SL-C Build in MA

Picked up my kit April 16, 2011. Drove to MI with my friend Greg. I had checked with u-haul to make sure they had a trailer I could rent weeks in advance and got my truck inspected by them to make sure everything was going to work . A couple of days before I am due to leave, none of the u-haul stores in my area had a trailer, plus I learned for a trailer this size/weight, you need electric brakes! I find someone to do the wiring install ($300 I didn’t expect to spend) and Alan SL-C comes to my rescue by lending me his trailer.
I’ve never towed anything before, so driving this took some getting used to. Drive to MI went smoothly and we arrived at the shop Friday evening and dropped off the tires/wheels and trailer. When we found the hotel, it was pretty sketchy. Dumped a bag and went to find something to eat. I asked the waiter if there were any decent hotels in the area. We found the one he recommended and got a room. Went back to the original hell hole and grabbed my stuff. I have stayed in some budget hotels before, but our original hotel was dirty and dangerous.
Back at the shop next day at 8:30, and Mark was still buttoning things up. We loaded car on the trailer and were off around 10:30. The trailer taillight I had replaced the day before was broken again, so we stopped at Harbor Freight 2 miles away and I fixed it in the parking lot. Five minutes into it, a dude pulls up and asked “what is it?” I was trying to be polite and the more info I gave him, the more interested he was, finally getting out of his car and checking out the suspension. I stopped work to grab something out of the truck and he said, “I have a ton of automotive experience, and I’ll offer to help you build this for free”. Too bad I live 15 hours away, seemed like a nice guy who knew his stuff. He leaves and 1 minute later, a young guy and 2 girls pull up and he stops and starts asking questions. I tell my buddy Greg, this one is yours or I’ll never finish this 10 minute job.
We finally get on the road again about 11:00 and it starts to spit rain. The forecast is not good and I am hoping we can outrun the storm. Getting lots of looks by cars passing us. I see a guy coming onto the highway in a Dodge Challenger and I pulled over into the middle lane, because I can tell he is getting on the highway at speed. I check my mirror to see where he is so I can pull back into the right lane and he is….missing? He finally comes around the left and I see the passenger was taking pictures! Every toll booth/rest area we stopped, the car was getting attention and comments.
Six hours later, it starts pouring. Rained the rest of the way back, wind driven, foggy….was really miserable and difficult to see.
I think my next build, I’ll have it shipped!!!
 

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The build starts – I have to admit I have little experience, so feel free to give me constructive criticism if you see anything I am doing which is weird/wrong/unsafe or if you have a better way of doing it. Huge thanks already to Allan SL-C for all the help/advice he has already given me.
My build order may look strange for the following reasons:
1) I’m on a low budget….can’t afford an engine yet.
2) I am waiting for some parts still….no electrical, no heat/AC yet
3) As I already mentioned, I'm figuring this out as I go along....
I bought a G50 off the “other” forum and started playing with that while waiting for my kit. It was a long tail and needed to be shortened, which I was told would be easy to do. Easy is a relative term. Wasn’t easy for me… With some help from a post on this forum (Thanks Randy!), I had some pictures/drawings to help me get started.
I sent the transmission over to a local Porsche specialist and he cracked it open to check and see how it looked as I had little history on it. When I got it back, I cut the case with a hack saw and file and had a local shop machine in the bearing race/seal on the tail (the original gets cut off when you shorten the case). He also helped me swap the vent/fill plugs. I replaced the front input shaft seal and installed the rear seal/bearing.
Some pictures attached. A before picture of the long tail, one showing how filthy the transmission was, another with it cleaned up a bit and the case cut and shift cable bracket installed. You can see the nut extenders I had to use. Even with the case shortened as much as I could, the bracket wouldn’t line up. Big thanks to Jim over at Cable Shift. He helped me figure out a solution. Really helpful and patient guy. He also sent me a new part – the sleeve that fits over the shift rod was machined too small and wouldn’t fit. When I got the new one, I had to tap a tread into it to secure it to the shift rod. Last picture is showing the shortened case and the cables installed. I bolted the shifter to my work table and was able to adjust everything and get all the gears.
 

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Made up some brackets to isolate/secure the gas tank. I used this durable rubber mat (Lowes) with these indents that were the perfect size to sink in pop rivets. Popped riveted the bottom rails the tank sits on as well as the front/passenger side and did the same to all the brackets before I bolted them down. Everything is rock solid.
 

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Mounted the reservoirs, drilled the holes in the front foot well and found some cable glands the perfect size to secure/protect and waterproof where they go through the foot well. Torqued down all the suspension (anything which won’t need adjusting later), secured the brake/clutch lines and connected everything up to the calipers/residual valves.
 

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Figured out a good tool to use for doing the cutouts, an air powered body saw. Once I got past being freaked about cutting into the body, it went pretty smoothly. Cut in the tail lights, cut out all the vents and made some up screens and aluminum frames I painted black. My woodworking shop is making lots of metal shavings instead of sawdust. Not 100% happy with the roof vent yet, so I may redo that.
 

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Some more cutouts, the rear deck, hood, trimmed all the fender returns, got the gas filler mounted. I had to get longer screws. The fiberglass was thick here and I think the cap assumes your mounting it into a steel body. Last pic (a little fuzzy) shows how small my workspace is. My wife already warned me she is NOT giving up her side of the garage. I did some major remodeling and got all my windsurfing/kite boarding/kayaking/cycling gear stored in other places so I could have room for tool boxes and parts.
 

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I have the headlights figure out (thanks to Allan SL-C). You need to cut off one of the mounting tabs and a part of the metal ring or they won’t fit. Then I finally realized the little gizmos for adjusting the lights twist locked into the housing. I have been staring at these things off and on for a couple of weeks and it just didn’t hit me until today. Cutting the holes was scary, I used a hole saw and managed to do it without destroying anything. I played around with trying to build some kind of bracket for the small orange lights. Build manual says to silicone them in place, put I want them easy to remove. After wasting two hours on various dumb ideas, I got something to work. I took some epoxy and secured some plastic screws to the light housing. I don’t even know why I am admitting it took me hours to come up with that J
I have not yet permanently mounted the headlight buckets. I plan to paint the headlight area black and if I can find something which simulates chrome, I want to do the curved sections directly around the lights. Looking for suggestions on what to use if anyone has done this/has an idea for me.

 

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Peter, looking good. Keep at it. There is a product called Click Bond fasteners that will be your friend.
Available from Pegasus Racing and others such as Aircraft Spruce. Check it out.

Enjoy your build! If on a budget, don't forget that a small block chevy will work too.
Cheap to build to 400hp.
 
I have the pedal assembly mounted.
I used pan head SS bolts up through the floor and 1” long stud extenders instead of nuts. The pedal assembly has counter sunk holes and you can’t easily get to the nuts for the bolts. Using the stud extenders makes it super simple. While messing around with trying to install myself, I dropped one and it went into the Bermuda Triangle. It took me 15 minutes to find it….it had dropped into a recess behind the brake pedal and was basically completely hidden.

I repositioned the power tilt mechanism to gain a little more room for my big feet. You can see in the picture, I altered the bracket so it is mounted it horizontally instead of vertically. Got the steering wheel adapter welded up yesterday and thanks again to Allan SL-C for more great advice, I also pinned it with a couple of set screws so I don’t have to worry about it unscrewing on me. The set screws in the pic are too long, I replaced them with shorter ones. It is great to have a steering wheel finally – note the custom logo!
 

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I have the brackets mounted on both seats. Needed to have this set up so I could make sure the steering column, steering wheel, pedal assembly, drivers seat were positioned correctly. At 6’4”, everything needs to be set-up right or I’ll go through a complete build and not actually be able to drive the car. At Fran’s suggestion, I pulled the cables for the tilt /telescopic functions and worked them with a wrench to cycle through the range of positions. To be honest, the telescopic range is a joke, but the tilt is great to get the wheel away from my knees.
 

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What's up with you new builders making progress faster than us older builders ... you're making us look bad, lol :p


Btw, I like the color you chose :D
 
Congrats Peter. Looking good. Nice progress. The SLC looks really good in white.


What's up with you new builders making progress faster than us older builders ... you're making us look bad, lol :p

There is one common denominator with the fast moving builds: AllanSLC... :thumbsup:
 
Re: Allan's Contribution

Yup, Allan is a key contributor for sure. I also have to thank all the rest of the people on this forum.

So Alex, early pioneers like you helped blaze the trail for the rest of us to make fast progress.
 
You're moving right along nicely. I see you are working in a rather confined space too, Be carfeful about going off on tangents/modifications, etc. Indivualized
changes eat up many months of time as some of us have learned.
 
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