Some Assembly Required

[Andre Becker]

After a number of years of vacillating and tackling other projects (We have built have built a number of cars including a GT40) I finally ordered a GTM in December 2012 and the kit was delivered on April 17, 2013. We also ordered a donor kit from Shaun at SMC including a 515hp LS3. I fotunately had a G50 box left over from another project which I could use.

Our major initial task on the kit was the conversion from LHD to RHD as we cannot register a new LHD vehicle in this country (who knows why).

After 8 months of intensive work, with the major problem being the body and door fitment we have finally reached the stage of mechanical and body completion and have started on completion of the interior. I do have a photographic record of the build but to me the completion of the car is the most interesting.

We experienced great difficulty with the fitment of the front end and finally decided to modify it substantially. We ended up changing the front end to a solid mount with a seperate bonnet for access to the coolant, master cylinders and window wash bottle. We dropped the front by about 1 1/2" which meant reducing the height by cutting out a section. In my opinion the car looks better.

The pic of the car as it came out of the body shop. Since then all the lights. the splitter, side sills and wing have been fitted and the interior is progressing well. I will post pics of the fully completed car in due course. I expect to take it for registration by end February.

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[Fraser D]

I really like what you have done to the bonnet!
Thinning down the nose improves the look.
Any chance of a couple of photos of the latch and hinge assembly?

[Andre Becker]

Hi Dave, thanks for the comment. I am actually on holiday at the moment but will gladly send you some pics of the mounting of the front end and the bonnet hinge and latch when I get back next Wednesday.

Cheers
Andre

[Kalstar]

Well done, love to see the RHD set up.

[Fraser D]

Hi Dave, thanks for the comment. I am actually on holiday at the moment but will gladly send you some pics of the mounting of the front end and the bonnet hinge and latch when I get back next Wednesday.

Cheers
Andre

Andre, that would be great.

[rev2xs]

What country are you located in? I was thinking of the UK but i'm pretty sure that they allow the registration of new LHD cars there. I'm from Australia (also RHD country) and they usually have ridiculous laws like this in fact. So that would be my next guess.

Factory Five Racing dont offer a RHD kit? I thought they did?

[Andre Becker]

Sorry guys I did not mention that we are in South Africa. I put this on my profile on FFRcars.com. The law was changed about 5 years ago. We have no idea why. FFR unfortunately do not offer a RHD kit but the guys at FFR were helpful in suplying loose steering and master cylinder brackets for the converson. It did however still complicate and add time to the project.

[Andre Becker]

Hi Dave, thanks for the comment. I am actually on holiday at the moment but will gladly send you some pics of the mounting of the front end and the bonnet hinge and latch when I get back next Wednesday.

Cheers
Andre

Hi Dave

I have attached some photos to try and show what we have done. I hope it is clear. What we effectively did was to mount the front end solidly on brackets where the front hinges normally are mounted and bolted it thru the area where the top side latches are fitted. this is quite difficult to show. We also then bonded an aluminium flange to mount at the back of the bonnet opening. The whole front end had a section of about 35mm cut out horizontally and re-joined. We then cut out a bonnet and mounted this on a hinge to open forwards. I hope this helps

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