Mirage (Re)build thread - Jerry

[Jerry]

These are junk wheels. Front wheels need to have less offset and there is too much toeout right now but it's going to be a fun gocart.

[Sulley]

That's a great overhead shot of the Manta Mirage frame. I saved this one!

[Jerry]

Thanks Sully.

I got the brakes and clutch bled and working.

[Jerry]

This helps me deal with the front body piece.

I need to be able to put it on the car, put it on a trailer, work on it and not scratch it ...

[Manta22]

That's a great idea, Jerry. Is the structure wood or metal?

[Jerry]

My picture quality and afternoon lighting is not so good.

Here you can see what's going on to answer that question.

My friend said that this frame for the car part is called a "buck".

[Jerry]

I think next I will make one for the rear. Maybe a simple smaller one.

[Blueovalz]

For my application, prior to cutting the front panel up into two separate smaller pieces, I used a similar arrangement (for both the front and rear panels) with a single long rope, 8 pulleys, and coated hooks on two steel tubes (the width of the body panel) which spaced the rope out the proper length, I lifted the body on and off the car that way (using the pulley system instead of the winch). This system allowed me to lift it evenly or tilt it as needed in the lift/lower work. Because it was a single rope threaded through the eight pulleys, it could be lifted/lowered in just about any reasonable angle, and still keep the hooks out of the way from interfering with the chassis fitment. The second photo shows the body lowered onto the car, with the tube/hooks/pulleys for the front lying on the floor in front of the panel. You can also see portions of the long single rope, threaded up down, over, up, down, over, etc to may a single long continuous loop (four "down's" visible in the photo)






Later on in the project timeline, I fabricated a bar that would bolt onto the open rear panel (with a movement limiting catch at the top), that had loops on it to be used with a winch/strap to lift the panel off the hinges in a controlled, single person operation. It worked very well, so I'm planning on doing the same with the front panel as well. It can be bolted onto the panel is about 10 minutes, used to relieve the weight on the hinge pins which allows me to remove them, and then the panel is simply pulled away from the frame and lowered to the ground (see attachment and photo below)

Here you can see the reinforcement plates (at the inside edges of the rear vents, at the very bottom or very rear of this panel) which I used to attach the lift-bar. If you look closely, you can see the 3/8" holes where a bolt passes through each plate, and into the end of the lift-bar. The catch at the top is also bolt-on, which attaches to the horizontal reinforcement plates at the very front of the ram-tube opening.

[Jerry]

It's nice to get the body parts way up so they don't take up 1 inch of your shop space when you don't need them.

It's tricks like that, that make guys in a garage able to do a project that complex.

I appreciate suggestions like these from anyone and everyone - Thanks

[Jerry]

Cleaning and scuffing fiberglass parts.