GT40 Australia Chassis #64

[GregF]

Dave

Have you seen the "Tragic accident in Germany post"?
Has certainly confirmed a roll cage for me. When you think of the light weight, low height and power to weight ratio, it only takes one idiot on the street or track to wipe the smile off your dial. One member likened driving a '40 to riding a motorbike, which is probably the most sensible thing I have read on the forum for a while.

Best of luck with your build.
Greg

 

[Dave]

Almost finished

After building several scratch built cars I'm looking forward
to putting a car togethor that has been nutted out.
I'm really happy that PR and his crew fit the body and
finalise all the panel gaps.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Dave,
I was at the sizzle today and saw your body/chassis sitting in the work shop.
It looks really good, I don't think you will have to much filling and sanding to do when it comes time for paint.
I didn't connect that it was yours until I got home and read your post, so didn't ask Peter when he thought it would be ready to ship. But I bet you have asked him that question more than once.

 

[Dave]

Hopefully it looks as good as it does in the photo's.
It's ready to freight now. Will be a nervous wait. Plenty
of pacing back and forth.

 

[Dave]

well the car has turned up.

Fitted motor and gearbox, painting rear suspension and uprights
at the moment. Hopefully final rear suspension fit-up tomorrow.
I have found that my 16 x 10 with 5 inch set back rear rims with 295/50/16's rub on the lower clevis pin bolt, may have to drop tyre size down to 255's.
What clearence is the lower clevis to tyre usually ? The upper
clevis has stacks of clearence.

 

[Dave]

Got a heap of work done today. Ended up going Mike D's way
and fitting an Audi 016 (sorry PR). The DRB is an easy car to work
with and have been pleased with most of it. Problem working on it
is that you have stop and look at the car evey ten minutes to
remind yourself the dream is coming true.

 

[Mike Dozier]

Hi Dave

Looking good.
You can change your signature now....no longer due...it arrived !


MikeD

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Wow good progress Dave, keep the pics coming.

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the compliments Guys
Spent today setting up the wipers, Just need to get them powder
coated. No were near as painfull to set as my Cobra was. I still have
terrible dreams of setting up triple wipers.

 

[Dave]

Thinking about this kit that GT40s Australia supply's,
It's actually quite an easy car to build. I'm trying to make
as much as I can because I enjoy metal work. But it's great
knowing if I get stuck PR is just an email or phone call away.
Here's a shot of the wiper motor set up. Had it running so all
works ok.

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

Wow ! Thats some progress, You're Hired

 

[hoppy]

Well,you certainly haven't been slack since getting the car.Nothing like seeing progress.Look forward to more pics.

 

[Dave]

Thanks Guys
Got the steering column fitted today, Cut the dash for clearence around the
steering column shroud. Onto the pedals tomorrow and hopefully mount both
seats. My wife wants the drivers seat to be adjustable (she has shorter legs
than I). I dont know how the fibreglass seats will hold with no back support.

 

[Ricky]

Great progress Dave.

At this rate you'll be ready for Mt Clarence hill climb next year....

 

[Peter Delaney]

Hi Dave,

You are powering along !

I started with the original DRB seat shells (see pic of one beside an original RF set), narrowed them a tad (to get handbrake clearance), then filled the back of the curved recess around the edges with a mix of polyester resin & micro-balloons. Then I ran 4 layers of glass over that & blended in all round.

The difference in the seat stiffness was huge. I stuck some foam on the seats, shaped it roughly, & then just wacked on some cheap seat covers for test drives. A bit more foam here, a bit less there & I was happy. Then off to the upholsterer for the leather treatment, etc - top quality hide, pump-up lumbar support for RHS - all for less than A$1800 (see pic#2).

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Dave]

Rick - It would be a dream come true if the car was ready in time.
Where did you get your seats trimmed?

Peter- Your seats look awesome, Did you end up mounting them so they
slide. I think I'm going to have to give my seats more support.

 

[Peter Delaney]

Thanks Dave,
No slides - I am about 5'9" & have set the seats as far back as possible. Even then, I would like another 1-2" of legroom (I have the old-style hanging pedals & I think that these are set further back than the pedal-box option). My main problem with the seats is height - I have the original folded floor throughout, & even with the minimal seat cushion height, my head still touches the door ! So the next project is to install the dropped floors - should give me a bit over an inch extra clearance (might even be able to fit in wearing a helmet) !

Another issue I had with the overall driving position was that fact that the standard KC Laser steering column was too long - the wheel was too close to me, & there was about an inch between the switchgear shroud & the dash. I solved that one by compressing the column an inch (probably not strictly legal, but IMHO, provdes a "safer" driving position). I know that some RF owners have also done this, so it might be worth double-checking your driving position & shroud/dash clearance earlier rather than later !

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Dave]

Thanks Peter
If you need the dimension of the dropped floor or need some pics
of it let me know. When I set my steering column up I made the
bracket to move the column forward a heap. I found that my wife could
reach the pedals with the seat hard up against cab wall. So all is well.
I fit well too. I'm 6 foot so I'm pleased. Fitted seats today(just have to get them trimmed now) and the Wilwood clutch and brake pedals today.
Looking at the gearshifter next. My not sure wether to buy or make?
Left or rightside shift?

 

[JackW]

Dave you are making fantastic progress. Quite inspirational really. It scares me when I read of builds taking years. You look like yours will be months. A far more reasonable affair. Keep up the great work.

Jack

 

[Peter Delaney]

Hi Dave, It looks like you have the whole seating / driving position sorted out very nicely - much easier to do early on than at the end !

Thanks for the offer re the dropped floor. I have a pretty good idea of your setup from one of your early pics taken just after powder-coating. I also got some pics quite a while ago from PR - it looks like you have a newer version that actually drops the floor even lower than the original version which just lined up with the lower sections of the folded floor (see pic).

The other interesting change I noticed was that the inner seat belt bracket is no a lot longer than the original - excellent move, as the old version was too far back to be comfortable.

Any ideas on how to bolt the seats in (I was planning on putting a length of 2-3mm steel bar under the floor to spread the load, & welding some "runners" on each side of the exposed nuts/bolts to provide some protection against "running aground" on some damn speed hump ! (Beats mangling the seat bolts) !

Kind Regards,

Peter D.