GT40 Australia Chassis #64

[Dave]

Peter you're right about the seat bolts being the lowest part of the car.
My floor is the super low option, which is an inch lower than the flat section

I have used gutter type bolts with very large washer (approx 50mm) on the seat and under the floor and cut them flush with nut after final tightening. I might grab a peice of titanium and screw it next to the floor bolts for the spark effect when she bottoms out. I'm not sure if what I have done is the best way though. The runners under the floor sounds like a good idea.

 

[Ricky]

Hi Dave,
Sorry for the delay getting back to you about the seat upholsterer. I was flat out all weekend working on the XKSS for a client.

The upholsterer I used was Romeri Motor Trimmers in Bibra Lake. Ask for Adam. ph (08) 9434 4110. He is young but is trained in the old school of motor trimming and does a great job. The GT40 is the second of my cars I had him do.

From memory he did the whole interior inclusive of the seats in leather, carpet, etc, etc, for about AU$2000.00 This was a couple of years ago now so prices would have gone up. This excluded the dash though as I had it vinyl wrapped elsewhere.

 

[Peter Delaney]

Dave - nice idea about the titanium "skates" !!

I am running about 4.5" ground clearance to the chassis rails mid-car - if I put the old-style dropped floors in, I figure on losing about 0.5" to allow for the nuts/bolts/skates.

The extra 1" headroom provided by your super-low floors is highly attractive, but I'm not sure that I can live with only 3" ground clearance (remember, I live in NSW - so you know what our roads (goat-tracks) are like) !!

Any stories on real-world experiences with the super-low floors from when you were doing your research ?

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Bill Bayard]

Dave,

If you don't mind my asking, where'd you find 295/50/16's? What speed

rating are they? I've been looking for a wider rear tire (mine are 255's) for

four years!

BTW, your car looks great!

At your rate of progress, you'll be done when........middle of next month?




Bill

 

[Dave]

Hey Guys
Here's some pics of me sitting in the car.
Fitted the shifter, ended up going centre shift using
a cable set-up. Works really well.

Peter - No real stories just knew from sitting in few standard
cars that I had to sit as low as possible. My previous Clubman 7
was only 75mm off the ground and I had no problems.

 

[Dave]

Bill the tyres are BF Goodrich TA's. I bought my wheels secondhand and
they came with 90% tread tyres front and rear, I have taken the 295's
off and swapped to 255 race rubber.

 

[Chris P.]

It looks like your tranny (and therefore presumably the engine) is hard mounted. Any reason why you're using cables as opposed to a stiffer tube / U-joint setup?

 

[Mike Dozier]

Chris

Dave's tranny mounts appear to have bushings at the frame bolt.
Hardmounting is a no-no.

Cable shifters are less costly, easier to install (especially on a center shift), and do not bind like rods can. For racing applications rods are probably
a bit quicker...but for most street applications a good cable shifter is fine.

Mike

 

[Bill Bayard]

Dave,

Thanks! I had hoped there was an option other than TA's for 295's.

C'est la vie!




Bill

 

[Dave]

Chris the gearbox is mounted using bushes. I went the cable option
because It seemed easier to make. The shifter is tight and the cables
just find their own way back to the gearbox. The other reason is you can change the shift ratios easily.

Bill - The 295's gave me clearence problems with the lower clevis pins.

 

[Peter Delaney]

Dave, fixated as I am about seats & floors, I talked to Peter Ransom today to get the low-down (so to speak) on the dropped floor options.

Regarding fixing the seats, the recommended approach is to have removeable Velcro-attached lower seat cushions & to screw the bolts in thru the seats from above. These bolts simply screw into threaded holes in 6mm steel plates riveted (c/s) under the floors - therefore no need for 1/2" worth of nyloc nuts & washers / titanium skates under the floor, etc !

You can imagine how thrilled I was to get this info AFTER I had the seats trimmed with non-removeable cushions over 4 bloody great coach-head bolts glassed into place !!!

So, back to the upholsterer to see if he can make the seat cushions removeable so that I can run bolts into the threaded plates - 4 steps forward, 5 back !!

BTW, PR also mentioned that he is now bolting the seat backs to threaded plates glassed into the removeable engine bulkhead panel in a similar fashion - this solves 2 problems :

- seat rigidity becomes a non-issue
- Aust Design Rules compliance

Definitely worth a check with PR before you do the upholstery !

As usual, I have been following my own weird design philosphy :

- need a wheel
- design one from scratch
- then, check how others have been doing it for years !!

Kind Regards,

World Champion Slow Learner
aka Peter D. !!

 

[Dave]

Peter- the seat bolt plates under the floor is a good idea
and I think I may change to this aswell. I'm now looking at
the Exhaust system and have realised I need to make 2 systems
one for the rego boys to meet sound limits and one for after rego
for performance (which is a bugger).

 

[Peter Delaney]

Hi Dave, I had to do the same thing with the exhausts - the "rego set" was all 2" pipe, CAT's, biggest mufflers that would fit, etc. I even had to shove 6 s/s pot-scubbers up the outlet pipes (held in place by 2 long, thin bolts at 90deg to eachother). And even then, we only just scraped through.

You might want to contact Pete (red DRB in QLD) - I know he used those multi-plate Super-Traps to quieten his down - maybe they are available for loan or rent (much cheaper than buying a set for a once-only use) !

For Version 2, I went with 2.5" pipes all round, smaller mufflers (SuperCats), & retained the original CAT's (there is an evil rumour circulating that they are in fact empty - now who would do that) !

For future Version 3, I am looking at Gonzo's (see pic) - pricey, but they look way better than the horrible loop-back setup I have, & I understand that they have an option which includes internal CAT's (spec sheet / receipt for same might be a useful bit of evidence if you are pulled over by any over-zealous boys in blue) !

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Peter Delaney]

Dave - some pics of the "rego setup" (vertical mufflers), & Version 2 (horizontal mufflers) :

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Dave]

Thanks for pics Peter, I also need to make 2 sets of extractors aswell.
I have to go over the pits with the standard heads and the extractors
I want wont fit. So here are some pics of some extractors I chucked togethor
today, Will finish the collectors tomorrow and go with the 2 inch choker
set up. Anyone want a cheap set after I get back from the Rego?

 

[Dave]

This Charlie - My quality control inspector.

 

[Doug S.]

Your intake manifold

Is that an EFI manifold or is it one of those Ford inline carb manifolds?

Just curious.

Thanks.

Doug

 

[Dave]

It's the base of the EFI manifold, We have to license our cars over here
with the standard unmodified motor.

 

[Peter Delaney]

Dave - that's a beautiful piece of pipe-work for something that was "knocked up today" - you have obviously missed your calling in life !!

What heads are you going to use (final) ? I have AFR 160's, & my headers fitted ok, both on the original 95 Mustang CI heads & the Alloy AFR's (even after the recent engine rebuild that involved minor block & head decking).

BTW - what have you been doing to Charlie's diet - it looks like he has enough skin there for an extra couple of dogs !!

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Dave]

Well here is todays effort, Got the choker extractors painted and fitted.
Finished the collectors which drop down to 2inch outlet for my next job
which is the choker exhaust ( Rego & Engineering is APITA)

Peter - Charlie is a Shar-pei. The same dog thats on the toilet paper adds.
He eats like a King. I'm looking forward to licensing as then I can
build the real car. I'm not sure which to go with my motor as I have
had previous success turbo charging my clubman so am looking at
this at the moment which means I would need to fabricate turbo
headers.