Door alignment and striker questions

[Spittybug]

Sarah confirmed for me that they do not have these parts. She said Bill, the DMCH mechanic, grinds down the old head and inserts a new bolt through the big washer. Sounds like a plan.

I fished inside the box with a neo magnet held in the jaws of my retrieval tool. Pulled out a pile of rust, but seems to be just years of accumulated surface rust that is sloughing off rather than big chucks of metal. No through holes that I have yet to discover. I ordered a boroscope attachment for my phone that will really help see in there.

The access port is pretty small, especially when you consider all of the wiring harness mess in the way. Anyone see a reason I can't cut a port further forward of it and give myself better access? When done I'll weld it back so that it isn't a source of leaking. I don't think the top surface of the roof box is under such stress (with doors off) that cutting a hole in it would compromise the structure, do you? I think the downside of cutting the hole is smaller than missing sections when I POR-15 the inside...

It's all going to have to wait a bit. The wife and I need to drive to Long Island to empty her mother's condo that is being sold. A week of meeting with the nursing home, doctors, lawyers, realtors, social workers, etc. awaits..... drink one for me as I will be having several myself I'm sure. The upside is I'll visit Rob Grady while I'm there and catch up. My car was originally owned by a LI guy and Rob has some history on it.

[Spittybug]

I pried the giant washer off the roof and didn't need any heat. Just slowly tapping the screwdriver under it separated it without any damage. I've drilled it to the correct diameter and ground down the head a bit. I need to get to Ace and see if I can find a pan head or something other than a bolt head to minimize the distance it protrudes. Actually, it would probably be smart to test fit the headliner with a bolt in place and see if it actually matters....

I've had no push back by anyone on the idea of cutting the roof box. While it is indeed structural in nature (like how a convertible has beefed up rockers to compensate for not having a roof for structural integrity, it isn't like it is fragile. It acts like a backbone for the car to help prevent it from folding in the middle and of course the front and rear sections provide anchor points for the doors (in addition to the bolts down into the car). I'm talking about making an access hatch purely in the top of the center section (the tunnel), like the existing wiring loom hatch, and rewelding it when done. In actuality I think this box could have been made with an essentially open top and some bracing (like a cage) had the designers realized this need of access nearly 40 years down the road.....

I'm going to see Rob Grady next week and let him test a set of my lower control arm braces. I'll see what he thinks about the box.