Quote Originally Posted by parkwood View Post
Roger one reason the steel is not bonded to the fiberglass is that the glass and steel move around different in the heat and you would be able to see that in the sun after it was painted... My '33 roadster was from Westcott and it had a steel cage in it and that was the reason they gave me for not bonding the steel to the glass... even the coupe from N&N the steel is not bonded in places you could see after it's done..
I'd thought about that, wondering if the bonded spots might be a "tell" in the heat. On my coupe the steel in the body and door that mounted the hinges ran full height against the fiberglass, and the same for the striker side. This one has a piece of steel "floating" on the front door edge of the body, simply bolted to the fiberglass and not tied into the steel structure of the cowl. I suppose that the body is pretty stiff in that area, but it strikes me odd. On the jamb side the steel in the body surround runs up from the body to frame bolt, and has a little box kickout about 3" high and 2" wide to close the gap to the door jamb, and the only thing tying them together is the striker bolt. Again, just strikes me odd that the support was not shifted forward and tied to the body in a few places. I guess it's OK, but I'm feeling a little "iffy" with it at the moment. I suppose the steel is just there to hang things from, like the steering column up front, and not so much to stiffen the body.