MDA GT40 Rebuild.

Hi guys

you may remember a few weeks ago I posted some pictures of my newly purchased MDA GT40.
I had planned to changed the colour, possibly ass Gulf arches and give it a general tidy up. After looking a little deeper I soon realised that if I was to enjoy this car a lot needed to change. Let’s just say one of the previous owners was likely a “Jack of all trades” clearly as master of none.

Sections of the chassis looked like Swiss cheese with the amount of non needed rivet holes. This I find incredibly frustrating And that is where the “tidy up” turned into a “rebuild”.

I started stripping the car down so I could spot weld over the holes. The more I removed the more I didn’t like. Hatches has been cut all over the place with nothing matching or lining up. Consequently I have now ended up with a chassis a engine.

Yesterday I pulled the dash out as there are a few disks that are not working and wanted to find the problem. It was literally like tipping out a bowel of pasta. My head exploded. With that said does anyone have any recommendations for “plug and play” ready made looms for a Ford 302 that’s been stroked to a 347. It has EFI. The motor was built by Mike Huddar
347 Ci ‘stroked’ SB Ford V8 / TWM Accel / DFI sequential injection system & programmable ECU:

Eagle 3.400 nodular stroker crank – internal balance
Eagle lightweight 5.400 ‘I Beam’ con rods with ARP cap screws
Heavy duty bearings
Keith Black Hypereutectic pistons with molly rings giving 10.5-1 compression
Assembly dynamically balanced
Patriot alloy cylinder heads, 180 cc intake, 60 cc chamber, 2.02/ 1.6 stainless valves
Lunati ‘EFI spec’ hydraulic camshaft, hardened pushrods, alloy water pump
Canton baffled oil pan, HV oil pump with Canton pickup & HD driveshaft
Degree crank damper
Ford Motorsport (Ford Racing) alloy valve covers with breathers
TWM Accel / DFI sequential injection system - 50mm Throttle Bodies.
Includes: Dual synch distributor for Cam & Crank signals / 6A control box and shielded ‘E’ coil
30lb Injectors / Remote mounted IAC Motor for precise idle control / Adjustable, vacuum controlled fuel pressure regulator. Gearbox: Renault UN-1 5 Speed

I don’t think I’ll be to Le Mans Classic this year however I’ll aim for 2021.

cheers


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That's a lot of swiss cheese indeed Jack, the pitfalls of buying someone else's build. I've been going through it myself to a lesser degree, so I understand what you're dealing with. I've never shied away from a challenge, and it doesn't appear that you do either... ;)
 
Hi Michael, I do like a challenge although I prefer a clean one rather than fixing someone’s laziness. I’m glad it’s me that’s is doing it as I feel like I’m giving it another chance the second generation MDA chassis is a great design so it seems a shame for it to have been rushed in so many areas. It looks as though the original builder was thorough and spent a hell of a lot of money. Then it looks as though someone came in and finished it off with a very different level of workmanship. I have a great drive train, brakes, suspension, chassis etc so my plan is to create a masterpiece.
How long have you been building yours and what stage are you at?
 
Jack,
We’ve all been daunted by electrics. Unless you’ve got a modern engine with tons of electronics, it’s well worth familiarising yourself with the intricacies of a wiring loom. You may find there’s a “eureka” moment when it all fits into place. That looks an interesting project. You've got all the bits and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing it’s going to be done properly. Good luck
Simon
 
Jack,
We’ve all been daunted by electrics. Unless you’ve got a modern engine with tons of electronics, it’s well worth familiarising yourself with the intricacies of a wiring loom. You may find there’s a “eureka” moment when it all fits into place. That looks an interesting project. You've got all the bits and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing it’s going to be done properly. Good luck
Simon

thanks Simon.
I pulled the whole loom out the car today when removing the motor. What a mess! I think the best bet is to use my current engine management but get a ready to run loom from Summit Racing or similar.
 
There is a lot of nice stuff and design ideas there Jack. Get all that wiring tidied up and it will come out really nice. looking good.

regards Ryan
 

Morten

Mortified GT
Supporter
Hi,
Give Mick Sollis at Southern GT a shout. He’ll set you up with a new loom and one for the Accel ecu.

SGT used Accel earlier, but now use Motec. I’m confident you’ll get a positive answer from Mick to integrate the looms.

Good luck
Morten
 
How long have you been building yours and what stage are you at?
Jack,
I've had my car about two and a half years now. I bought it as a running and mostly complete car, but appearances are often deceiving as you know. I'm slowly changing things to my taste and setting things right at a glacial pace. Just discovered that I have two different lower rear control arms on my car, so sorting through that at the moment and then its on to the next item on the laundry list. ;)
 

Andrew

Supporter
Nice work Jack and I look forward to reading and seeing more. I too bought a built car and like you working through it getting it up to my standard although I'm doing it in phases to keep it on the road (well sort of)

Keep up the great work
 
Jack,
I've had my car about two and a half years now. I bought it as a running and mostly complete car, but appearances are often deceiving as you know. I'm slowly changing things to my taste and setting things right at a glacial pace. Just discovered that I have two different lower rear control arms on my car, so sorting through that at the moment and then its on to the next item on the laundry list. ;)

Haha great fun isn’t it. Hopefully yours didn’t have as much of the chassis missing as mine did. The only good thing I can see coming out of going as far as I have is that the chassis will now be better than new. I have stiffened up the rear cross brace as I am aware they are prone to crack with large power. The paint that is going on is also incredibly tough and chip resistant.
 
Nice work Jack and I look forward to reading and seeing more. I too bought a built car and like you working through it getting it up to my standard although I'm doing it in phases to keep it on the road (well sort of)

Keep up the great work

Thanks Andrew. One positive I take from this is that I will know the car inside out after this. At least if anything does go wrong in the future I should know what it is and how to fix it.
Thanks again
 
You have more of a car than I have!!! The Mike Huddar engine will be sound, take your time (not as long as me) and enjoy the journey.

Thanks Doc. Looking forward to seeing how it drives.
I have all new arms, braces etc coming down from Mark at GT Racing which have all been powder coated to help with the longevity. What stage are you at?
 
A quick update on my progress this week. All holes in the chassis have been welded up, ground down, an extremely thin coat of filler where needed, sanded and filled, sanded and filled and maybe sanded and filled again. Then sanded hahaha. I gave the exposed steel a coat of etch primer ready for a coat of high build in the morning and then a few coats of black and a satin clear coat.
Looking forward to getting the paint laid down and being able to start the slightly more satisfying job of remaking all the ally panels from scratch. Luckily a friend of mine who was a coach worker for Rolls Royce is assisting me (probably doing the majority) with this.
I am keeping the the full interior exposed aluminium and he has suggested a dash to match, however this could end up too much. One thing I will be doing is creating the single bonnet scoop from exposed ally as I think this will have a great contrast between the Lapis Blue the bodywork is going.
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Jack,
Looking at your photos makes me realize I'd be a big pussy to ever complain about my project. You've really gotten it taken down to the carcass, nice. And yes, you'll know every nut and bolt on it when you're done, that's very valuable knowledge down the road. That's what I love about my cobra, I built it from the bottom up and I know it well. Just couldn't commit myself to another complete build at this point, but I still enjoy the many little projects. Plus, I get to satisfy my inner caveman instinct to cannibalize every sports car in my path by following along with projects like yours. ;)
 
Jack,
Looking at your photos makes me realize I'd be a big pussy to ever complain about my project. You've really gotten it taken down to the carcass, nice. And yes, you'll know every nut and bolt on it when you're done, that's very valuable knowledge down the road. That's what I love about my cobra, I built it from the bottom up and I know it well. Just couldn't commit myself to another complete build at this point, but I still enjoy the many little projects. Plus, I get to satisfy my inner caveman instinct to cannibalize every sports car in my path by following along with projects like yours. ;)
Haha well I tend to get carried away with everything I do. Shortly after purchasing the car I realised replica/home builds/classics etc don’t go down well with my OCD. I can’t leave anything alone.
 
Today it happened! The chassis is painted. I hit all the bare steel with etch primer which to be honest was over 50% of the car. I then gave it a couple of very light coats of high build. This helped with levelling our a lot of the chassis which is visible to the eye when the car is complete. I then gave it 4 coats of a commercial grade black. This is basically
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a wet powder coat. It covered well but it was certainly harder than I had expected. I’ve only ever painted small parts here and there. Painting a chassis with around 200 faces to hit is extremely frustrating. I then finished the chassis off with a Tough Guard satin clear coat. This does make the black look more of a grey as it does dull it off a lot, however I like it. Plus it’s hugely tough. You can knock it about quite a bit without causing any chipping. This is handy with a car that has such wide tires especially when giving it hell on a race track. Take a look and see what you think. Monday/Tuesday I’ll start the aluminium.
 

Ian Anderson

Lifetime Supporter
Well done with all that work.
Did you figure a way to exreact all the swarf and rivet ends from inside the tubes? Or are you hoping for a loud engine to drown out the rattles?

ian
 
Well done with all that work.
Did you figure a way to exreact all the swarf and rivet ends from inside the tubes? Or are you hoping for a loud engine to drown out the rattles?

ian
Thanks Ian.
Managed to get the majority out by drilling a larger hole at each end the using the airline to blow them through. The tougher ones I used at magnet for.
 
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