John's Aussie RCR-40 Build

[JohnW]

The RCR-40 MK1 arrived in Australia a few weeks ago. Working on it in my spare time with the help of my brother Craig.

The body, chassis & parts look absolutely fantastic.

It will be road registered in QLD initally, but then used as a track car.


Specs:

Kit: RCR-40 MK1 Deluxe Plus kit with following RCR options: 6 point cage, sway bars, 17" wheels, Double Adjustable Shocks, +2" Suspension & Guards, Gurney Bubble.

Street Engine: 2002 AUIII Ford 5L(302w). Tickford version with 220kw(GTP Heads, Yella Terra Roller Rockers, Oil Cooler, Hand Built etc)

Race Engine: Keith Craft 302w stroked to 363.5, dart 4 bolt block, solid roller cam, AFR 205(ported) heads, zero balanced. Engine has been test dyno'd with 581.4HP@7100rpm, 508 lb/ft. Will be fitted with TWM Throttle Bodies & Autronic SM4 ecu and will be producing over 600HP after tuning.

Gearbox: Porsche G50/01 to start with.

Brakes: Standard RCR - 6 piston fronts, 4 piston rears, 2 piece 11.75" rotors.

Wheels/Tyres: 17" BRM with Sumitomo tyres for the street(supplied with kit by RCR). For track 17" BRM with race rubber.

Paint Colour: Red with twin white stripes.

Interior: RCR seats & carpet, vinyl covered dash, RCR instruments, Lucas switches

[JohnW]

Progress so far...

1st photo: Engine after it was stripped accessories, loom etc. The block and heads were never painted by the factory.

2nd photo: Some of the RCR bling. CNC billet arms, uprights, QA1 Springs & Double Adjustable Shocks, brakes. Check out the welds on the chassis, beautiful stuff.

3rd photo: RCR supplied alloy Radiator & Thermo fans mounted and installed. Used rubber washers to insulate from chassis. Very quick & easy to install.

4th photo: RCR supplied shift and hand brake assembly installed. Gone with centre shift. Just installed the cockpit stuff and threaded cables through chassis etc. Again very quick & easy.

5th/6th photos: RCR supplied brake assembly installed - pedal box, remote reservoirs, mounted brakes lines(not much to do there).

7th photo: Started installing RCR air con - condenser, hard lines, soft lines, air dryer/receiver etc. Also photo 6.

8th photo: Battery installed in the left-hand side of the chassis. Also ran the battery cable through the chassis to the rear.

9th/10th photo: Fuel system install. Not finished yet as this is a major project. Installed in the chassis on the right-hand side. Low pressure filters, lift pump, high pressure filter, efi pump, fuel changeover switch. Also ran hard line from the opposite fuel tank for feed & return line.

11th photo: Insulation. 1" aluminiumised foam for lower bulk head. Aluminiumised cloth for bulk head inspection cover. Also covered the coolant tubes in aluminised cloth to stop them conducting heat into chassis, should stop a few rattles as well. They are now a snug fit.

12th photo: Cut holes in rear clip for tail lights, engine vent cover & engine intake.

[EGLITOM]

Hi John

Good progress, looks great. Impressive datas on your race engine, should have some piston speed with that stroke and rpm .

TOM

[Trularin]

Excellent pictures!

Your work looks very well thought-out.

[Warren Boylan]

Great work Sneak....she looks beautiful so far...( Except for Ash's?? head sticking up out of the car)
Regards,
Warren.

[Craig White]

John's engine dyno figures from Keith Craft.

[StuM5]

Excellent! An RCR build in Aust with assistance from the RCR Aust Representative.

Very interested to see how the parts that come with the 'Deluxe Plus kit' go with Aust ADR's, or have you already had engineering confirmation that they will comply?

Good luck with the build John!

cheers
Stuart

[Craig White]

Stuart, the kits are being supplied here in a fully compliant form thanks to the full factory support of RCR in the USA.

So essentially the kits are different from the USA versions in a number of aspects.

All the testing & certification required locally is currently being performed for compliance.

Yeah, my brother is lucky to have the RCR rep coming and helping out. Well maybe he doesn't think so. It's in my best interest to get across all the build details. Actually my brother was one of the driving forces behind my involvement with RCR. He wanted to buy a GT40 and we knew exactly which kit to buy.

[JohnW]

All,
Thanks for the positive comments guys. Got a short timeline for this build as its planned to have the 40 finished and racing by Oct for the Aussie Cobra Nationals.

Tom,
I'm pleased with how the engine has come up. Its torque curve seems pretty broad. The dyno results were with 750 carb and victor intake, so with the multi-throttle body injection, it should go a bit harder.

Got to get out to shed and do some now. Will post when I have updates.

[JohnW]

I thought I better post an update to the build site. I haven't been very good at keeping it uptodate. Quite a bit has happened over the last few months and we did manage to get the car finished enough to race at the Aussie Cobra Nationals. Its really not very finished (no headlights yet), but did go on the track much better than expected, even with some considerable engine troubles that left the car with very little hp.

Currently running the stock engine, but its down on hp which was tracked down to a faulty fuel regulator, which was replaced. After changing it I had to completely remap the ECU (Autronic), which we did on the track with each session that I went out. Still didn't get it going that well, needs some dyno time to sort out the map completely.

But the handling was really good, for a new car, first outing on the track. With the engine issues, I didn't get much of a chance to adjust shock settings yet.

I'll try to fill in some of the middle parts of the build in the next few weeks. But for now I'll just put some of the latest photos in this post.

[Fran Hall RCR]

John,

Nice result,great pics....the car looks great especially as its still in gelcoat.

Four and half month build is also impressive as I know how busy you are at work....

I will give you a call to catch up later in the week....

[Rob]

Excellent John.
Impressive build time.
Agree....she looks fabulous, especially considering she is still in gel-coat.

[EGLITOM]

COngrat John

very nice and impressive. Heard you scored third on this first racing weekend .-))

Gel coat ?? What happened to the blue body ?

TOM

[Fran Hall RCR]

Wrong colour...for an Aussie

[EGLITOM]

Hi Johne referring to ypir post on Keith´s
What are your spring rates and which shocks are you using ?
Tiresize ?
Thanks
TOM

[Fran Hall RCR]

550lb with Double adjustable shocks ....RCR upgrade parts package

[Neil]

Hi All,
This car was originally built for me, RCR GT40 No 65, but after traveling to the RCR factory in Detroit, I decided to cancel the order, due to the fact that it would be very difficult to register in NSW.
RCR Australia state and advertise that the RCR GT40 Kit as supplied in their Australian brochure (RCR-40 Comprehensive Roller Kit for AUS$61,995.00 Incl GST)
is "Compliant for Registration Australia Wide" This is not correct, from my research in NSW and advice from my engineer.
So I suggest that RCR Australia get one of their cars registed in NSW and then promote that it is "Compliant for Registration Australia Wide" and until then don’t make statements that can not be supported by facts and official documentation.

I would not like to see some innocent GT40 builder in NSW get a surprise when be submits his car, has per the supplied kit, to the NSW RTA, and has to re-engineer and replace a number of components on his RCR GT40.

Thanks,
Neil

[Fran Hall RCR]

Neil,

I am quite sure Craig is well on top of all things Australian....and I know for a fact some items changed, added by that owner, Jason, are personal preference items not necessarily compliance issues...

Craig has written approval from engineers that he has been working with...all the chassis and suspension for the RCR line up have been ADR tested and approved..and passed with flying colours..

I am sure that anyone with concerns will actually contact Craig White,the Australian RCR rep.and he will be able to provide them with the supporting paperwork they will require....and also any helpful insight into their subsequent registration.

Rest assured Neil you made the right choice for you.....and me.

[Craig White]

Neil, you were purchasing a US spec RCR-40 directly from the USA without any modifications.

Did your engineer personally inspect a RCR-40? I've already had a NSW engineer inspect a RCR-40.

The Australian compliant RCR-40's differ in specification to US kits and to what you have seen. And that's including the track spec RCR-40 you saw in person in NSW a few weeks back.

NSW is a problematic state for registration, but the RCR-40 will be no more difficult to register than other kit brands. Well actually it should be easier as we have a program to work with local engineers in each state to smooth the path for registration for customers. There is still a lot of work to be done and we are endeavouring to have compliance well and truly sorted before delivering our first car to a NSW owner looking for registration.

Yes this RCR-40 is the chassis you cancelled. I accepted it to help speed delivery, even though it did not suit the purchases requirements and needed major specification changes at my expense.

[Neil]

Hi Fran and Craig,
I understand your politically correct replies above,
But I reiterate that you should not state that the RCR GT40 are
"Compliant for registration Australia wide" until they are,
I think this is called false advertising,
you could make the statement
the "RCR GT40 have been submitted for Compliance for registration Australia wide".

By the way while we are discussing it, do you have a copy of the torsion and beam certificate as yet?
Not a promise but the actual certificate, this could be considered part of compliance.

Neil