Side panels

[jason 82]

Just wondering if anybody has had trouble fitting the gillham online side panels ? My side panels seem to be to short from top to bottom, at the front of the chassis. I am referring to the height of the panel, to get it to fit, the panel has got to be forced open a little, making the panel distort badly. I have double checked my chassis height, and it is spot on. It's almost like the height of the panel needs to be increased to get the right c shape, where the panel does not distort. I have tried to send Dan a message at a Gillham, but he hasn't got back to me. I don't think that I can do much to get them to fit properly, I may have to buy aluminium sheet, and build my own.

[flyerncle]

This problem has been posted before and if the floor is below the chassis rail it causes problems as the width will be greater than the depth of the panel.

Also suggested to leave in a warm room to make it a little more pliable.

[Stot]

You could trim the bottom lip off all together and sikaflex/rivet along the side of the bottom rails rather than under them.

Cheers
Stot

[jason 82]

Cheers for that. I was close to throwing them out yesterday ! I thought that they would have been built allowing for the floor ? Cheers for the idea stot, sounds like a job for the trusted tiger seal ! Lol

[wylliezx9r]

I had the same problem when fitting mine years ago. I ended up cutting out chunks and cutting in slots in the tightest areas. However i was never happy with the overall result. In the end I modelled them up in CAD and created a drawing, I had a local aluminium fabrication company knock them up for me for £120, I then vinyl wrapped them. I have to say they look the dogs danglys. If anyone is interested I can email a copy of the drawing. The design follows the same shape as the fibreglass type unlike the design in the book where the panel angles in following the chassis at the front which I dont think looks as good.

HTH

[twinturbo]

I cut the lip off mine.

TT

[Shorty]

Sorry to hear that. I was hoping the fibreglass panels were the easy option.
How thick is your floors? I was going to use 2mm aluminium hoping that 2mm wouldn't make much difference.

[TalonMotorFabrication]

This is the thing that stops me from recommending the use of GRP side panels, GRP shrinks when it cures and there is no part of the mould to regulate the thickness of the return flanges.

[wylliezx9r]

Originally Posted by TalonMotorFabrication

This is the thing that stops me from recommending the use of GRP side panels, GRP shrinks when it cures and there is no part of the mould to regulate the thickness of the return flanges.

I see where your coming from BUT I just cant understand why the original design was so tight, why not Just add a bit more on ? In the worst case scenario this could be packed out.
When I did my design I added on 3mm for the floor and rivets and a further 2mm upper and lower to allow for tolerance in the chassis. They ended up fitting perfect the other bonus was they even worked out cheaper.

[Ben_Copeland]

The moulds not good, there's no reason why they are that tight. I had a similar problem with my old side panels from Gts, didn't have much of an issue with my current side panels tho.

You might be able to stretch them slowly, don't like the idea of cutting the bottom flange off or cutting chunks out of it. That's just asking for trouble.