Mitch Krause's RCR GT40 Build

Mitch Krause

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Fuel Filler Solved

OK, I have my solution. Thanks to everyone for the help and thoughts. So, after buying and trying and cutting and grinding straight pipe, 45 degree mandrel bend pipes, 60 degree mandrel bent pipes, inflexible “flexible fuel hose”, other fuel hose and trying many thing to cut and index the parts together and many hours, I finally have something that I am satisfied with and will work…… I think.

First picture is the top picture, no value in that except to show that the top plate is held in place quite easily without much force, as evidenced by having just one screw to hold it nearly in place.

Second picture is the solution installed, or almost installed. Everything is there, except a couple of hose clamps and one more section of fuel line that connects the bottom pipe to the top of the tank. I didn’t want to put that on one more time since I learned from experience just how difficult it is to remove the hose from the top of the tank given the gripping ridges that are present on the neck of the tank.

The third picture shows everything the comprises the solution. Here is the explanation of how each of the parts was “tuned” or not.

Starting from the left. The fuel top as received from RCR, it was slightly modified to cut the bottom neck to 1 inch long. This provides just a little bit more clearance to make the curve ahead of the frame, and still provides plenty of room to affix the hose and the clamp. The top “ring” shown was fabricated by me, it is ¼ inch thick aluminum plate that matches the holes and goes underneath the fuel top, it fits within the Lemans cap just fine, and helps provide just a little bit more clearance. Of course the four clamps to hold the hoses. The “magic” part that finally got me to the goal line is the longer black hose. It is a “2" Ultra Flexible Oil, Gas & Diesel Fuel Filler Hose Section (10" TO 7" Long)” from Filler Neck Supply company. I did cut 1.5 inches from the top of the hose (their description and instructions say you can cut 1.5 inches from either or both ends thus making it the variable length). This then attaches to the top part, and makes the bend before the frame with very little effort. This actually is flexible and is a very cool part. The ridges you see are metal wire in the center part, which actually lets it make a 90 degree bend without collapsing, thus making the turn I need. Added benefit is that even though there is slight contact with the frame (as was the case with the metal parts, or very close), this won’t rattle. Then the shiny part is most of a 60 degree mandrel bent stainless steel pipe. Cut just above the curve, leaving enough of a flat lip just where it contact the neck of the tank to affix a hose between it and the tank and clamp it. The longer flat portion goes about 3 inches into the longer end of the flexible hose.

Note the two shorter pieces of fuel hose. I will probably end up buying some more fuel hose, so that I can have a 4 inch long piece or so, 2.5 inches would completely cover the neck of the tank and then go 1.5 inches onto the bent part of the pipe and be clamped at each end. The piece showing at the bottom of the pipe bend is the 1.5 inches left from the end of the flex hose. The other piece shown is not used, it is a 2 inch long piece of the previous inflexible “flexible” fuel hose that I bought. It is very heavy, and almost impossible to put much of a bend in it. 3 feet for sixty bucks. I have a couple of big pieces left if anyone wants it. I could use that, but it is heavy and very hard to cut. If nothing else, I could cut a 4 inch piece of that and use it at the bottom.

Done. Hopefully this helps someone else out.
 

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Randy V

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Really nice work Mitch! Since there's no pressure in that part of the fuel system, that should hold up well..
 

Mitch Krause

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Front End Painting

OK, got the front end cleaned up and painted this weekend, so progress. A couple of coats of epoxy primer on the bare metal and then a couple of coats of satin black.
 

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Chuck

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Regarding the fuel filler, may be worth a call to Fran if the issue comes up again. When I reached that issue some years ago he had the angled sections ready to go. All I needed to add was a couple of short lengths of proper hose (which I obtained from a marine supplier) and the hose clamps.
 
Fuel Filler - 2

Mitch,
Maybe I'm being too anal here but I cringe whenever I see that fuel filler picture. There isn't much of a sealing surface left on that curved section and those cheapo hose clamps may not do a good job of securing that whole assembly if you have a rapid pressure buildup (fuel sloshing forward in a panic stop) or god forbid, you get hit on that side of the car and that area quickly distorts,and comes apart. Your cabin will get sprayed with fuel. Also, that flex hose may be too permeable (exterior use, not like a marine hose) so your cabin will always smell of fuel...

Consider using T-clamps as they seal tightly 360 deg around.

I didn't see where you mentioned how to vent the tank.
 

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Mitch Krause

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I could use T-Clamps, was just trying to get things fitted and move on for now. The tank is vented with a couple of rollover valves that come out rear of the cap in the front fender (outside the cabin). They connect to a smaller 1/8 inch line that is near the larger fuel fill on the top of the tank.
 

Mitch Krause

Supporter
Ok. Steering wheel tightened up nicely. Also have the spider off to get the roll bar powde coated and work on the dash
 

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Randy V

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Nice work Mitch! The spider support is the nicest I’ve seen and it will pay great dividends.
 

Udo

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Agree, the spyder support is a must have. Looking for some spare timber beams in the garage next week.
 

Mitch Krause

Supporter
It is almost like a treasure hunt to go into your local auto parts store and convince them to let you go behind the counter to look at the radiator hoses to find one that has a 90 degree bend at the end and then at least 9 inches of straight before another bend and is 1.5 inch ID and another one that has a 45 bend and at least 7 inches on one side of the bend and 3 on the other. Ha. Found what worked did some cutting and I have the cooling hooked up in the front , at least the hoses anyway.
 

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Randy V

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Looks *Perfect* Mitch!
I see you found the box with the clamps too. :)
 

Mitch Krause

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Did work in the battery area. Got a battery tray, drilled and tapped to mount it, battery hold downs, affixed the ground, put in a little vent and drilled and tapped to mount the battery cover.
 

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Mitch Krause

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Fresh Air

Randy had enabled the hood vents, so that one could utilize them for air flow, I have finished up that (at least on the drivers side), so thought I would share that.

The pictures, first one is leaning over the front wheel looking towards the front of the car, and shows the hole that is drilled in the hood where the hood vent exits. This matches up with the hold in the frame.

The second picture shows the hold in the frame, this matches the hole in the hood when the hood is closed. This view is standing over the front and looking back towards the drivers area of the car.

The third picture is taken mostly laying in the drivers tub area and looking towards the front end. The vent hose fartherest away is what brings the fresh air from the hood vent. The hose in the middle left comes from the plenum, and the hose the exists on the top and curls back around goes to the air vent in the dash. Near the little red colored area in the center of the picture is a flapper valve that is controlled with a choke cable to enable fresh air from the outside when that is desired. Fully closed, no outside air. Fully open only outside air (to the dash vent), somewhere in the middle, a mix.

The fourth picture shows the dash exit (but without the dash). I did have it all together at one time and all fits and clears.
 

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Mitch Krause

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Shifter Mount

An update, I don't know if I can go as far as to say I am impressed with myself, but I am very happy with the result at least. I had struggled a bit with conceptualizing how one would best, stabley and securely mount on the vertical something with mounting holes on the horizontal, not to mention that the mounter was 3 inches wide and the mountee two inches wide.

If the bolts or bolt heads were on the bottom, it would raise it and make it rock unevenly or have very limited contact points that would wear. The thicker angle irons could make an adjustable mount, but have "curved inner angles that would be more unstable, etc.

A browsing visit at a local metal supplier and I found a longer piece of the AL tube shown on the top of picture 1. 3 inches OD, about 2.5 ID on the wide part. A couple of hours with a scroll saw and I ended up with the piece shown at the bottom of picture 1. 90 degree angles, flat surfaces and no curves.

A little bit of drilling (1/4 inch through holes and 1/2 inch holes to depth of about .125 which were then flattened out with a flat bottomed burr remover) and I have what the shifter is mounted on in the second picture. The button head screws on the bottom are sunk so that they are level with the surface of the metal.

And lastly, picture 3, the assembly mounted in the car. I have not yet drilled a couple of holes in the spinal column, that will be the final step. I am going to use a couple of 1/4 bolts through the column with 1/2 spacers to secure the entire unit to the spinal column.
 

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Randy V

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That was one of the struggles that I had no answer to other than welding tabs to the tunnel.
I could not do that until I knew where the shifter needed to be mounted etc. So many things on these builds that depend on other actions etc.
Nice job!
 

Mitch Krause

Supporter
Yeah, the options of "where is the shifter mounted" are very limited. If you move very much forward, then the shifter hits the dash. Too much more backwards and you contact the parking brake. I positioned the parking brake as far backwards as possible. The RCR recommendation is 4 inches from the back of the bottom of the tub. I ended up about 2.75 inches. Used the "turn the 90 degree tab on the parking brakes backwards" and "put a one inch spacer on the bolt on the parking brake adjust line" to gain me that 1.25 inches and still be able to adjust satisfactorily.

Right now, the back of the shifter is right around 18 or 19 inches from the back, the top of the shifter knob clears the bottom of the dash by about 1/2 inch when fartherest forward. You can see there is only a few inches between the back of the shifter and the front of the parking brake, so this seems like the best one can do.
 
Mitch,
The shifter rod/handle needs to be shortened 2-3 inches. (cant remember off-hand) Easy to do. While you have it out, replace the shifter ball with a larger/normal size one. Makes the cable shifting much easier.

The dash can be trimmed underneath for more legroom as well if need be. Just suggestions, Scott
 
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