Rcr 40-31

[Chris_K]

Sill extensions mounted. I hit it with a little white primer to get the feel of what it'll look like. Then I started sanding and then with the bondo. That's going to be some labor intensive stuff.

Martin - These are the 2"/side flares from Fran and not Gulf sized. I think they look great and still allow me to use a 15" wheel under a flared rear clip without going to race rubber. Thanks for the encouragement (yours are looking great too BTW), but I have a feeling I've only just begun.

[Bill D]

That looks really good! Great job!

[BenM909]

Looking great Chris!

[Rob]

Looking great man.... nice to have you back at it...

[Martin]

Chris,
I should have read Frans post stating they are not Gulf flares. I see now they are not, but i still like them a lot.The profile looks really nice from sill to arch, you've done a good job there. Going with the large spot lamps also. I'm looking forward to seeing more progress. I found the bodywork painful, but ultimately rewarding. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and you are not far behind me on that score. Keep grafting. ...
Martin

[Doc Watson]

Nice ass Chris!

Andy

[Chris_K]

One step forward, two steps back...

On the rollouts for the pictures, I noticed the rear clip wasn't level to the ground. I figured it was an illusion, but after looking again, I got out the tape measure and started investigating. Sure enough, the left side was about an inch lower than the right.

After my 4 months away, looks like things settled. Before committing the flares, I set the ride height and made sure the gaps were what I wanted but I didn't check the basic squareness of the clip to the ground. Ugh! Once corrected, the flare was an inch higher and I don't want the uneveness.

So what to do? I always wanted to do something like the MKII rear support and create some luggage space (much like Dave's RCR MKII just posted this morning- looks fantastic, BTW!). I took this as the opportunity to do so. I picked up some square tube, got out the welder and chop saw and went at it.

The pics follow, the first one showing the twist (take a look at the ovals on the top vent panel, comparing right to left) and then a few of my new subframe. I still have a little reinforcement to do, but it's already sufficiently rigid to get the job done. It's pretty cool what a protractor, a tape measure and some common sense will get you.

Once the clip has settled on its new digs for a little while, I will figure out what to do about the flares. If anyone has suggestions, fire away. I'm all ears.

[Chris_K]

More steps forward! The driver's flare didn't settle after I had reset the clip with the rear panel square(-ish) to the ground so I decided it needed to be moved. Nobody seemed to have any suggestions here either.

The car when I woke up this morning:



By 10am the clip was cut out. This took a little courage.





Before 1130 it was screwed in place.




Spent the rest of the afternoon generating pink snow and fiberglass dust.
Getting closer:



And the final product for the day:





The funny thing is how quickly this one went- from pulling it off the car to resetting it and filling. I was clean and having dinner with Bethany by 7p or so. Third time's the charm I guess.




Next steps are back to the finalizing the body gaps and getting all the rest of the fiberglass where it belongs. It was an incredibly productive day and my skills with the glass are improving exponentially with each endeavor. I might even roll it outside for pics in the sunshine tomorrow!

edit: Linked pics not showing up. Added them as attachments.

[Gary Kadrmas]

Chris,

Most people that skilled in fiberglass work at a GM Auto Body Dealership (think Corvette).

Your progress in correcting the misalignment is amazing. I would not be surprised if other forum members request lessons on fiberglass repair.

Looks very good to me. Good luck, and keep us filled in on your ongoing work progress.

[Dalton]

Fantastic work, Chris,

Dalton

[Rob]

Way to go man..... lookin good. See, I knew you'd do the right thing... and be glad that you did. Now you can look at it forever and be happy. :-)

Excellent...!

[Gary Kadrmas]

Chris,

I forgot to ask in my earlier post.......how are you doing for selecting a color combo?

I think the Essex Wire Team Colors would look very, very nice on your GT40. But the stripe as used on the Gulf cars would also look great.

As always, thanks for your updates, and keep on plugging away!!!

[Chris_K]

Hey Gary-

The two leading contenders are the Essex-Gulf combination and what I'll call the Shelby-Gulf combination pleasantly represented by 1036 (Guardsman blue with a Wimbleton white Gulf stripe). I think the car needs metallic paint to highlight the shapes so the blue appeals but I like the white and red. I also haven't ever seen it on a car before (doesn't mean it hasn't been done but it'd be cool to have my own scheme). I was also thinking about blacked out wheels with the E-G colors.

So, no decisions but narrowed down a bit.

Hope you're doing well!

[Gary Kadrmas]

Chris,

I really like the Blue/White stripe example you posted above. My personal choice would not include the rounels, however......but the Blue/White stripe does look nice.

I can see where a White car with a Red stripe would be good looking also. I am surprised someone has not put a GT40 together with that combination, so some full scale pictures could be viewed.

Is someone out there with photo shop or some kind of computer program that can change the color on a car for viewing purposes?

[Big-Foot]

Hi Chris,

Great minds think alike! I'm currently planning on the Blue/White very similar to the one shown for mine..

[Chris_K]

Randy,

A number of other small but nice pics of the scheme are HERE. Their main GT40 site (Racing Icons) has neat pics showing nice detail of a few GT's, including 1076.

I really like both of the combo's I posted. I've found the paint selection to be the toughest decision of the build.

[Bill D]

I agree Chris.