Jack Post Repair Question Options

[saigon71]

I welded a new jack tube on to the replacement wheelhouse section from Restoration Design today, aligning it perfectly with the square hole that came pre-punched in the new panel. When I started fitting the jack post brace, I had to adjust the bends on it by about 1/8" to get it to fit right. I am having a hard time getting accurate measurements from the old chunk of long I have because it is a disaster.

The question is, how reliable is the pre-punched guide hole? Should I just roll with it? Anyone else run into something similar?

Thanks in advance.

Pics:

[TargaToy]

Everything "reproduction" I ever buy requires some kind of customizing and fiddling with to get it to fit right. Is the bottom picture to show that the post is NOT fitting well? I think you're going to be fine. Once you drill it for the plug welds and get the first one done, you can use a drift to snug down the gap before each subsequent weld. I actually think that looks pretty good.

[saigon71]

Everything "reproduction" I ever buy requires some kind of customizing and fiddling with to get it to fit right. Is the bottom picture to show that the post is NOT fitting well? I think you're going to be fine. Once you drill it for the plug welds and get the first one done, you can use a drift to snug down the gap before each subsequent weld. I actually think that looks pretty good.

The bottom pic was to show what things were looking like after adjusting the bends on the support piece. My main concern was that I had to "move" both bends on the support piece up about 1/8" to make it fit right.

Thanks for the info...I thought I may be splitting hairs...just didn't want to end up realizing that the jack post was to high when I go to put the outer fiberglass rocker on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)