Pete B's Build Thread

[Scott Rowland]

I have had it happen on a $9k body kit I bought. It didn't happen before paint though ofcourse. Sucks taking a grinder to a car that you perfectly painted only a month before. Luckily I chose a solid color paint and had extra, so panel blending was perfect.
While I think my body is good, it is making me rethink you color choice. My body is aged, but it hasn't been exposed to operating temps.

 

[Grant S]

Heat really helps make the pin holes pop but you should go around with a light hammer to all the sharp edges and tight corners and tap away I had a lot of big voids that broke out, four or five that were 2" to 3" long.

 

[A.J. Schreder]

I had a few issues with my gel coat but Fran and his supplier graciously addressed the issues and fixed the problem. Fran was very clear that he wanted it to be right and would do whatever I wanted. Since then a few more issues have popped up with the gel coat but nothing severe enough to be worth the hassle. People contemplating a build shouldn't worry about it. Just like everything else with the build, there will always be issues. My experience has been that Fran and the team have gone above and beyond when there have been even the smallest issue.

A.J.

 

[Howard Jones]

Fran taking care of you is a very big deal. In my experience in the past (not with RCR) kit car manufactures have sent you the pieces that you paid for and the rest was pretty much up to you.

Recently more of them are doing a better job standing behind their products. This a leap forward in the component car industry. Those of us who remember the original RF saga will appreciate that the bar has been raised.

Good on you Fran and others who adopt similar business models.

 

[PeteB]

The new fans made a HUGE difference in cooling. Took the car for a drive when the outside temp was about 85F. In traffic, coolant temp hit 202F indicated, fans came on, and coolant temp dropped to 195F in less than a minute.

 

[PeteB]

Took the nose off to check out an apparent leak with the hydraulic lift. I had a pool of fluid under the nose of the car. I guess I must have overfilled the reservoir, because I couldn't find a leak anywhere.

Anyhow, since I had the nose off, I took a pic of the new fans:

 

[PeteB]

Installed my new seats. Comfortable and provide lots of headroom and enough room on the side of the seat that I'm going to fabricate some storage bins to put small stuff (maps, registration, cell phone, etc) on each side.

Kirkey 21 series High Back Kart Seats: https://www.kirkeyracing.com/category/S21/21-series---high-back-kart. I bought the 16" wide.

 

[PeteB]

I pretty much took a break from the build during the winter. But, since spring is here, I've started talking to some places about getting a vinyl wrap done.

I'm thinking about something like the Visit Florida Corvette Daytona Prototype, but in red, black, and silver:

 

[PeteB]

Found a better pic

 

[Dan Carter]

Pete, proverbial spring fever......

That wrap scheme will be awesome.

Read about the pin hole issue so thought I would share A techinique I used in a past life. I used a paint oven to make air pockets manifest themselves in the paint prep process. Bake the body and a lot of weak areas will surface.....it's like setting in the sun, just faster. Tapping in critical areas always works of course, but it's those pin holes that ruin a good paint job. Just sharing.

Looking forward to seeing that wrap. :thumbsup:

 

[A.J. Schreder]

That color scheme looks really cool. And using the colors you mentioned should make it even better. This will be fun to watch!

A.J.

 

[PeteB]

I've been talking to a place in Indianapolis to get the wrap done. They've done Daytona Prototypes and Indy cars before so a SLC shouldn't be a problem for them. They said they could do a scheme like I want with some chrome vinyl in the pattern, and keep it within my budget.

 

[Colin Dalzell]

I too am thinking about a wrap (albeit much further down the road - the kit is still being built at RCR!); interested in what a reasonable price for a complete body wrap would be?

 

[PeteB]

It all depends on how fancy you get, the type of vinyl you want, etc. What I've found is the low end is around $2K and high end is $6K. Still cheaper than paint.

 

[Damian]

If you think $2000 is reasonable when compared to paint and even are bat sh!t crazy enough to wrap a car for $6000 than that person has more $ than brains. Listen if any of you are idiotic enough to even contemplate paying ANYONE $6000 for a wrap because that is cheaper than paint let me offer a free head pulling out of ass class and help you save money by recommending a few shops here in FL that will paint the car any damn way you like for a FRACTION of that even when I openly charge you a fee of 50% for being that stupid. I keep hearing these prices thrown around and I have to say that not once have I ever heard anyone in the business throw those numbers out UNLESS THEY ARE ACTIVELY FLEECING SOMEONE!!!! Now you will have your car painted at a shop that does all of the work for a few auctions down here and have more than a few 1/4 mile cars that they own and run but shipping out of state to save a few grand should be worth it. IM me if you guys want their contact info and let me state that I in no way have ANY affiliation with them and am honestly just trying to save you guys a lot of money (They are well known in Orlando, FL as are their race cars).

Actually one of the owners on here happens to have his car worked on (Titan) at the same place that the owner has one of his race motors (actually he used their tuner and dyno which he just recently popped the motor but that's a whole different story) and I'm sure if they asked around info would be really easy to come by. Listen these are expensive toys but there is no reason to make it more than it has to be. Make a friend in the business and watch how prices DRASTICALLY change once you are no longer treated as a mark.

 

[PeteB]

Edit: Nevermind, I apparently responded to a post that the moderators removed. Thanks moderators, it needed to be removed.

 

[PeteB]

I bought a Dakota Digital GPS unit to hopefully solve an issue I'm having of the engine stalling when coming to a stop. Part # for the unit is GPS-5-2.

With the GPS unit in the setting mode it outputs a 60mph signal. To test, I hooked up my android tablet to the OBD port via a PLX Devices Bluetooth dongle and used Dash Command to display the info from the ECU.

From the VSS plug on the GM wiring harness, I connected the purple/white wire to the GPS unit and the other wire to ground.

I first tried Speed output #1 which is the "standard speedometer" output. VSS speed read zero. So, I tried Speed output #2, "AC speedometer". Now I got a reading on the VSS speed. With the GPS unit set to 54000 pulses, the VSS reading from the ECU was 32mph, and with the pulses set to 128000, the VSS read 75mph. I think that's probably close enough for the ECU to be happy, so I'll leave it at 128000 and see how it works.

Next step was to hook the GPS unit up to the KOSO speedometer. I cut the cable to the KOSO speed sensor. It has three wires: red = power, black = ground, and white = signal. I taped up the black and red and connected the white wire to the Speed Output #1 on the DD GPS. With the GPS unit in setting mode, the KOSO read 225mph :stunned:. After some trial and error, I got it to read 61mph. Close enough. The settings I used on the KOSO were 25 sensor points and 310mm tire diameter.

 

[Mesa]

225? Youv'e got the fastest SLC yet!

When I was a kid I would run around looking at the maximum MPH number on the dash of every car. The one with the highest number was the fastest in my 10 year old brain. Ha!

 

[Scott Rowland]

225? Youv'e got the fastest SLC yet!

When I was a kid I would run around looking at the maximum MPH number on the dash of every car. The one with the highest number was the fastest in my 10 year old brain. Ha!

That math works for my 42 yo brain too though. Lol

 

[PeteB]

I was tired of not having anywhere to put my registration, insurance papers, phone, etc, so I fabbed up a "glove compartment" last night. It's in the prototype stage, held together for now with velcro and velcroed to the carpet. If it works well I'll make the final version a bit more finished.

 

[A.J. Schreder]

I'm doing the same. I was also going to put buttons and switches on the top of the storage bin, until I realized they are right in harm's way getting in and out of the car. I plan to make a storage bin on the passenger side, too.

A.J.