Another SLC hits the streets

After 4 years of building, my SLC just received its license and registration and is now free to roam the streets.

I'd like to thank everyone who posted on this forum - it was tremendously valuable during the build.

Some of the details for the car include:
- License plate backup camera that feeds to a cellphone for video display
- Remote bluetooth stereo/amplifier, also using the cellphone as music source
- Passive alarm/disarm with passive-enabled pushbutton start.
- The center console, steering wheel shaft cover and lower instrument cluster cover are 3 D printed
- I used my cellphone to take the interior pictures; there's an open area in the center console
where it would normally mount magnetically.
- The instrument cluster is from Dakota Digital
- Electrically adjustable side mirrors, adapted from Corvette.
- A reverse gear lockout was added to the gear shift (Graziano transmission), which prevents reverse from being selected unless the lockout is pulled out.
- Interior tub and leather upholstery with blue accents
- Polished aluminum Forgestar F14 wheels.
- Aluminum plate in the front compartment which ducts hot radiator exhaust up to the air exit at the top of the hood and keeps the hot air off the firewall.
- Insulation wrapped sidepipes, mounted with standoffs to keep them clear of the side of the passenger compartment (limited heat transmission)
- Lightweight sound and heat insulation
- Front clip is hinged, with lower splitter permanently attached to the front clip
- Lowered seat pan and extended footwells, but still no foam on the bottom of the driver's seat in order to have enough headroom (I am 6'4").
- Engine oil cooler, but no transmission oil cooler.

Obviously, the car is intended primarily for the street. Drive testing has just begun, but so far, everything seems to be going well. I won't know until next year whether the air conditioning and engine cooling will keep up with a Houston summer, but at 75 F, it seems to have no problems and everything is well within the green and the cockpit is staying cool, even in bright sunshine.
 

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Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
BEAUTIFUL car!

But, you neglected to mention what's AFT of the cockpit!

A 'Graz' and what? 'Hard to tell from photo. 'Appears to be S.B.C.?
 
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The blue color is amazing. What is the paint code for your color?

It is a Ford color: Sonic Blue.

The attached photo shows the numbers, but they don't include a "pinch" of pearl added to the can. Unfortunately, I don't know how big a "pinch" that was! :)
 

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It is a Ford color: Sonic Blue.

The attached photo shows the numbers, but they don't include a "pinch" of pearl added to the can. Unfortunately, I don't know how big a "pinch" that was! :)

That’s the same color as my white 2005 Ford GT’s blue stripes. Looks great. I’m struggling to find the right color for my 2018 Ford GT. I don’t like the factory blue offering, and have been looking at every good blue shade I can find. The secret is in the pearl.
 
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Thanks for the compliments, guys! :)

With regard to the hinged front, here's some information I emailed to someone else who asked a similar question:

The front on my car will open with the hydraulic shocks in the fully down
position. It won't open to 90 degrees, but will open to the point shown in
my post, which allows for sufficient access to the front. If necessary, it
can be removed with an assistant in about 3 minutes (pull two quick-release
pins, disconnect two connectors and lift it off).

The key for the opening geometry is to put the hinge point as far forward
and as low as possible.

IIRC, the hinge was constructed out of 3/16" aluminum sheet. One of the
attached pictures shows the cardboard template I used for the first cutout
(front of the car is to the left). The hinge needs to fit up into the
fiberglass post where the pins are located.

For hinge pins, I drilled 1" round aluminum tube to make fat bushings that
would sandwich against the aluminum hinge plate. These spread the load over
a larger area of the fiberglass and make it less likely for the fiberglass
holes to widen over time. A clevis pin goes through the bushings and hinge
plate. It has penny washers sandwiching it against the outside of the
fiberglass posts.

The fiberglass itself was reinforced on the inside, building up the
thickness to increase the contact area against the bushings, but still
leaving a "slot" for the arm of the hinge plate.

Hopefully the attached pictures will help explain.
 

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After about 14 miles, the engine started running very rough and after about 1 more mile, quit completely and wouldn't restart.

Fortunately, I have been just cruising the neighborhood, so didn't have very far to push the car back into the garage, where I could close the door and hide.

A big clue came when I was eventually able to get it to restart and idle roughly; the fuel pressure gauge on the regulator showed only 20 psi with the engine running - much less than the 60 psi it normally is for this engine.

The culprit was trash in the fuel filter. Although I had carefully flushed the tanks, either something got past the tanks or the fuel pumps themselves had some trash in them. The filters I was using were Russell 65013; one upstream of the pumps and one downstream. I had assumed that the filter elements within the chamber was a cylinder, but on opening it up, discovered it is in fact a disc about the size of a quarter. This of course provides very little surface area to collect trash and means that only a little contamination in the fuel is guaranteed to quickly stop the flow and the engine.

On further research, it appears this is a common design, shared by several manufacturers of inline fuel filters.

I have since swallowed hard and emptied the piggy bank to buy these: Aeromotive Fuel Filters 12345 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing. They have a cylindrical filter and much more surface area.

Of course, this might just mean that it takes longer before the next stoppage, but hopefully the distance between warning and quitting will be more than a mile next time. . .
 

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