Ethan’s GT40 mkII fully scratch build

[Ethan fagerland]

Hey all, I’m just about done “designing” my gt40 chassis (I only want to/have enough time to do this much). Any tips or flaws that you notice in my chassis design would be much appreciated. Some of the paper designs and measurements have changed since making the 3D model. Once all is confirmed to be good I will buy the metal and start cutting and welding. Afterwards will be making the fiberglass body from scratch as well. Thanks!

 

[Ethan fagerland]

Here’s the paper views!

 

[Jacob]

What suspension and uprights are you planning on using? - Jacob

 

[Ethan fagerland]

What suspension and uprights are you planning on using? - Jacob

Absolutely no clue as to how any of that works. Kinda just winging it. Will most likely go with a Miata suspension and my power plant will be either an LS1/4 with a Muncie 4 speed trans. I don’t know much about cars so any advice would help.

 

[Brian Kissel]

Ethan. Please do much much more research. This line "I don’t know much about cars so any advice would help", suggests you need a lot more research. A Muncie 4 speed will never work, as the 40 is a mid engine car that requires a transaxle. The suspension improperly designed could easily kill you and others. Please read build threads here and elsewhere, and you can see where even a bought kit can be a real challenge. Often time people suggest that a novice builder start on a easier kit to build first. You will have a very large amount of money invested just in tools as you start your journey down this road. Please do your research first. If this was easy you would see many many more GT40's on the road.

Regards Brian

 

[Brian]

You could put that engine transaxle combo in backwards, then use a 4WD Ranger front end with the diff flipped. Be the first FWD GT40.

 

[Kev Farrington]

I presume you are not interested in originality if you intend using Chevrolet and Japanese car parts in your build? Up to you of course, each to their own, good luck with it. There is plenty of help out there if you need it.

 

[Michael]

Ethan, you’ll need an engine/transaxle combo akin to this sbf/zf. There are cheaper transaxle options, but sbf power is plentiful and reasonably priced.

 

[Brian]

You could get around the 15,000-25,000 transaxle by using a FWD package.

Honda JDM angry hornet.

 

[Malcolm]

Suggest you rethink the use of Miata suspension as it probably won't take the forces of a car with a big engine and big brakes. And if you can make the chassis yourself then you should be able to make your own suspension arms for stronger uprights.

 

[Ethan fagerland]

the reason I’m doing my own chassis is because it’s part of a metals tech class in my school. I just care that the chassis is strong and does the job for daily driving on regular roads. Not racing it or anything.

 

[Ethan fagerland]

what would

Suggest you rethink the use of Miata suspension as it probably won't take the forces of a car with a big engine and big brakes. And if you can make the chassis yourself then you should be able to make your own suspension arms for stronger uprights.

what would you recommend for a suspension. Thinking about using a salvage corvette for most parts.

 

[Randy V]

Corvette C5 is hard to beat, but you sacrifice a little space in the footwells..

 

[Brian]

You can reduce that by making your own shorter A arms, but that will open another can of worms learning camber curves and roll centers.

 

[Ethan fagerland]

You can reduce that by making your own shorter A arms, but that will open another can of worms learning camber curves and roll centers.

Yah that sounds like something I’d be doing a lot later down the line… don’t know much about that type of stuff so I’d have to do a lot more research. Thanks for the tip though!