Hey all,
It was suggested by another member here who I bought a transaxle from that I post the progress of my build. No its not a GT40. I want a GT40. I just can't afford a GT40. And as prices climb like crazy I couldn't even afford a cigar shaped formula ford from the era, which I had been saving and shopping for for a while.
After autocrossing a 1970 Lotus Europa with a fuel injected engine swapped in, and then road racing a Formula 500 car, I realized not only had I completely disassembled and reassembled a car countless times, but also fabricated a lot of of replacement parts on the chassis's themselves. Plus I had come to love just how much ISN'T there on an open wheel car. So being a more than a little nuts I decided to build a secondary dream car to the GT40, and set out to build a kind of hybrid between the 1965 Indy winning Lotus 38, a formula 5000, and well a lot of F1 cars from the era that have one or another engineering solutions that I like.
If you want to know just how crazy I am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoSnoayLuIM
I'm just building the car to autocross with my local club as a for fun thing rather than to compete. Its not built to any current SCCA regs, and I'm not trying to pretend its original. I'm making it safer than an original (though that's not saying much) but there are certain things I'd have to change if I wanted to road race this thing around here.
I'm using a ford 5.0 engine with an Audi 016 gearbox. I grew up restoring classic Mustang's so I'm very familiar with the Windsor block. I'm not starting out with webers or fuel injection, just a 4 barrel for simplicity's sake and at a weight of 1,200lbs with fuel and driver, no matter what I'm going to have more than enough power to scare the crap out of myself.
From the rear bulkhead to the front suspension the car is an aluminum monocoque. Mostly 16 and 18 gauge 6061 T6. 2024 would have been more correct to the originals, but I live very near the ocean and was worried about corrosion.
The front suspension is mounted with a steel tube sub frame, and another steel subframe is employed at the rear for the engine and rear suspension. The rear subframe was a compromise I made for both longevity, and ease of modification. That and having to support the audi gearbox behind the axle shafts rather than in front like a Hewland or ZF gearbox would have been in one of these cars originially was a problem that steel tubes quickly solved.
The front suspension is Mustang II spindles, granada discs, and rocker arms from a Reynard Formula Ford.
The rear suspension is just fabricated from swedge tubes and using 94 Cobra Mustang hubs.
It was suggested by another member here who I bought a transaxle from that I post the progress of my build. No its not a GT40. I want a GT40. I just can't afford a GT40. And as prices climb like crazy I couldn't even afford a cigar shaped formula ford from the era, which I had been saving and shopping for for a while.
After autocrossing a 1970 Lotus Europa with a fuel injected engine swapped in, and then road racing a Formula 500 car, I realized not only had I completely disassembled and reassembled a car countless times, but also fabricated a lot of of replacement parts on the chassis's themselves. Plus I had come to love just how much ISN'T there on an open wheel car. So being a more than a little nuts I decided to build a secondary dream car to the GT40, and set out to build a kind of hybrid between the 1965 Indy winning Lotus 38, a formula 5000, and well a lot of F1 cars from the era that have one or another engineering solutions that I like.
If you want to know just how crazy I am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoSnoayLuIM
I'm just building the car to autocross with my local club as a for fun thing rather than to compete. Its not built to any current SCCA regs, and I'm not trying to pretend its original. I'm making it safer than an original (though that's not saying much) but there are certain things I'd have to change if I wanted to road race this thing around here.
I'm using a ford 5.0 engine with an Audi 016 gearbox. I grew up restoring classic Mustang's so I'm very familiar with the Windsor block. I'm not starting out with webers or fuel injection, just a 4 barrel for simplicity's sake and at a weight of 1,200lbs with fuel and driver, no matter what I'm going to have more than enough power to scare the crap out of myself.
From the rear bulkhead to the front suspension the car is an aluminum monocoque. Mostly 16 and 18 gauge 6061 T6. 2024 would have been more correct to the originals, but I live very near the ocean and was worried about corrosion.
The front suspension is mounted with a steel tube sub frame, and another steel subframe is employed at the rear for the engine and rear suspension. The rear subframe was a compromise I made for both longevity, and ease of modification. That and having to support the audi gearbox behind the axle shafts rather than in front like a Hewland or ZF gearbox would have been in one of these cars originially was a problem that steel tubes quickly solved.
The front suspension is Mustang II spindles, granada discs, and rocker arms from a Reynard Formula Ford.
The rear suspension is just fabricated from swedge tubes and using 94 Cobra Mustang hubs.