Marko's GTD (I think) 40

[Pierre-Louis]

You surely should set your engine more forward, from the pics you seems to have enough room (and remember many GT40, including the originals, have their water pump pulley protruding in the cockpit through the firewall - you could use a shorter water pump if you don't fancy that idea).

This could maybe solve (or reduce) the drive shaft angle issue, and maybe also have the horseshoe clear the engine block.

For you oil filter no problem, you could use a remote filter, or a shorter one...

 

[Marko S.]

Hi Pierre,

I did some more measuring and I think I could gain 6, maybe 7 degrees if I push the engine to the point that the pulley is protruding through the firewall. Im having a buddy over at the workshop tomorrow to help me out. Hopefully it all fits. Ill report back once we fit it properly.

Thank you guys for your input. You have made my worries (partially) go away

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Marko S.]

I must say though, having the engine in there does make me feel awkward in funny places.

 

[Peter G-Pete Fritsche]

Marko, as before mentioned the engine needs to moving forward. There are more reasons then the drive shaft angle.
You need to clear the horseshoe for the exhaust and the transmission has to clear the rear clamp shell.
From here it looks like there is no provision for the distributor on the frame.


PS: I sent you a link...

 

[Marko S.]

Right, the horseshoe is in the way of the exhaust. Makes sense. Im not sure about the distributor though. Tomorrow Ill know more once we try to push the engine forward. And cuddle with it a bit. I will keep you posted. Not on the cuddling part though. That would be silly.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Marko S.]

Right, so today we were wiglling the engine about and I must say its tight in there. I got about half an inch clearance on three different points, but we cleared the horseshoe and set it straight and level and now I can take measurments for the mounts. Because its such a tight fit I will have to use solid mounts. Otherwise the vibrations would cause the engine to knock against the chassis rails and the horseshoe and the crank pulley could scrape against the bulkhead. I will try to fit thee driveshafts in the evening but the angles look good so far. The adaptor plate bolt thats leaning against the horseshoe will go out and Ill drill the plate a bit and use an allen head bolt. In essence it will be something like a countersunk bolt.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Ian Anderson]

Check you can get a V belt between pulley and chassis

It would be a real pain if you had to remove the engine to change a belt!

(I know someone who had a car like this)

Ian

 

[Marko S.]

Hi Ian,

That hasnt crossed my mind but I think that there is a serious possibility of that happening... With 15mm clearence to the horseshoe there is another 15mm between the chassis rail and the pulley. I simply have no room in there. On the other hand, it will make regular servicing quite an adventure

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Bill Musarra]

Marco,
In several of your photos you show the engine very close to different frame members. My Windsor build did the same thing. You can help yourself by notching the frame members without compromising strength. The crank pulley area is one for sure. Notch it 1/4-1/2" across the face of the pulley. Then you will not have issues with changing a belt. The area of the horseshoe where you have a bolt or bell housing up against the frame do the same. Be sure to close up the notch so that strength is not compromised. In other words, don't leave a hole in the frame member. Even using less monstrous engines you can run into these kinds of problems. Ask me how I know? If you have a 0.5" clearance you are home free. You will need the solid mounts just to keep the rocking of the engine with the massive torque from hitting the frame. What you will have to put up with is the rocking of the entire car at a red light from the torque. It lets those around you know you have one heck of an engine in there.

Bill

 

[Marko S.]

Hahaha I can live with that Bill. Rocking of the entire car is even encouraged in my book I have a hemi 300c as my daily driver with electric cutouts in the place of the catalitic converters so Im familiar with the subject. The rocking broke two of the plastic dashboard holders but I still think its worth it. I was planning to put solid mounts in when I realized there were such clearance issues. Im inmy workshop as we speak, trying to level the engine and get equal clearance all around and Im circling at just about 0.4" to 0.5" all around. If I do get belt issues I can get a lot more clearance by swaping to single row pulleys so I think Ill be fine. I might take your advice though on the right hand side of the horseshoe cause it seems this is the most critical part. Did you use 01E too? It has a tough angle on one of the supports on that side.

Btw, how did the driveshaft lenghts play out for you guys? I seem to need a longer one on one side even with the engine centered and leveled, chassis straight and pickup points at equal distances.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Marko S.]

Ignore my last question, the engine has to move 1" to the right which means I will definitely take your advice Bill. Getting late here. Midnight means no more work for me today. Or is it tommorow? Good night.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Marko S.]

Hi guys,

Any opinions about those shocks from couple of posts ago? The engine is on standby until Monday cause Ill get hell from the neighbours if I start up the grinder.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Marko S.]

More joy. I wanted to relocate the front suspension pickup points and after some crude measuring found that both upper and lower wishbones are bent by some 3 to 4 degrees. I dont know how I didnt notice that before. Compensating for that by moving the pickup points is a half ass job so Ill make new ones. I just hope the chassis is not in the same state.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Marko S.]

Hi guys,

I hope you had fun during the Easter holidays and took your 40s rabbit chasing

I did a lot of thinking and planning regarding the engine position and decided to cut out a pice of the chassis in front of the engine and move it forward to gain clearance. I will be strenghtening the chassis on the parts I cut out and relocating the rails. It will probably cause me some problems in future but Ill address those later. I was thinking it would be cool to make a box of plexiglass to encase the protruding pulleys so that they can be seen out of the cockpit.

As for the wishbones I gave up the idea of finding or buying replacement ones and decided to make them myself which will solve many issues. I made a CAD model of the upper already and started work on the lower wishbones. My grandfather, who is a structural engineer (and an extremly good one too), will use the models to calculate stress in them to verify my design or point out the flaws. Once thats done I will fabricate them with the help of my friend. I think MIG welded 4130 steel should do the trick. If anyone has any suggestions dont hesitate to share.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Morten]

Lots of work there. Any plans on rear upright plate for fixing your brackets to rear brake caliper and handbrake caliper?
(10-12mm plate between upright face and audi wheelbearing, and perhaps another 15-20 mm spacer to clear the brakedisc)
Best of luck in your build

 

[Peter G-Pete Fritsche]

One hint Marco, modify your frame so you are being able to take the transmission out without removing the engine.

As of the Plexiglas on the pulleys - you need to install a light down there otherwise it is pretty dark down there when all covers are on.

 

[Marko S.]

Hi guys,

I did some light contemplating regarding the brakes but nothing worth mentioning yet. Once I have those HiSpecs in my hands I will give them some thought.

As for the gearbox, that is a solid point which I haven't thought about to be honest. Luckily, this modification allows for the easy tranny removal so I have that part covered. Also, the engine will be much easier to pull out since there is more overhead space.

When I was thinking about the plexiglass cover it did occur to me that the place is gonna be dark. The cover will be made out of three vertical sides and one upper horizontal but still, the windows on the 40 are small and I doubt there will be much light in there, especially with seats and people sitting in them, so some LEDs would help a lot. Maybe one LED strip above the pulleys but underneath the horizontal part of the cover and one strip underneath the bottom side of the front vertical side of the cover, basically in front and under the crank pulley.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Mike Pass]

Try sitting in the car to make sure that you have enough room for your body. You have taken a big chunk of space from the cabin by moving the motor so far forward. The space is tight even with the engine in a more normal position. You may well have just moved your lack of space further forward.
Cheers
Mike

 

[Marko S.]

Hi Mike,

Im really skinny so I have plenty of space, but even bigger people will be able to sit inside. In fact, its not such a big intrusion into the cockpit, some 3 inches maybe and also only 2 or 3 inches left and right of the centreline. Since the seats are tilted at an angle they might even fit inside without modifications, but since Ill be making them myself I can make them so they "wrap" around the protruding part. Also, the rails that will connect the bulkhead with the central support will be tilted at an angle so again, not much room will be lost.

Cheers,
Marko

 

[Bill Musarra]

Marco,
You might want to consider using an electric water pump. That is what I did and closed up the timing chain cover by grinding the gasket surfaces off. You can weld adapters to fit the water inlets on the block and route them out of the way of the belts. In doing so you eliminate the bulge in the firewall.

You will give yourself more room than you know by doing it that way. You will feel less crowded in the cabin. This shows my first iteration of the water pump. Had to move it as it was too crowded there. I mounted my pump in the front where there is plenty of room. 35 gpm(Moroso) is plenty to keep things cool.

I don't run a thermostat and the engine temps in the spring and fall are around 160 and in 90 degree summer days it gets up to 170-180 depending on the speed I m traveling. You can install a bypass thermostat if you want.

I installed some additional small(5 inch) fans in the engine bay at the front of the engine to help out with stop and go traffic.

I also added a run on thermostat that runs for 3 minutes after the engine is shut down(Waytek).

Bill