F'glass van idiosyncracies

[hilldweller]

Hi there
So is it just my van or is it normal for the left and right side measurements to be a bit 'off' on fibreglass vans? Spent ages today trying to get the ends of the two front seats to sit level and after much measuring and re-measuring thought to check the height from the bottom of the window frames to the floor. 30mm difference between the left and right In trying to line them up I discovered things are a bit off across the front too (bottom window sill is not exactly parallel with the remaining bit of orignal framing running across at knee height), and I already knew the left and right wheel arch covers were only loosely related.

I'm a bit scared to measure anything else.

I don't think these things will be noticeable when she's finished - well not to me anyway - but they're causing a lot of headaches on the way through

[JBJ]

Hi,

I rebuilt an early Sunliner a few years ago, & found it to be all over the place with measurements, so much so I stopped checking side to side. It was horribly out of square, but unless you measured it nothing was visibly out of shape. Probably all the curved walls helped.

When I rebuilt Lucille( homemade ply van) it was the same.

The most important thing I believe with any van is to get it to where you are happy with how it looks.

Remember you are rebuilding it to use, for yourself ( & family maybe).
You arent building a show vehicle that has to be perfect.

I was told by an old panel beater years ago, when I was trying to get both sides of a car I was rebuilding to be exactly the same, that no one can see both sides at the same time.

Its true with anything. As long as they are as close as you can make them, it will look OK.

Keep at it, it can be a lot of fun working on old vans & cars.

JBJ

[humpty2]

Hey Hilldweller,

Have you looked at the wheel openings on each side of your Sunliner yet.
The left side is smaller

[seeshell]

Hi hilldweller

We don't measure anymore - just eyeball it, which seems to be as good a guide as anything else. JBJ is right - when it looks right to you, go with that.

As for the refit of the inside, I'm practising my scribing to get the cabinets to fit to the walls since I don't think there will be any way we can use templates with no two pieces the same! Even the old peices won't be an exact fit anymore now we've done work to the body.

Enjoy your old girl's eccentricities. We all are a bit lopsided after 50 years. ;D

Cheers!
Seeshell

[hilldweller]

Aug 6, 2011 19:33:48 GMT 10 humpty2 said:

Hey Hilldweller,

Have you looked at the wheel openings on each side of your Sunliner yet.
The left side is smaller

Huh ? I don't get what you mean sorry, though further mismatching certainly wouldn't surprise me - can you elaborate? My van's not a sunliner BTW.

[hilldweller]

JBJ and Seeshell - many thanks for those posts. I needed the reassurance I will continue on with more eyeballing and less measuring....

Know what you mean about templates Seeshell. Each time I make one thinking 'well I need 2 (or 4, or whatever) pieces this shape' I have to modify it after the first one to get the rest to fit. I've learnt to draw pencil lines around the old stuff before I take it off but there was so little there to start with there's lots of guesswork involved.