I assume that the body is off of the frame on your rotisserie. If the
rockers and the floor are both extremely rusted out the body may have
either sagged in the middle (put a straight edge along the lower pinch weld
flange of the rocker outer to rocker inner to check for droop) or the floor
area has pulled apart from firewall to the quarter panels (if the body has
stretched you can pull it back prior to welding in the lower sheet metal).
If the doors are tight to the rear quarters at the top and a large margin
at the bottom, this is a typical symptom of a sagging body.
Are you using the same doors? I built up my GT-6 Convertible using a 78
spit body with my 71 bonnet, chassis, doors and driveline. Since I like
vent windows, I used the 71 GT-6 doors. They look the same but the 71 GT-6
doors are about 1/4 inch shorter in length than the 78 Spit doors.
Naturally, I did not measure this significant part. I made a classic
mistake in painting everything prior to test fitting. I now have a large
gap in front of the doors where the rocker kicks up and to compensate I
shifted the bonnet rear ward approx. 1/8 to 3/16 inch to minimize the gap
between the door and the bonnet. You are doing the right thing in checking
prior to welding, etc.
I work in specialty vehicle engineering (primarily convertibles) and when
coupes are cut up to create one off convertible prototypes or show cars,
the fabricators usually weld in tubing in the passenger compartment to
stiffen the body as a temporary measure while the roof is cut off (before
the rocker reinforcements are added). 3/4 in. diameter conduit is the
typical material of choise. Usually the body is braced with tubing from
the header to the rear inner fender on each side, and from the top of the
lock pillar to the top hinge pillar. Sometimes, I have also seen cross car
diagonal bracing from the header corner to the opposite side inner fender
with the diagonals welded together in addition to the fore/aft bracing.
Once the reinforcements are welded in the tubing is removed by grinding off
the welds. You might consider doing something similar once you have your
body to door alignment looking good so that the body does not move or
spring on you as you put in the floors.
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