Rebody Oh no. It's not another 507 Rebody. Oh yes it is!
- Thread starter Duncodin
- Start date
Not sure which way to go here.
Top of the door lines up ok. Bottom is ok too.
But the swage line is way out. Half an inch out.
Something needs adjusting. If i lift the door panel or lower the bonnet that would line up the swage line but just shift the problem somewhere else.
Anyone else have this? What did you do? Chopping, filling and fettling I guess.
Top of the door lines up ok. Bottom is ok too.
But the swage line is way out. Half an inch out.
Something needs adjusting. If i lift the door panel or lower the bonnet that would line up the swage line but just shift the problem somewhere else.
Anyone else have this? What did you do? Chopping, filling and fettling I guess.
I can't help but that looks like it could be fun to get over. Not.
Luckily for me my kit doesn't have swages to meet up on separate panels......if it did I can guarantee they would be further out than those.
Luckily for me my kit doesn't have swages to meet up on separate panels......if it did I can guarantee they would be further out than those.
Oh I can hear the howls of disapproval. 
Just wanted to see what it looks like. (The mirror in case you hadn't noticed)
Went for a drive today. I feel much safer doing sly lane changes. That little chrome mirror on the wing is going. Just too small to be useful.
The car will be a daily driver and most of the time, nipping down to the shops etc will have the old z3 electric heated mirrors. But i also plan on finding a nice period looking door mirror that can easily be screwed into/over the same screw holes for the odd occasion where I might want it to look a bit classic.
Just wanted to see what it looks like. (The mirror in case you hadn't noticed)
Went for a drive today. I feel much safer doing sly lane changes. That little chrome mirror on the wing is going. Just too small to be useful.
The car will be a daily driver and most of the time, nipping down to the shops etc will have the old z3 electric heated mirrors. But i also plan on finding a nice period looking door mirror that can easily be screwed into/over the same screw holes for the odd occasion where I might want it to look a bit classic.
Continuing the Nose Job this weekend.
Here's a reminder.
Lowered the nose a little to reduce the height of the grill. This also made it an inch or so longer.
Te above was done a while ago. Now working on the shape of the grill/mouth.
Rounding off the lower outer corners. Plastic template/mould with blue poly sheet to stop grp sticking. I can flip and use that template on the other side of the car so both left and right will have the same shape ish.
The kit came with grp grill surrounds. My opening is now lower and rounder so the grill surround needs chopping too.
Now to do the other side
Here's a reminder.
Lowered the nose a little to reduce the height of the grill. This also made it an inch or so longer.
Te above was done a while ago. Now working on the shape of the grill/mouth.
Rounding off the lower outer corners. Plastic template/mould with blue poly sheet to stop grp sticking. I can flip and use that template on the other side of the car so both left and right will have the same shape ish.
The kit came with grp grill surrounds. My opening is now lower and rounder so the grill surround needs chopping too.
Now to do the other side
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Previously mentioned that my right side door doesn't line up. Top is fine
Bottom is OK too.
But the profile/swage line is way out.
I can't see this same issue on anyone else's car so either I've done something wrong or my kit came out of wonkey moulds.
Anyway. Only solution is chop it off. So. Chopped off the profile/swage
and stuck it back on again (bit of string to get it lined up.
More sanding required now. Bah!
Bottom is OK too.
But the profile/swage line is way out.
I can't see this same issue on anyone else's car so either I've done something wrong or my kit came out of wonkey moulds.
Anyway. Only solution is chop it off. So. Chopped off the profile/swage
and stuck it back on again (bit of string to get it lined up.
More sanding required now. Bah!
Now. Should I go out and do some work on the car?
Or clean the kitchen window
Or clean the kitchen window
No brainer.................. get in that garageNow. Should I go out and do some work on the car?
Or clean the kitchen window
View attachment 299443
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2011
- Points
- 145
It'll only get dirty again. The car won't fix itself.Now. Should I go out and do some work on the car?
Or clean the kitchen window
View attachment 299443
Ok. Went out to the garage 
If her indoors kicks off I'll blame you guys.
If her indoors kicks off I'll blame you guys.
As a newbie to all this 'bodge it and find a way to make it look half respectable' world which I now find myself heavily invested in.....
did you speak to Tribute to ask why your swage lines were a mile out?
These people selling 'us' these kits surely have some responsibility for it to, at least, all fit properly, no?
Or am I being naive?
So far with my kit, absolutely nothing is even close to fitting without major surgery. It is starting to really, really annoy me. Everything is wrong.
All these kits were supposedly designed to fit onto a Z3. A Z3 is a Z3, they are all dimensionally exactly the same, so why is it so difficult for these 'kit producers' to make them so they don't even nearly fit? Is this part of the challenge? I could cope with that if they were a) extremely cheap and b) it was explained from the outset.
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2011
- Points
- 145
Basically, a guy building a car in a shed is complaining about a car that was built in a shed.
Millions of pounds were spent getting the Z3 dimensionally correct.
Hundreds of pounds were spent making the Tribute moulds dimensionally correct.
Hundreds of people worked on getting the Z3 correct.
A bloke with a dog* did the Tribute.
* He might not have even had the help of a dog.
Kit cars are notorious for poorly fitting panels. It's actually pretty amazing how good these are. If you want good panel gaps, don't make something out of fibreglass - use a material that can be manipulated, such as steel or aluminium.
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No. Didn't speak to Tribute. To be honest I'm not 100% sure if I just did something wrong because looking at other people's pictures nobody else seems to have this problem. Having said that I can't think what I could have done wrong. I wonder if Chris made a revision change in his molds and my kit was kinda mid way between.
I don't know. I've never had a kit before either so I just assumed it's the way it is. Maybe we need to ask the question in a kit car forum.
I've spent all week working on the shape of my bonnet and grill openings which has nothing to do with Tribute. Just me wanting to put my stamp on it.
Any other forum member built same kit as you? Maybe they could chip in.
I'm sorry to hear you're getting disheartened. I had a problem with the rear tub. On and off a few times thinking it was all wrong but resisted doing any surgery. Eventually, after many trial fits it just fell into place. The whole tub is flexible so fitting one side with the other side miles out had me itching to grt the grinder out. I didn't need the (less than enthusiastic) missus though. I have my hardtop hoist that I could use to lift lower adjust the big panels till I was happy.
Like you say. It is made for a z3 and tribute probably did a loose fit on their scrapper. But, as I said, the big bits are very wobbly so can easily sit wrong if they're just chucked on quickly.
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I've built a kit car before and the fibreglass was much better than we get from Tribute, but these days the Tributes are pretty cheap for the amount of fibreglass that you get and you're pretty limited in what kits you can get - as a rebody of an existing car I'm sure that if Chris spent many extra hours on a kit he could get a much better quality product but there wouldn't be as many and they would be much more expensive, so you pays your money and makes your choice. I think Chris would probably say that he's not a finisher, he likes the start of the project and coming up with the shapes but they fine detail aren't really where he's interested (look at his build instructions), he much rather get on with the next thing.
Build instructions? You got build instructions?
If you like, yes.
My issue is not with where they were made, or by whom. These kits were made and SOLD to people, as commercial enterprises. People are making money from it. In the UK there are quite strict laws when it comes to selling stuff for profit. The goods have to be 'fit for purpose' at the very least, not 'fit for purpose as long you spend time and money making them so'.
I will freely admit that I am a perfectionist (to a degree), so I try to do everything I do the very best it can be. I don't like spending lots of money (and mine certainly is costing a LOT of money) on stuff that has been 'thrown' together with little thought for the end product. No matter how much you try and polish a turd, it will never be shiny!
Building my kit car in 2009 came in at around £10k. The 507 is nearer £8k today. You pay your money and make your choices. I could have spent more on getting better quality fibreglass that just fit and was done much like back then I could have bought a Westfield which just bolted together rather than going my own way. What I wanted was a project with problems to solve and things to make up, and that's what I got. Admittedly I find that my strengths aren't in working with fibreglass and I find some of the quality issues frustrating but I don't think there's anywhere else I could get something that looks like this for the price (£) even if the price in hours getting a better fit and finish is in many more hours fettling
There's a few problems I could have done without though. There's also a load of extra work that I did that didn't really need doing.
I will admit that I've spent over a week faffing with the shape of the grill and I'm sick to the back teeth with it so ended up rushing the prep and paint of the surrounds and the silver paint is terrible. But it'll do till I get time to revisit it - or take it to a man to chrome wrap them or something.
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I feel your pain, but I guess one thing we can say is that every one of the 507s will be unique. You've done great things with yours, I like what you're doing with the nose. You never know with the skills you pick up with this one perhaps the next one you build from scratch...