In the photos above, you may have noticed that most of the hinge parts mounted on the lower body (tose at teh rear and near the wheel houses) are basiclly strip curled into a tube and welded to the body. but that those at the front of the body have longer tails (like the hinge parts mounted to the upper body). Bob and I had been puzzled why this one location was different from the others but because the body we hve been copyong had these longer hinge parts at the lower front, we reinstalled them on the ropro panels.
When we started to consider making and installing the strap fittings that secure the lower end of the hoops, we realized that there would be signiifican interference between the strap and the longer hinge parts. so it was "take a step back", remove the brass tarp tiedown pins close to the front hinges, remove the extra length on the hinge parts (and re-weld securely), dress up the lower body panels, reinstall the tarp pins and then start moving forward again. jigs wer made to help in bending the hoop securing straps, the straps were bent and welded in place.
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