KVA Project

Hi All


With the winter refit now compete following the GT40 being sprayed, looking forward to taxing the car from April (Had planned to tax from March – but was not quite ready) and getting some miles under the belt to shake down any issues prior to Classic LM in July.


The refit has gone smoothly, with the exception of the 34 year old windscreen cracking from top to bottom as I was getting it out of storage (Was possible weak anyway – so better than having it break once bonded into the car) – so another screen was quickly purchased and fitted.


The corbeau seats that came with the car when purchased. Which although never used were looking tired after 30 years of sitting about, so I stripped the seats of their material and foam and modified the high sides of the seat frames to make them less of a bucket seat and lowered the seat fixing base so that seats sit as low as possible and bolt in from underneath. I then entrusted the seat frames to a local trimmer with pictures of the 60’s material style I was looking for – after 6 weeks wait the results are amazing – so much more than I could have imagined and also nice and comfy with new foam. I made up a centre console in cardboard initially (CAD = Cardboard aided design) and then made up in box section and aluminium and trimmed to match the seats and is topped off with a shift gate that I made from 6mm aluminium plate.

When fitting the vitaloni sebring chrome mirrors I made some mounting brackets to fit to the contour of the front arches and raise the mirror height to give better rear visibility.

Other jobs have included:

  • Swap the hex wheel nuts for 3 eared spinners
  • Fit Zero 360 extinguisher system
  • Fabricate small luggage/tool box to fit at front of car
  • Fit the 2 rear vent grills (Had then sprayed to match body colour)
  • Fit sound deadening and carpet
  • Raised the front suspension by 1 inch to 4 ½ inch ground clearance in readiness for Norfolk country lanes and speed bumps – Left the rear at 5 inches
Roll on April 1<sup>st</sup> to get the 40 out, just need to get rid of this awful UK weather.


Tony





 

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Having now been over a year since passing the IVA test in 2017, 3000 miles covered including a 1000 miles in 4 days to Classic Le mans this year, a list of jobs/improvements are on the agenda over the winter.

One of the main jobs I wanted to do was to have a set of manifolds more in keeping with the MK3 (Rather than the current Southern GT MK1 manifolds) and to go from 4 silencer (Done for IVA) down to 2 silencers, plus this would then allow me room to get a luggage box made to sit above the gearbox, a couple of other side benefits would be not having any manifold over the top of the bellhousing, so perfect access to slave cylinder and less heat in that area.

As it was not going to be a job done by myself, I spent a good while looking at different companies to do the work (Recommendations, reputation and previous work etc – they do some nice systems for Land Rover Defenders – another vehicle I love) – this lead me to Demand Engineering http://demandengineering.co.uk/ (Only about 30 miles from where I live in Suffolk).

With a remit of what I was looking to achieve, they have made 4 into 2 into 1 manifolds in stainless and these have then been ceramic coated, a stainless cross over link pipe and then exhaust dropping down to meet my two original silencers, all joints are stainless V bands.

Having got the car back on Wednesday this week, I am super happy with the end result - I have attached various pictures – hope you all like them. (1st Picture is before)

  • I knew it would be louder going to 2 silencers, but suspect I may need to get some a bit better than the original 2 (It is VERY loud)

Tony
 

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Howard Jones

Supporter
Wow. Really nice job. Best MK3 I have every seen. I especially like the exhaust system. I would love to hear that one. Did the cross over (H pipe) make much of a difference in the sound?
 
I had previously posted that the car was rather loud with going down to 2 small silencers, the noise was not so much of an issue, but after spending a bit of time cruising at 60 to 70 for long periods the noise/tone was not so pleasurable so have had the pipe work re-done and slightly larger silencers fitted which has made cruising speed noise/tone much better.

You will see from the pictures I have also been able to make use of the space vacated above the gearbox by fitting a small detachable stainless steel tool/luggage box.

One of the last winter jobs was to fit bumper overriders, about 2 years ago I had tracked down and purchase front and rear Ford Anglia ones, which is what the original GT40 MK3 overriders were adapted from.

The rear overriders did not require too much cutting and fabrication work and luckily are not handed, but the fronts were much more complicated as they needed a section adding at the bottom and are handed to match the curve of the front of the car.

Rather than going for the normal method of getting them chemically chromed, I would get them spay chromed. I was unsure if the quality/finish would be as good, but there is a company about 10 minutes from where I live that does spay chroming and looking at his work was impressed with the results, so elected to go that route, I must admit the results/finish is very good and you would really struggle to tell the difference.

The rear overriders have been fitted, just the fronts to fit and then all jobs completed and can then look forward to 2019 driving and various events (Kit car show, Spa, Silverstone etc.)

Tony
 

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I just read through this entire thread. I don't know how I missed it. It's an inspiration. I've just dug out my old KCC that has been lying dormant for a few years. Time to get cracking! I particularly like what you did with the front-end. It makes a pretty ugly looking K-frame setup, look quite decent. I hope you don't mind if I borrow some of your ideas ;)
 
I just read through this entire thread. I don't know how I missed it. It's an inspiration. I've just dug out my old KCC that has been lying dormant for a few years. Time to get cracking! I particularly like what you did with the front-end. It makes a pretty ugly looking K-frame setup, look quite decent. I hope you don't mind if I borrow some of your ideas ;)
Hi Simon, Glad you liked the thread, its been a few years on the road now, all running will - help yourself to any ideas, if you need more pictures of anything let me know, got 100's taken from the build. All the best with your KCC. Tony
 
Hi Simon, Glad you liked the thread, its been a few years on the road now, all running will - help yourself to any ideas, if you need more pictures of anything let me know, got 100's taken from the build. All the best with your KCC. Tony
Thanks Tony. I’m glad to hear it’s still running well for you. I started modifying my front end on the weekend. I’ll post in my build log soon ;)
 
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