I took the plunge!!!

[Dean Lampe]

I finally did it! I just bought the next RCR GT40. I just can't wait! I decided to go with the left hand drive. I added the six point cage, sway bars, 2 inch rear flare, gurney bubble, 15in BRM wheels, window hardware, 1 7/8 exhaust, both nose panels and Fran is going to install all the latches, cut and fit all the lexan, hang the doors, mount and fit all the body panels and install the dash among other things. I plan to upgrade the shocks to Penske 8100 series dual adjustable shocks. I am going with red w/ white stripes, a ZF tranny and a very stout 363 stroker with webers that will turn to 8000 rpm!

They only decisions left to make are regarding the coatings. Do you guys like the bare aluminum look or should I have chassis coated in a satin black?

I can't wait to get started!

 

[Ron Earp]

Congratulations!!!!!!

Bare aluminum.

Have a look around on the forum about the webers and see what venturi size you might need with that displacement to turn past 8000 RPM and make power. Might suprise you, and your wallet!

 

[Dean Lampe]

Ron, thanks for you opinion on the bare aliminum. Its not often in this hobby that the less expensive option is the one you go with. The webers no problem. I have had the on my Kirkham and have grown use to tuning them. This is going to be an awesome track car! I would love to fine someone who had the tranny and/or the engine. The new stuff is off the chart!

 

[Pat Buckley]

Congrats!

I agree on leaving the chassis bare. When will it arrive?

Pat Buckley

 

[Dean Lampe]

Pat, I think it will be home in the January/February time frame. Fran had a chassis that was already done. That saves about a month. They will start hanging the suspension stuff next week. That should give me enough time to get the drive train sorted out.

 

[Dutton]

Well done, Dean - sounds like Chris Kouba isn't the only one treating themselves with a holiday bonus! In reading your posts recently, I had a feeling you weren't too far away from jumping into the pool with the rest of us but I had no idea you wanted to have a go at the deep end. From the description of how you optioned your car, no one will be surprised if you're on the road come spring. You have a real head start on many of us!

It's just a personal preference, but I echo the comments from Pat and Ron about the bare aluminum; Frans team does such gorgeous work that I couldn't bring myself to cover it - on the top side, anyway - I'd highly recommend some sort of protection underneath (check out the thread on the undercoating/bedliner he installed on mine. It really turned out sharp and the light grey color compliments the aluminum just fine).

Looking forward to reading about your build, er, I mean 'finish.' It'll be nearly done when it arrives!

Congratulations and best regards,

T.

 

[Sandy]

Congratulations!

I did the bare aluminum route as well, looks really good when you see it. The Tig welding is a work of art.

Sorry Fran, the chassis is too nice to cover

Sandy

 

[Pete K.]

Webers? Holley? Naw... go with 8 barrel FI!

Congrat's Dean!

 

[Lynn Larsen]

Dean,

Congrats! I don't think there is a better kit out there, especially from an over all viewpoint. Depending on individual tastes, one might find an aspect of this or that kit that blows one's skirt up a little higher, but when it's all said and done I think you will be very, very pleased!

Having eye balled Fran's chassis, I have to agree that it would be at least a misdemeanor to cover up that workmanship. There is an option you might want to consider which will provide some protection while not covering up a bit of the metal work. POR makes a two part coating called Glisten PC that I found to be the one that I liked the best of the many aluminum clear coats that I tried.

Regards,
Lynn

 

[Dean Lampe]

Lynn, Glisten PC looks fantastic! That is exactly what I am going to do! Thanks for the link.

 

[Mark Worthington]

If you're going to use Glisten PC, then I would recommend you simplify your metal prep by just hitting it with a scotch brite wheel on an orbital or DA sander to remove any major scratches. If you try to buff or polish your aluminum, you'll find you have problems in the HAZ (heat-affected zone) along the TIG welds.

POR15 also makes some nice translucent colors that can be added to Glisten PC, but they're very, very expensive, as is Glisten PC itself.

 

[Ron Earp]

Hey Lynn,

I thought you had a devil of a time to get that stuff to lie flat and not show tiny "bubbles" or other such things? Maybe I am thinking of something else.

Ron

 

[chuck smith]

leave it alone

 

[Lynn Larsen]

Ron,

I had some erratic milky splotches, but that was determined to be due to the alloy of the panel I was using. (It was weird in that in two or three attempts, the milky spots were never neccessarily in the same spots??) Other than that, the Glisten did the best; it was the other stuff that I had issues with them being "self leveling." I did my sway bar attach hardware that Mike Starling made with Glisten and they look great to this day with no oxidation haze at all and none of my finger prints (which seem to be highly caustic; almost as caustic as my personality according to my wife ;-)

Unfortunately, Mark, POR no longer makes the annodized look color products: Color Chrome! I had already typed this into my post, but when I went to get a link, I could find nothing about it on their website. So, I called them and they told me they had discontinued it due to lack of sales. I had seen some things done in this, like chromed bicycle frames and polished aluminum pieces, that looked outstanding. In my way of thinking, it was even better than powder coating because it was so thin and translucent. It actually looked like glossy annodizing.

Also, if I were going to apply Glisten to one of Fran's chassis, I would do nothing but use POR's cleaner (non-corrosive and water rinsed) prior! While it looks really good over polished parts that are small enough to reasonably buff out, I would only be looking to protect the chassis from oxidation haze, oil and dirt. Ron's chassis looked shinny enough to me "as is." And, I would not touch the TIG welding which is pure art work, IMHO.

Regards,
Lynn

 

[Dean Lampe]

I just got the build estimate from the engine builder. :dead: What can I say, wow!

Depending how I decide it will cost between $12,400 and $14,000 with aluminum block and billet crank. I am not sure, that seems high but it has the best of everthing. Does that seem high?

 

[chuck smith]

yes it does. does it include the webers? for that price I would expect EFI stacks. I would talk with Craft about a similiar build before signing on the line.

 

[Sandy]

Dean - Does that include the heads

That is not a bad price range for an all alloy motor. The block along is in the 4k range, and a billet crank 2-3k, billet rods 1k+... It adds up fast. I have much more then that into the motor that keith craft did.

Sandy

 

[Rob]

Congrats Dean,
I too am in the leave it natural camp. I did however coat my undercarriage, mainly for noise abatement (stone pecking etc). But other than that....el natural. It's just too sexy to cover up.
I have been evaluating a test panel of Fran's aluminum in natural elements (i.e. its been sitting on my deck) for about 8 or 9 mos now. Was currious how it would age, still looks good. I will post some pics soon.

 

[Dean Lampe]

That does not include the webers. Sandy is right, the block is almost 5k and the crank to match the block is 2k. I did talk to Kieth, and he was at 11k for the iron block but that didn't include the MSD box and the Jesel rockers that the other guy had included. They were pretty close. Close enough that I will have it built local. I start thinking about things like a dry sump. Would I rather have that than the aluminum block? With the cam that I have to run with the webers am I leaving a lot of horse power on the table? I love the look of the webers but Keith said they would cost me 50hp over the holley/single plane set up. I really want to look original but I don't want to spend a lot of money on a race motor if the carbs/cam are going to rob the power.

 

[Ron Earp]

Personally, based on the venturi calculations and what others have seen on their engines it seems to be, just as you say, somewhat of a waste on the larger inch motors to build it for high RPM but use webers which limit them somewhat. This is why I went with a single plane on the Lola engine as I'd be tracking the car a lot and put a lot of money in crank, valve train, cam choice, rods, heads, and pistons.

Personally, I'd go for the ally block and the weight savings with that instead of the dry sump. There are 100s of 1000s of wet sump race engines running around that don't starve on track. And, the engine will be simplier and cleaner to put in your car.

But, she's your motor so you need to build it your way. You'll get a lot of good sound suggestions from the crew on this board but in the end you need to live with it.