'68 UniBody is Very Rigid Now

[Fixer]

Fuel tank, heavy steel spare and battery installed in frunk.

I was under the car touching up the fuel tank and noticed it had been sitting on 3 stands for a week or so while restoring brake system.
(1/4" air space btwn the car and one stand due to shop floor)

My '86 isn't this rigid iirc..

https://www.facebook.com/100012530207422/videos/272399669854371/

[wayner]

I like it :-)

[jimtweet]

Tie it together with dental floss and toothpicks?🤔

[jjeffries]

I was always surprised that Alfa Spiders I worked on passed this same test. I didn't try it for the hell of it, just had an uneven garage floor. I'm not sure they were that rigid when driving on bumpy roads - they felt like they had scuttle shake - but in a static situation like this (being on axle stands) they didn't deflect. John in CT.

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by jimtweet

Tie it together with dental floss and toothpicks?��

Says the parts replacer ! ;-)

[Fixer]

doubled my pleasure

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by jjeffries

I was always surprised that Alfa Spiders I worked on passed this same test. I didn't try it for the hell of it, just had an uneven garage floor. I'm not sure they were that rigid when driving on bumpy roads - they felt like they had scuttle shake - but in a static situation like this (being on axle stands) they didn't deflect. John in CT.

Agree, the next test will be after 5,000 miles of post restoration driving is it still rigid on the stands.

I'll try an remember to follow up here.

When welding up the rocker sections to door hinge post and door lock post et cetera,
I really took my time welding more than the factory (Karmann in my case) did.

I cleaned up the rusty removed original steel to be able to count what they did originally.

In other words, can't just weld the $%!@ out of the rocker section you have to continue up into the posts.

At the time I counted the difference but I can't remember how much more I added. I recall doing twice the amount of spot welds all along the rocker section up into the posts. I did weld in an old fashion (on adjusting) R strut brace.

[Fixer]

I hope other people post how their air cooled cars react to being lifted off their wheels.

Whenever I lift (the never beaten) '86, I noticed a slight change in the relationship of the door to latch.

[Chuck.H]

My targa flexes a little when lifted - doors still open/close, but you can feel the latch rubbing a little on the striker.

I had a FIAT convertible way back when - latching the top would lift the rear wheels off the ground.

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 430k miles

[RichardNew]

Actually I think most cars can pass this test. At least I haven't owned on that couldn't.



This car looks extremely rigid on jack stands. At one point I was serious about autocrossing this car. At some point on the course the front hood would unlatch itself. The body flexed that much.

That's when I went to the RSR rubber latches.

Richard Newton

[Jesse16]

I've had my fuel fill door open during a bumpy off track spin in grass. Been meaning to see if I could bend the little catch a bit to improve. Hard to believe that flex caused that but who knows.