Frame/body alignment problems?

[Chrisrich]

Perhaps you folks can help me out with this one:
The story so far:
- I buy a local elan S4 ('70). A bit of a beater, but reputed to have a good chassis and motor.
- do some motor work, interior cleanup, etc, etc. Running nice.
- suspension feels sacked. In fact, with a passenger in the car, the right front touches down (hits the top of the wheel well) on left-hand sweepers.
- I order spring/shocks/bushes
- I take the left side down first. Nothing unusual, although I can't get the front upper arm off the fulcrum pin as the end of the pin is too close to the body.
- I move to the right side, and that condition is much worse. The shock turrent is WAY too far forward (2"? more?) and the body is so low that the top of the shock has penetrated through the fiberglass (picture). Tire wear has worn right through the wheel well.
- A closer look at the cross member at the front of the chassis (other picture) shows all is not right with the world -- there appears to be some history of botched work here, as the bolts are not lined up in a symetrical way. At some point, some problem was being (badly) sloved, but I don't know what it was.

My question: how to go about making this correct. The body shows no sign of damage/repair, nor does the chassis. It goes down the road perfectly straight with very little vibration. I believe the chassis to be true, although it seems that somehow the entire body is sitting an inch or two rearward!

Any thoughts??

[Chrisrich]

I don't know how to post 2 pictures, apparently.
Here's the cross-member.....

[nebogipfel]

It's a bit difficult to see from photographs but it looks like the inner wheel arch areas have been very badly repaired/modified perhaps due to an accident?

Assuming the aluminium bobbins are intact through the rest of the shell, they pretty much dictate the position of the body on the chassis.

From memory I don't think it would be possible to mount the body 2" too far forwards on the shell.

Do the wheels look symmetrical within the arches when you view the side of the car?

It looks like the best solution would be to laminate a new section on to correct the front end of the shell

[ttaunton]

My experience is that there is zero fore and aft tolerance on a normal Elan, when fitting the body back on the chassis.
On both a normal chassis and a Spyder, the front face of the tops of the rear towers are hard up against the bobbins laminated into the glass, so the body can't go back at all, and the two curved tubes that go between the rear of the chassis, behind the diff, are hard against the glass that forms the boot. My body was really tight fore and aft, no play at all.
At the front, the front towers were tight side to side. The rear could move quite a bit side to side, so I ended up measuring from the wheel rim, vertically using a spirit level, to the wheel arch, trying to get the wheels to sit equally under the arches. When I did this, on a Spyder chassis, I ended up with holes that were unequally spaced on the flanges underneath, and inside the boot. C'est la vie.

Tony Taunton (1968 S3)

[ppnelan]

Does the front cross member/vacuum tank hold vacuum?
Are the front springs OK & correct specification?

I would start with a full & accurate alignment check, including checking wheelbase & track dimensions in case the front wishbones are deformed...

Matthew

[rgh0]

The bodies orginally had a hole to provide clearance for the top of the shocks at the front. This original hole should line up with the top of the shock. How much the shock top bolt came trough the hole seems to vary from side to side and body to body depending on the tolerances.

It is normal not to be able to get the nuts and top arms off the suspension with the body on. Again depending on body tolerances you may need to cut holes in the body ( assists engine bay cooling!) or remove the body ( a real pain) to change the top suspension arms and bushes.

From you description and photos somethng appears wrong with your body or chassis aligment, exactly what needs some careful measurement and analysis.

cheers
Rohan

[Emma-Knight]

couldn't be a plus two chassis fitted to baby elan or?
If two inch forward, the rear chassis to body bobbins in the boot would hang in the air. (where the two tubes from the diff come down to chassis)

Anna

PS looking at the second photograph, it is obvious: the two bolts that go to the forward bobbins are too close to the steering rack clamp bolts. the original chassis bolt holes are empty...
So chassis two much forward or wrong chassis!

[nebogipfel]

:? couldn't be a plus two chassis fitted to baby elan

Surely a +2 chassis would be far too long and wide to fit under an Elan. and the mounting points would all be in the wrong places.


As I said previously, from the photo it looks like the front inner wing and arch area has been bodged?

I think side, front and rear views with the wheels on would allow us to see if the chassis is far out.

[RotoFlexible]

Chris,

It appears to me that the cavity that contains the right tower is wider than it should be, with the excess to the front. This means that the tower is too far forward by that 2" (how??) and the recess has been expanded to fit; or the body is shorter on the right side than the left (seems even less likely). Some simple side-to-side measurements should tell the tale. In either case, it's a bit of a mess. I would think if the frame is whacked that much, you will need a new one or some serious and skilled repair, probably with the body off the frame.

Wouldn't the car go sideways, or in circles, if the wheelbase differed that much? That's it! It's a NASCAR prototype!

All kidding aside, I wish you the best sorting it out.

[ppnelan]

Has it been fitted with a whole new front section at some point (many have)

Matthew

[cabc26b]

Interesting point !

There are inner and outer ( top and bottom) sections that comprise the nose - On the last elan rhinoplasty i prefromed I orderd a complete nose - both inner and outer. Upon inspection and I dertermined that the original inner would be retained ( wanted the bobins to line up with frame).

on the early cars the underside nose does not look like the one in your pictire, not sure about later cars. I also see waht looks loke some filer excess on the bottom of the nose . - My guess is that you have a botched job. Dies your hood ( bonnet) look ok ?

[twincamman]

looking a the heavy welding on the bottom of the tower and laying a straight edge on the screen and noting a decided slope to the rear it appears to have had a serious knock in the front at some time is my guess ----ed