Getting Started
June 19, 2008
Tools:
Shop manuals
Reynolds freezer paper
Water soluble marker pens
Painters blue masking tape (1 and 2 inch)
Resources:
All you guys who have built RCR 40s, Chuck and Ryan, Ron McCall, Mark Reid, Rob (Vintage Venom), Dean Lampe, Keith Wilson in Huntsville, Bill D, Tom in Germany, Chris Kouba, Ron Earp for starting GT40s.com, Fran, the guys and Casey at RCR for a putting out a great car, and every other guy building that has shared their excitement of the build on this forum. I have probably read them all and can’t remember all of your names. Please don’t feel slighted. It’s your inspirational posts that fuel my passion for the build of my own project. I just wish you all lived in my neighborhood so we could cruise together.
Notes:
Before I got started on the build I created a shop manual that was comprised of the manual provided by RCR and notes and other build tips from every other builder doing an RCR 40 build. These are great for tracking progress and writing notes in the margins to remind me of tasks left incomplete or to mark changes and discrepancies. Thanks most appreciatively to all you RCR 40 builders for making all this possible.
When a task is finished I mark it in the shop manual so I always have an idea on what is left to be done.
I ordered my chassis powder coated and to keep it relatively clean and minimize scratches during the build I lined most of the surfaces with “Reynolds Freezer Paper”. This can be purchase in any grocery store. I taped it to the chassis using the low glue content “3M Painters Masking Tape”. I put the plastic side down against the powder coat. It provides a number of advantages:
·Protects the powder coat from scratches
·Creates a writing surface for calculations and placement of parts
·Creates a reference point for exact marks for the placing of panels and accessories
·Can easily be removed and replaced when damaged
·Record the location of hidden parts on the back sides of chassis walls to remind you where not to drill in any location
·Saves marking and removing the markings made directly on the chassis
·You can cut and drill directly through the paper
You get the picture.