Hello all from Connecticut

[pete]

Hi all. I just realized a few weeks ago that my ultimate dream car is actually afforadable, lol. This seems to be a great place [probably the best actually] to start learing about all aspects of a GT40 build. I'm only 29 but I have been dealing with cars all my life.

Currently I work at a welding fabrication shop that deals with pretty much anything made of metal from structural steel to artwork. We have a full CNC machine shop, sheetmetal, sandblasting, and painting facilities. I have worked at a brittish restoration shop and an autobody shop.

My current play car is a 1989 Merkur XR4Ti with a 2.3L turbo. Before I took it apart for the winter I dynoed at 409 rwhp It has a megasquirt efi system, worked head with big valves, precision SC50 turbo, custom everything, .510" custom roller cam, g-force T5, and a custom 8.8 IRS with 4.10 trac loc. I am putting Real Sierra Cosworth RS bodywork on it. I also have a 1965 Fastback with a built 306 ~360 hp, toplader 4 speed with doug nash gears and a 9" 4.56 detroit locker. You can see some picutre through my signature links.

I was a die hard drag racer, but my wife got me a day at skip barbers race school and I realized that it is more fun to turn the wheel while going fast


I do have a few questions about the various different kits:

Which kit is the most race oriented? Some time up at limerock puts goosebumps on my back

Has anybody registered a GT40 kit car in Connecticut? how hard was it?

I'm sure I will have more as time goes on.

Currently I am thinking of either the RCR or the ERA [which is about 45min from me]. motor will be a 351 stroked to a 393 and a single or twin turbo and efi. I am stuck on the turbo part since the "bundle of snakes" are just a real part of what a GT40 is supose to have, lol. I am also leaning towards an audi 5000 transaxle. I have made motor plates before and custom clutch setups.

If anybody has some ideas about custom parts needed pm or email me. I do custom parts all the time.

Thanks,
Pete

 

[Bill D]

Welcome Pete. Almost any of the GT40 kits can be setup to be purely track cars. BTW- ERA has a 2 year leadtime on their kit.

It will be quite a challenge to put a turbo on a GT40 since space is at a premium. I'll let others add their thoughts about that one.

Good luck

Bill D

 

[Russ Noble]

Pete, if you're going to race it your big enemy is WEIGHT.

It affects handling acceleration and braking. Go for the lightest kit you can find.

You obviously have the skills and facilities do do any suspension or chassis upgrades if some of that is not ideal. Simple enough. Bloody hard to get excess weight out of a car once the base kit has been built. You'll want to go with rose jointed suspension too. IMHO of course.

Good luck with your venture.

 

[Lynn Larsen]

Pete,

Interesting photos; nice work, thrown rod (ouch), nice parts, interesting path (certainly not the beaten one), cute wife.

Take your time, look over everyting available and you'll do fine! Hey, you found this place before you made any moves; sounds like you are thinking right to me ;-)

Lynn

 

[pete]

thanks everyone...

the piston was from a 7500 rpm super stock/N 289 motor [from the early 70's lol] that a valve and a piston wanted to be in the same place at the same time in my 65 fastback. my father bought it in 1970 and raced it a bit and then let it sit- we did it over from the time i was 12-16 then i blew up the motor and it sat for 6 years... now i have it and never really drive it.

i must say that my path of cars has been all over the place from a couple of spitfire 1500's, a rx7, too many 80's 5.0's i can count to about 8 xr4ti 's,thunderbird turbocoupes, to a 914 to here. i was planning on an early lotus elan MK1 or 2 or a mid 80's 911 targa with a widebody for my next round of toys, but I figured might as well wait, save and get what i really want... a GT40.

and yes i am quite lucky to have such a beautiful and understanding wife. she doesnt quite understand my obsession with cars, but she encourages it and helps me when i need it.

pete

 

[pete]

thanks everyone...

the piston was from a 7500 rpm super stock/N 289 motor [from the early 70's lol] that a valve and a piston wanted to be in the same place at the same time in my 65 fastback. my father bought it in 1970 and raced it a bit and then let it sit- we did it over from the time i was 12-16 then i blew up the motor and it sat for 6 years... now i have it and never really drive it.

i must say that my path of cars has been all over the place from a couple of spitfire 1500's, a rx7, too many 80's 5.0's i can count to about 8 xr4ti 's,thunderbird turbocoupes, to a 914 to here. i was planning on an early lotus elan MK1 or 2 or a mid 80's 911 targa with a widebody for my next round of toys, but I figured might as well wait, save and get what i really want... a GT40.

and yes i am quite lucky to have such a beautiful and understanding wife. she doesnt quite understand my obsession with cars, but she encourages it and helps me when i need it.

pete

 

[pete]

oh crap- i found this when doing some searching about registering a composite in CT [what the dmv calls a kit car here]

Connecticut: Registration, Inspection & Emissions - Club Cobra

anybody have any experiences here in CT?

thanks,
pete

 

Ct. is a pain to deal with,if they inforce the new emission specs they are basicly outlawing kit cars in this state.If you follow the ClubCobra site you will see we are trying to get a bill passed to exempt kit cars from any emissions testing.We haven't gotten a date when the bill will be discussed in the transportation comm. because it has to get through there before the house can vote on it .The inspection you can deal with if you are patient and go by the book.Welcome and good luck on your Gt40.I think you'll find many people here building RCRs.Paul

 

[pete]

well, with modern standalone efi and a wideband o2 as long as the cam doesnt have a low LSA and 240+ deg duration you should eb able to get a sbf to pass with playing with everything and putting a temporary catalytic converter, but hopefully when the time comes it wont have to come to that.

i more worried about bumpers if anything.

thanks,
pete

 

No worry there,I have never heard of a problem with Cobra bumpers,and some don't have any.

 

[CliffBeer]

Hi Pete,

Welcome! As you probably sense, you will find a tremendous wealth of information and collegial assistance on this forum. An impressive group of people here indeed.

Don't forget to check out CAV if you have not already. There is a dealer in San Diego (VIP Classics - name is Roy Sayles). I believe there is also a dealer on the east coast but I do not have the contact info unfortunately. The CAV chassis is a very high quality monocoque made in stainless steel and the rest of the car is exquisit in design and execution.

With regard to track time, there are no RCR cars on the track yet so it's not clear where they will fall although undoubtedly RCR will be diligent in their post-sale support, including assistance with getting cars set up for track work. There are many CAVs and ERAs on the track currently, both with impressive inherent capability to turn in very fast results.

The CAV dealers are conspicuously silent on this forum due to the desire to not utilize it as a commercial venue for promotion of their products. However, I believe CAV is the second or third most prolific gt40 mfg out there (there's a poll on here somewhere summarizing the spread) - definitely worth a look. I know Roy has rollers in stock and for sale for reasonable prices with no waiting. Good guy too - humble, pleasant, smart, and very fast in his CAV at the track.

If you're going for originality, then probably Superformance is worth a close look also. A bit pricier but very well made and true to the originals in most every respect. If you're into vintag racing then you'll be interested to find that Superformance is intending to produce a special version of their gt40 which will qualify under most vintage racing rules.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Jim Holden]

You are so close to ERA, why don't you give Peter a call at 860-224-0253 and take some time to go up and see what they are doing. Their car may not be what you want, but you need to start educating yourself as to what is out there. Jose Velez amongst a number of other ERA owners has his car set up just for track work. (And as good of a driver as he is, the car is more car than he is driver).

Jim

 

[Gregg]

Cliff, can you tell me your connection to CAV. Are you getting a percentage? Part owner? It seems that a vast MAJORITY of your posts include some hawking of the CAV product. Are you trying to validate your own purchase? I just checked the forum manufacturers listing and found a forum dedicated to CAV and sponsored by VIP Classics. What personal knowledge do you have that the CAV dealers are conspicuously silent and there reasosn for same. Your same post includes a representation that Superformance will be building a "special version of the gt40 which will qualify under most vintage racing rules". I think the last post by HiTech Auto was that it was still under consideration. As far as vintage racing eligible, I believe that venue is still very much a wild card. Cliff, please do not turn into the new Oliver.

Pete, as you are close to ERA, I would pay them a vistit as Jim recommends. The purchase of a GT40 is considerable and you should make a well informed decision.

 

[David Briggs]

Pete, you can't go wrong with almost any replica made by a reputable company. I like your fastback and have a 65 also, in R model trim, I will post some pictures when it is a little further along.
Greeg, I don't understand your question to Cliff, he has a CAV, as I do and all he is saying is that it is a quality experience for him. He makes other suggestions for choices, CAV is selling more complete cars right now and their product is under constant improvement.
Everybody here talks about what they have and are comfortable with, I thought that is what a forum like this is for.
Fran certainly benefits from his customers favorable comments on his product and service level, do you query those people?
Anyway, it is all good.
Dave

 

[pete]

i plan on going to visit ERA in a few months. im still in the saving stages and i have a while to go. it seems that if there is a 2 year wait... that will work out perfectly depending on the ammount of deposit.

theres a few things i can say about the car when its done; it will be on the track at least a few times [road course and drag], it will be more race oriented than road oriented, the weak link will the the transaxle, the motor will be efi and most likey turbocharged, and its going to be a real pain in the a$$ to register it in CT.

i am such a big fan of turbocharging. properly sized, designed, and tuned you can have a motor that does it all- crusies nice with good MPG, runs on 92 octane pump gas, nice idle, great torque, and some serious HP. RPM is what really can damage a motor, the strength need to keep a motor together goes up exponentialy as the rpm increases. turbos do not care what rpm the motor is at if they are spooled up

the builers forum has been a great help to me already. i like the methodical approach i have seen with some of the builds. I can see things i like and some i would do differently. im very hands on and i make things work- even if it seems impossible, lol.

i have already located an audi transaxle and im going to design a motor plate- might as well have everything ready to go when the time comes, lol.

thanks,
pete

 

[Gregg]

Pete, you may want to rethink your choice of transaxle.

 

[Russ Noble]

i have already located an audi transaxle and im going to design a motor plate- might as well have everything ready to go when the time comes, lol.

thanks,
pete

Are you serious?

I hope you're only planning on running your Merkur 2.4 turbo in the GT40 then. If you are going to run a V8 and turbo, that is going to be a torque monster! If you've got a week or two to spare, do a search on here on "transaxle". Lots of info. Do a search on "930" as well.

The transaxle is the expensive weak link in a GT40. For a V8 turbo you will need at minimum a ZF or Porsche 930. IMHO 930 is best value. If you can spring it, a T44 would probably be best, but mega dollars. Remember too it is torque not HP that kills trannies.

Hope that's given you somewhere to start.

Cheers

Edit I see Gregg beat me to it. That's the trouble with being a slow typer.

 

[Gregg]

Hey Dave, Like you say, it is all good. I found your post to be very interesting. As far as my queries go, I ask questions which I would like an answer to. It is not limited to anyone or any one manufacturer. I certainly do not make representations on behalf of any manufacturer, as I am not authorized to do so. I think RCR makes great products with numerous cars available for each individual to realize his/her own dream car. I am enjoying the build threads and believe the individuals building the RCR car's speak for themselves and the product.

 

[Lynn Larsen]

Pete,

I have to agree with Gregg and Russ (to an extent); all of a sudden the Porsche G50 has become chopped liver to some. I can't argue that the 930 is a hoss, but I don't think the G50 is a whimp either. In fact the G50 has many of the same power tolerant features of the 930*. And, if you are lucky enough to run up on a G50/50 (only found in the '89 911turbo/930), I'd go with that over a 930! The 930 is not nearly as expensive to regear though. Anyway, just my $0.02 on that.

If you insist on the Audi, do a search here on Audi and Lambo. There is a lambo builder up north somewhere who has fashioned a steel strengthener plate for the bulkhead that houses the bearing just behind the pinion. If you plan on taking the Audi transaxle to the drags, you don't have a snowballs chance in Tahiti unless you strenghten this area (even then, you will probably break it sooner or later at the drag strip.) The torque will push the pinion right through the wall. I think I gave the guy's website in a thread about this issue/fix.

Lynn

* to see what I mean, goto Useful Links -> Parts/Accessories[V-Z]->WEVO. Once there go to the Porsche products->Transmission Products area and read about some of the things they have for the 915. You'll see many comments, like the following about their bearing retainer plate, that reference the 930 and the G50 as inspiration for their products:

"The thrust loads from the Pinion gear and the helical cut ratio gears are accommodated by the bearing retainer plate. The Original Equipment uses two separate steel retainers that offer little to support or harness the pair of bearings.

Our Windrush version is made from an aerospace stainless steel alloy that has thermal expansion properties more closely matched to the aluminum or magnesium final drive casing. The XT-032 captures the two thrust bearings together – accurately maintaining the designed shaft spacing and mimicking the packaging in the 930 transmission and G-50 transmissions."

 

[40 Bud]

Cliff, keep talking about the CAV's! You own one. you like and are happy with it. So just keep on telling us about it just like the ERA, RCR, MDA, Tornado, GTD and KVA owners do. My daughter lives in Graham and on one of my visits I might just look you up. And Pete listen to these guys. The Audi and Renault boxes are great light weight boxes for medium HP and torgue and can be modified to be stronger if you have the $$$. You are better off to start out with a stronger Porsche or ZF, You will be out 6 to 10 grand anyway you slice it.