Kiwi scratchbuilt

Russ Noble

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Good idea about the core prints Trevor, that would never have occurred to me, but since I've already done it I'll stick with what I've got. Not that it would have been that hard to enlarge them, I suppose.

Been making slow progress over the last couple of months. I have decided to stick broadly with my original plan for doing this, and to that end have taken a fibreglass mold off the upright pattern. That's all stuff I'm used to doing and they have come up well.

I had planned to use modelling clay inside the mold to replicate the wall thickness of the upright but because of the quantities involved in the end decided to make up some "play dough" to use instead. I also thought it may be easier to work with and possibly it was.

The central core shape was done in custom wood as it was easier. This was placed in the mold and the play dough was rolled out to 10mm thickness and placed in the mold in sections and smoothed out with a wet finger. 12mm has also been used in places, mainly around the bearing housings to allow for machining. All fairly easy but, as always, took a bit more than the hour or so that I had thought. What's new about that! LOL.

I was going to pour some resin into the resulting core cavity, but went along with Trevors suggestion of casting plaster (plaster of paris) mainly because of the heat buildup which may have been a problem with that quantity of resin. Also the casting plaster will be easier to work.

I wasn't sure how strong the casting plaster would be, so decided to quickly and roughly reinforce it with some wire, just in case.....Then it was just a matter of mixing up the plaster and pouring it in. So far so good, tidy the resulting plaster castings up a bit and they are the patterns to make the core boxes from.

Before that, a quick trip to the foundry with the cores etc before I make the core boxes, just to make sure I am on the right track. I will also check with them to see if they really want a split pattern as that would save a little bit of work being able to use the existing wooden pattern as suggested by Trevor.

I must say that the amount of work involved in making hollow uprights is quite considerable, and bearing in mind the amount of weight one is saving, like minimal, I can see why Leonmac went with solid uprights. However it is all unsprung weight and it is a race car so we do these stupid things.

It's also aesthetically more pleasing, as well as a bit of a challenge and a learning process. When I've done the core box I'll calculate the weight saving of doing the hollow upright, just out of interest.....Then I'll work out hours per gram saved. Then again, maybe I wont do that last calculation!

Photos are pretty much self explanatory.
 

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That pic is worth thousands of words.... 'New' residence of domestic bliss is clearly a few meters above liquifaction level, the 'tools' of his new found trade are clean & in pristine condition & 'thankfully' not painted 'Kermit Green', & the hands... Ive never seen them sooo clean.... next project must be some shortbread...at least he can eat that.
 
Hi Russ, Haven't heard from you in a while so looked up your thread to see what your up to. How is the rebuild process progressing? I see you are into alloy casting your rear uprights, looks good but it is a lot of work especially doing hollow core units but it will be worth it in the end. Just looking at the way you are doing it makes me think about how I could use my existing mould and do a hollow core set. That will be a while as I want to get a roller first and what I have will do for now but it is food for thought. As always great to watch your work. Cheers Leon.
 
Leon:
I'll second that, been wondering how Russ was doing myself and up popped your post.
He is usually in knee deep with some interesting projects and they and the comment that goes with them are a joy to follow.
Cheers
Hope all is well with you Russ
Phil
 

Russ Noble

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Hi guys. All is well. And I am knee deep!

As I have mentioned before on this thread, I get lots more enjoyment from the racing than the building, the building is just the means to an end. With the GT40 I've got to do it all over again, and that's going to take a while and the enthusiasm is dwindling.....

However I am determined to go racing this season and to that end I have bought a 20 year old Van Diemen RF92 Formula Ford 1600 to contest the South Island Formula Ford Championship this season. And possibly the National Championship next season if I can get it/myself going quick enough....

First SIFF Championship race is at Levels next month.

I bought the car in May and have been right through it. Its a good wee car but was suffering from less than adequate preparation. On top of that, this last month I have been rebuilding the motor, which had an illegal cam in it and repainting the bodywork in my company's lime green livery. Haven't got the bodywork back on yet, but I think it will look stunning.

It should do similar lap times to the GT40. !00 bhp versus 600 bhp. These things are just a fantastic drivers car! No grunt, it's all about maintaining corner speed and going in deep on the brakes. A real challenge and takes total concentration. I just love it. Also they are cheap to run and totally reliable usually.

Have done a couple of club meetings with it and my times are improving each time out. I'm on midfield pace with 1:34s at Ruapuna. Most guys who have raced an RF92 for a while are doing 1:32s and the top guys with the latest new offerings in the form of the French Mygale chassis and mega budgets are in the 1:29's.

It's certainly a challenge! I should have done this years ago but desisted because I thought racing single seaters was too dangerous with only one eye. However the urge to get back into a single seater was too great so I thought to hell with it, lets see how it goes. So far so good.....

Below a couple of pics of the new toy at the club race last month
 

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Russ:
Good to see you are still up and about and enjoying yourself. Looks like lots of fun, and I suspect you'll get those lap times down somehow.
I will be posting some progress soon on my build (Yes, still going) and hoping for some expert critique.
Cheers
Phil
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Great to hear from you Russ!!

One valuable lesson I learned from racing smaller displacement cars that has worked highly in my favor with the larger cars is "momentum managment"... Don't give up any momentum that you absolutely don't have to as it is so hard to get it back...

Soldier on friend!!!
 
Hey Russ, thats good to see you out doing the laps mate but I do hope you will still offer us the advice and banter we all so enjoy from you and also we all would love to see the GT40 running again in the future, I want to see how those uprights turn out.
Cheers Leon.
 

Russ Noble

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Great encouragement guys.

My Kiwi 40 WILL be racing again, with upgrades.

As a side note Ross Nicol has just bought a property a few minutes out of Christchurch so there will be two of us racing GT40s at the local tracks in the near future. I reckon that will be fun, not only for us, but also the spectators!

Too much work makes Jack a dull boy, so whilst the FF will need a little bit of time devoted to it, it will also have me bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to rip into the 40. Maybe I should post some FF stuff on the Race Track sub forum if anyone is interested?

It is a fact, that whilst some of you seem to appreciate my input on this forum, it is a two way street and I have received back an equal or greater amount of support and advice. And encouragement when the going has got tough with my project.

I think we all owe Ron a vote of thanks for this wonderful resource that he provided for us. I have not had the energy to participate more fully on this forum over the last couple of years but my old mojo is back and everything is looking up.

Leon and Phil, and others, I will have to catch up with your fantastic builds again and see what you have all been doing.

All the best,

Russ
 

Keith

Moderator
Mmmmm Feisty!

We like it! :thumbsup:

Very interested in your FF reports Russ mate. Do stick 'em on the "Racetrack" bit.

FF has been a bit left behind in the UK as the kids go straight from Zip Carts to wings 'n slicks but more World Champions started on the dang things than any other marque.

My favourite viewing spot ever for FF Festivals was just down next to the run-off at Paddock Hill Brands Hatch, when on the first lap, 40 odd FF's would be piling downhill towards you like a swarm of angry gnats, many of them sideways. How they got those tyres to stick I'll never know, and no-one had the cash to shave the treads back then.

Fond memories....
 
He's been a busy boy with the Formula Ford he bought along with sponsoring the South Island series of that class, along with what I suspect has been an increase in workload with his business due to the large rebuild of Christchurch post earthquake etc. Not sure that a lot of progress has been made on the GT40 rebuild has been made yet. Still capable of shooting back after some of my cryptic comments so all must be well:)
 

Russ Noble

GT40s Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Well guys, long time no see. Just an update, Jac Mac is pretty right, my spare time has been fully occupied with Formula Ford and I haven’t been on this site for ages. After the prang it took me a couple of years to come right physically and then I wanted to go racing. Another couple of years to rebuild the car was not a preferred option.

I used to do Formula Ford in the early 80s and loved it so decided to buy a RF92 Van Diemen and contest both the South Island Series and the New Zealand National Championship for Class 2 (pre 1993) cars, which culminated in my winning the National Class 2 Championship in 2014. For 2015 I decided to upgrade to a Class 1 Stealth and have crack at both of the Overall Championships. All good until another competitor stuffed me into an unforgiving marshal’s post at a fairly high speed during qualifying at a pre season nonchampionship meeting FFS. All four corners torn off the car plus two broken ribs, punctured lung and concussion, in hospital for several weeks. I’m getting too old for this shit! And it took awhile to get over that prang too. I have almost completed repair of the Stealth and it is actually sold. My racing days are over.

We have decided to move away from Christchurch, we don’t want to live here any more, it is still suffering major devastation from the Feb 2011 quake and quality of life for every one affected is not what it was in the previous life. These days I am heavily involved in the administrative side of both the South Island and the New Zealand Formula Ford Championships and we are taking both these Championships to new recent highs. That is my interest going forwards.

So to the GT40. I am 70 next year and have no wish to race the GT40 anymore so the desire to rebuild it is no longer there. This post is really an advance notification that I intend to put the entire GT40 project (less engine and transaxle) on TradeMe (NZ equivalent of eBay) for definite sale at $1 reserve. This will include molds, rotisserie, jigs, MSNZ CoD papers for classic racing and all the info I hold. Motor/transaxle will be available by negotiation with the successful bidder should they wish to avail themselves of the opportunity.

Life has to move on and this auction is likely to happen in a month or two and I will post the link to the auction when I list it.

I have really enjoyed the interaction with like minded enthusiasts on this forum and it is one of the best on the interweb. I have learnt heaps from everybody and am thankful for the many great new friends that I would otherwise not have met. Wishing everyone on this wonderful forum the best with their GT40 endeavours and I have no doubt I will drop in from time to time to see what’s going on.

Special thanks to Ron for having the vision to provide such an invaluable resource.

Cheers,

Russ

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Brian Stewart
Supporter
Great to hear from you Russ. Sorry to hear the GT40 project is going up for sale, and sorry that you're hanging up your helmet. The reasons behind both decisions are well understood (we ain't getting any younger). I wish you the very best in your future endeavours and sincerely hope that our paths will cross again at some point in the future.

Cheers,

Brian.
 

Brian Kissel

Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Russ, nice to hear from you again. It sounds like it has been a rough few years. It sounds like your decision, is a good healthy option for you. Good luck in your endeavors and stop back in. Best of luck.

Regards Brian
 
gyday ya ole bugger, shit I thought they buried you, damn and I bought flowers and everything, great to hear your ok and still stirring the young ones up, yep at 70 I think it is the right time , those FF take a lot of fitness and bloody quick reflexes to drive competively and neither of us excel in those dept's anymore, one of the reasons why I opted out of finishing the F5000 and let a young fella have it to finish, and I will finish building the M1B for a nice sedate track cruiser. as i'm only 3 years behind you. bugger dosnt time fly when your having fun.
keep in touch mate and keep well
cheers John
 
Russ
Yes its good to hear your still moving forward, I remember well my visit to your workshop when you were still in the fabrication stage where you provided plenty of encouragement with my project. Wish you well on the next phase.
Regards
Russell
 

Keith

Moderator
Hey Russ! Good to hear from you mate & sorry that you've had another damaging prang. I think someone is trying to tell you something :shocked:

Good luck in your new home and best wishes for the future :thumbsup:
 
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