don't forget to preload the frame with an 80 lb. bag of concrete at the
X member to compensate for the absence of running gear before making all
of your final fittings prior to welding.
I agree, only more so. We go round and round about this, but I've seen
Healeys in the process of restoration done both ways and the end result
was better with the engine and trans in the car. One of the club
magazines had an article in it years ago about a fellow's restoration
who didn't compensate for the weight and his solution to the resulting
door fit problem was to cut the doors to fit. I once saw someone doing
the restoration on a bare frame using only "measurements", and a most
careful fellow he was, and when he tried to mount the doors the top rear
point of the passenger door was an inch behind the "gap". Then you've
got a real problem. Maybe people who do this for a living can do it
from measurements and experience, but I'd load that frame before I
welded it. When we did my car not only were the engine and trans in the
car, but we must have had those doors on and off the car a dozen times
including temporarily welding a spiderweb of cross members using 1 inch
square stock in the cockpit to keep everything rigid as we did sill and
frame repair. Result, the doors went on without a hitch. This is, of
course, just my HO and as always, as Cicero said "Suum Cuique", to each
his own.
Bill Moyer, BJ7
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