Rick's Manta Montage

The hubs came back from the machine shop today. So I started putting the rear suspension together properly. I didn’t have a large enough bolt for the lower control arm mount so I will...

Since I have been spending so much time with the frame I decided to take a break from that and work on the headlights. The front of the car just didn’t look like much...

Today didn’t seem like much getting done but I probably took the pedals off and reinstalled them 15 times to get everything lined up. The throttle cable worked out pretty easy since it had...

I took the rear hubs to a shop to have them drilled out. They should be done tomorrow so I can finally get the car able to sit on it’s wheels and suspension. So...

I went over the frame to make sure everything looked ok and so far it looks like everything is all good on it. So I started assembling some of the parts laying around the...

I just had to add the upper frame to the front end to finish it. I also needed to make a set of braces to hold the front body and keep it solid. I...

I got the front end put under the car and squared up. It is much easier when the entire thing is one piece. After I got it sitting exactly where I wanted it I...

Today I finished cutting off the old frame parts and cleaned up the crossmember. After that I just had to cut it in half and widen it 5 inches. I welded on plenty of...

The front crossmember had a lot of stuff welded to it and in general was a pretty good mess. I have most of the old frame cut off it except for one part. I...

The back was mostly done except for some minor bracing and needing welded up completely. I finished it up and after it cooled off I put some paint on it. I will probably go...

Last time I welded up the entire rear end solid before test fitting it to make sure everything looked just right. This time I learned my lesson and while it was just spot welded...

With the marks on the floor it was pretty easy to just cut the suspension free and move it out to the new position. I mostly have it spot welded in place with whatever...

Today the power was out most of the day and it was really hot in the garage so I didn’t get much accomplished. I have the positions laid out on the floor for where...

So the car has sat in the driveway for a week with the tires and wheels on it. After staring at it for a while I decided the rear tires being equal width to...

I haven’t had time to work on the car much but I did manage to put the rear struts back on the car. The new wheels and tires came in so I figured it...

The last two days I have been welding up the frame. Today I finally finished welding everything up and put a coat of paint on it to see what I had. The frame has...

I wanted a trunk latch that worked like a real car and not some crazy thing that needs pins or several places to unlatch it like it used to be. I mounted the Metro...

Today was a slow day with what seems like not much progress. I first cut out 4 plates to go on either side of the fiberglass to reinforce the hinge area. I bolted them...

The rear toe bars were fairly easy to build. I took the tie rods off the front end and used a bolt to mount the inner rod solidly. I tried to keep the same...

Today I built the strut towers. I tried to come up with a way to do it without using a brace across the top but it would be much heavier than just a bolt...

I ended up digging up a bunch of parts to try and come up with something for the transmission mount that would still be strong. I ended up cutting the stock mount in half...

Didn’t have a lot of time to work on the car but I managed to get it on the ground, get the trunk lid off, and get the motor and transmission located properly. After...

With the suspension looking good and in place it is time to actually build a rear frame for the car. I had to put the trunk back on for the next part. With the...

The new setup on the rear end was much better, so I mounted the other side in place and checked square on the car. Everything is right on square this time and nothing is...

I didn’t like the setup the way it was so I cut it off the car and started to redo it. Now the control arms sit at a 40 degree angle. That looks much...