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Mega Manx

Well this is what it all looked like at the beginning of the day, nice and clean.

I have been thinking about how I was going to get the guards to cover the wheels. Now I have seen a few buggies with widened guards and never liked the look of them. The end result was that I decided to widen the entire body so I got more room inside.

In order to do the the easiest possible way I cut it into sections so I could keep the tunnel and shaped parts as original as possible. I then had to widen th epan as it was now 8" to narrow.

	This is the body before I started, as you can see there really isn't that much to a Manx Shell
	If you look closely you will see some scribe marks for where I have to cut. I decided on a sort of step then follow the wheel arches around. This will give a dished out effect when finished to clear the big tyres.
	Same with the front. The aim was also to leave areas like the tunnel in tact so I only had to reshape easy parts.
	To cut the body I used a reciprocating saw ( power hacksaw) I also used a respirator and safety glasses. Fiberglass is bad ass stuff when it goes to powder. I also wet the drive way and put the body in a puddle so the dust would get wet and not blow around
	The first cut that was made. You can clearly see where I was talking about now, oh well to late to go back.
	other side done..
	Once I had cut the rear tub out I used clamp to hold it together. This was so I could cut the front without having to worry about it vibrating to bits
	The front now follows on
	Now I have 4 bits to my buggy, looks kind of terminal really.
	Now the body was cut I turned my attention to the pan, this now needed to be widened by 4" each side as well. I cut 2 x 4" strips of 3mm steel sheet and set it up on 90 degreed to the lift kit, using magnetic triangles I then tack welded it in place.
	The same was done on the other side. Now the pan is 8" wider. After I am happy with the results I will weld a 5" strip of plate underneath to form a triangle. This will make it heaps stronger. Before this though I need to weld in the nuts for the body bolts as I don't want anything underneath at all.
	I will try and get a better photo in the light. You can see the body sitting on the widened pan. If you look at the rear you will see the 8" ( 200mm) gape. I will also write up detail on the profiles and template I made before I cut the body, these will be needed to keep it all in place and correctly aligned when I glass it back together