Body Fitting to Chassis

Check list before lifting the body onto the chassis.

Fit heater, brake and clutch master cylinders, pedal box
Do chassis wiring for speedo sensor and neutral switch
Connect the ECU loom and have all the sensors sorted out
Go over all chassis nuts & bolts for correct torque
Sealant or rubber strips around chassis tub rails as per the manual but don't worry about rails round fuel tank
Consider removing bolts in nearside manifold and dropping manifold down on chassis next to engine block

Position the body over the chassis. Hold the rear end higher than the front.
Start with the body to the rear of where it will eventually sit. Be careful of hitting the radiator.
Once past the pinch points, push forward, down and lower the rear of the body into place.
The pinch point is around the chassis rails on a GEN III chassis and the nearside exhaust header. For this reason you can take the header off and leave it resting on the chassis next to the block. It is real hard to get it into position unless it is already there. Once the body is on just lift the header up into place and insert the bolts.
Check the securing holes line up with the holes in the chassis.
A GEN II chassis is probably not so tight a fit.

If you have a body manufactured after around start of 2019 the passenger side footwell was extended to accommodate the pedal box in the case of LHD models. This brings the edge of the footwell in the engine bay very close to the nearside exhaust manifold. It may just be too close for comfort, actually touching, or in my case jammed against the header and stopping the body from seating correctly.

The fix is to remove a section of the footwell:

I have probably taken more out than needed but it had to be all in one piece as I will use what is removed to seal the hole up with some P40







So now we have a gaping hole in the footwell, but it is clear of the manifold and the body sits ok on the chassis. This is important, don't try to flex the body to make it fit and align with the mounting holes. The body is made with the chassis and fitted fine before it had an engine in place.



Exhaust Silencers
We need to think about how the exhaust silencers are going to fit.
There are a couple of options:

Fit the body to the chassis.
Fit the silencers such that there is a finger thickness gap between the silencer and the body, and about one inch gap between the top of the silencer and the door when it opens.
Drill&tap or weld the silencer brackets into place.
Remove the silencers and the body. Now refit the silencers. Fit the cat converter, the 'J' pipe and its flange. Line it all up and tack weld. Now remove and weld it all properly. Fit the body again, fit the exhaust system.

Or:
As above but instead of taking the body off again, get it up in the air and tack weld from underneath.
Remove the exhaust, weld properly, refit.

Or:
Get someone else to do it, especially if you don't have mig or tig welder.

There obviously needs to be a hole made in the side of the body for the exhaust pipes.
I drilled the corners with a hole saw with a diameter that fitted the radius I wanted on the corners. Then used a Dremel cutting disc to remove the section.

The hole is slightly undersized and needs a bit of opening up when the pipes go on. As it turns out, it is also a little high for the silencer pipes when they are fitted.
See here





Finally in place. Note the bundle of ECU loom wires which includes the wiring up from the speedo and gearbox.