CAV GT40

[Steve Toner]

Hershal,

It looks like your car may end up being completed faster than my "turnkey-minus" CAV, which has been down in Las Vegas for over 6 months now getting finished (and I had it for about a month before I took it back down there). I was told I was getting the first ZF car in the country, but not that I was funding an R&D effort.

I suppose the good news in all this is that anybody ordering a ZF car now will have the benefit of FLMS's experience, as they are communicating the necessary changes back to the factory...

I really have been reluctant to say anything publicly about this, as I don't want to hurt CAV's sales. By all accounts, the Getrag cars are well-sorted and really can be made road-worthy in a couple of days. I like Bob Lacey, and he has shown a willingness to go the extra mile to make sure things get done. I think Finish Line Mortorsports is doing a bang-up job of making the thing right, but (by way of example) it took over 2 months to get a new shifter tunnel from South Africa and I consider that unreasonable.

 

[Hershal Byrd]

Steve,
Your car is in the best of hands. Roy is not one to let a project sit. He has one of the best shops I have ever seen. You can bet he is on top of whats happening and working like he!! to get what it takes for your car. Same goes for Lacy.
I was fortunate to work on the GT as if it were a fulltime job. Being retired has it's benefits.

I tellya though, I wish I had that trans. Boy are you gonna luv that thing in a GT.

Hersh

 

Concerning turn key minus vs building a kit. I have built a few cars in my day, T-buckets, 427 Cobra, 1/2 dozen cars based on the Fiero chassis and a few retorations for good measure. I looked at ERA's 40 at more than one show, bought everyones brochure,
Safir,KVA, GTD Tornado and looked at as many web sites as I could find. Hershal was kind enough to answer many questions and allow a friend to take pictures of his car for me. I was just about ready to jump in and buy a RF-40 as I thought I could assemble it with no problem. I was steered over to see the CAVs being sold by David Wagner in Detroit and instantly fell in love with the car. I don't I could have done the job that was done by the factory. For instance the stainless steel chassis is just beautiful. The car looks right and sits right and I am anxious to drive it. I will be happy to say I built the engine and redid the trans and got it running. I have always tried to make my cars pleasing to eye, and I am sure this one will be.

VIC
CAV #51
Lemans Blue
Owner built 302
Getrag trans
Stack inj.

 

Hi guys, I keep hearing that there has only been 2 RF's that have been completed. Is this true and if not how many are there? I have also been told that only the first few kits were supplied with everything you need to complete them. I hear that the exhaust system is not supplied with them any more. A friend of mine went to Nashville Super Speedway at the SAAC meet this Memorial weekend. He said that there were 5 GT-40's there. 1=ERA, 1=GTD, 1=RF and 2=CAV's. The ERA ran ok on the track, The CAV's were demos and never went out to run, but they did pretty good when he saw them driving on the interstate. The RF blew a water hose each time it went out on the track, a total of 3 hoses. Poor guy was sick, considering that he said he had paid $85,500 for it. He is the 3rd. guy to own it. The GTD tore up the track. He said that it was by far the fastest car at the track, even Sunday morning when it was raining and he was at speed in the rain also.

 

[Hershal Byrd]

Joseph,
Did we make you mad.. Cause I would swear
that your post had a ..let's say, a facetious tone to it. Even still I will answer what I know to be the truth. First off the first RF GT40 kit reached Dallas Texas in Febuary of 2001. It was then sold later because the owner was getting devorced and couldn't keep the car. The second kit was shipped to the owner of this forum, Ron Earp, in Aprill of 2001 I believe. Then there is myself. I recieved my kit on August 23, 2001. I finished my kit in under 8 months. So there goes your too hard to finish theory. As far as the other 10 to 15 kits that have been sold I have no Idea about what type of kit they are or who bought them. Roaring forties sells other kit combos besides the deluxe kit that I purchased. The blue GT40 was brought over from Australia in April of 2001 for a demo car. At knotts it was recieved very well. A couple months later it was sold. I have not personally met the gentleman that bought it. I can assure you that if he is having problems it's not due to the quality of the kit. In my humble opinion over heating can happen to any vehicle for any number of reasons. Bob Bondurant has driven my car on his track 3 times. Each time was 20 minutes or longer. It never puked a drop. I believe it was 105 degrees on the last day he drove it and he had the A/C on.
The exhuast is an option and it's still offered. If you had checked out the RF web site then you would have known about most all of this information.
So what's the big deal about 85,000 for a RF GT40. because of a blown hose he paid too much? I've seen CAV's that easily reach that number. It all depends on the goodies you want.
One thing I have learned about track time is that a damn good driver makes a world of difference. It sounds like the GTD driver was a good one. All those GT's are different and have different motors in them. Some may have high dollar race engines and others may have crate motors. So trying to judge cars by your friends method is not too accurate.

All in all Joseph it boils down to this...I got what I want and you got what what you wanted. I truley think that the CAVS, ERA's. and the GTD's are great cars and each one can be made to be whatever you want it to be.
So I guess after all this the answer to your first question is "No" there has only been ONE kit completed in the last TWO years. I could honestly understand questions and comments like yours if you had not made a purchase already. So naturally most on this forum will take your post as I did, a little biased.

Hersh

 

[Bill Bayard]

Joseph,

It sounds like the blown hose problem was
due to a coolant flow restricton problem. That sort of thing can happen to any car, especially one that is driven on the track.
That sort of "kink" should have been ironed out by the previous owner. Maybe that's why he sold the car?
As far as cost goes, no matter how much money you throw into a GT40 project, you're
going to encounter a few small glitches along the way. If you haven't, it's only a matter of time(see Murphy's Law).
These cars are as individual as a fingerprint, and the problems of one car don't necessarily mean that any marque is bad as a whole, or that any other marque is better. The same can be said of owners/drivers. 99% of the problems will result from a mechanical defect, or screwup by the engine builder/installer/driver. People do make mistakes(see below)
I blew the clutch out of my car, and certainly can't blame GT40 Australia, or
Porsche(gearbox/clutch). I fully accept the blame myself. My car was fine, until I tried to quarter mile it, like a funny car!
I'm still completely satisfied with my car. I could kick myself in the ass for tearing the clutch out, but that's the price we pay to play!(see shit happens!)
Please let us know how you feel about your CAV,when it breaks down for the first time!
Will you feel like you spent too much, or just fix it, and get on with life?

Hersh,

Good to have you back!


Bill

 

[Ron Earp]

After Joseph gets his reply and the matter is settled this topic will be closed. It has wandered too far from the thread topic, CAV GT40s. If you guys want to discuss car merits then take it to another topic, this one isn't helping people looking for info on CAV GT40s. And it is 125 posts long, way too long to wade through or be useful on the search engine.

As for RF GT40s and builds, as Hershal indicated I got mine in April of 2001. We had our first baby a few months later so my real work on the car didn't begin until Spring of 2002. It's been fun working on the car, I wish I had more time but you can't plan life. Heck, I don't know how John S. makes out on his - he's got two brand new little ones!!!!

Ron

[ May 26, 2003: Message edited by: Ron Earp ]

 

Guy's, I have a 1987 Astro, I have put 2 new crate engines in it and if I had sold it and baught a new one instead fixing it I would not have a GT40. Don't be so secitive, it could have been any one of them that had trouble. I know that I would have been sick if that had happened to me, and it may happen in the future. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of us.

 

Joseph,

I dont' know what number of RF I have but mine was delivered late January 2003 and today we are setting the dash. Tomorow morning it will be complete except paint and instalation of engine (Gordon is working on that - I was slow to pick which one). Other than a few common nuts and bolts everything needed is included except expendables, tires, transaxel, engine, but it does include all the bits for taking a Ford V-8 and matting to the Audi transaxel and fitting up to the car. All told I estimate 350 to 400 hours.

 

Hello
Can you tell me about CAV GT-40's in Canada. Are they street legal? What are the prices like? Are there any other manufacturers available?
Regards
CJBB

 

Hi CJ contact Ian Clark. He is the Canadian distibutor. He will be more than happy to help you out in any way. I hope this helps.

Ian Clark
Pesident
CAV Canada MotorSports Inc.
Phone: 905 637 9362
Fax: 905 637 8123