Jim's ERA build

I am starting this over after posting these photos on the No era build thread. New England 2007 064.jpg

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Doug S.

The protoplasm may be 72, but the spirit is 32!
Lifetime Supporter
So, Jim, were the photos of the chassis taken at the ERA factory before the powdercoat was applied?

REALLY nice chassis, IMHO!

I know the ERA factory will factory "bond" the body to the chassis on their Cobra replicas.....did you have them do it for your ERA GT?

Would you mind expanding on the manner in which your "kit" was delivered? I have heard that rather than having all of the parts in boxes in the cabin, when a GT kit from ERA arrives, all the parts are installed in the place where they belong. It is still necessary to "deconstruct" the kit to complete it, but it seems to me that if what I have heard is true, it would sure eliminate a lot of guessing and general gnashing of teeth, wondering where to put this and that.

Thanks for starting this build thread! I'll be following it with great interest.....

Cheers from Doug!
 
The pictures so far have all been at ERA. Here are a couple of photos of the body being fitted. The body is not bonded to the frame.I will show some photo with the body off later. After the body is fitted it is taken off and power coated. My kit came with some of the parts on the car. The brake lines were on, headlights in, doors on, oil cooler was in place, steering box in place. The rest of it was in boxes. There were several systems I still had to buy ( Brake and Fuel systems). I engeneered my own A/C system from a Vintage Air kitgt40.jpg

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I started working on the suspension first. ERA casts their own aluminum hub carriers. I also found 1 more photo of the tub that shows the rear of the tub better.

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Kelly

Lifetime Supporter
Hey JIm, looking good. Happen to have any other pictures o fthose ERA rear uprights? I've never seen those before and would like some more details if available.

Best,
Kelly
 
Kelly. here are some photos of the back as I was building the suspension. Is this what you wanted to see? if not I can take a few more pictures. JimNew England 2007 118 (640x480) (3).jpg

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Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
Nice rear uprights. The 3-hole pattern suggests I may be able to use something like this in lieu of my home-built uprights (uses GM bearing carrier). I suppose I should contact the manufacturer and get more info.
 
Here are some cockpit photos. On the engine side of the firewall I fabricated a nice stainless steel piece. I will show it later. At the top of the roof is a nice adjustable air vent.

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IMG_5323 (640x480).jpgA few interesting things in the cockpit. I cut out the back part of the dash to fit in my a/c unit. It was very tight but I got the Vintage Air unit to mount nicely into this space. unfortunitly I did not get a photo of the final fit. Since it is a little snug getting into the car here are the adaptions to the steering column for the quick disconnect steering wheel.
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To get the defroster vents to line up I had to rework the openings. I just cut open the top and moved the vent openings over. Then I made a new piece for the middle. The body work was not to difficult. All of the seams. were pretty straight. ERA does a nice job on the body, very uniform and straight.

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Nice buid Jim,

We have got an ERA GT40 in our club ........build quality to die for and sweet sweet sweet.

Wish You well with the build & keep the photos coming.

Cheers

karlB
 
When I was working on the rear of the car I did not like the multiple colors the AN fittings came in. With the blue ones they seemed to be multiple shades of blue. So I had all the fittings reanodized just red. While I was at it I anodized the cockpit panels and the wheel spinners red.

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The rear of the car is now developing. Now you can see the stainless steel firewall. In the upper left is the Pollak valve for routing the fuel to the correct tank.

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Jim;
Good looking build, I look forward to seeing the motor and gearbox going in. All of the ERA cars I have seen have a ZF.
I have used a few different types of those quick steering wheel disconnects and was not happy with them as they rattled a bit, and most could be re-attached at a number of different clock positions. I finally found a unit from NRG that uses a keyed pattern of balls with a zero-play fit and it always finds the same clock position....it did the trick for me.
Good choice on the stainless firewall.
Cheers
Phil
 
The cooling manifold for my weber unit came off in the wrong direction and angle. I made a new one that I could also put my temperature gauge in.

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