What did you do on your GTM today?

[LCD Gauges]

Did some run-around for the transaxle payments (at the bank), and did some more body work on the hood. I guess my goal is to finish the front end before the transaxle arrives, and then start cleaning
the dust off the frame. I don't think I'll achieve "Kempo Clean Status", but a good spray down of the body, and garage floor is in order.

I've set a goal to have the go-kart rolling by the end of September. Place your bets.

It appears everyone else is making progress with their projects. I'm jealous!

[JCHRacer]

Not really some car like mine are cars that are used mostly at the track. In other cases they were street driven cars. The second one I installed started leaking fluid when I was bleeding the system after installing it. My car is used 90% of the time on track that is why I decided to remove that part from the car. Didn't want to have that in the back of my mind every time I braked.

What kind of brake fluid are you running? Pegasus said the only reported problems have been with people running silicone (DOT5) brake fluid.

[Kempo]

I use ATE super blue and ATE TYP 200. They are both DOT4.

http://www.ate-na.com/generator/www/..._blau_US_E.pdf

[noother]

Ordered 9.9 lbs of carbon-kevlar and fabric

[kabacj]

Noother,

I see a picture of recaro seat. Are you building a new seat with your carbon kevlar?

I am in the market for a full containment seat but not sure what will fit. Lots of companies out there that focus on the NASCAR and sprint car crowd that will build a custom seat, but that takes time.

Im interested in what solution you chose for a seat.

John

[noother]

Yep, Recaro Pro Racer SPG Hans. The only reason I think it will work is because I moved the driver almost five inches inboard by replacing the botton frame of the tunnel directly under the upper frames. This gained me almost an inch of headroom and gets my head away from the halo bar. I'm 5'9" by the way so I can afford to sit a little more upright and designing it primarily for myself.

I also found a smokin deal on the seat at $1200, Ebay. New, but has a few scratches and a fabric tear behind the left shoulder. This aint no show car anyway, I plan to track it alot.

Worst case it doesn't fit and I have to put it in the Cayman. I'll start a post when I get it here and fit it.

Mark

[crash]

That's a great looking seat, and I hope it serves you well, but I also wanted to warn others that many of the "carbon" or "kevlar" seats you see on sites like ebay are TIMED OUT. There is a useful life to pretty much anything, and in sanctioned racing events, anything made out of a composite material that has to do with safety will generally time out in 5 years from the date of manufacture. This is why you will see the date stamps on the products and why you will also see 5+ year old seats, helmets, HANS devices, etc for sale very cheaply on auction sites. Not saying they don't have plenty of life still left in them. Not saying that what we see here with noother's seat has any issues what so ever, just stating what a potential issue is with these types of seats so a buyer can be aware. This IS an issue that is looked at very closely and given very little lieniency by sanctioning bodies, so if you plan to track the car in a snactioned event, make sure the date stamps don't make the item "out of date".

[noother]

Good point Crash, where would we be with out you? To keep this thread on track I'll start a new seat thread soon with SCCA and NASA particulars.

What did I do on my GTM today? Spent hours on the internet trying to figure out how to get a seemingly simple job done.

Mark

[docglock]

I ran the hard coolant lines today. However, I wrapped them first in insulator tape (same as used for headers). I didn't have the lower radiator hose for the modification for the upper radiator connection, so I ordered the part from Corvette Salvage, and got around to ordering the header tank and heater by-pass from Crash.

[VD2021]

Backed it out to attempt a garage cleanup and to reorganize some items. This was cut short due to Florida summer showers.

[VD2021]

Not GTM, but related in many ways.......

Met Yos from the gt40s/SLC Clubhouse forum and took a look at his LS9 SL-C build. Great Guy and nice car. He'll be by next week end to see the GTM build.

[flotowngtm]

VD2021,

Do you know what Trans that is your buddy has in that SLC?

[VD2021]

VD2021,

Do you know what Trans that is your buddy has in that SLC?

F,
It's a G96.50.

[Edgeman]

Well after a month with very little done on the car I did get a day in. I painted the inner door frames. It was a scorcher today paint was baked on, along with the clear. IMG_2347.JPGIMG_2348.JPGIMG_2349.JPG

[Fraser D]

I had a little fun after not getting any car work done for the best part of two months.
Split the rear hatch as I don’t like the idea of removing the rear wing every time I want to pop the hood to check things out.
Using the Targa top latch from my donor to keep it secured with the rear clip being held on with dezus fasteners.
I am still playing with the mounting bracket.

[sk7500]

My wife was out of town so I had some time with the mistress this weekend.
I aligned the doors and rear hatch. Installed and adjusted side windows, regulators actuators and speakers. Installed and wired Amp Crossovers and Sub woofer. It sounds awesome even if it is playing into a tin can without a windshield. Can't wait to hear it once the interior is in. The doors close great but I still have some work to do on the door seals.

[sk7500]

I was also able to install the Rear window, diffuser, wing and accent lighting.

[rev2xs]

What door seal did you use?

My wife was out of town so I had some time with the mistress this weekend.
I aligned the doors and rear hatch. Installed and adjusted side windows, regulators actuators and speakers. Installed and wired Amp Crossovers and Sub woofer. It sounds awesome even if it is playing into a tin can without a windshield. Can't wait to hear it once the interior is in. The doors close great but I still have some work to do on the door seals.

[sk7500]

The door seals are from a Ford Taurus.

[docglock]

I love what you've done with the engine bay lighting!

[The Stig]

I was also able to install the Rear window, diffuser, wing and accent lighting.

Now that's how the hatch/glass should be fitted in these cars!



Steve, that looks perfect!

Mike

[Fraser D]

Now that's how the hatch/glass should be fitted in these cars!



Steve, that looks perfect!

Mike

My hatch glass is not even close to being that straight as supplied from FF5!
I need to fix it soon but after hearing horror stories about exploding glass I keep putting it off.
After seeing how nice Steve made his I will just have to grow a pair and make it happen.
Very nice fit and finish!

[kabacj]

Steve. Did you grind down the hatch glass? How did you do it?

Thanks.

John

[Kalstar]

Chewing up sand paper. GTMhatch1.JPGGTM hatch.JPGgtm6.jpggtm1.JPGgtm2.JPGgtm3.JPGgtm4.JPGgtm5.JPG

[sk7500]

I worked on and drove the car for about a year and put on about a 1000 miles before pulling it apart for paint. So I'm pretty confident we'll be happy with the long term durability of this window. And if it does get beat up I'm only into it about $200. I'll replace it with a fresh one. I have a great pattern. I knew a long time ago that the back glass that came with the kit was never going to make me happy. It's the one area I really have a problem with. Body fitment is just one of those things that can make me feel really good if it's right and ruin my day if it's off. Once I figured I was never going to have a fit with the stock glass I decided to go with a polycarbonate window. I went down to the local hardware store, bought a 4X4 piece of 1/8" Lexan, laid it over the stock window as a pattern. Cut it out with a jigsaw, filed and sanded until I got the shape right and temporarily glued it in place for a year to see what engine temp and normal wear and tear would do. I also did some work to the rear hatch to make it match the shape of the body - 3/16" (final glass thickness). I'm sorry I don't have some better pictures, but look at the upper edge of the hatch and see how I had to add almost 1/2" to the center of the area that is closest to the body. If you can build up the hatch to match the body shape when you install the poly window it will take that perfect body shape. I think its important that you block and finish the new FG work because if it's wavy you're poly window will take that shape and you'll have waves in your glass.
After I painted the car I ordered a piece of polycarbonate 3/16" Hard faced on both sides from Mc Master Carr. I used the old window as a template and cut, filed and polished the edges of the new window. Then I cut the black out mask and found out how hard the hard facing really is. I wanted to sand the area I was going to spray black but it was too hard to sand. I wound up using a sanding sponge and even that did not do a great job. A light glass bead blasting would probably be best. I just sanded it as best I could and sprayed it black on the inside. Then on the first 105 degree day I put the window in the sun to soften it while I applied a liberal bead of window adhesive to the hatch. After the window was good and hot I put it in place and Gorilla taped the side edges down and let it sit over night. Next day pulled of the mask and Gorilla tape and cleaned the window with Liquid glass and a Microfiber wiping towel. The hard faced Polycarbonate is what they make safety glasses out of so it's extremely scratch resistant and I can vouch for that. I don't think I would try cleaning it with newspaper, but I have no problem rubbing it with a clean Microfiber towel. The 3/16 thickness and the natural curve make the window very strong and yes if you push hard enough in the middle you can deflect it. But it is crystal clear without any distortion. It's not like the headlight covers.

One other thing I did was reinforce the window frame because I suspect the stock glass is uses as a stiffener. I wont be able to use the stock lifting shocks because between the wing and rear louvers the hatch is pretty heavy.

Mike,
this is something you could do to your car without having to do any repaint work. Then after a couple years and a few thousand miles of road rash you could always pull this window out and have your body reshaped to the stock glass and then repaint. The problem is I didn't think I could make the stock glass fit the body and look right for for our car period. And I'm not afraid of a little body work.

And finally Polycarbonate is what they make bullet proof glass from so you are safe from bullets from the rear!

Steve. Did you grind down the hatch glass? How did you do it?

Thanks.

John

[LCD Gauges]

Slowly plugging away at the body work, and starting to get the engine ready for the transaxle delivery (month end).

Fraser,

Your engine looks insane! I love how you mounted the intercoolers as well. I'm going with a similar concept with my hatch, and intake location. I'm just torn between permanently securing the back half to the
main body, or using fasteners like yourself.

Are you planning to install some sort of seal to close the gap between the hatch, and rear section?

[Fraser D]

Slowly plugging away at the body work, and starting to get the engine ready for the transaxle delivery (month end).

Fraser,

Your engine looks insane! I love how you mounted the intercoolers as well. I'm going with a similar concept with my hatch, and intake location. I'm just torn between permanently securing the back half to the
main body, or using fasteners like yourself.

Are you planning to install some sort of seal to close the gap between the hatch, and rear section?

Thanks and I am planning on using soft seal on a weather lip between the two halves.
I am still waiting on my wing mounts and brackets to come back from the machine shop to complete the rear frame, its cover and make the slots in the rear hatch section. Once that is done I will have the body back off and post some pictures of how all of that is mounted to the trans frame and how the top part is removable.
The cooler on the driver’s side is for engine oil hooked up through a remote filter and the other is the trans cooler. When I first started this everyone was freaking out about engine bay temps and associated heat soak so I took extra precautions to compensate for the temp increase from the turbo’s. in hind sight a little overkill but at the very least I have two fans to draw hot air out of the engine bay when stationary.

[VD2021]

Did a general clean up in the garage as I prepare to start-up again after basicly taking the last two months away from the build.

I also saw Mikes Cartoonized Pic and created this:

[Kempo]

Vidal, that's one cool picture and site. I did one as well. Thanks for sharing.


cartoonized gtm.jpg

[Edgeman]

Those pictures would look GREAT in this years Calendar.

[RumRunner]

Finally got around to mocking up my interior. I used a center console I had fabricated by Front Panel Express. In case anyone cares, the switch above the stereo allows me to view either my front or rear camera at any time. The stereo still displays the rear camera automatically when in reverse. And I did have to get both driver's and passengers dash pods completely recovered. The material was pulling up badly from all the concave areas on the driver's pod, and the passenger pod had to be recovered because I had to move the vent and right edge toward the middle of the car about an inch to clear the door panels. $250 total to completely re-cover both with a very similar material. Dropped it off one day, and it was ready two days later.

IMG_4964.JPGIMG_4965.JPGIMG_4969-1.jpg

Also showing for the first time my 3-gauge cluster. Fits really well within the view line of the Momo steering wheel.

IMG_4970.JPGIMG_4972.JPG

And lastly I installed two 5-inch waterproof fans in the diffuser to keep air moving when at a standstill. I'll probably just run them all the time.

IMG_4973.JPGIMG_4974.JPG

-Michael

[Kempo]

Very nice Michael!!!

[RumRunner]

Very nice Michael!!!

Thanks Hugo. Just trying to keep up (catch up) with you! You're build looks amazing. Has Junior turned his first wrench yet?

-M

[VD2021]

Michael,
Outstanding!

[Kempo]

You're build looks amazing. Has Junior turned his first wrench yet?

-M

Thanks Michael. Not yet, and I'm worried. Because when he does it will most likely be against some kind of painted surface that will not be compatible with any wrench type. :-)

[Kalstar]

gtmprime3.JPG

It's in primer, note some of the body mods we are doing....... More mods will be apparent once nose, hood, doors and hatch can be seen..

[Joe Mush]

The roof and side scoops look great.

[docglock]

I am working on building an electronic brake for the parking brake. This will replace the convention hand brake with a rocker switch connected to a actuator that retracts and releases the brake cable. I also plan to incorporate Mastershift paddle shifters on the steering column.

[Edgeman]

With some help from my Dad (X Body Man) we installed the doors. Also with the lathe he machined up some new door posts. What a task to compete.

[LCD Gauges]

More body work, and gathered some items for the trip to Buffalo tomorrow. If anyone is near the Clarence area, let me know! I'll be picking up the transaxle in the morning, but should have some time
around noon for a bite to eat/drink.