Tips for mounting the body and cage

[Artie8804]

Hello all,

I am looking for some tips/ pointers when it comes to mounting the body and cage. I have about a 1/"2 gap at the rear between the cage and the body. My body is pushed all the way forward as well.

I have to get the side intrusion bars mounted up so that I can start connecting some tube work to it. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[jsturtlebuggy]

I had the same gap on mine with the rear part of the cage. I just used longer bolts to pull them back.
On some of the Manxters that have been built I seen where that spacers were made to fill the gaps. By pulling mine back it was the only way I could get the cage tabs to line up with the mounting tabs on the side bars.
Don't tighten any of the bolts until you get the cage and side bars bolts (that includes the cage to chassis bolts) all in the holes. I had to use pointed end pry bars and punches to get everything to line up.
I did a complete mock up of the buggy to make sure everything fit. On mine the dash crossbar (holds steering shaft) was 1.125" in diameter. I could not get the dash tub to fit between it and the front firewall. I tried shifting the cage back, but then it would not line up with side bar mounting tabs bolt holes. What I had to do was take out the 1.25"x .095" tubing and weld in a replacement with a piece of 1" x .125" wall tubing to gain the clearance I needed.
Another thing I had to do was with the B pillar mounts, the ones that attach to the where the spring plate cover bolts go. Was to grind the body flat for the mounts to set in place. Those two 3/8" bolts on each side are the hardest to get to when installing and removing them by yourself. Luckily I have a removable floor pan.

[Artie8804]

I just re-read this post. I too am having trouble with the dash tub fitting between the steering column mount tube and the firewall part. I was thinking of trimming the lip of the dash tub that extends towards the gas tank area and then bolting it to the firewall. I figured that I may be able to get a little more flexibility out of the fiberglass by doing this. Once put together you would never know that this was trimmed, also it would be plenty strong as I would use several bots and washers on both side. Thoughts?

[Brad]

When you mount the Manxter 2+2 you need to keep in mind the side bars set everything as they tie into the front beam and rear forks. We usually start by bolting them to the front beam and then sliding the body back tigh on them. Once there bolt the roll cage to the rear and then pull it down at the back and then front and tie in the side bar bolts.

The supplied body biscuits should take care of any gaps.

The Roll Cages are made in a jig with the side bars and unlike the fiberglass do not vary.