Ken's SLC build thread

The car in the first three photos is one Craig's shop built in AU. The last photo is of a car in RCR's home.

The hinge is from Watson Streetworks but I believe Fran does not recommend using them, at least not by themselves, to secure the front clip.

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I'd think anyone not using their SLC primarily as a racecar should buy that wheel liner kit. It looks properly OEM and should probably cost a good deal more!
 
I thinking I would be interested in that too, After the inner wheel wells go in it gonna getting kinda heavy for a single guy lift off.
 
I have the hinge and will be using it in conjunction with 6-8 camlocks along the leading edge to properly secure the front clip.
 
Dave, I think that a couple of pip pins would do just as well.
To secure the leading edge? How?

Cam locks are at least flush and would be hidden so there is nothing to protrude out the bottom of the car? The pip pins will protrude, regardless of how they are installed.
 

Ken Roberts

Supporter
Dave do you have a part number for the hinge assembly? The current ones being sold at Watsons StreetWorks don't look like yours.
 
Dave, through the rad support panels inside the brake duct area of the front clip
(sideways). You may need an small extension aluminum panel if your shaped support panels are the newer style.
 
Mine are a bit different than the one pictured too. I may have misspoke, the hinge pictured may have been a custom part once made/provided by RCR but I am not sure. The Watson's hinge will work just the same with a simple mounting modification to the as-provided part. Another builder from a different thread a while back referenced the Watson's hinge. I have the standard Watson's hinge but I'd think you could get away with the smaller one if needed.
 
Dave, through the rad support panels inside the brake duct area of the front clip
(sideways). You may need an small extension aluminum panel if your shaped support panels are the newer style.
Not sure if you meant to replace the hinge with the pip-pins but if you did, the front clip will not pivot due to the forward extension of the front splitter. The clip will have to pivot up-and-away to clear the splitter.

If you meant to supplement the hinge mounting with the pip-pins, then that is not securing the clip to the splitter which is what Fran now recommends due to safety concerns. A few simple cam locks along the bottom of the splitter to the backside of the leading edge of the front clip would accomplish this, be easily and quickly removed with a stubby screwdriver from under the splitter, and still be hinged for a one man job.
 
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The issue is allowing the hinge to raise (lift) the front of the clip sufficiently to clear the splitter when opened. The hinge geometry for the Watson's are "almost". Wayne fabricated his hinges using some aluminum angle and flat bar, etc. I know he went through a big pile of mock-up paint sticks for over a week to get it right.

I do get your point of cam-locks. I was more thinking of securing the front clip than the splitter. Wouldn't an aluminum angle fastened along the outside of the rad support panels, and in turn, fastened to the splitter suffice? Along with splitter support struts on each side and two in the front. That was my plan (until now, maybe).
 
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The hinge geometry for the Watson's are "almost".
Did he try the large or small version of the Watson's hinge?

When I mocked mine up, it seemed to work fine, but nothing is permanently installed. Clearance will depend on how far forward the hinge is installed along the splitter along with how you adapt and where along the adapted part that the hinge is connected to the clip. That said, my results were a simple test and only preliminary.

I do get your point of cam-locks. I was more thinking of securing the front clip than the splitter. Wouldn't an aluminum angle fastened along the outside of the rad support panels, and in turn, fastened to the splitter suffice? Along with splitter support struts on each side and two in the front. That was my plan (until now, maybe).
The splitter support struts will be and should be used along with some Al angle as you described.

The issue is separation of the front clip and the splitter at speed and only relying on the bonded in vertical partitions of the front clip to hold it down. I believe this is why Fran no longer recommends the hinges, or at least relying on them alone.

Camlocks for the win...always.
 

Ken Roberts

Supporter
I found a way to isolate the radiator from the aluminum supports.

Additional horizontal tubing braces will be installed once I install the nose structure on the car.

Here are a few pictures.
 

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Ken,
Just a heads up. I'm not sure if you have spread the front aluminum extensions to fit the bushings, but the inner panel in the front clip won't clear the outer half of bushing and the head of shoulder bolts. In my case I even had to grind off 1/2 of the head of the bolt holding the splitter support rod. A test fit of front clip will let you know.
 
Ken, right idea just have to move them in-wards to the rad clips.
Its fairly tight between the front clip and the sides rad box.
Keep us in the loop on the hinges I am looking to go that way as well.
If it comes to a dead end I could draw it up in CAD and figure it out but it would be a fair bit of work.
Cheers,
Grant
 
IMO; you don't need the outer half of bushing anyway, and the inner half is way to thick. I was able to squeeze in a piece of bicycle tube between radiator tabs and extension piece and used 1/4 20 button head screws. It's still close to the inboard fiberglass piece of clip.

As Jack mentioned I have taken some time and effort to get the geometry of my hinges to where I get adequate lift and tilt to clear splitter. There are two negatives to a hinged system that I see. First, the clip does get a bit wobbly when open. It could be solved with a couple drop down bars that form an X. Second, all the weight of the clip is sitting on hinge brackets with a footprint of 2x5" on the splitter.

Peter has designed a pretty neat "low tech" setup where the aluminum extensions and the front clip inner fiberglass panels are the weight bearing points. Hopefully he will chime in.
 

Ken Roberts

Supporter
I installed the driveshafts today. The DriveShaft Shop supplied some wrong bolts with their axles. I hope this hasn't happened to anybody else with a Ricardo. All bolts should have been 10mm by 1.5 pitch (course). I found the bolts to mount the outer cv joint to the wheel hub were a 1.25 pitch (fine). Check your outer bolts just in case. Also I found the supplied long bolts had too little thread engagement with the lockwasher. I will be going to a 60mm length bolt instead of the 55mm.
 
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