Joel’s SL-C Build Thread

Joel

I went back and looked at some of my notes on the door strut. With the door fully open I wanted the strut to provide enough force to do nothing more than hold the door open. It’s was not designed to act as a lift assist. I noted the movement of the hinge pin open to close was a small arc. So I wanted the strut fully extended at full open to provide maximum push. It only took a small amount of force to start the door closing as the strut compressed slightly in the arch movement of the hinge pin. This being said, I located the bottom of the strut on the vertical 2x6 forward of your position. I’m guessing you have taken a close look at the force you will need from your mock up position to make the door operate the way you want.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Joel

I went back and looked at some of my notes on the door strut. With the door fully open I wanted the strut to provide enough force to do nothing more than hold the door open. It’s was not designed to act as a lift assist. I noted the movement of the hinge pin open to close was a small arc. So I wanted the strut fully extended at full open to provide maximum push. It only took a small amount of force to start the door closing as the strut compressed slightly in the arch movement of the hinge pin. This being said, I located the bottom of the strut on the vertical 2x6 forward of your position. I’m guessing you have taken a close look at the force you will need from your mock up position to make the door operate the way you want.

Thanks Dan, I remember your approach was different than the rest since you wanted little or no force exerted on the door when locked. It is a very clever approach.

I guess the five door hinge/strut placement approaches out there are...
1)SLC Manual - Door strut inboard and mount to the chassis monocoque.
2)The Johan Mod - Similar to SLC Manual, but modify j-hinge bracket and location of stud ball on the j-hinge to enable the door to open further than stock.
3)The Dan Mod - As described above.
4)The Mesa Mod - Put the door strut in the door and have the ball attach to the door jam. This approach I think allows for maximum door opening height.
5)Allan’s electric door - If I knew for sure I could pass NJ inspection I would go in this direction. This is very slick.

If I remember correctly you are similar height to me, about 6’2”. Do you think if your doors opened higher more would It make it easier to get in and out of the car?
 
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That’s a lot of techniques. Yes I’m 6-2, 230 and 67. So I have a lot of challenges getting onto a small car, but I got to tell you getting into the SLC is easier than my Vette. The doors are truly a non issue. Getting the steering wheel out of the way (remove able) makes it so easy. If the door gets too far away it’s too hard to reach to close. The stock opening height works just fine for me.
 
Joel:

Your video of the coolant lines and the door gas strut placement is very very helpful. It will save me a ton of time and effort. Thank you very much.

Hector
 

Joel K

Supporter
Joel:

Your video of the coolant lines and the door gas strut placement is very very helpful. It will save me a ton of time and effort. Thank you very much.

Hector

Thanks Hector, glad you are finding this information useful. Allan also has a very good video on AC line placement and runs through each line and how they connect to the compressor, evaporator, and condenser.
 
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Jared V

Supporter
Congrats Joel! The first day is always a bit surreal I think. Just out of curiosity ... how the heck did they get the crate on if they couldn’t get it off the same way but in reverse?
Probably a fork lift with long forks?
 

Joel K

Supporter
Time for the next update. This post is focused on fabricating the fan shrouds for the rear intercoolers. I purchased a pair of 9” Maradyne Champion Series fans for the custom made fan shrouds to fit the Intercooler brackets....
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Decided to use the same construction as the Wizard Cooling fan shroud kit purchased for the main radiator. The Wizard Cooling kit uses aluminum angles on the sides and a flat panel for the face of the shroud. The flat panel is .08” 6061 Aluminum and .062” angles for the sides...
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Drilled and tapped 5mm holes to mount the angles onto sides of the intercooler brackets. The welder will Tig weld the shroud face to the side angles. This approach will end with a precise fit of the shroud to the Intercooler bracket...
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The welder did a great job. He welded down the sides of the shroud two short welds on the inside...
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Next up to cut holes for the fan. Made a cardboard radius rod to mark up each panel....
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Covered the aluminum panels with masking tape so the jigsaw would not gouge them up....
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Used a jigsaw and cut out the holes....
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Another small step forward, I like the way they came out.
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Next up is to finish the fan shroud for the main radiator.
 
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Beautiful work Joel, do you want to help me with my radiator shroud?, had not even start thinking about it. hope to find a premed one that i can modify or a kit
 

Joel K

Supporter
Beautiful work Joel, do you want to help me with my radiator shroud?, had not even start thinking about it. hope to find a premed one that i can modify or a kit

Thanks Hector, Kurt H posted a detailed diagram of a fan shroud for the flush mount fans that come with the kit. Maybe his fabricator can just make if for you. Since I am running an LT4 which is known to run hot I went with Spal Brushless Fans and since they are drop-in instead of flush mount the shroud will be specific to my build.

If the welder can fit me in tomorrow or Tuesday, I’ll have all the details posted this week.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Next up is to fabricate the fan shroud for the main radiator. Back in post #154 I mocked up a fan shroud from styrofoam and cardboard I had laying around the house. The main reason was to see if I could move the radiator forward 1” and still have the shroud clear both the power brake master cylinder as well as the front clam.

Here is a video covering the fan shroud fabrication process for both the intercoolers and radiator....


The 11” Spal brushless fans are drop-in style which requires the shroud to be about 3” deep. This added to the challenge of packaging everything together....
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The Wizard cooling kit comes with a .09” aluminum top shroud panel pre-cut for the drop in fans and 4 angles for the top and side panels....
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I only wanted to have the sides welded so first step was to trim the sides of the shroud panel to fit. Since I don’t have a table saw, I used one of the angles as a guide and a Dremel Ultra Saw to help make the cut straight. It worked out to be a good approach....
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Since the shroud will sit on the sides of the radiator and not the radiator core, the side angles needed to be trimmed .5”. Used the same approach and trimmed them up nice and straight...
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First step at the fabricator was to bend the top and bottom of the shroud panel to match the mocked up version leaving the face panel taller than it needed to be. Now to trim up the top and bottom of the shroud to get the final fitment completed...
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Turned out we needed to bend the top panel over a couple more degrees, cut the tops of the side angles to fit, and weld it up.

Before it went back to the welder, I had to come up with a way to attach the shroud to the radiator which required a bit of thought. The fan shroud will only have a .25” clearance to the power brake booster/master cylinder. Also, because the Spal fans are drop in style there is not enough clearance to remove the fans from the shroud without removing the shroud first.

So in order to remove the fan shroud once it is on the car, I wanted to design it in a way that it can be slid up and away from the radiator. Thus, the design incorporates brackets on the side and bottom of the shroud, but not on the top.

Here is a pic with the mounting tabs and side panels in place and ready to go back to the welder....
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Making this was much more work than I originally anticipated. If this was simply a rectangular design it would have been much easier, but the shroud would have interfered with the front clam so it was necessary to angle the top.

Pic of the finished shroud face, you can see the tig welding down the side...
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Here is a pic of the underside of the shroud, you can see the tig welding in four places to add strength...
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Here is a pic of the finished shroud mounted on the radiator. You can see we welded on the in-board radiator side brackets documented in post #161 as well...
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Finally, pic of the radiator and shroud placed in the front compartment....
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Very happy with the end result. The shroud fits, should be efficient and high performing, and also serviceable.

Next up is mounting the condenser and fabricating the cooling tubes.
 
Looking good Joel. You are just about out of room to package anything else under your front clam. Your planning and mock-ups are certainly paying off for a top notch professional level build.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Looking good Joel. You are just about out of room to package anything else under your front clam. Your planning and mock-ups are certainly paying off for a top notch professional level build.

Thanks Kurt, I followed your advice and got the shroud mounting tabs welded on at the same time.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Small update, but for the sake of completeness I’ll document the radiator/shroud install which needed to be moved forward about .75” From the stock location.

1st step, used some blue dye and scribe to mark where the 3/8” holes needed to be drilled. I also added a stack of washers .2” high under the front compartment bottom plate screws so when removed, the radiator would clear the screw heads...
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Took the front compartment side panels off the car and drilled one hole at a time to make sure each hole lined up with the grommets perfectly...
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The radiator clears the screw heads by .2”. Close but I think an ideal fit...
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Grommets mount with 3/8” bolts, certainly beefy and should provide some good vibration protection. I’ll replace the side bolts with button head screws when I get a chance.
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It was a bit of planning and work, but looks like there is .33” of clearance to the Power master cylinder and also slanting the top of the shroud to clear the front clam. I’ll weld up the original holes before final assembly. I have some adjustability in the shroud mounting tabs and will either bring the shroud closer to the radiator to eliminate the gap or use some silicone edge guard to close it up. Probably go with the silicone approach...
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Close up of the master cylinder clearance...
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Pic from the font, still have enough room for the condenser which is up next...
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