66 dart convertible

66Dart273 said
Ah now it all makes sense. I should would have been nice if I have seats and some if the interior in place when I picked the car up. The bracket that holds the side panel in was messing me up. I was wondering what that was and now it makes sense. Both the side panel mount bracket, the air cylinder mounts, and the rear seat brackets are there. Just the sheet metal around it is rusted. I'm gonna have to put new pans in the whole car. Nothing I can't do, I've had to do it before. Did your bracing work as far as the body not twisting? And thanks again for the info you have given me.

yeah the bracing worked ok but if I was to do it again(which I am )in addition to the existing bracing I will go from the bottom of the brace on the drivers side to the front(bottom) of the passengers side then cross it in an X pattern to make sure it doesn't shift. bottom of passengers side to the front (bottom) of the drivers side and bolt it or tack it in the center of the X just to make sure I don't twist it. I had great rocker panel rigidity they were perfect. can't say that about the rest of the car but the rockers were great. here's a pic of the internal bracing in the rockers from a cut up car I got for metal from "Waggin" to help me put it back together.
View attachment 048.jpg

View attachment 049.jpg

as you can see there's a LOT of metal in there stiffening up the rocker panels. if that's good then you won't get a lot of twist or movement BUT you will get some . that why you brace it as good as you can. I measured 1/4 movement without the braces in there and none after the braces. and yes the were bolted in the door jam side then tacked just to stop movement and tack welded on the A-pillar (windshield post) when I put in the sub frame connectors I noticed a lot stiffer feel in lifting the body. then I had a heck of a time adjusting the doors because I lifted the connectors in place with a floor jack and it changed the door opening size. when I do the other dart I'll have it on jack stands with the doors on and adjusted before I do the sub frame connectors (way before paint this time)

post some pic's of your car (do it to remember how to put it together again too!)