Roaring Forties #52

[Pete McCluskey.]

Re: RF52

Pat, your car looks fantastic.I love the pipes, are they ceramic aluminium? I bet they sound as good as they look.
Not long now, congratulations. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banana.gif

 

Re: RF52

Dave, the engine panels are painted aluminum. I didn't like the look of black tube steel and aluminum panels, so I sanded and primed all the aluminum with epoxy then finished everything in a single pack moisture cured urethane. Looks like a boat.

Hershal, yes I am having fun, and a whole bunch more now than just a couple of days ago!

Pete, the pipes were sand blasted then painted using Eastwood's spray can header paint. Not happy. The paint is blistered and peeling. Once it all works I plan on pulling the pipes back off and having them professionally done. Like I should have from the beginning. And yes, it sounds absolutely fantasic. The best part is that everyone in the entire neighborhood knew exactly what was happening!

 

[Peter Delaney]

Re: RF52

Pat, it is looking gorgeous !

I can relate to your fun with neighbours - I have my whole exhaust off now being ceramic coated, but when I had just got the rear clip & mufflers off, I couldn't resist the temptation of a quick squirt around the block !! Boy, did that get the neighbours out from in front of their TV sets !!

Not long now before the serious fun begins !

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[DMatt]

Re: RF52

Pat,

The car looks great.

What method are you going to use to mount the transaxle, Hershal's method or the stock RF setup?

 

[Robert Logan]

Re: RF52

Pat,

The car looks great.

The new cars from South Africa have the aluminium pannels anodized like your panels. I think it looks great and is just so much easier to look after.

I also think the way you braced the engine to start it is realy interesting. I have never seen or heard of this before and I am sure it would work very well.

Keep up the good work,

Best wishes,

Robert

 

Re: RF52

Dan, I am going to try Hershal's method, although my first shot is to use some mounts (pucks, really) from Speedway I saw the other night while reading their catalog. I'm too lazy to actually call McMaster and get the right urethane.

 

Re: RF52

Robert, I had to come up with something to keep the engine from flopping around! Many thanks for reprogramming the Motec, worked out perfectly, as did the instructions on setting the TPS. Your support continues to be outstanding. Heading to England for the holidays, as soon as I get back the gearbox is going in!

 

[Howard Jones]

Re: RF52

The really fun thing to do is take it out as a go-cart, without the front and rear clip and doors, for the first run around the block.

It will make you grin for a week, swear to god!

 

Re: RF52

Glass in, hopefully gearbox in this weekend. Had to do some sanding on the glass, total time about an hour and a half. Still fighting a guerrilla war with air in the cooling system.

 

Re: RF52

And in.

 

[HILLY]

Re: RF52

Looking good Pat.
How much sanding was required on the glass??

 

[DMatt]

Re: RF52

Wow, your almost done!!! Looks fantastic.

Did you have to raise the front of your motor to mount your transaxle using the Hershal method? I'm going to play around with my motor/trans set up before I make a decision.

Also, how does the axle location on the trans line up with the axle location on the upright? Mine do not line up at all. The trans is about 1 1/4" rearward of the upright location. I don't think I could move the engine any further forward because the distributor will hit the frame. Maybe some other RF guys could chime in also.

 

Re: RF52

Hilly, he took about 1/4" off both lower corners, then just smoothed all the other edges out. Went through about three or four 80 grit sanding pads.

I did test fit the gearbox once, but it was a while agao and can't remember how it lined up. I can't cheat the motor any further forward, so it stays where it is. I have not yet done any mods to the corss bar since until the gearbox is mounted I won't have the actual height of the headers. Hopefully I can answer your question better come Sunday evening.

 

[HILLY]

Re: RF52

Pat,

That is about the same that I need to remove off mine.
I assume that you used ‘normal’ sanding products. No special exotic types!
Were there any concerns with overheating the class during sanding? I was afraid of cracking the class if it got too hot.

 

Finally made it out of the driveway for the first time. Up and down the street a couple of times. Clutch pedal is long, the brakes a bit long, my cooling fans don't run and the car bottoms over the end of the drive, but by God, it finally went somewhere!

 

Header pipes required a lot of cutting, shortening and lengthening before the collectors would fit. Then the collector needed to be cut off the muffler to get the mufflers to line up. Then new muffler brackets had to be built since I had lowered the transmission and fixed the pipes.

Now I just have to stick on the heat blanket and re-install the rear clip.

 

[Mark Worthington]

It's alive!!! You're getting close. Way to go, Pat.

I got my engine installed this weekend and the next step is to paint my upper crossmember (I like the blue color you chose) and install my exhaust, the infamous George Cochran bundle of snakes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have fitment problems with the collectors and I want to replace my resonator with one or two mufflers. Can you tell me what kind of mufflers you used?

 

[Chris Kouba]

Congrats Pat! Must feel good.

Chris

 

[Cliff]

Thought we saw you...

Pat,

I'm new to posting, but have been lurking for years. My son and I have seen a GT40 with paint similar to yours recently in the Clear Lake area. I told him I thought it was probably yours (didn't think there were many in the Houston area), but now I see it wasn't. What part of Houston are you in?

Anyway, congrats on getting the car "on the road". You're living my dream...

Cliff

 

Mark, absolutely no idea on the mufflers, but they did come in Nissan boxes. Not sure if I trust that though. Would measurements help?

Cliff, I live in The Woodlands, about an hour north. You're close to Simon, he lives in that general area, did the car you see have orange stripes?