Questions about 1st body installation

[rvanstory]

I'm close to putting my body on for the 1st time and have some basic questions for those who have gone before me....

1) Best way to protect dash during install? Should I remove some of the lip by dash prior to install? I don't want to damage the vinyl dash during this process.
2) I have the side pipes on. Do they HAVE to come back off in order to install body? I assume that they do have to come off since the body has to "slide" some in the process, but want to make sure.
3) I have a Breeze Cubby hole divider in my trunk. I think it's going to be too tall, but not sure. Should I go ahead and trim it before 1st fit? How much?

Any other advice from experience builders would be appreciated. Thank you.

[egchewy79]

put some heavy plastic sheeting over the top of the dash vinyl, esp in the corners. Nothing too bulky as it'll affect your fit. My leather dash got scratched up, but it's covered in the end anyway.
Trim 1/4" off the dash cowl or you won't be able to get the body forward enough.
Side pipes come off. trim them to fit the pipes after the body is on. Make sure elephant ears are off.
Not sure about the breeze cubby divider, but I assume nothing needs to be trimmed or he would've made it the correct size in the first place.
Pay attention to places where the bulb seal needs to be and shouldn't be. Many make this mistake. And put some heavy plastic sheeting over the bulb seal if you plan in taking the body on and off several times.
I took some heavy duty trash bags and cut them into strips and taped them into place when I was fitting the body and pulled them out once happy w/ final position.

[Blitzboy54]

As far as the divider just pull off the bulb seal for now. You will be able to see the gap after the body is on. I ended up running without the seal on my cubby wall. Small gap up top that can't be seen.

[F500guy]

I think egchewy got it. I did add 3/4 rubber at the front of the frame as well and fitted the front rubber grommets in the body ahead of time ahead. I had to trim a lot of panels so be prepared to examine closely. I also could not get the last 1/4 inch forward until I "body slammed" the rear fender. Some have noted using pry bar in the roll hoop hole to get it forward.

I trimmed-
Rear trunk bottom lip nearly 1/2 inch in 2 fittings.
Rear side panels from the back up about 12 inches.
Firewall about 1/8 inch off each corner, not the center
The little plate that goes on the passenger side fire wall
Carbon fiber dash that went above the hoop on both sides and then added more trimming on Driver side because as the body got pushed forward, the fiberglass body hit the dash. (passenger side and Driver side are not the same, passenger side had lots of clearance

Dont trim ahead of time, just be prepared to inspect it all and make notes and don't be surprised to do a couple fittings.

[rich grsc]

If this is your FIRST trial fit of the body, you should not have any bulb seal on. You need to see where the body sets and if it is hitting any aluminum so that you can mark it to be trimmed. Yes the dash should be trimmed before, a nice 1/4-3/8" lip, side pipes off. the cubby shouldn't be an issue.