Ricks MantaProject.com build log

[Rick]

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.

[Rick]

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.



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.

[Jerry]

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.

[Sulley]

Rick keep the progress updates coming.

[Rick]

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.



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.



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.

[Rick]

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.



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.



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.



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.

[Blueovalz]

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.

[Rick]

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.

[Rick]

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.



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.

[Rick]

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.



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.