Body fitting question

[Hindsight]

For those of you who have fit the body: Is there any reason why the rear bumper would NOT be perfectly centered left-right as measured from the rear frame?

I'm asking for exhaust planning purposes.

Thanks!

[wallace18]

My suggestion to you would be to fit the body then plan out the exhaust. Slight variations can cause things to be slightly off center in some cases. I always mount the body before cutting any holes or openings involving engine/exhaust deals.

[Hindsight]

Thanks for the really quick reply Wallace. Ideally, that would 100% be the best way to go, I agree.... I'm just hoping I can do the exhaust before the body because I'd like to wait to go-kart until the exhaust is done, and also get it dyno tuned before fitting the body. I know the body is going to take a LOT of time to fit properly and I need a solid milestone (like a dyno and go-karting) to keep my motivation up. But if that is not possible, I may opt to start on the body :(

[Mitch Wright]

I just welded on a short peice of tubing in the general direction I am planning to exit the exhaust and will finish it when the body is mounted.

[wallace18]

Thanks for the really quick reply Wallace. Ideally, that would 100% be the best way to go, I agree.... I'm just hoping I can do the exhaust before the body because I'd like to wait to go-kart until the exhaust is done, and also get it dyno tuned before fitting the body. I know the body is going to take a LOT of time to fit properly and I need a solid milestone (like a dyno and go-karting) to keep my motivation up. But if that is not possible, I may opt to start on the body :(

All you would need to do is temp. mount the sides and the rear bumper. I always use screws and not rivets. That way the body can come on and off easily.

[Hindsight]

Good idea. So the doors, windshield, and hood won't alter the location of the side-sails?

[STiPWRD]

Good idea. So the doors, windshield, and hood won't alter the location of the side-sails?
Right, the side sails are referenced to the front firewall tubing. The other items are meant to fit around the side sails. Is there a reason you can't use the stock exhaust that comes with the kit to go-kart and then work out the side sails/rear bumper/custom exhaust? That's basically what I did.

[FFRSpec72]

For those of you who have fit the body: Is there any reason why the rear bumper would NOT be perfectly centered left-right as measured from the rear frame?

I'm asking for exhaust planning purposes.

Thanks!

I struck a center line down the entire frame then fit the side sails, rear panel, front fenders and front based upon the center of the frame and made sure everything was based off the center point.

[Hindsight]

Excellent, thank you guys. EXACTLY what I needed to know.

Slava, I have the FFR provided exhaust on now but without muffler and cat, the current tune (that came in the donor car) doesn't like it (and any other mods I did) so before I kart it, I'm probably going to have to get it dyno tuned. It runs too poorly to even kart, I think. I have to have it dyno tuned with the exhaust I'm ultimately going to run. Can't wait to do the exhaust though.... I think it's going to look and sound great.

One last question since you guys are looking: Does any part of the door or door panel protrude OVER or past the square tubing that makes the side door frames? I ask for seat shoulder-bolster clearance concerns.

[STiPWRD]

No, the outer edge of the door panel will be flush with the door card, that surface will butt up to the outside of the frame tubing and will not protrude inside the cabin. I actually just got the doors to fit (mostly), set aside a good 12+ hours for this - what a headache, lots of test fitting and trimming.

Also, I first go-karted with my initial tune all out of wack and was still able to go for that first drive. Just saying, if you keep it slow it's pretty hard to damage anything. Basically, I hadn't properly scaled for my larger injectors and that was screwing everything up. It was an easy fix but I've got lots of fine tuning to do once the car is road legal.

[Hindsight]

Cool, thanks for the input!

[metros]

^Want to fit my doors? Should be a piece of cake the second go, right?

[STiPWRD]

^Want to fit my doors? Should be a piece of cake the second go, right?
Lol it probably will take way less time. Stop by and have a look, I'll go over all of the details. I found Tamra's tutorial the most useful but made a few tweaks.

[Frank818]

Good idea. So the doors, windshield, and hood won't alter the location of the side-sails?

Yeah that was my question last night before I read this! I will most probably start fitting the body before I get the new nose parts from FFR and was wondering if if I could fit the side sails, deck lids and rear bumper without altering the doors and front body parts.

I see there's been a positive answer to that below (well, at the top if you refer to my post, but below if you refer to the post I am replying too loll)

[Hindsight]

Yeah I used the info above and did some more research and it seems the only catch is that one or two people (forget who - Harley maybe?) decided to move the entire front end back about 3/8 to 1/2" or so, so that the wheels were centered in the body (front to rear). This meant the side sails were no longer at the standard reference 5/8" from the front of the firewall. While I would really like the wheels to be perfectly centered in the openings, I worry about the cascading effect shifting the body around will have so I will most likely just follow the advice above exactly as stated, using the 5/8" measurement.

[Frank818]

Agree. Is that 5/8 measurement yielding to the 8" measurement Dan and others mentioned on other threads, 8" between the rear FW top frame tube and the top of the side sails where it starts to go down for the door opening. Some have found out that that 8" varies about 1/8", which means it would vary the 5/8" as well?

[theburner9]

Agree. Is that 5/8 measurement yielding to the 8" measurement Dan and others mentioned on other threads, 8" between the rear FW top frame tube and the top of the side sails where it starts to go down for the door opening. Some have found out that that 8" varies about 1/8", which means it would vary the 5/8" as well?

Get out your panel stretcher :D