paime Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 Mine is a shielder but also bolts to the front of the seatbox. Am I right in saying there isn't a way to adjust the gap between B post and A post, only make it parallel by playing with the outrigger and chassis brackets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 37 minutes ago, pete3000 said: Mine are for the front of the seatbox, is yours a Richards Chassis? I've just realised your seatbox supports are slotted whereas the shielder ones aren't. I think i'm going to have to shift everything forward and then drill new holes for the seatbox bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 you can adjust the gaps, but it would mean undoing the sill rail rear bolts where the return bracket turns through 90 degrees from the sill rail up to the rear of seatbox area. These are also slotted. However this will change your door gaps so caution required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 2 hours ago, pete3000 said: you can adjust the gaps, but it would mean undoing the sill rail rear bolts where the return bracket turns through 90 degrees from the sill rail up to the rear of seatbox area. These are also slotted. However this will change your door gaps so caution required. I'll take a look at this option. My doors won't even close right now so I think there's quite a bit of fettling to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 3 hours ago, paime said: I've just realised your seatbox supports are slotted whereas the shielder ones aren't. I think i'm going to have to shift everything forward and then drill new holes for the seatbox bolts. those seatbox mounts on my Marsland chassis are slotted as well. also just looked I have 1 washer between bulkhead & outrigger 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 This is the best picture i've got of mine. It's a widened hole at best but definitely not going to give me as much adjustment as @western and @pete3000. I think i'll take out the bolt tomorrow then nudge everything forward a bit before drilling into the top of that mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I would elongate it if possible. My original chassis had a elongated hole there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) From putting mine back together its an M6x25mm bolt and stainless penny washer for this so you only need a 7mm drill at the front then as western says join it up to a slot. If you drill 3mm clear forward of the hole on each side that should give you the 10mm nudge you are after? The seatbox is slotted side to side to give wiggle sideways. Where i drilled holes for clips etc i've used the satin black rustoleum spray can to cover any bare metal, itworks a treat at getting into little corners and pockets in the chassis also. Pete Edited January 30, 2021 by pete3000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 Today I'm going to remove the front bulkhead to chassis brackets, keep the outrigger bolts in, remove those m6 bolts then see if I can nudge everything forward. I'm not sure how it's all going to work as the transmission tunnel hole for the gear levers lines up perfectly with the gearbox. If I nudge everything forward then that might not be the case any more. Time will tell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 Checked out the old chassis today and saw that it doesn't have the slots either, rather a single non adjustable hole. Did manage to do much else today other than clear the garage a bit so will try shifting things tomorrow. I need to move forward about 24mm so a bit of movement here and a bit there and I might be able to do it. Also noticed that I had some bolts producing through the floor pans which were hitting the outrigger and stopping things move forward so I've changed them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 After much wiggling and prodding today I think I've found the problem. It looks as though the battery box under the passenger seat was fouling on the chassis bracket. I've managed to move past that now and things are lining up front to back quite nicely with only a couple mm gap between outrigger to bulkhead. The problem I now have is the body is too far over to one side by about 25mm. I can't fix that without taking a corner out of the battery box. Any ideas how to avoid that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Is the body a bit low? Is that whats making it hit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 9 hours ago, landroversforever said: Is the body a bit low? Is that whats making it hit? It's jacked up at the front by about an inch in that pic but interestingly enough i did have a problem with my bulkhead being too high in comparison to the outriggers when i thought i had things lined up before. I'm not sure how close that seatbox should be to the chassis/chassis bracket there but i'm beginning to suspect it's the source of a few alignment issues i've been having. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 2 steps forward, one steps back with this body alignment. I (ahem) 'remodelled' the corner of the battery tray under the seat box to get me past the bracket which as helped a huge amount. I've now got a lot more flexibilty to shift the body about on the chassis so set about trying to get the bulkhead closer to the outriggers. After an evening of swearing i succeeded and almost cracked open the champagne before realising that the rear tub was too far forward so had about an inch step in from the top of the crossmember, the middle crossmember top brackets were about an inch away from the rear of the seatbox fixings, the rear tubular outriggers were an inch away from the seatbelt mounts and the front wings and bulkhead-chassis were also too far forward. Essentially the bulkhead-front outriggers were the only thing aligned . I've now gone the other way around and got everything else to line up but i've got a big gap at the bulkhead. The doors open and close fine and i can't see any twisting in the body, do i just pack it full of spacers and forget the gap exists? The rock slider will cover it up anyway.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Not sure when its used on a later car.... but the Defenders that originally had the adjustable crossmember mount the body sits over it so its hidden, unlike the early type which has the 5 tabs which are exposed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 Mine is a 2001MY and the tabs are on the outside of the tub - at least they were on the old chassis so i'm assuming that's the factory setup, it's anyone's guess though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 24 minutes ago, paime said: Mine is a 2001MY and the tabs are on the outside of the tub - at least they were on the old chassis so i'm assuming that's the factory setup, it's anyone's guess though! Would be interesting to speak to someone else that's done it, but the idea of the later adjustable type is for it to fit on the inside of the face. @Retroanaconda might know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonb Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) Align rear of tub with rear crossmember tabs. Your 3rd image with the seat belt anchor outrigger, there are square captive nuts (like used on 19" electronic racks) which go in the slots - or just use standard bolts with larger washers. On mine I needed a packer/spacer between the bracket and tub. I used a thick piece/slab of ally, drilled through to take the bolts. Loosely fit bulkhead and either measure width of doors or fit them to get the bulkhead in the right place and the door gap at the striker edge parallel from top to bottom. There is adjustment in the hinges, but if you still have a gap like your image, use washers/stout tube to ensure the bulkhead foot is spaced as needed. Then fit front wings and check bonnet striker/ rad panel is in the right place. The inner wings and rad panel all have adjustment for fore/aft position. Edited February 3, 2021 by simonb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Not sure how much difference it will actually make to alignment, but I reckon the rear tub mount does want to be on the inside of the panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 My Marsland chassis has the later adjustable rear body angle to chassis part, I have the 5 tabs on the outside. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 1 hour ago, simonb said: Align rear of tub with rear crossmember tabs. Your 3rd image with the seat belt anchor outrigger, there are square captive nuts (like used on 19" electronic racks) which go in the slots - or just use standard bolts with larger washers. On mine I needed a packer/spacer between the bracket and tub. I used a thick piece/slab of ally, drilled through to take the bolts. Loosely fit bulkhead and either measure width of doors or fit them to get the bulkhead in the right place and the door gap at the striker edge parallel from top to bottom. There is adjustment in the hinges, but if you still have a gap like your image, use washers/stout tube to ensure the bulkhead foot is spaced as needed. Then fit front wings and check bonnet striker/ rad panel is in the right place. The inner wings and rad panel all have adjustment for fore/aft position. I've got the correct spacers for those bits so hopefully it should bolts together OK tomorrow. What I still don't understand is how I would elongate or shorten the door gap and keep it parallel. The bulkhead is attached to the rear tub via the sills and the floor pans so I can't see how I would alter it. I can alter the pitch of the bulkhead to make it more or less parallel to the B post but that's all? 1 hour ago, landroversforever said: Not sure how much difference it will actually make to alignment, but I reckon the rear tub mount does want to be on the inside of the panel. It was definitely on the outside previously but probably wouldn't make much difference anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 It depends on how it’s been made. For example Marsland offer both options, either captive nuts on the tabs for fitting behind the tub or just plain holes for fitting in front, in the older fashion where the captive nuts are on the tub. If the rail is fixed you’d only gain/lose the thickness of the tabs - so 3mm maybe, if the rail is moveable then you can gain much more from that movement than from being one side or another of the tabs. If I recall correctly this is a Shielder chassis? If everything else is lined up okay and it’s only the larger gap at the bulkhead feet then I would just pack that out with washers and be done with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 On the older chassis with the 5 tabs on the outside, the captive nuts are on 3 rivetted on nut plates, the 2 outermost tabs just use bolts & nuts on the inner face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon W Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) I built mine up front pieces on my Richards chassis and have washers packing up the gap and to get the doors lined up and bulkhead at the correct angle. Have you loosened the bulkhead brackets at the front which bolt to the chassis. Excuse the grinning flintstones idiot Edited February 3, 2021 by Jon W Insert picture 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 1 hour ago, Jon W said: I built mine up front pieces on my Richards chassis and have washers packing up the gap and to get the doors lined up and bulkhead at the correct angle. Have you loosened the bulkhead brackets at the front which bolt to the chassis. Excuse the grinning flintstones idiot Do you know how much of a gap you had between bulkhead and outrigger? I've had the chassis bulkhead brackets unbolted for all of the adjustment so far and if anything they could probably do with pushing the bulkhead back even further. Its as if I need to stretch everything out a bit but I can't see how that could happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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