New Kid in Kansas City

Hello, GT40ers! My name is Collins, my boss Chuck and I are building a couple GT40s here at our company in Kansas City. The forum has helped me quite a bit already, so I thought I would introduce myself and start asking some questions.

I'm a Mechanical Engineer, graduated from the University of Kansas in 2012. I was on the Formula SAE team there, I designed the wings for our 2012 combustion car. (We took first place in the Lincoln, Nebraska competition!) I have a few years of SolidWorks experience (design is what I do primarily at the company among other things) and have some composites experience from school. Our FSAE car was a full carbon monocoque, carbon wings, carbon wheels, etc. Fun stuff.

My boss's company made Cobra kit cars up until a few years back when their engineer passed away and halted the project. They also made a prototype GT that they sold as a rolling chassis. It was finished over the past few years buy its owner and we brought it back here to tune it; it's a good looking car. We have a full engine shop here with a very knowledgeable group of machinists that run it, in addition to both a four wheel chassis dyno and engine dyno.

Here's the completed GT prototype on our dyno:


The prototype car is a great looking car but the design is not what I would have done; we are making quite a few changes to the frame in this second build. I wasn't part of that build at all and can take no credit for it besides helping load it onto a trailer. :laugh:

The GT40 has always been a favorite car of mine; when I found out that my boss used to build kit cars (I didn't know until after I started working here) I was pretty excited. We decided to take our spare time and build a couple GTs for fun. We also have a few Cobra bodies laying around and all the jigs to weld up some more chassis', so we're making a few of those as well with help from a former employee who was the guy that welded them all together back when they made kits.

I will go into the details of our GT project in a build thread before too long; We started slow but are starting to pick up the pace a bit and I have some questions. This seems like the perfect group to field them to! I'm designing the car in SolidWorks as we build, it has already helped alleviate quite a few problems by doing everything in the computer. The driving idea behind the project is to make a GT using modern parts and drivetrain; it won't be a purist's car. We will be utilizing the C5/C6 Corvette suspension, Ford 5.0 Coyote drivetrain (I would like to use an 8 stack with it) , and an RBT ZF Trans.

Looking forward to being a part of the forum, and thanks in advance for all of the advice!
 

Keith

Moderator
Welcome! How does the design differ from 'standard'. In the chassis department only?

Start a build thread and post loads of pictures. These guys here can't read too well. :laugh:
 
Welcome! How does the design differ from 'standard'. In the chassis department only?

Start a build thread and post loads of pictures. These guys here can't read too well. :laugh:

Pictures are a must, I'm aware of this. Don't worry, there will be plenty! :laugh:

The chassis for this build will be a tube frame style. I couldn't make the Corvette suspension work with anything traditional being that it was designed with an unequal control arm setup.

The body that we have is from molds that were pulled off of a superformance car (I believe) so they should be really close to original. It's the Gulf body making it a MK1 I believe, I never have really been able to find a definite answer there as to which generations were which. The body looks identical to that of chassis 1075 save for the hood insert which is a split cowl instead of a single. I know it's not a MKIII, but what is it? haha

Interior will be close to original in design but will probably differ in finishing. We have a mold of the GT dash so at least that will look correct. I haven't even really thought as far as interior yet. The car is designed as LHD though, since that's the dash that we have here.

Thanks for the comments, gents!
 
Hi Collins,

Small world isn't it. I am the faculty advisor from UTA FSAE. I'm sure we have met, probably on several occasions in FSAE.

It seems FSAE is a good background for building cars from scratch. You can follow my build log called "Tornado GT40 in Texas".

I look forward to following your experience especially with SolidWorks.

-Bob Woods
 
Hi Collins,

Small world isn't it. I am the faculty advisor from UTA FSAE. I'm sure we have met, probably on several occasions in FSAE.

It seems FSAE is a good background for building cars from scratch. You can follow my build log called "Tornado GT40 in Texas".

I look forward to following your experience especially with SolidWorks.

-Bob Woods

A small world indeed, Bob! I'm sure that I've met you on more than one occasion. UTA and Jayhawk Motorsports get along well together. I'll check out your build log, I'll take all the ideas that I can get!
 
Back
Top