I spent a lot of time trying to get the scuttle to fit before it dawned on me that the issue was that the dash support was too narrow. The original which was on the car was in poor shape and the homemade dash had been done because of the way they “fixed” the car. I needed the dash hoop to be 3/8″ wider than it was. Not the most opportune time to discover this…
My fix involved cutting the hoop on either side of the support pieces connecting it to the firewall and inserting a 3/16″ spacer. There was just enough flex in the door post to allow this, thankfully, though I only guessed that would be the case and was fortunate it worked!
The pocket screw definitely helps the joint and makes it a lot stronger, but it was mainly installed to keep everything in position while the glue sets.
I’ll get the paint can out again. I’m also going to go round and glue bamboo skewers into all of the holes I put into the frame, which will “restore” them as far as fasteners are concerned. Now to get some skewers…
Good show! I knew that you would eventually get to a solution that ticked ALL of the boxes!