Making progress on my build...

[beeman]

I'm going to give the butterfly doors one more go-around.

[beeman]

These doors are driving me insane. I really want butterfly doors. I am having trouble getting a rock steady setup, but maybe I should expect a little flexing? I'm thinking that the pneumatic shock should add a point of stability as well...

[beeman]

Moving the main hoop required redoing the roof bars.
Out with the old and in with the new.

[beeman]

Just like I did with the re-done roll hoop, really took the time with tube bending to give me a minimal gap for a headliner while maximizing headroom.

[beeman]

Door hinges are done, boring standard front pivot. Solid as a rock, Autoloc hinges, can probably pick up the chassis with them. Just checked with my digital angle gauge, mount does not deflect at all with my 180 pounds hanging on the hinge.





The more I read about suicide hinges, the more they scared me. Most recommend a locking solenoid to prevent the suicide door from opening while moving. I didn't want a death trap on the track if the solenoid failed, nor did I want someone accidentally opening the door at speed and ripping it off the car...

Found a gorgeous low mileage Del Sol (front damage) that I will be using for the final rendition. Once I get everything welded, the green parts are coming off so the frame can be painted before the white donor goes on permanently.

[beeman]

Trimmed the door card, looking at doing FIA style door bars. Here's a finger/phone drawing that shows my idea, power windows will still function - bars will be inboard of the mechanism.

[beeman]

Upper bar done, getting ready to tack it and see how ingress /egress are...
What do you track guys think about the design? I'm pretty sure that the only requirement is that the upper attachment points be less than half the door opening height... Will triangulate the main hoop behind where the bar attaches.



Pay no attention to the ugly welding on the door, it is going to the scrap yard... Probably a hundred tack-cut - retry - tack and so on...



This door card is also the trial one, final card will fit the upper border of the door bar well.

[beeman]

Tacked it in, I really like it. Actually makes getting into and out of the car quite a bit easier! Sit on the bar, swing your feet in...easy. Getting out is no harder and actually more dignified, swing feet out and use the bar to push myself up..

[crash]

Half Door 2012 2.JPGYes, this is what we found on the FFR PDG GTM race car. We put fuel cells on both sides, and then instead of leaving the full height doors, I cut them down to half size and then finished the area between the doors and the frame. This gives us a "shelf" to use for getting in and out. Works quite well.

[beeman]

Not sure if I want to gusset with tubes or sheet metal.

[Fraser D]

Sheet metal would get my vote as it weigh less and can add to side intrusion protection.

[beeman]

I think you're right, Dave.
I'm going to tack in an 'FIA bar' and see if I like ingress/egress with one in place. This car will be 90% street and 10% track.
Does this positioning look right?

[beeman]

Been busy lately, has been over a week since I have snuck out to the shop. Matching passenger bars completed.

I'm wondering if I should wait to weld them until after the DMV inspection... Do they have any issues with door bars on the street? Actually, they will be covered and look like a high door sill when it's all said and done...



Here's the location of the original FFR side bar, I was curious and threw this on to see how it compared.

[beeman]

As the photo above shows, my door bar has the same angle as the original FFR side bar. So I'll be able to use the male and female door jambs (with a little modification of course!) which simplifies things a little.

I was going to use the FFR supplied door latch mechanism, but there's no lock function?? Are a bunch of you guys parking without locks? So Honda latch it is. The Corvette latch was an option too, but was pretty bulky.

[beeman]

Doors are hinged and latched! Went back to C5 latch system. Bodywork time!

[beeman]

[dallas_]

Hey, it's a car!

[beeman]

Hey, it's a car!

Well, a few steps closer anyways!

[beeman]

Trying to figure out what to do in the area behind the B- pillar... Is a window essential here for avoiding a major blind spot? Air scoop? Combination?
Had to order more clecos! Weird, I never ran out building the roadster...

[RoadRacer]

What's behind you doesn't matter

I've never seen or sat in a GTM, but I have driven 60k miles in a GT40 replica, so pretty similar. You'll have to be very careful about using your mirrors anyway, because rear quarter visibility is pretty bad, and there will be gawkers just sitting there taking pics. I'd scoop it personally.

[beeman]

Yeah I agree with scooping it... But how big? I have quite a bit more surface area there compared to the stock GTM, I don't want the scoop to be an overwhelming element there.
Regarding the rear 1/4 blind spot, I'm looking at aftermarket kits, would be simple to implement. Some have GPS modules so they aren't going haywire at every traffic light, only activate above a certain speed. Or could tie into turn signal like many OEM units.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I'd say the visibility issue will be determined by where your head is at when you're sitting in there. In the GTM, that area is useless to see out of.....100% of that area is behind your head.

[beeman]

Thanks for the input, off to the Internet to find a scoop that fits..

[crash]

We eliminated the side window scoops, and here is why...when we had the engine fire a few years back the driver, when getting out of the car, was burned on his left shoulder from flames coming out of that scoop. Yes he was wearing a three layer suit, but it burned completely thru one layer and damaged the second layer. If he had not been wearing a fire resistant suit he would have been severely burned getting out of the GTM. We found that plenty of air can be brought in from under the car and from the side scoops behind the doors to keep things cool. It also helps very slightly with rear mirror visibility.

[beeman]

Crash, I do recall you saying in the past that the 1/4 window scoops were unnecessary for engine bay cooling... How are you feeding air to the engine airbox?
I do like the way they look (looking at Shane's scoops like on his GTM #12)...
It's a lot of real estate I've created there, I'm afraid that simple bodywork would be too bland/boring there? What do you guys think?

[crash]

We run a non reversed intake and then use a reversible scoop mounted on the rear window to draw air into an engine air intake box. Of course our rear window is polycarbonate. The scoop is reversible with Dzus fasteners so that when it rains we are not gulping in water. Yes we did have to modify the rear firewall to make the non reversed intake fit. It is extremely tight and uses a "cobra head" 90 degree intake hose. This allows us to make a smoother exhaust path for the exhaust system and also keeps the exhaust heat away from the intake.

[beeman]

We run a non reversed intake and then use a reversible scoop mounted on the rear window to draw air into an engine air intake box. Of course our rear window is polycarbonate. The scoop is reversible with Dzus fasteners so that when it rains we are not gulping in water. Yes we did have to modify the rear firewall to make the non reversed intake fit. It is extremely tight and uses a "cobra head" 90 degree intake hose. This allows us to make a smoother exhaust path for the exhaust system and also keeps the exhaust heat away from the intake.

Thanks Crash. I'm not familiar with a reversible scoop, unless it's exactly what it sounds like. On the PDG GTM, did you ever have a functional roof scoop or has it always been a big "Gurney bubble"? In some pictures, it looks like there is an air intake on the front of the roof structure, also looks taped off in other pictures?

Regarding fires, I have questions about suppression systems, I'll start another thread on that.

[crash]

All the drivers, including myself started to be over 6 feet tall. Last year's 25 hour race driver lineup was no exception with three out of four drivers standing 6' 3" or better. At one of the first races I attended as a driver I mentioned that my helmet was hitting the roof, and that it was extremely hot inside the car. The heat issue was because of the water lines running thru the drivers compartment. In any case, Richard decided that he wanted, above all, the car to be as safe as possible, so he cut the roof, put bars that extend up into that bubble, and then made the front a scoop that brought cooling air in to the drivers compartment. Since we frequently race in the rain, and we also have moved the cooling tubes to outside the drivers compartment, we have since closed that vent up. The other issue with it was that crap from the track would come in that vent and make the driver and inside of the car dirty. We had talked about smoothing the front back into the roof line for aero purposes, but it just has not been done yet. To address this on my "new car"(if I can still call it that), I have raised the entire "green house" a little over two inches. This preserves the profile shape but gives the driver a lot more head room.

[BluePrintEngines]

Wow is all i can say! so do we have an engine picked out for this creation yet? wink wink!
https://blueprintengines.com/collect...-crate-engines

what "percentage" GTM did you utilize?....if that question even makes sense.lol

[beeman]

Wow is all i can say! so do we have an engine picked out for this creation yet? wink wink!
https://blueprintengines.com/collect...-crate-engines

what "percentage" GTM did you utilize?....if that question even makes sense.lol

I actually have already taken delivery on an LPE 525 HP LS3, I checked out your site though!

Still a lot of GTM left, much more than 50% I'd say

[BluePrintEngines]

Still a pretty sweet build! I'm assuming LPE is Lingenfelter? out of curiosity do they do anything to that 525 ls3? or is it just the stock GM ls3 with asa cam that pace, scoggin, etc sell?

[beeman]

https://www.lingenfelter.com/product...l#.WmtLf3NOm7M

Similar to this, I wanted a little less compression and figured 525hp would be more than enough. My roadster performed decently compared to my friend's 458 Ferrari on the track (about 5 sec difference at Gingerman) . I want this car to have the power (and almost as importantly aero) to leave him behind. The grip in the 458 is unbelievable. We aren't pro drivers by any means, but like to drive hard!

[beeman]

Teaser. I think this will work well. I originally planned on large flare for the rear but really didn't like it at all... Swapped them and I think I'm sold. Big flares front /small rear?? Seems counterintuitive. But I found my inspiration on a car out of Italy. Can anyone guess which?

[dallas_]

Still a lot of GTM left, much more than 5% I'd say

Fixed it for ya!

[RoadRacer]

not sure - I originally thought early pantera, but pics make front/rear very similar. But yours look good.

[beeman]

The car I'm referring to is the MC12 Corsa. Beauty. Lots of similar lines to GTM.







Been cutting for a while, time to start pasting.

[beeman]

I really like the roof scoop (more of a snorkel) on the above MC12 Corsa. But it's not quite wild enough. But I reeeaaallllyyyy like the roof snorkel on the new Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo.



I'll print something up and see how it looks . ABS aperture into a FG tunnel to engine intake/airbox. May or may not work, we'll see.



Note the curvature of the lower part of the intake to match the roof curvature. Lambo should have thought of that...

[cgundermann]

A touch lower and wider would look sweet; just my 1.5 cents worth...

Chris

[beeman]

A touch lower and wider would look sweet; just my 1.5 cents worth...

Chris

I've got this on the cooker right now, I'll see how it looks in real life. I don't see a big benefit to going much larger, is that right? Won't be ram air...

[beeman]

Off to bed, I'll see how it looks on the roof of the car tomorrow...
Should I expect good noise from this under full throttle with the roof off? Or not so much? Never sat in front of a V8 air intake before... Or will I just be hearing the Kooks?

Standard 8.5x11 paper for size reference