I've been trial fitting my body panels on my MK Indy, and the nose cone and bonnet fit together fine but are about 25mm a side wider than the chassis. I've set my scuttle with the dash board side level with the point where the chassis begins to narrow, put the bonnet and nose cone in place and they seem way to wide at the front. The nose cone is as far back as it can go without hitting the wishbones. My question is, do I simply ease the nose cone and bonnet in so they are flush with the side panels or will this put them in a permanent stressed state which could lead to cracks later on? I've not worked with fibreglass panels before and I'm unsure how much they can be persuaded to fit. Any advice would be much appreciated.

First things first...

Side panels - panel arch up to chassis rear bulkhead radius.
Position scuttle from the angle - midway down.
Place bonnet to generate position of nosecone.
Fitting nosecone will show you have to relieve the returns on the nosecone to accomodate the wishbone brackets.

HTH

I've positioned the scuttle at the bend, put everything else in place, bonnet and nose cone, relative to the scuttle, and the nose cone and bonnet joint overhangs the sides by at least 20-25mm. Can I just push them in so they are flush with the sides, or will they fracture with time due to the stress they're under?

There is a gap at the top of the chassis/nosecone as the angles are different IIRC. It's not noticable as the chassis falls away under the nosecone anyway. Cut the lower nosecane return away to avoid the bone brackets and secure it there. You need to secure the lower edge of the nosecone using a brace of some type - the upper rear edge of the nosecone; rivnut to the upper chassis.

Hope it's clear - as it makes sense to me

If you can take a picture it'll make more sense to me... the bonnet will flex that amount the nosecone I doubt will.

[Edited on 11/12/05 by Genesis]

Is it this bit your talking about about?
Rescued attachment 169_6934sml.jpg

Yes. On mine, with the nose cone as far back as possible, the nose cone still overhangs the body panel by 25mm each side. As I say I've worked forwards from the scuttle to position everything but it seems a long way out. The bonnet seems like it will flex, the nose cone too but only with a fair bit of force. My worry is how much will it take?

I would post a picture, but I'm not that technically clued up.

TBH 25 mm each side does seem quite a lot. As you can see from my pic I have to push it in by about 5-10 mm from its relaxed state to where I want the bonnet to fit. Have you stored it with something sat on it? I dont think you have much option though, other than to flex it and fix it where you want it and hope for the best, nosecones are cheap

Fair point, I think I'll just have to go for it and as you say, hope for the best. Cheers, Kurt.

Kurt

I started by fitting the nose first, so that the angled bit with the bulges was flush with the front of the chassis. I had to take a little triangle out of the top right section and two round bits for the lower wishbone mounts. See photo.


kurt

This got the nose right back onto the chassis (LA/LB i think). Then put the bonnet on and the scuttle last, rather than starting from the scuttle. IMHO.

Mike