Body not aligned on chassis

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Jim W.

Active Member
Posts
106
Location
Cyprus
I have this posted in an older post and decided that maybe it's better I make a new thread for this one ;-)

After taking a closer look at the body and chassis I noticed that one side is higher than the other side. About 2cms off.
I measured from rear wheel arch to center of rim (axle) and it is 49.2cms and on the right (rear) side it is 47.3cms. The car measurements were taken while the car was on level ground on several different occasions.

Should I place shims (spacers) in the right hand side body mounts to offset the tilt? What is the best way to proceed with this?

cheers
 
Have you thought it's probably tired springs? You measuring to a floating point when you measure to the axle, crawl under and have a look see whether it's level to the chassis not the floating axle.
 
Aye, I could not Upload pics for some reason showing the problem areas.
The Shocks and Springs are 10 months old.
I measured to a fixed point on the Chassis (the Sway-bar brackets on the chassis) and yes, I found a discrepancy of 4-5mms: 37.0-.1 to 37.5-.6
Considering the short distance and also the points of measurements this can easily translate to almost 2cms difference from one side to the other.

I hope this helps :)
 
Finally got the Uploads. More to come.


Here (on the Right side of the car, rear) u can see that the body rubber "stops" are touching/pressed to the chassis.
jim-w--albums-disco-1-picture15955-right-shock.jpg

jim-w--albums-disco-1-picture15954-right-behind-shock.jpg



Here (on the Left side of the car, rear) u can see that the body rubber "stops" are NOT touching/pressed to the chassis.
jim-w--albums-disco-1-picture15957-left-shock.jpg


jim-w--albums-disco-1-picture15956-left-behind-shock.jpg



For some strange reason the rear body mount screws are not equally tightened. The side where there is more lift (left side) is more tightened than the right side. This should bring the opposite effect but meh :confused:
 
In my opinion that is nothing to worry about at all. What you are looking at is the relationship between the boot floor crossmember and the chassis support pads. These are NOT critical distance items and indeed will alter when there is weight in the boot.

This has nothing to do with suspension.
 
Nothing to worry about but the whole car looks really off!
Must be my OCD :)

Going to do the job by my lonesome so any input will be much appreciated ;)

cheers
 
Think I'd have a look round the other body mounts too and undo them all a tad, so they're just loosened, and see if the body settles a little. Maybe a short, steady drive around the block to help .. ;)

If someone's ever had panels off, or any body welding done, they could have tweaked them when tightening stuff up.
 
It's the springs. The springs on my RRC were designed to sit level when a driver is in the car, so they looked like that when the motor was empty, especially when they had fewer miles piled on them.
 
I can't see how the springs will make the body sit like this .. the springs connect to the chassis, the body connects to the chassis, but completely separately to the springs.

Unless the chassis is flexible by up to 20mm ?
 
I can't see how the springs will make the body sit like this .. the springs connect to the chassis, the body connects to the chassis, but completely separately to the springs.

Unless the chassis is flexible by up to 20mm ?
The springs will effect the measurement from the wheel arch to the wheel center. That's what I was referring to.
 
I had this nice detailed answer/explanation ready to go when I refreshed the page without posting it :(

Long story short. It's not the springs. Checked them many, many times and they are fine.
i am also measuring to a steady point on the chassis too and besides, as you can see in the pics something is not sitting right with the body. that gap does equate to a tilt that I am not comfortable with and I need to know why the hell :confused: it's doing that even though it is tightened even more on the higher side :(


So, Paul D:
Think I'd have a look round the other body mounts too and undo them all a tad, so they're just loosened, and see if the body settles a little. Maybe a short, steady drive around the block to help .. ;)

If someone's ever had panels off, or any body welding done, they could have tweaked them when tightening stuff up.

Basically loosen the bolts a bit. Make sure the body "settles" this way so as to
make sure that all is "settled" :p and then see what is what?
If I see the tilt will I need to shim the side I need to lift or will "correction be needed on opposite side in the front too?

cheers
 
Yeah, undo them, try to get some settlement. I'd guess someone's either tried to lift or remove the whole body and screwed it up or taken a lift out and maybe left a block in somewhere, or it's been in an unrecorded accident that's tweaked the bodyshell, 'cos it does look like the bodyshell is slightly twisted, is what I'm thinking anyway.

I wouldn't suggest where to try and tweak it back into line without seeing it personally, but could it have been lifted, say with a Hi-lift to change a wheel, at some time but someone used bodywork instead of chassis?
 
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