you've got the fab skills needed to do the repair, you just need a straight base to work with.

As an aside, cutting out the b-pillar on these will induce some sag. It really is that important a piece of structure.

I dig your car, by the way. It's literally the only thing I come here to read in the odd circumstance that leads me back here.


/lurkmode on

Quote
Bearhat
In the future, when you wallop your car's structure, take it to a shop for a measure and pull if needed, then weld it up.

Or, barring that, bash it with a hammer until it stops rubbing. It's a race car, right? So long as you can get the latch working, eh.

Hey... ummmm whoever you are! Thanks for the advice. Since starting this repair I learned it is typically best to pull the damaged sections, prior to cutting the bad metal out and replacing. Around here body shop rates are significantly more than that. However I was lucky enough to have someone help me out by cutting me a deal on repairing it to a point where parts were tacked in place. It is now sitting back in the garage mostly welded up with both front and rear doors opening/ closing and sealing properly.

You mention the tape measure X thing... I did do some of that and measurements seemed to be reasonable. Not sure if I was doing something wrong or if I wasn't measuring the appropriate bits to actually realize where it was out.

Anyway glad you like the car! Its good fun when I haven't broken it! Should be a few updates to it this year if you fancy coming back to view.

Bump for Cochrane???

---

Power means nothing if you cannot control it!

Gonna try! Working the amount I have been lately has made working on the car tricky. Really I am just making excuses though. I REALLY want to run with the amount of snow we've had!!!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hnh9HshhjCs?rel=0"; frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

---

I would rather drive a slow car fast as a fast car slow!
first rule of cars: get what makes you happy, your the one paying for it!



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2018 07:42PM by tdrrally.