Rod C's Ohio RCR40

[Rod Chaffee]

I need a bit of a break from working on the body and am going to start prepping my dashboard. I cut the holes for the gauges. This is not for the faint of heart, as getting the holes positioned correctly is a necessity and (if you have ever used a hole saw) the hole saw can grip quickly which pretty much breaks your wrist and destroys whatever you are holesawing simultaneously. Luckily I made it through with minimal damage.

I have ordered a bunch of switches.

off-on-on for lights (off, park, on)​

on-on for low/high beam​

on-off-on for turn signals​

on-off-on for low pressure fuel pumps (right and left)​

off-on for high pressure fuel pump (wired so power only available if a low pressure pump is on)​

off-on-on for ignition (off, acces, run)​

off-on-on for wiper​

off-on DPST for engine bay cooling fans​

Horn button​

Start button​

I have also ordered indicator lights

2 green for turn signals​

2 red for oil pressure and water temperature​

1 blue for high beams​

I will likely only use one turn signal indicator. This will give me 4 indicator lights which I can space around the tach of center three gauges.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

In other news...
My daughter hit her 2nd deer in about 4 weeks, this time with her new-to-her car she had for about 2 weeks. This pretty much sucked all around. Luckily nobody (except the deer) got hurt and the damage was not too bad. Did you know you can buy a pre-painted bumper from Amazon for a Hyundai Elantra that is shipped folded up?!? It simply unfolds and bolts on. Saved me some painting.

I went to Alaska, looked at some mountains, saw a glacier & a totem pole and caught some Salmon

The battery in my NSX blew up. I have never has this happen before. I keep all of my batteries on tenders. NSXs are notorious for draining their battery in about 2 weeks due to the security system. This was a genuine Acura battery (don't ask), well over 10 years old. The car started and ran fine. My daughter took it out for an evening and called from a restaurant because the car was dead. We had a heck of a time getting it to jump start. Eventually it started and I brought her home. If you do not know, the battery on these NSXs is buried up behind the dash in the middle of the car. They say it has something about low center of gravity and weight distribution. I know they are difficult to get to. Once I got to the battery , the problem was clear. Optima redtop to the rescue.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

I am back at it after a bit of a break. I had been working on body fitment while I wait on the remainder of parts from RCR. This is tedious work but I am getting things dialed in. The doors are A LOT of on, off, on, off, on, off, on, off. My doors are long & I am concerned about cutting fiberglass off of these main parts. I was making pretty good progress - door handles mounted, door latch mounted on the doors and a strengthened bar fiberglassed into the doors.
Then I bought a pair of 1974 Yamaha DT 100 enduro motorbikes and rebuilt both of them. I spent most of the winter working on those two little buggers. My daughter wants to ride one to school her Sr year.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

I recently received my AC unit, steering rack & I am going to pick up my transaxle from RCR this week.
So I shifted back to this car and went to work on the steering rack. I printed spacers of a variety of thickness on the 3D printer to get the height of the rack correct, red things. I had to slot holes a bit to get fore/aft alignment, but seemed to do fairly well. I will use doublers on top although likely not necessary. I ordered actual aluminum spacers from sendcutsend once I figured out the height I needed. Once those parts come in, I will permanently mount the steering rack.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

With the rack in, I worked on figuring out how to route the steering through the dash. Like many others I cut into the understructure to raise the steering components higher over my feet. I had to weld up a bracket to raise the support. I also took a lot of time to ensure near perfect alignment of the steering wheel out of the dash and into the center of drivers seat. This is a lot of laying on my back working upside down. It is kinda like doing yoga in my workshop.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

Then I went to work on the AC. There is a lot to understand and figure out with this thing. My unit has an electric floor/vent/defrost damper. I figured I might as well take advantage of all three and actually use the defrost outlets. I have seen many cover or plug the defrost outlets and not use them. I opened the defrost holes and plan to use them as defrost. It took me some time to figure out how the dash, plenum & AC unit all work together. I made a template, cut 5 holes in the dash, trim, trial, trim, trial, trim, trial…well you get the picture. Eventually I got it all mounted up. I trimmed and modified the bracket between the motor and the ducting to use as the 3rd mounting point.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

I had to shorten the plenum because of my roll bar. First I just trimmed the ends off and planned to fiberglass new ends. Then I read in someone’s build log to just cut out a section in the larger area. This worked out very well. Another tip - hot glue gun. Hot glue sets up fast and holds well. It really works good on these fiberglass parts to hold things together. I will fiberglass the back together for permanent finish, but hot glue has been my friend.
Also, cutting out the stiffening bars under the dash sucks. I used one of those oscillating cutters. It is the ticket for this tough job.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

On the AC unit - filing off the little locking tabs resulted in holes in the vent outlets on the unit. The tabs seem to be punched in vs molded in. So when I filed them off to be flush with the outside of the outlet, a little hole appeared, on each one of them. I used black RTV to fill the little holes.
I also have a bunch of ⅛ holes in the aluminum dash surface that were covered by the strengthening bars. I plan to fill these holes with black RTV also.

 

[Randy V]

I recently received my AC unit, steering rack & I am going to pick up my transaxle from RCR this week.
So I shifted back to this car and went to work on the steering rack. I printed spacers of a variety of thickness on the 3D printer to get the height of the rack correct, red things. I had to slot holes a bit to get fore/aft alignment, but seemed to do fairly well. I will use doublers on top although likely not necessary. I ordered actual aluminum spacers from sendcutsend once I figured out the height I needed. Once those parts come in, I will permanently mount the steering rack.

View attachment 146762View attachment 146763View attachment 146764

Looking good!
Quick tip - On an RCR40 - Normally it is best to have your lower control arms move as far forward (shims) as you can get them in order to get enough positive caster when you finally align the car.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

Looking good!
Quick tip - On an RCR40 - Normally it is best to have your lower control arms move as far forward (shims) as you can get them in order to get enough positive caster when you finally align the car.

Thanks Randy - I will double check the alignment measurements as I get further along.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

I have all of the brake lines installed and the parking brake underway. No major hang ups once I figured out which line went where. I did wrap the tubes in the spine in clear rubber hose for some additional protection. I have also begun adding sound deadened in the cockpit. I wanted deadener behind the brake lines. I will also put deadener up around the steering rack before I mount it for good.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

I continue to chip away at this project. One area I have not been able to find a lot of information is the mounting of engine & transaxle into the chassis. I have a 347 SBF from Prestige mounting to a Porsche G96.01 transaxle via the RCR adapter plate.
I have purchased the following parts to get everything connected: Summit Flexplate SUM-G115SFI, Summit bellhousing separator plate SUM-700601, Porsche Clutch Kit Sachs K7024601KT, Porsche Clutch Slave Cylinder Sachs SH6196, RCR Flywheel (on order)
Here is my 1st mock up install picture, giving this thing a soul

 

[Rod Chaffee]

One thing I figured out is the 'ears' on the adapter plate DO mount to the 'horseshoe' in the RCR chassis. I bought 12' grade 8 all thread from McMaster car because the bolts supplied by RCR are too short to go all the way through. It seems I am able to get things in place.
A few questions for those willing to give some input:
1 - Should I put in some flexible bushings (rubber washers), or hard bolt it in via the adapter plate? I am using Energy Suspension engine mounts, so they do have some flex
2 - I am currently using the 'top' holes in the horseshoe, but considering dropping to the lower holes to lower the engine in the chassis and get my engine a bit more level. Is anyone else using the lower holes or do I need to stay in the top?
3 - My engine is nose down in the chassis with my current set up, about 5 deg measured on the intake carb surface. With the carb surface 5 deg nose down the transaxle adapter face is about 2.5 deg off level. I would like it to be level, I believe. To get level (or 1 deg) I will need to add spacers under my engine mounts to get to the chassis or slot the mounts at the engine to move the mounts outboard or shift the adapter connection to the lower holes. Any input or thoughts on this situation?
Here are some pics to clarify my situation

 

[Rod Chaffee]

My next problem is the separator plate, flexplate & adapter plate do not play well together. If I put on the separator, bolt on the flexplate and attempt to bolt on the adapter, the adapter interferes with the flexplate. The interference looks to be about 1/8". It seams I can add additional spacer between the adapter and the block or mill a bit off of the adapter or mill the lip off of the flexpate (not desired due to balance). Any other ideas on this little obstacle? Maybe I have a wrong part or something not put together correctly?
More pictures...

 

[Rod Chaffee]

My next problem is the separator plate, flexplate & adapter plate do not play well together. If I put on the separator, bolt on the flexplate and attempt to bolt on the adapter, the adapter interferes with the flexplate. The interference looks to be about 1/8". It seams I can add additional spacer between the adapter and the block or mill a bit off of the adapter or mill the lip off of the flexpate (not desired due to balance). Any other ideas on this little obstacle? Maybe I have a wrong part or something not put together correctly?
More pictures...
View attachment 147693View attachment 147694View attachment 147695View attachment 147692View attachment 147691

I may have found my own answer to this little obstacle. I could use a 1/4" aluminum mid motor plate from the drag racing world as a 1/4 inch spacer between the separator plate and the RCR adapter. I would trim it to match the outside of the adapter.
If I stack engine block / separator plate / mid motor plate / adapter, I should be OK and need no spacer between crank and flexplate. I would need to make sure my starter still makes contact to the flexplate OK.
Think this would work?

 

[Rod Chaffee]

Shifter Modification
I cut apart my shifter and welded it back together. I got rid of the threaded tubes that stuck straight out and welded in channels. The cable will now insert in & have a nut on both sides to fix it in place rather than threaded in with a locknut. This will make easier in/out adjustment if needed. This also allows me to 'point' the shifter cables in a direction I want them to go instead of straight out the shifter.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

Engine Front End
I ordered up pulleys, alternator & water pump from CVF Racing:
302-WP-CW-SHORTY
SBF1ALT
FORD-1WIRE-100A
ALTFAN
SBFS1WP-FR
SBFS2CR-FR
302-ALTBRKT-D
It all fit well, but the crank pulley was about 15/16" too far in. I fired up the ol'3D printed and made a spacer to ensure the correct thickness (red part). Knowing it was correct, I ordered a real aluminum spacer, .9"
I cut up the AC brkt supplied by RCR in an attempt to mount the AC compressor.



What I did would have worked, but the compressor would have been upside down. This is probably OK, but I have a 3D printer, so let's make a few brackets and see if we can get that thing flipped over. It is a tight fit to clear the WP input, the AC lines, some swing for belt adjustment & the engine hole.

After a few trials (1hr print while I am doing something else), I landed on one that works & fits in the engine hole. So off to sendcutsend.com to cut me out real steel parts. If you are not aware or have not used, sendcutsend will make you one off 2D steel parts, quick and easy. I have used them a handful of times on this car and other projects. I have a DXF and STEP file of the bracket if anyone wants it. No guarantee it is going to fit or work in your application.

 

[Martin]

Hey Rod,
I had the same issue with the crank pulley and CVF makes a .950 spacer for this issue. It fit perfectly. I was able to use the RCR A/C bracket after enlarging a couple of the holes too.

 

[Rod Chaffee]

Plumbing
I pretty much have the front end & inside plumbed, cooling, heating, AC. I will have a bundle of snakes in the front as well as in the back it seems.
AC - I have hard lines from condenser to dryer (#6 48") and into front space (#8 24"). I have a #8 hard line (60") running through the spine. I wanted both #8 & #10 hard lines through the spine, but could not get them to fit. The fit problem was not the lines but the fittings on the ends. So I have a rubber #10 through the spine. I hope it all fits under the hood & I have no leaks.
Heater - I am going to get heat from the intake manifold, standard Ford heater location. I am running a hard line through the spine, standard 1/2" copper water line, with 90 deg flared ends on both ends to connect to heater hoses. I wrapped this tube with Thermo-Tec insulating tape, twice, to hold the heat in. From the heater core the coolant reenters into the coolant pipe coming from the engine. I found an inlet connector here, 1 1/2" radiator hose to 5/8" heater hose, part number Z17556. I have to make this connection to the bulkhead yet.
Coolant - I also double wrapped coolant pipes in the spine with the Thermo-Tec insulating tape to manage the heat. Silicon elbows from Summit, 3 45deg elbows and 1 90 deg elbows. I also used two 12" aluminum pipes & the inlet connector above to hook it all up. I trimmed some of the legs on the elbows to get a good fit up front.
That spine is a busy place!
Pictures of the rear also. I may drill new holes for the parking brake cables down lower. This may make for easier plumbing back there.

 

[jeff wilkinson]

Engine Front End
I ordered up pulleys, alternator & water pump from CVF Racing:
302-WP-CW-SHORTY
SBF1ALT
FORD-1WIRE-100A
ALTFAN
SBFS1WP-FR
SBFS2CR-FR
302-ALTBRKT-D
It all fit well, but the crank pulley was about 15/16" too far in. I fired up the ol'3D printed and made a spacer to ensure the correct thickness (red part). Knowing it was correct, I ordered a real aluminum spacer, .9"
I cut up the AC brkt supplied by RCR in an attempt to mount the AC compressor.

View attachment 147715View attachment 147714View attachment 147713View attachment 147712View attachment 147711

What I did would have worked, but the compressor would have been upside down. This is probably OK, but I have a 3D printer, so let's make a few brackets and see if we can get that thing flipped over. It is a tight fit to clear the WP input, the AC lines, some swing for belt adjustment & the engine hole.
View attachment 147716
After a few trials (1hr print while I am doing something else), I landed on one that works & fits in the engine hole. So off to sendcutsend.com to cut me out real steel parts. If you are not aware or have not used, sendcutsend will make you one off 2D steel parts, quick and easy. I have used them a handful of times on this car and other projects. I have a DXF and STEP file of the bracket if anyone wants it. No guarantee it is going to fit or work in your application.

Hi Rod,
I am doing a similar build, Prestige 347, and Porsche G96, with similar CVF front end kit, can you please tell me what thermostat housing, and thermostat you are using?
Regards
Jeff