Scuttle fitting

[TomB]

Any tips on attaching the scuttle?

I’ve fitted my new scuttle but am not happy with the RH join. LH is flush but the other isn’t. I fully tightened the LH before moving onto the RH, and wonder if this is where I’ve gone wrong.

I’ve put a bead of silicone along the join & the bend on the dash hoop so I don’t think removing the fasteners & tightening again will work. Although I'll try this first in preference to removing it - Im hoping that removing the side bolts & 4 nuts along the bottom will allow a little wriggle room and allow RH to be tightened down more, tightening in sequence. Maybe starting with the nuts nearest the dash to get this end down first.  

Any suggestions apart from remove & clean off the silicone before trying again?  The scuttle has been the trickiest part of my rebuild so far.  

Edit - I've pre-attached the bulkhead to the scuttle using M5 button headed bolts.  Would it help fitment if this was undone?  A thought I've just had is the increased rigidity of the assembly by having it pre-assembled might prevent the scuttle flexing slightly to fit.  Basically, should I make it more flexible to for it flush, then fasten in the bulkhead.

Right side

Left side 

 

[Jim 123]

If you put a straight edge along both sides of the scuttle in situ, are there any clues about deformation either along the lower edges or higher up?

[Englishmaninwales]

Tom,

I’ve had 3 scuttles on my car and they’ve all been slightly different at that lower corner. Is yours new or the original? Both the newer ones needed fettling to fit well. My original (94 car similar to yours?) would have been fitted by Arch originally and is a very slightly different shape at these lower corners.

I know this doesn’t answer your query, but I’d agree it’s not easy to get a satisfactory result.

Malcolm

[TomB]

Hi Malcolm, I removed and refitted the scuttle last night, this time with a better finish - not perfect, but better. 

I fastened it down with the bulkhead loose to give a more 'give', and probably the most crucially, I sanded a little more off the CF dash on the LH curve.  The edge of the dash was tight against the scuttle and I suspect was not helping. By originally doing the LH first meant there was insufficient on the RH.  When I next take it off to tidy the under dashboard wiring, Ill probably take a little more off. There is also a gap between the edge of the RH dash hoop and the scuttle skin, which although I put a bead of silicone there, hasn't fully closed.  When its off next time Ill put a bit of black adhesive foam strip there.   

I spoke to Bruce at Arch, and he said scuttles can be difficult as there is limited scope for adjustment due to the hoop setting the height and location. The dash hoop can vary in the angle it leans, which affects its height, and the bends can elongate and flatten the cross section of tube depending on the behavior of the steel when the shape is formed.  So some fettling is often needed.  This plus the fact Im putting a modern pattern dash onto an older car, with a dash from a another era of car, probably explain the difficulty!  

Anyway it done for now, widnscreen next job and it will start looking like a 7 again! 

[Englishmaninwales]

Ah, yes I recall now the carbon dash I fitted with the second scuttle needed loads of trimming on the top edge to allow the scuttle to be anywhere close to fitting.

Good luck!