SPF chin clearance issues

[Daryl Adams]

The good news is that my completed SPF MKI is being shipped to Chicago as I write this. The bad news is that our current local situation includes cold temps, snow, rain and salt covered roads. Since big trucks are not allowed in my village, I am considering having the car delivered to my office building where I can keep it in a heated garage until the snow and rain clear up and I can drive it home on clear road surfaces. Unfortunately the garage access is via a ramp, and I'm not sure the GT40 will make it down without scraping something. Can any of you guys look at your car and give me a couple measurements? I need the general ground clearance within the wheelbase, the clearance to the underside of the chin, and the distance from that chin spot back to the front wheel centerline, (overhang) I think the bellhousing will be okay since it's fairly close to the rear wheel centerline.

Thanks, I do not want to spend the next week cleaning salty slush residue from all the nooks and crannies!!

[Steve C]

Daryl,
Great that your car is on the way (been awhile huh!).

To road clearance as I recall (althoough my car is not at hand to measure) I believe clearance at bottom of chin lip and under the car at large is 4"..maybe 4 front and little more than 4 in rear.....Clearance under front sway bar links is less but, they are within the front wheel envelope...my bellhousing is flush with the underpan but the FE Avaid pan sits prould of the underbody in the front by 3/4" and again I dont see this as a problem if basic 4" clearance is OK as the rear wheels envelope covers it.....So bottom line (pardon the pun) is that 4" is what I believe you have at least I have on my MK11..Steve P2125

[Lynn Miner]

Daryl

Steve is correct that the clearance is about 4 inches. However, the nose of the car extends far forward of the wheels. This mean you need a VERY shallow ramp otherwise the nose will hit the ramp before the wheel do. You may need to make up some "steps" out of 2x8s to get the nose up until you can get the wheels on the ramp. I'm well versed in this technique because I have 4 miles of dirt road to the nearest paved road. I have to trailer my car off the mountain every time I drive it. The distance from the front of the tire where it meets the floor to the front extent of the nose is 36 inches.

[Eric Johnson]

Daryl,

Sway bar link clearance is a startling 2.5 inches,however Steve's right it will fall under the front wheel/tire radius envelope'

Eric

[Steve C]

Eric,
Look in the "How To" Forum...Lynn has posted a fix to mod the link. The mod increases road cleaance by an additional 3/4" or so....Olthoff is doing this to cars before delivery.
Steve SPF 2125

[Eric Johnson]

Steve,

Thanks for the info on Lynn's solution.Very nice!


Lynn,

Thankyou for sharing the other "How to " information.Nice pictures as well...




Eric Johnson

[Lynn Miner]

Thanks for the kind words Eric. I'd like to take this opportunity to once again solicit input from the forum members to submit their own "How To's" The more input we have from others, the better this section will be. Send your ideas directly to me or Rich Woerz and we'll get it up there for you. Make sure you include your contact info so we can make sure you get the credit for the work.

[Daryl Adams]

Thanks everyone. Your info confirms my suspicions. The car won't make it without playing around with multiple 2x6's on the ramp, which is not practical. So, it looks like I have to cross my fingers and hope for good weather.

[Mark Clapp]

Probably real obvious, but maybe have them off load it just outside your neighborhood and minimize the drive to your house. Then it will be safe and sound and you can sit in it and go rrrrr...rrrrr.