YAHB (Yet another hopeful builder)
- Thread starter FlyinJ
- Start date
Jeff,
When it comes to what mods to do and not do a lot is dependent on your plan for your build. The options you chose from the factory and modifications you plan out will be very different based on if you are doing a street or a track car. Personal preference also plays in.
This is my "opinion" on mods I would suggest if you are planning a primarily street build (basically this is what I am doing).
In no particular order (random thoughts)
1) for a parking brake use the Tesla (Brembo) calipers and the Pantera Electronics controller
2) for wiring go either with a canned system like similar to what Kyle is using or design your own (if you have the knowledge) KISS principle applies here
3) do not use the factory anchor duct as intended for the defrost ducts. Modify the anchor or build your own ducting system. This will allow you to incorporate a damper if you chose.
4) do not use the factory AC mounting bracket. A spring loaded belt tensioner is a better route to go such as the Dirty Dingo or Holley setup
5) for the fuel system the factory intended swirl pot system is acceptable or you can use a single HP pump and either add baffling to the tank or a Holley hydramat pickup
6) re-inforce the rear clam as others have done around the window and at the rear hinge points
7) re-contour the roll bar to follow the spider more closely and modify the a-pillar covers to match. The added visibility is well worth it.
8) there are a lot of options you can pursue for gauges. My personal preference is that I do not like the Koso offering. Go with what you like. If you are doing your own thing for the wiring harness it is easy to change the gauges out to something else.
9) custom seat brackets can be designed and built very easily to mount the seats just how you want them. Mounting is important to custom fit you to your car.
10) definitely install a rear view camera/monitor system. There are many good options. I am installing an Autovox X1 system.
11) go with the rear window vents in either fiberglass or carbon fiber
12) design and install a fan shroud for the radiator
13) devise a scheme for cabin sealing and insulation. As with other factors there are many good options here, pick a product and use it as it is intended.
14) replace the factory supplied residual valves with the Wilwood low pressure residual valves. The stainless lines worked fine for me with no leaks.
15) use the factory interior tub if you want a finished interior (CF or fiberglass)
16) if you are planning a low ride height (as per factory recommended settings) and street driving definitely install a front end lift system, pneumatic or hydraulic
All of the above are my opinions only based on what I have experienced thus far in my build. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me and I will share what little I know. If you want to hear from the master contact Allan, he has built many SL-C's and his build videos are a wealth of information.
As far as costing, I will gladly share my bill of materials with you. My build is basic with a used engine and transaxle that I have built up for the application and I am doing 100% of the work including paint and leather interior myself. I am projecting to have about $72,500 in material, kit cost, options, engine, transaxle, etc. when I am finished (90% of that has already been purchased so that number should be fairly accurate).
When it comes to what mods to do and not do a lot is dependent on your plan for your build. The options you chose from the factory and modifications you plan out will be very different based on if you are doing a street or a track car. Personal preference also plays in.
This is my "opinion" on mods I would suggest if you are planning a primarily street build (basically this is what I am doing).
In no particular order (random thoughts)
1) for a parking brake use the Tesla (Brembo) calipers and the Pantera Electronics controller
2) for wiring go either with a canned system like similar to what Kyle is using or design your own (if you have the knowledge) KISS principle applies here
3) do not use the factory anchor duct as intended for the defrost ducts. Modify the anchor or build your own ducting system. This will allow you to incorporate a damper if you chose.
4) do not use the factory AC mounting bracket. A spring loaded belt tensioner is a better route to go such as the Dirty Dingo or Holley setup
5) for the fuel system the factory intended swirl pot system is acceptable or you can use a single HP pump and either add baffling to the tank or a Holley hydramat pickup
6) re-inforce the rear clam as others have done around the window and at the rear hinge points
7) re-contour the roll bar to follow the spider more closely and modify the a-pillar covers to match. The added visibility is well worth it.
8) there are a lot of options you can pursue for gauges. My personal preference is that I do not like the Koso offering. Go with what you like. If you are doing your own thing for the wiring harness it is easy to change the gauges out to something else.
9) custom seat brackets can be designed and built very easily to mount the seats just how you want them. Mounting is important to custom fit you to your car.
10) definitely install a rear view camera/monitor system. There are many good options. I am installing an Autovox X1 system.
11) go with the rear window vents in either fiberglass or carbon fiber
12) design and install a fan shroud for the radiator
13) devise a scheme for cabin sealing and insulation. As with other factors there are many good options here, pick a product and use it as it is intended.
14) replace the factory supplied residual valves with the Wilwood low pressure residual valves. The stainless lines worked fine for me with no leaks.
15) use the factory interior tub if you want a finished interior (CF or fiberglass)
16) if you are planning a low ride height (as per factory recommended settings) and street driving definitely install a front end lift system, pneumatic or hydraulic
All of the above are my opinions only based on what I have experienced thus far in my build. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me and I will share what little I know. If you want to hear from the master contact Allan, he has built many SL-C's and his build videos are a wealth of information.
As far as costing, I will gladly share my bill of materials with you. My build is basic with a used engine and transaxle that I have built up for the application and I am doing 100% of the work including paint and leather interior myself. I am projecting to have about $72,500 in material, kit cost, options, engine, transaxle, etc. when I am finished (90% of that has already been purchased so that number should be fairly accurate).
Thank you, Kurt. That’s an extensive list. Many of those items are on the must do list already. Thanks also for your cost, I think with the increase in the kit cost over the last several years I’ll be above your total by quite a bit. I’m at 73K with a lot of the interior parts youve mentioned (all FB at this point, with upholstery and paint there’s no point in forking out the $ for CF eye candy and then covering it up. I’ll skin exposed decorative areas with CF blends as needed), the graziano and associated adapters, shifter, hinges, etc… and already have a list of parts I’ll be opting out of and going 3rd party with. No engine, but I’m already scouring scrappers for a Gen IV LS3 6.2 to rebuild. I haven’t found a crate at the price and performance I’d be ok with - not to mention being sure it will pass inspection.
As far as the spider realignment…I haven’t come across that yet in any of the logs. Do you have a link to your build where I can see what was done and why?
As far as the spider realignment…I haven’t come across that yet in any of the logs. Do you have a link to your build where I can see what was done and why?
Jeff,
Here is a link to my build.
Let me know if you have any questions. Always ready to help a fellow builder as many have helped me.
Here is a link to my build.
Kurt H (hoffkm) SL-C build thread
While in the final stages of waiting for my kit to be complete I thought I would start my build thread to occupy my time. My name is Kurt Hoffman and I reside with my wife Michelle in Wauseon, Ohio. I am a mechanical engineer by trade. My desire to become a mechanical engineer started at a...
www.gt40s.com
Let me know if you have any questions. Always ready to help a fellow builder as many have helped me.
Scott
Lifetime Supporter
Jeff, the hoop doesn't fit the body well which results in massive A-pillars. The link below has before and after pictures and explains how I approcahed the mod.
S2's Build Thread | Page 23 | GT40s
Scott, I note this in your post:
“Note that it’s my understanding that Superlite has changed the way they manufacture the front hoop which makes it narrower. This would increase the need for the mod as well make the stretching approach infeasible.”
Stretching no longer an option? Does it need to be cut and re-welded into a more conforming shape?
“Note that it’s my understanding that Superlite has changed the way they manufacture the front hoop which makes it narrower. This would increase the need for the mod as well make the stretching approach infeasible.”
Stretching no longer an option? Does it need to be cut and re-welded into a more conforming shape?
Scott
Lifetime Supporter
Jeff,
Allan had mentioned to me that Superlite had changed the way that the front hoop was made and that the gap between the hoop and the body was even larger. That would increase the need for the mod and it might mean that the stretching approach won't work. If you compare my before picture (the one with the red arrows) to your situation and it looks to be about the same size gap, then stretching should work. If your gap is larger, you can try stretching and if it doesn't work you just cut it off and fabricate a new hoop.
Allan had mentioned to me that Superlite had changed the way that the front hoop was made and that the gap between the hoop and the body was even larger. That would increase the need for the mod and it might mean that the stretching approach won't work. If you compare my before picture (the one with the red arrows) to your situation and it looks to be about the same size gap, then stretching should work. If your gap is larger, you can try stretching and if it doesn't work you just cut it off and fabricate a new hoop.
Scott:
I am very interested in stretching the front hoop for better visibility and cosmetics, can you please elaborate on what kind of hydraulic jack you used and what kind of attachment ?, did you do one side at a time or the jack reached all the way across?, and if so, how? to me fabricating the base to accommodate the holes is not a problem .( I Also have the side impact bars so will have to line everything up.) but I am having a hard time visualizing the stretching process, I am also thinking you can use a pulling mechanism by finding an anchor point on each side outside the hoop.
Fantastic idea, I was always concerned about visibility interference by the massive A-pillars.
Hector
Scott
Lifetime Supporter
Hector, I made the changes over a year before I posted, so it’s been a couple of years… I should have taken pictures. It's a two-person job. Here's what I recall.
I removed the bolts from the front hoop plate and placed an inexpensive hydraulic ram that I purchased from Harbor Freight (see below) so that it spanned the bottom of the hoop. The bottom plates and the curvature of the hoop prevented the “feet” on the ram from slipping off. We’d stretch it a bit and if we needed to tweak one of the sides, we’d place a non-marring vice grip (see below, it's on a piece of scrap 1-1/2" tube) on the radius of one side of the arch. We’d then place one end of the ram under the vice grip and the other end on top of the bottom plate and give it a nudge. I thought that we'd need to tack weld a stop, but the vice grip worked OK for small tweaks.
As the arch expanded it caused the bottom plates to hit the body. The body was removed and the outside edge was cut nearly flush to the hoop with a 4" cut off wheel in a grinder. Do not remove the inside edge because it’s required to keep the ram from slipping. We repeated the above process until we had a pretty good fit with the arch. During this process the tubes got a little out of front-to-back alignment. We cut the bottom plates off, removed the cage and flipped it upside down. We put the cut bottom of one side under one of the arms of the two-post car lift and slid a 2” pipe over the other side. The car lift arm was just a coinvent way to pin one side of the arch while the pipe/lever was used to tweak things a little. The cage and body were on and off serval times until we were as close as we were going to get.
At this point the pedestals were fabricated and bolted in place. The bottom of each side of the arch was trimmed with a portable bandsaw so that they would sit flat on the pedestals. One of the sides was still more forward than we wanted, so a ratchet strap was used to put it exactly where we wanted it at which point the hoop was tack welded to the pedestals.
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Scott
Lifetime Supporter
Jeff, the original hoop is structurally sound, it just resulted in large A-pillars and reduced visibility a bit. To my understanding, the newer version is just as sound but increases the size of the A-Pillars.
Hector, make sure that any welding is performed by a pro -- preferably someone with experience building cages.
I dug through the forums and saw a thread where a few members were thinking of scanning an SL-C for a 3D model. Anyone know what became of that? There are a couple models online, one is poor and the other is just the shell. I could model my own, but there are no good "flat" or isometric side/rear/top views of the car online. I'd like to try a few body changes with a model car.
I wasn't concerned necessarily with the structure, but the aesthetic design issue. Design the hoop to match the body, or the body to match the hoop.
Thank you so much Scott, now it makes sense , I did not know you could get cheap hydraulic rams at harbor freight, I thought you did it with a standard hydraulic jack and some crazy attachment ;-), you come up with the coolest stuff. Yes my immediate plan was to tack weld some stops at strategic locations. the holes on my arch plates don't fit perfectly, so I use a ratchet strap to pull the legs together in the lateral direction and a C clamp against the frame to move it Forward, works perfectly but I worry about the constant tension on both the hoop and the frame . As the tube is stretched and the bottom plates tilt, will it be possible to keep the original bottom plates (just trim the lateral edges to fit the body) and just use custom made iron wedges or triangular shaped pedestals?, that way minimizing cutting on the cage. I am just guessing here, since I don't know how much the plate will be tilted and moved up away form the frame. And yes, my welding skills will not be sufficient for a cage that may be needed to save my head LOL.
Scott
Lifetime Supporter
Hector,
It's always nice when your need for a tool coincides with a sale!
I don't see why that wouldn't work, but IMO it would be more effort. You might want talk it through with whomever you're going to have do the welding.
I forgot to mention that you need to make sure that everything fits under the dash.
It's always nice when your need for a tool coincides with a sale!
My stock plates didn't align perfectly, but I just needed to use a drift pin in one of the holes to pry the plate. Welding always warps things and a good welder will know how to minimize it.
I don't see why that wouldn't work, but IMO it would be more effort. You might want talk it through with whomever you're going to have do the welding.
I forgot to mention that you need to make sure that everything fits under the dash.
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Yes, I have not finished the A/C and heater ducts and have not installed the digital dash, stereo, amps and so on , which I am planning to mount to the inside surface of the dash , so I can move them around, thanks for the tip. I will do the bending first then figure out the next step. In my mind bending and getting as close to the spider as possible is the hardest part.
