Attaching roadster body to the frame

[Jafour]

Does anyone out there have any suggestions on how to put the fiberglass body onto the frame so that the frame is centered properly and everything lines up? I thought I had it on right and then I found the drivers door wouldn't close due to the seat being in the way...there is not enough room on the passenger side between the body and the seat to just shift it in the direction of the drivers side...also, exhaust fits in the pre- cut opening on the passenger side but the exhaust does not fit on the drivers side...also, the pre-cut holes for the rollbar are off from the mounting ports on the frame...clearly the body is not on right but I have no idea what to use as a point of reference to figure out how to get it on the right way...

[rich grsc]

1) you cant install the seats till the body is installed
2) you cant install the exhaust till the body is on, then the openings can be opened up if necessary
3) you cant just go by the pre-cut openings for the rollbars, they will need to be adjusted

[skullandbones]

Hi Jafour,

I don't know if you have a MKIII or IV but I guess it doesn't make that much difference. My wife and I had the body off and on several times during the build and it made it easier to focus on something we were doing like installing seats. I actually put my seats in with the body off but had done some eyeball measurements to make sure it would clear especially at the rocker panels. If you center the front and rear body mounts (install loosely) that will give you a pretty good start. Then check the 3/4 engine bay rails that run along the edge of the hood front to rear. Those are not completely even on mine after centering other places but not bad. Some have lasered the body to locate a center line but I find questionable when the bodies are not symmetrical. The MKIV is probably closer than the MKIII. Also, it is hard to determine by sight that a hole is in the correct position relative to the part such as the roll bar. All of my precuts looked off but only one out of the bunch had to be adjusted in the long run and it wasn't even the holes fault. It was a welded piece that was off a little. I had the most trouble with the side mounts on mine but if you have a MKIV, that will probably be better too. All in all, be patient and you will see that the body fits better when you really start installing the components. Good luck, WEK.

[Jafour]

Thanx for the response...I have the MKIV...I was not aware the body needed to go one when installing the seats since the FFR manual does not say anything about that...the drivers seat was installed with the FFR seat tracks per the FFR instructions...the drivers seat can't be moved in towards the transmission hump any further due to the tracks being mounted to the 4 inch frame portion of the chassis...when I line everything else up the way you are describing, everything fits the way it is supposed to except the drivers door cannot close as it hits the seat, regardless of whether the seat is moved to a forward position or moved to the rear...the door has 1 1/4 inches to go before it can close...what is frustrating is there are no other areas which can be moved or manipulated to make up that much difference and I followed the FFR instructions for mounting their product to a tee...I can live with adjusting the pre-cuts for exhaust and the rollbar and I figured this would be necessary...but trying to figure out how to remount a seat installed according to specs is frustrating and doesn't appear to b getting me anywhere...

[skullandbones]

You should post some pics of your seats installed. I had trouble with mine. That is, getting them located exactly where I wanted. So I mounted the Summit tracks exactly where I wanted them and then mounted a 1/2 inch ply wood base on top. Then I placed the seat on the base and moved it around sitting on it and moving in various positions. In the end I got it perfect for me and then removed the seat in place and ran 2 wood screws up thru the base to hold the seat (seat has wood bottom). Then I replaced it and checked. I moved it a couple of times but finally got it perfect. Then I thru bolted the seat to base and installed permanently. My seat is not straight as I needed every inch of distance back to the truck wall so it is skewed to the left as the passenger seat is skewed to the right. They are very close to the trans tunnel. I think I spent more time getting the components of the cockpit right than any other part of the build. WEK.

[Jafour]

Here are some pics of the driver's door not being able to shut 1981919820198211982219823

here is a photo of the driver's seat on the transmission hump side...note there is no more room for movement 19824
here is a photo of the passanger side seat and body placement...note there is no more room to move body in any further or i will have the same problem on the passanger side 19825

your comments about the position of your seats and the time you spent makes me a bit more confident the issue is probably in the seat positioning, but i'm still at a loss for where i'm going to move them to create the spacing needed to eliminate the body issue...if the driver's side door was only off by 1/4 to 1/2 inch, i would feel more confident i could resolve the issue...1 1/4 inch is hard to imagine since i don't have this much space to spare

[Jeff Kleiner]

Here is an exerpt from my "indy14" Mk4 build thread that might help you. The new style roadster seats are taller and wider than the old versions making placement more critical and less forgiving. I believe the key when using sliders and consequently raising the seats up an inch or so is to angle them a bit. I think you'd find that if you were not using the slider and the seats were mounted flat on the floor and positioned all the way back they would clear the doors and rear cockpit opening---barely.


Last Saturday Steve came over so we could start getting the car set up for him (my wife teased him that it was like going for a prom dress fitting). Earlier he had decided to add an adjustable seat track for his low back driver's seat. The slider needs to be parallel to the tunnel so that the seat remains equidistant from it when moved for and aft. If the track is set in straight ahead the seat will collide with the tunnel when moved forward. The challenge is getting it in a position where it can mount to the steel plate under the floor or chassis tubes, and not just floor aluminum. After some swearing and 're-engineering" a workable location was found and it was bolted it in:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100_1852.jpg

We found Steve was most comfortable and it allowed for the best fit with the seat turned just a bit to be parallel with the steering wheel. I made some simple brackets to attach the seat to the adjuster. Here is the seat all the way back:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100_1895.jpg

And all the way forward:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100b1902.jpg

Notice how it is the same distance from the tunnel in both positions.
The passenger seat is fixed, set at the same angle and mounted on 1" square aluminum tubing to match the driver's seat height.

With the seat location set we determined pedal placement. The gas pedal is the one provided with the complete kit. The pedal pad is spring loaded and kind of funky---without a foot on it the thing springs toward the driver with it's top out farther than the bottom. I redrilled the pivot point and ground a flat on the arm to make lay back. Odd...??? With that in place we made note of how much adjustment was needed for the brake and clutch, removed them and made bends using my vise and big pipe wrench. After getting them where we wanted I made some pedal pads and covered them with the same black anti-skid material as the gas pedal. With the Mk4's newly designed and expanded LH footbox panel and the kickout I added to the right there is a good bit of room:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100_1915.jpg



With the body on the seats are close but do not touch the doors or cockpit opening:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100_2640.jpg

You'll find that all of the cutouts done by FFR are a bit undersized and be aware that in order to make accurate adjustments to the sidepipe openings you'll need to first install the front splash panels ("elephant ears") as they push the lower body outward behind the front wheels significantly affecting the fit.

Hope this helps and good luck,
Jeff

[Jafour]

That was extremely helpful! Your experience with engineering the configuration is exactly what I was looking for, although I am not happy with the fact I will now have to go back and drill more holes into the drivers floor...your heads up on the installation of the splash panels is also very much appreciated! Thanx Jeff!!!