Initial Measurements and Mounting

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Major System Category: Body (Shell)
Task: Mount body shell and do initial measurements
Parts: Two other people
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 1 hour
Date Started: August 29, 2012
Date Completed: August 29, 2012
I dropped the body on the chassis last night. This comes under the category of, "She's really starting to look like a car." I always had this idea that I might get to a point where I had outstripped my spending schedule (in this case the ISIS Power system) versus my build schedule. Two things have occurred:

1. I am 60 days from the ISIS order (due to budget/funds constraints)
2. I ordered the Aluminum Fuel tanks, sender and fuel pump system from Quick Racing Products. This is because I have no confidence in the fuel modification procedure outlined in the manual. Not that I can't do the modification, rather I think it will leak no matter what I do or try. (We are talking about 93 Octane gas next to a 500+ HP engine and very hot headers. Yeah, fuel leak, intense heat, enclosed space - great idea!)

Body shell installed on the chassis. I had to lower the car onto the front suspension in order to clear the inline jack .

So I have reverted to the body work. To do this right, requires time and patience. Through out the body work portion of the blog, I am going to reference the relevant YouTube videos produced by a builder with the handle Fastthings. This guy has a spectacular grasp of what needs to be done, and these videos are a step by step tutorial for the GTM body work.

To maneuver the body, I needed some help. I recruited two guys from across the street. Most people are eager to help, because they are super curious about the project.

The door hinges proved a bit challenging. I think it depends on which side gets  fitted first. Like so many other things on this car, nothing gets done fast or easy. Orientation: Driver's side door opening.

After the body is more or less on the chassis, it will take a little grunt work to get fitted around the chassis. The hardest part was working around the door hinges. It is pretty tight between the door hinges and striker plate. I found I could leverage things lifting the body shell from the rear wheel well.

I had to pull the shell over the bottom members of the chassis. Orientation: Bottom of the chassis under the rear of the driver's side door.

The other places the body shell seems to hang up on are the main cross members that run laterally on the bottom of the chassis. I just needed to pull the shell away from the chassis and lever it down around these point. I had to do this when I took the shell off two months ago.

This is the splash panel that must be installed prior to installing the rear suspension. I have been bothered by this panel , because I figured it had to bend for the body shell. It remains upright. The body shell rests on the roll cage and the frame for the transaxle. Orientation: Inside the engine bay looking up towards the body.

I broke out the cross line laser level, tape measure, blue painter's tape and a Sharpie. One of the things Fastthings talks about is finding the center line, and measuring different points to figure out where the symmetry issues exist. 

The flash washed out the photo. This was taken in a low light situation. I ran blue tape at different points so I could identify the center line incrementally along the body. The cross line enables a horizontal and vertical lines to be projected so measurements can be made from similar points on the body and frame.

The laser level works best in low light. Just like laser sights for firearms are fundamentally useless in bright sun light, the same applies to the laser level. The idea here is to identify points on the car that can be used to measure symmetry, and to identify the center line. Things will not line up exactly, but the chassis and body are pretty close. I found that everything was lining up within 1/8 of an inch.

Another shot o f the car marked with horizontal tape lines.

I also raised the car and fired off the laser underneath. This let me find the center points along the bottom of the chassis and to shoot the laser upwards into the empty engine bay. This is fairly useful, since the first item I am going to tackle is the hatch fitment.

I set this level on the center line in front of the wind shield opening. The front of the car is resting on the suspension and the body shell came up level.