Keith's RCR GT40 Mk I Build

[Keith]

I would guess that most body shops would choose to paint the parts off the chassis as there is too much opportunity to get dust and trash in the air from the chassis. (my polished chassis looks pretty sad now but I am looking forward to getting it cleaned up for the final assembly)
The panels take up a lot of room in the paint booth. When I got there on Tuesday the front clip and the rear clip were in one paint booth and the doors, spider, rocker panels and the hood panel were in another paint booth. They made the comment that all the parts would not fit in one booth.
If I had not had them paint a center stripe they could have just gone ahead and painted the parts after the primer was complete. The only reason we had to assemble everything back on the car and line it all back up was so that they could get the stripe masking on correctly. Then they had to take it appart again and go back to the paint booth(s).
After the paint/clear coat is complete they will mask off the outside and paint the inside of the front clip, the rear clip and the hood flat black. The inside of the spider and the doors will be the same black as the exterior.
There are a lot of steps involved in painting one of these cars............it appears that 10 to 12 weeks is a pretty reasonable time frame.
Keith

 

[Chuck]

Mine was painted with the body panels off the car as well. Indeed the chassis remained in my garage, since we did not have a stripe to line up. After it was painted we took the chassis to the paint shop and mounted the body panels to safely get it home without damage.

 

[Keith]

Photos from the body shop!!!!!!!!!!!
I got two photos from the body shop today and it looks pretty darn good. We plan to go to pick it up Monday.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS!

 

[Ron McCall]

Sweet!!!!

 

[Jack]

Congrats Keith!
Looks well worth the effort. Like the color too..
Stripes look good. Appears the body shop did a creditable job.

 

[EGLITOM]

NIce,
I like the semi gloss noss panel and rear clip )

TOM

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Tom you cheeky bugger....

Looks great Keith...whats your timeframe for hitting the road?

 

[Keith]

Thank you for all the kind words. I am just beside myself waiting to go pick it up on Monday!

I believe I have less than 100 hours of work left to complete the car as I have "pre fitted" all the windows and light covers and made up wiring harnesses with connectors for both the front and rear clips. The interior is really the only time consuming part that I have left as everything else is just a bolt on. I have not been able to decide if I should take a week off and just get it done or spread it out over the next few weeks. Something tells me that when it gets home I will have a difficult time not working on it 24/7. My brother has again volunteered to come to Alabama and help on "the home stretch" and we may do that.

The short answer Fran; "it will take a lot to keep me from driving it around the block some time in the next three weeks!"

Keith

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Yeah baby!!!!!!

 

[Keith]

IT'S HOME!

I was not able sleep at all Sunday night in anticipation of picking up my car Monday. It was a very long drive over but well worth the wait! The first photo is of the car in their shop the first time I laid eyes on it. The second photo is of the car out in the sunlight before we rolled it up onto the truck. The remainder of the photos are of the car back in my shop at the end of a long day.

I am very pleased with the way the paint came out and the way the car looks and I could not be any happier with the outcome. Bruce Bunn and his employees were very proud of the way it turned out. They were also very quick to point out that the body pannels were very straight to start with which made their job easier.

The finish line is now in sight.................

Keith

 

[Jack]

Beautiful car, congrats. Nice shop too!

 

[RossW]

Keith - as our father Roy would say, "she's a beaut!". Just stunning!

You should be SO proud......let me know finishing plans soonest.....

 

[Randy V]

It's gonna be a stunner Keith.. That's for sure!!!
The contrast between the stripes and the base color is very pleasing to the eyes - Not too sharp, but a very "down to business" look...

 

[Rob]

Fantastic Keith. She looks fabulous. I love the black. AWESOME.
Take the week off..!!!

 

[Chuck]

Awesome. The GT looks good in black.

100 hours to finish? Hope springs eternal . . . . .

Keep the progress posts coming!

 

[Allen English]

The car looks great!!!

I really like the look of the narrow twin stripes with the hood style you chose.

 

[Mark Clapp]

Keith, you really should have waited until the paint was dry before bringing it home. Seriously, does it need any color sanding or polishing? Can't see how from the pics.

 

[Keith]

Thanks to all for the kind words.

Chuck, I am starting to think you are right. I spent 4 hours ont it last night and got nothing done because I spent so much time just looking at it.

Mark, they sprnt an entire week just doing the wet sanding and buffing/polishing. My greatest concern now is getting it assembled without damaging the paint.
Keith

 

[Keith]

Guide pins:
One of the body fitting issues that I had not been able to resolve was a "shift" of the rear portion of the front clip that favored the right side of the car. I had used a spacer shim during the body fitting to get the gap between the forward edge of the spider and the rear of the front clip so that the gaps were correct but this was not an acceptable fix for the final product.
The final solution; the locator nuts and guides shown in the photos below. I machined locator pins that replace the top nut for the door hinge bolt. It is one inch in diameter, an inch and a quarter long with a sixty degree taper on the top. I machined two flats on the bottom so it could be tightened with a 3/4 inch wrench and drilled and tapped it 1/2 NF to match the bolt. The guide plate is 1/8 aluminum plate with a one inch hole to match the pin. I slotted the plate so that it was adjustable.
I am very pleased with the result.
Keith

 

[Jack]

Nicely done Keith. Good work there.