Front End Template

[David Layton]

We will soon begin working on restoring and repaint on my 73tii.  I have new front fenders from WN's last fender sale which will save us some bottom front repairs.  The car got tapped in the right front at the bumper level and below sometime in it's past. While there are no signs of deformation in the front piece, the replacement kidney grills do not fit well and one of the right front grill attachment points do not align. This is an original 'nicht schnorkel' nose.

 

So, I am wondering if there is some sort of front end template I could use to compare the shape of mine with what it should be.  Putting new fenders on will reveal some issues.  I am also concern with the shape of the 'bow' as well. 

[TobyB]

Aha. 

Yah. 

 

Your best bet is to fit all the parts, including trim, loosely, and then do a 'best fit' approximation.

 

At this point, you may find you're moving the 'floating' parts quite a bit, and maybe even doing significant bodywork

to get the panel seams to look right. 

In theory, you align the door to the rear quarterpanel,

make sure the glass and wing window will work,

then get the fender aligned to THAT,

and conform the nose as a last step.  The hood should cover a multitude of sins.

 

In practice, you try that, discover that something won't work, modify, bend, spindle, grind, fold, and try again.

And then spacer the door out, readjust the windows, throw away the Uro weatherstrip, try again, dig the Uro

weatherstrip out of the trash and cut it down some, modify, unspindle, counterbend and refold.

 

Eventually one side gets just about perfect,

and then you go to work on the other, and

suddenly discover that the first side could be better.

And that you've taken out a panel 'feature' that was supposed

to be there, like that little 'cheek' above the rear wheelarch.

 

The first one's by far the hardest, because you haven't realized that these things were stamped out +- 2mm or so,

and +2mm here doesn't mate well with -2mm there.  

 

So, no, the template is really the shell and things you can't move reasonably, and the variables are the things that you can.

 

no help here.

 

t

 

 

 

[Conserv]

19 hours ago, David Layton said:

We will soon begin working on restoring and repaint on my 73tii.  I have new front fenders from WN's last fender sale which will save us some bottom front repairs.  The car got tapped in the right front at the bumper level and below sometime in it's past. While there are no signs of deformation in the front piece, the replacement kidney grills do not fit well and one of the right front grill attachment points do not align. This is an original 'nicht schnorkel' nose.

 

So, I am wondering if there is some sort of front end template I could use to compare the shape of mine with what it should be.  Putting new fenders on will reveal some issues.  I am also concern with the shape of the 'bow' as well. 

 

Sorry, David, my answer is of no actual assistance to you, but...

 

This is precisely why nosepieces were replaced willy-nilly back in the ‘70’s: the cost of a new nosepiece was less than having a good bodyman (I’m sorry, but we didn’t have bodywomen in Berks County, Pennsylvania back in the ‘70’s ?) re-shape a dented nosepiece....

 

Compound curves, thin sheetmetal, poorly-supported, whatever... ?

 

I return you now to your regularly-scheduled program... ?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by Conserv

[2002iii]

There's these magic devices called yard sticks and this other stuff called chalk. Measure from front corners to opposite jacking points and if the measurement from side to side is different you need pulling.

[David Layton]

The issue is actually most subtle, as far as the front piece is concerned.  We have the hood off to be bead blasted and primer coated, along with the trunk lid as these has a schutz type coating on the underside that we want to remove.  

 

The front piece has a small deformation to the left top of the right kidney and with the hood off, we see as small about at the point of the bow on the top panel.  The past impact can be seen on the last two photos.  I bought new fenders when WN had a sale on these in the summer.  We may see more when the fenders come off.  The lip spoiler is in need of attention before painting!

[David Layton]

Last weekend, Chris took my hood, trunk and the empty unit body for his 72 (0440) to a bead blaster service.  On my hood, some bondo came off at the spot right over the shallow dimple on the front piece.  Not a surprise, a lot of 02's were punched in the nose.  We now know what to deal with both on the hood and nose piece.  The metal needs sanding and will be epoxy primed in pale gray.

 

Attached are photos of the anchor holes for the filler and 0440.