[The Glademister]

Originally Posted by mark 74 carrera

Glademister,

So, those braces are adjustable. That is brilliant. So you can adjust the brace until the top fits and door gap is correct? Have you used those before on another car? I have a car that has the same long problems and I have been researching how to brace the car properly before I cut out the longs. I see now that your supports allow the door to stay on. Where did you attach that longest brace? The targa bar??

Have you also built braces from the door hinges to the door latch plate mount? Seems like the current set up shown here would allow the replacement of the outer but not the inner longs. Cool thread.

Mark

They are adjustable. However, mostly only effective for pulling surfaces together. The top brace worked really well by pulling the right rear quarter up and to the front of the car. It closed up the door gap which was greater near the latch than at the bottom corner. Keep in mind that the inner long is still mostly intact on this side. So that is acting as a fulcrum. The bottom brace is stiffening that inner long but can not assist in pushing out. It's too flexible for that purpose. I used the lap belt attachment point but the bolt was rusted solid into the plate that's inside the long. So that hole got wollowed out extracting what was left. If one was to make a bar out of round or square stock and weld a more robust turn buckle in the middle - that would be more effective at pushing (or expanding). My plan is to weld in the outside long segment while leaving the inner in place. If possible, I'll even leave the door on during that process to continue checking the gap. Note that if you leave the targa top on, that helps hold everything in place as well. Once that outer segment is welded in and the car has more rigidity, then I'll move to the inner long, then the floor pans, cross member, etc.

To answer your questions specifically...

The longer brace attaches with the shoulder belt bolt inside the "sail". The front attachment using the 3" hole in the inner sheet metal behind the speaker panel. I used a large washer with a 8mm nut welded to it to fit inside and grab the edges of that hole. You can make some serrations with a file or grinder on the washer so it gets a good "bite".

I have not fabricated braces for the door jambs. But I got the idea for these from photos and videos of such. You are correct, the lower support will have to be removed when I do the inner long but the upper can say in place and you should be able to keep the door closed during that procedure.