Ricks MantaProject.com build log

So I figured I might as well cross post my build log on here as well as my site. That gives everyone a lot easier way to follow and for feedback/questions. Right now the car is mostly sitting around waiting for me to get time to finish it. I hopefully soon will be able to work on it regularly and I will post it here anytime I make a post.

For those that never have seen my website this car has had a long and crazy history. It was the factory prototype car serial #1. It never had a serial tag though and I never bothered trying to prove what number it was since I never planned on restoring it. When I first got the car I mostly just got it working as-is. I had a 1500cc bug engine and the whole bug floor pan setup. It was horribly slow and rode terrible. The engine I had was sick and I had no interest in even trying to improve that setup. At the time I was driving it I happened to get a 76 Eldorado and decided the Manta needed to have the largest engine ever made. That and more nitrous than anyone would ever need dumped into the motor. The car was absolutely terrifying to drive. It would pull a wheelie anytime it got into the power hard. Last time I drove it I killed the trans pulling a wheelie at near the top speed of the car, prob somewhere around 200(engine redlined at 220) The trans is the lowest and farthest back part so it would drag the pan on the ground before anything else hit. The trans pan lost the back inch or so of the pan and dumped all the fluid and basically gave up working. After dragging it home I decided I didn't want to drive it anymore.

So it sat around for years before I decided I didn't care if it was the fastest car in the world. I wanted a really nice car that was fun to drive, reliable, and comfortable as a daily driver. I knew from my last build that using parts from all over the place is a nightmare when trying to fix something since the parts could have came from anywhere and I had no idea what part to get to fix it. It was typically faster to just rebuild whatever it was with a different car's part than trying to find a replacement. So this car was going to be one car as much as possible. I have always thought the Suzuki Swift/Geo Metro was a really fun car to drive and I have several laying around since they are so cheap. So I decided the car needed to be a Geo Metro. This has worked out great and for the most part everything is fitting together without a huge amount of fighting. The only non Metro parts are the front suspension and rotors. The rest of the car is completely a 94 Geo Metro and is very easy to get parts anywhere.

So if anyone wants a detailed history of the car go look on mantaproject.com I have a pretty detailed log of building stuff. I won't bother reposting it here and cluttering up the thread with old stuff.

After a short break from working on the car I am back on it at least occasionally. One of the last fitment problems is getting the wipers and heater box to fit in the car and still have room to fit the passenger’s foot area. I tried using the stock Metro wiper assembly and it was just not going to fit in and give me the correct coverage of the windshield. As well as it would make the heater box sit pretty low on the dash and the passenger would end up putting their feet on it. I gave up with trying to get it to fit and went with the AutoLoc WIPER2 Heavy Duty Power Windshield Wiper Kit.

The wiper kit is easy to install and it doesn’t use a set of rods to move the wipers, it uses a cable inside a tube so it will not snag on all the other stuff in the car. Getting the wiper setup mounted was pretty easy and will stay out of the way of just about everything in the dashboard.

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I still need to come up with some defroster ducts and figure out how to get them mounted. After that I need to get the heater box mounted. Once they are all mounted then it is time to square up the body and attach it solidly to the frame. I will need to build a lot of brackets and bracing to get it solid and keep it from rattling while driving. After that I should be able to start on the final assembly of the car.

I saw one of the first or maybe the first Montage. It was vw powered, it was really nice looking. The paint, body, windows looked amazing. It was in the San Jose area I think and it was $9k complete turn key and some 19 year old bought it.

Rick keep the progress updates coming.

I am finally getting some more time to start back on this car. Hopefully I can keep on it and maybe even get it running this summer if everything goes well.

All the structural parts are mostly in place so I think it is time to start putting some things together for the last time. The easiest thing to do is the front end so that is what I am going to work on first. I have a set of 2 inch dropped spindles to try and get a better ride height out of the car. I managed to get the passenger side swapped out. The boots that came with the new control arm ball joints are rotten so I will have to replace them and get new tie rods before I can call the front end done but that is minor stuff I will do when I am closer to finishing the car.

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The new spindles are more or less a bolt on so it is a pretty easy job to swap them out. Here are before and after shots of how it sits. I will remove the wheel jacks and get pictures on the ground after I get the other side done.

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It looks like it is pretty close to where I want it. If not there are some spring adjusters Speedway Motors makes that would tune it to where I want it without a lot of trouble. I will see if it is sitting where I want it after I get the other side done.

Got a bunch of small things done today. First thing was finish the drivers side dropped spindle. After that I dropped it down on the ground and got a picture of how it sits.

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It is still sitting a bit higher than I want but there is nothing in the car right now so after the car is built it should be near the right height. If not it is a minor job to adjust it up and down a bit.

Up next was get the radiator bolted in and the heater box mounted on the firewall so I can measure out how long the hoses I need are and get them ordered. I will need 14 foot of 1.25” hose for the radiator. The stock radiator hoses on a Metro are 1” so I figure a little bit bigger to make up for the longer distance should be good enough to make it work. The heater hoses need to be 13 foot and standard half inch hose is all it needs. I will order silicone hoses so they will last for a while. I don’t want to have to try and change them again in the future.

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Last thing for today was drop the motor out and jack up the body to get it sitting square again. The car has sagged from sitting on the frame with no support for a few years and raised up almost 2 inches when I put a jack in the center and raised up on it. After that I adjusted the top roll bar to fit it really tight and bolted the body to it. I need to make a few more body braces to keep it solid and stop it from sagging over time again.

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After getting the braces done I will bolt the trunk lid down solid to the body and get it squared up. Once it is bolted solid I am going to cut the top off it and make it open like a normal trunk lid. That will probably take a bit of work to get right but once it is done it will make it a much nicer car to use.

Glad to see you back on the project. I would think that a 1-1/4" radiator hose, over 14 feet would present some pressure drop that may make the water pump marginal. This was the same concern I had when I used 1-1/2" tubing with smooth bends. No problem with the 1-1/2, but you may be fine.

I had 1-1/2" in the car when I was running the 500. It was barely able to keep the engine cool but I think it was the small radiator more than the pipe size. With this little 1.0L engine it should be no problem even after adding the turbo to it. I am figuring around 125hp out of that motor so it isn't going to be making much heat and hopefully won't be a problem.

I unbolted the trunk lid from the car and hung it from the ceiling with straps to position it on the car. The trunk has is warped and will not sit flat on the car. It took a bit of measuring to figure out how it is twisted but after getting it sorted out I got it sitting square.

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Now that it is sitting in the right place I can bolt it to the car and pull the warp out of it. I am hoping that once it is sitting square it won’t move when I cut the top off it. If it does I will have to brace up the trunk lid so it will close without leaving a big gap.

First thing after getting it bolted down is to cut that spoiler lip off the body and come up with something that won’t dump 5 gallons of water through the window when I hit the brakes while driving it in the rain. The spoiler shape on the car now always keeps a puddle of water on the trunk lid and is really annoying.

Didn’t get much time to work on the car today but I did manage to get the trunk lid bolted down solidly.

The trunk has a slight warp in it and it made it a bit hard to get lined up. After getting one side bolted down I used the straps to pull the other side tight and bolt it down. After that I just had to bolt the old hinge section in place and it is now attached solidly to the frame.

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It only has one bolt in each corner but that is holding it flat and I hope it will pull the warp out of it over time. I will put several more brackets on it and make sure it is really solidly mounted before cutting it open. But before I do that I am going to redo the rear spoiler section. In the last picture you can see where the water always collects, I am thinking of just rounding the back off and putting a wing on. That will let the water run under it and not puddle up and soak the interior when hitting the brakes hard. I will build up something in foam and see if it looks nice before cutting the spoiler lip off the car.

I had a similar problem with a previous car. Solution was to bond 1/4" ID fiber tubes (you could use larger if needed), one on each side, about 1" long each, into the fiberglass panel, and sanded flush with the top side surface. I slipped vacuum hose on the underside ends. Rain (or wash) water would drain down these small holes and out the vacuum tubing directed out under the car. The holes were barely noticeable, and served the purpose well. I used fiber tubes from McMaster.com because they would bond well with the fiberglass. I would hate to see you take the rear lip off.

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When I first got the car it had holes drilled in the trunk that just drained out through the bodywork since there was nothing back there anyway to hurt. I filled them in when I had the caddy 500 in and repainted the car. This time around I plan on putting a storage area in the back so that whole area will open up and I am wanting to keep it dry. I can make a wing that maintains the lines of the car and works without the problems the design has now. I am never going to take the car on the track so it isn't going to matter about changing the high speed handling. The electric drive system will have a top speed of around 90-100 anyway when it gets installed. I made a foam wing yesterday and it fits the car well. I have the post up on my site but it wasn't behaving last night to let me post it here. I will get it up here in a few minutes.

I will spend a few more days playing with the design and see if I can come up with something nice before I cut the spoiler off the trunk lid either way so other than wasting time I don't figure it is going to hurt anything if it doesn't work out.

March 25, 2016

I started trying to build a wing for the trunk lid. I am using foam and shaping it to get the look I am after. Then I will make it out of fiberglass and mount it to the car. It will fix one of the big problems with the trunk and hopefully look nicer.

I found a few sheets of foam insulation. and cut some strips out and glued them together to get the thickness I needed. After cutting them to shape with an electric knife and getting the basic outline of what I was after I taped it down and fit it to the car.

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Then I used a random orbit sander to give it roughly the profile I was after. I copied the shape from a spoiler I had laying around and started working it into that basic profile. It was pretty easy to shape and if it got messed up I could always glue more material on and start sanding again.

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Once I had the shape figured out and it looked nice and even I started putting the final shape to it. I am making it the size I plan on having the finished spoiler and making sure it looks right on the car. I have it really close to where I want it now, just a bit more smoothing and shaping and it will be perfect. Once I have it where I want it I will make it out of fiberglass.

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For reference here is what it looks like now. That dirty spot is always there, any time it rains that is where the water collects on the body. If I am going to drive this car all year round it is going to get wet and the paint won’t last long with it always holding water. With that lip cut off and the wing in place it won’t be a problem anymore and it should look nice as well as give me a place for a third brake light.

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After spending a few days measuring and trying to find the best square on the trunk lid I managed to get a line that looked pretty good. So today it was time to cut the trunk lid and get started shaping it to be set up the way I am wanting. It was pretty quick to cut, I just used a jigsaw and followed my line around the whole thing.

From there I glued in some foam to fill in the area. I did some rough shaping and set the wing on top to see how it looked.

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I was not happy with how the foam shaped and it was not easy to shape in the tight space so I pulled the center piece out and tried again with cardboard. It held the curve much better and is a lot closer to what I am after.

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It is just taped in place and is not tight to the body but it is more or less where I want it to be. I will have to round the edge over but that would be easier once I get a layer of fiberglass on the cardboard. First thing I need to do before I fiberglass it all solid again is to smooth up the lower cut line. It is going to be where the trunk lid closes so there is no point in joining it back together just to cut it back apart as soon as it is done. I will get that line evened out and smooth then tape it up so the top part doesn’t bond to it. That will make cutting the rest of top free much easier.

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Overall I think it looks pretty good and it will make the car look better by breaking up some of the huge flat areas on the car. The wing is still slightly oversized but once I get the trunk lid fiber glassed back together I will do the final shaping on it and then reduce it 1/8 inch and fiberglass over it. I am not sure if it is worth using a bit of acetone or something and removing the foam out from inside the wing or just leave it there after it is done. I am thinking for now to just leave it in there.

I didn’t get much time today to work on the car but I managed to get a few things done. First thing was level out the new trunk lid lip. I started by clamping a pvc pipe to the back to hold the slight curve I need. I tried measuring out a straight line for the trunk lid since it would be easier to make but the rear body is not made square enough and no matter what it doesn’t look even. A slight curve keeps it from being noticeable.
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Once it was straight I covered it with packing tape to keep the trunk lid from sticking to it. I cut a bevel into the top so the new material will have a better bond. After that I put the filler back in place and laid a layer of fiberglass over it. The shape is only approximately right but it is such a large area it is hard to get everything right in one pass. My plan is to let it cure for a few days while I am at work then when I get back on it I can remove the support from underneath it and cut and form that single layer a bit better. Once it is close to where I want I will build it up and join it into the old body panels good. That should give me enough thickness to get it nice and flat and be thick enough to mount a trunk latch in it without breaking over time.
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FYI, floral foam (dense soft stuff for flower arrangements) works great for fiberglassing pieces. Sands extremely well, does not react to resin, and can be easily removed after the glass has kicked. I use it for every piece that requires 3-D sculpturing (scoops, doors, etc.

For example:

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Installed in the nose:
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It has been cold and terrible weather for fiberglass work so not much has been done the last week or so. But the weather is looking better now so it is time to get the work on the trunk lid going again.

I have 5 layers of chopped fiberglass over the first mesh layer now. It is starting to look good and won’t be long before I have it thick enough to work. I figure another 3 layers of chopped fiberglass and maybe a layer of mesh on top to make it look nice should be about right. I need to build up the thickness of the back edge a lot more. I will probably put about 6 layers on it. Then after getting the top cut off I can go back under it and put several layers and get it to about 1/3 inch thick. It should hold up good and not warp or do anything for a long time if I make it that thick. I will let this part set up and dry for a few days and maybe by Wednesday I can get the last few layers done.

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Still working on the trunk lid. I have it thick enough now to be nice and strong. It is pretty close to level now and you can finally start to see what it is going to look like. I haven’t had much time to mess with the car but that just gave the fiberglass plenty of time to set up I guess. I put the last few layers on it today to get it up to full thickness. It is now slightly thicker than the stock fiberglass so it should hold up to being used as the edge of a trunk lid without much problem.

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I still need to build up the back it is kind of thin and will need built up pretty good. I will get it built up then sand the whole thing down nice and level. I will probably go ahead and try out putting gel coat on and see how it works before I cut the lid free. Once the lid is free and reinforced on the bottom with some metal bracing I will start putting the finishing touches on the wing and make it in fiberglass.

I have enough fiberglass on the new section of trunk lid to make it good and strong. It just needed some sanding and it is about done.

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The fiberglass is in the right shape and angle. It will need a bit more finish sanding and a good coating of gel coat to finish it but for now it is good. I will do the finish work on it when I do the rest of the bodywork. Next up is to cut the top off the trunk lid and get that part working like I want it to. The hard part of modifying the body on this car is nothing on it is really square or the same from one side to the other. Making a template to cut one side and then flipping it over to cut the other side wont match at all. The only thing that can will look right is to just line it up with what looks right. The easiest way I have found to make a complex curve that flows well along the lines is to use PVC water pipe.I taped it in place along both sides of the trunk and adjusted it to make it look balanced and as even as I could get it.

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After it was taped down and as even looking as I could get it I used a marker and put a line on the body to cut. I didn’t have enough blades for my saw to get the job done so That seemed like a good place to stop for the day. I plan on making the cuts down the top of the body then lifting the car up and cutting through the fender wells and anything else that needs cut to get the lid free. I can then reinforce the lid and the body to hopefully make it all work out right.

One product I found extremely useful was "Duratec". It is a sandable alternative to gelcoat. It won't load up the paper, it will spray and build better than gelcoat. It's a great primer/filler, and can even be used with spreader for larger surface imperfections.

Managed to get the trunk lid cut apart today. It didn’t take long to get it apart and the lower section bolted down solidly. After checking it for square it seems to sit on the frame pretty well. I will probably end up making new inner fenders and seal off the whole back area to make a nice storage area. I will also have to make a few more braces up to make it nice and strong. It should give me a lot more room in the back of the car so maybe I won’t have to put the battery and other stuff up front.


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I made up a hinge setup by welding a small piece of expanded metal onto the hinges I am going to use. I then fiberglassed the whole thing onto the trunk lid. I just put a single layer of material on it in a few spots just to hold it solidly to the panel. After it dries I can go back and add a few more layers and make it a lot stronger. Once the hinge section is reinforced strong enough I can bolt the hinges to the roll bar and have a working trunk lid.

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I will work on building inner fenders and sealing off a storage area before I put the lid back on. I will probably use cardboard and form the shape then lay fiberglass on top of it to build them up. That seems like the quickest way to build up a shape that I have tried so far.

Hinges are where I've always had some challenges in ensuring the axis of the hinge is in the correct position to prevent the panels from binding or overlapping when opening and closing (which appears to be good for you) as well as having perfectly aligned hinges (both pins lie on the same axis). I found that out on my doors, which used two separated hinges as well. The first time I opened the door after setting the hinges, it started binding because the axis for both hinges was not the same line). Visually, they looked aligned, but were not because of the ever-so-slight curve in the panel.

The expanded steel idea seems to work pretty well.

I am hoping the single layer of mesh holding the expanded metal on is strong enough to let me work with the lid some. I would like to attach it and make sure everything works and they don't need adjusted any before I get a lot of extra layers built up on it. I should have the hinges pretty square to each other. I spot welded one of them on the metal then clamped the other on and made sure they both moved together before welding them down solid. I will drill and tap holes on the roll bar and if it all works out then just a pair of alignment pins on either side hopefully is all it will take to get it done. I figure between getting the back of the car put back together and coming up with a little bit better dashboard it will take a lot of fiberglass. I have a 5 gallon bucket coming from amazon along with a can of duratec to try out.

I tried using a roller on the fiberglass but I seem to be able to get it better just using a cheap disposable chipping brush. I can get most of the resin out of the mesh and get it much tighter. I think it is probably since I have never tried a roller before but the brush thing works out good so I will just keep using them. Fiberglass work is much slower than metal work but it is getting faster the more I do of it and get into the swing of how much resin to mix up at one time and stuff like that.

If I can manage some free time this weekend I should be able to make the back end start looking like I have some sort of plan instead of just randomly making a mess of the car. The dash should be much easier to do something with since it is mostly just making a new gauge cluster area and I found a 14ft speedometer cable kit so I won't have to come up with something crazy to get it working. I am really wanting to try and get this car done and on the road this summer.

I worked out how to attach the hinges to the roll bar. It was hard to get them lined up and attached. I ended up bolting a plate onto the hinges and welding the plates on to the roll bar after I got it lined up right. After getting it welded in place and making sure everything worked like it should I then unbolted the hinges from the plates. I could then drill and bolt the plates down while the weld holds it all in place. I then cut the welds and spot welded the hinges back on to the plates.

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The trunk lid now can be removed by taking the 6 bolts off that hold the plates to the roll bar and the trunk lid is free. I will measure and find a set of gas struts to hold it open once I figure out how far I want the lid to stay open. Once I get the rest of the work done on the back end I will get a key and latch setup mounted to the back. I probably won’t put a cable operated remote release on it and just put an electrical release sometime in the future.

With the trunk lid cut free and the back of the car mounted I need to get it all squared up good before I can build inner fenders and stuff. I tried a few different things to get everything to sit square and finally came up with a way to get it all lined up. I clamped a section of 1 inch square tubing to each side and shimmed it out to get everything sitting right. It was a simple way to hold it together and didn’t need any duct tape.

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Now that I have a nice even gap around the trunk lid I can start to build up a lip in the trunk to seal the lid when closed. I am not completely sure what I am going to use to make it. I need something strong enough to not let the fiberglass warp over time so I am thinking of forming up something out of metal and fiberglassing it onto the body similar to how I did the expanded metal on the hinge setup. I thought about trying to use foam to make a form and fiberglass that in the car. I will work on some ideas and see what works best. One good thing will be if I can keep the inner fenders separate from the fenders I can make the whole back body easy to unbolt and drop off the back of the car without all the hassle of the one piece trunk lid. I will work on that after I get everything framed up stiff and can keep it from warping.

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Here is what the back end looks like with all the mess cleaned out of it. It has way more room than it did before. Once the inner fenders and trunk area are done it should work out perfect.

I need to get the layout on where everything goes figured out. So before I start making the flange for the trunk lid to seal against I need to come up with how the rest of the stuff is going to fit. The first thing is the wall for the storage area. I used plastic from Speedway motors for it since it is easy to work with and pretty strong. I had to start with making a template out of cardboard then cutting out the plastic to fit and adjusting it to seal to the fenders tight enough to be water tight once it is all done. I didn’t get it finished but it is in place so I can get an idea of how much room I have to work with.

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It will give me plenty of storage room and once the inner fenders are put together and all of it is done, the back of the car will be much more usable than it was stock. The engine will be a bit harder to get to but I am hoping the car is reliable enough I really wont have to work on it that much once it is on the road.

Wow thanks for the updates on the progress!

That is an ambitious project, to say the least. That is a nice sized trunk you now have. You may actually have a practical car yet!

Anxiously awaiting some progress

After that I need to get the heater box mounted. Once they are all mounted then it is time to square up the body and attach it solidly to the cheltenham races 2019 frame. I will need to build a lot of brackets and bracing to get it solid and keep it from rattling while driving.