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Doors, Part XI A means of releasing the door latch is needed. Photos of the original mechanism are scarce, but if you look close at this picture of an original what appears to be a lever, complete with lightening holes, can be seen in the door opening. This was our inspiration. Two aluminum...

Doors, Part X The interior of D’s are typically seen painted a shade of green similar to the body or natural aluminum. Ours will be au natural. On such D’s the inner door panel was also raw aluminum while the rest of the door was painted. That is the look we want. We started by sanding the...

Thanks. I found a pair as well. They are even on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Lucas-L490-Front-side-lamp/dp/B09V95Z4YY

Typically time and money provide the answer to that question!

Eyes on Design Eyes on Design is a high-end car show held at the Edsel Ford House in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, on Father's Day. An impressive collection of classic cars was on display, including an original Jaguar D Type, which is what prompted me to attend. I counted and measured rivets and...

You are off to a great start. Where in Wisconsin are you located? Chuck

Thanks Randy. Appreciate the feed back!

Anyone following this build blog knows I have a penchant for preparing patterns. The current airplane project is drawing to a close so work on the D can resume. Straightening up the shop, I laid out the collection of patterns and forms that have been accumulating for more years than I care to...

Good idea. That may well be an option. The leather washers seem to work well but if they don't hold up we can give that option a try.

Doors, Part IX The design of the doors with there upward opening angle means that in a moment of inattention it could slam shut with a damaging bang. A simple way of making sure the door remains in the open position when getting in or out was the goal. After a lot of head scratching a simple...

Good point. I have removed the audio box.

Headsets, 2024 The noise level inside the GT40 is significant even at part throttle. Ear plugs make conversation with a passenger difficult. We wanted a better solution. We always use sound canceling headsets with VOX operated microphones when flying. Why not use the same technology in the GT...

Doors, Part VIII The assembled jambs were set in place with a single cleco to temporarily secure it. Later when the body is removed (again) three holes will be drilled and tapped to secure the jambs with quarter inch screws. The side pieces were clecoed in place for now. Three holes will be...

Doors, Part VII The distance from the jamb to the inside of the door latch is over an inch. Not wanting a door stud that long, we needed a way to extend the stud but make it mechanically solid and adjustable and still have an acceptable appearance. After a lot of thought, we came up with a...

Doors, Part VI The design of the RCR fiberglass doors presents challenges. First, these fiberglass doors are hefty for their size and I am sure they are much heavier than the original D’s aluminum doors, so reasonably stout latches were indicated. Second, the setback distance between the aft...

Doors, Part V A lot of time was spent exploring options for the door latches. RCR provided Bear Claw latches which we had used on the GT 40 where they proved to be solid and reliable. Doug has raised the possibility of using a slam type latch as was seen on the original D Type. Regardless of...

Bingo! That is exactly the way I had assumed RCR intended it to be done. The section of aluminum covering the inside of the door is something else I had intended to to. Eventually. Yes indeed, use quarter inch bolts in the 3/8" holes on the base of the hinge. Note the critical importance of...

Perhaps this link will help: https://www.gt40s.com/threads/chuck-and-ryans-rcr-build.22083/post-216302

Doug If mounting on the outside of the door, consider the Mini Bear Claw latch. It is smaller than the one RCR provided and should be perfectly adequate. A slot will need to be cut so that the latch release can be accessed from inside the door, which is not a big deal. An aluminum cover...

Interesting. A spring loaded striker would make the original style slam latch work more smoothly.