F9 SEMA Build

[Papa]

Way to go Erik your making short work of it as usual.
Nice enough car but am I the only one that thinks it looks like a Mustang on steroids?

John

I see more Ferrari influences than Mustang.

Dave

[Bill_VA]

Nice enough car but am I the only one that thinks it looks like a Mustang on steroids?

You might be the only one. I see no Mustang influences. I do however wish the car had the same clearcoat, it's really throwing me off. I look forward to it being painted or wrapped.

[Presto51]

I see more Ferrari influences than Mustang.

Dave

Maybe more Aston Martin ?

front view.jpg Side View.jpg

Ron

[Ajzride]

The headlights scream 2020 Camaro to me, the rest of it looks very Aston like in my eyes. Don't see a lot of mustang myself.

[Erik W. Treves]

Last bit of Aero installed on the car this weekend - also put the hood latches in ... literally took 15 minutes per side... installed the hardware in the pre-dimpled holes and the hood just shut and latched!!! The car is definitely low at this height - will need to bring it up to load into the trailer. I may move the front wheels out another 1/4 inch or so... but that can be done later.

[David Hodgkins]

Wow that is low.

You said the ride height was at 4.5"? is that measuring from the side skirts down?

What is the overall height of the car? And how <w - i - d - e> is that sucker?

[RoadRacer]

Wow that is low. What is the overall height of the car? And how <w - i - d - e> is that sucker?

Curious how the dimensions compare to the GT40 (~40" high, 70" wide, 160" long) .. that roofline does look low

[Erik W. Treves]

Wow that is low.

You said the ride height was at 4.5"? is that measuring from the side skirts down?

What is the overall height of the car? And how <w - i - d - e> is that sucker?

This is at 3 7/8 ride height in the front and 4 inch in the rear - about what the R height should be i believe... so street height will be about 4 1/2 or so... which is measured from the frame.

[crash]

This is at 3 7/8 ride height in the front and 4 inch in the rear - about what the R height should be i believe... so street height will be about 4 1/2 or so... which is measured from the frame.

I like to run a race car down at about 2.5 inches, so we will try and get the F9R to that spec. Can you tell me if the body is flat with the floor or does it hang down lower than the floor?

[Erik W. Treves]

the side skirts hang lower than the frame - I can get you some measurements if you need them

[Blitzboy54]

If that was my car I would fit it with air bags. That's amazing for the track but real world roads would be a problem I would think.

[crash]

the side skirts hang lower than the frame - I can get you some measurements if you need them

That's not needed. Just trying to figure out what may pop up as a potential challenge once we receive a car. An estimate would be good though. Does it hang lower by less than an inch or is it more on the couple inch+ side?

[Erik W. Treves]

THe side skirts hang one inch lower than the frame.

[David Hodgkins]

Erik what's the latest?

[Erik W. Treves]

got a piece of metal in my eye this weekend so I am moving slow - kinda miserable... I have the chassis back and I am about to get all the aluminum set in the front and start running brake lines and all the electrical. - just hit a little low spot in my progress since Sat Night....end of this week hope will be making my normal progress.

[wallace18]

I hope and pray you heal well. That is more important than the car.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Hate to hear that Erik. Been there; pretty unpleasant Heal quickly Buddy.

Jeff

[Tuftster]

Good luck with the eye. Been there as well and made the mistake of not going to the doctor and it rusted then had to have it "drilled" out, twice. I feel for you.

[FFRWRX]

Nice enough car but am I the only one that thinks it looks like a Mustang on steroids?

John

No, you're not the only one. This is nothing against the build in this thread, in fact it is a great opportunity to see what the car looks like in the real world. To me it looks..........OK. If you saw it pass on the street would you think "wow, what is that?!", or "is that a body kit on a Mustang?".

Rick

[Erik W. Treves]

Good luck with the eye. Been there as well and made the mistake of not going to the doctor and it rusted then had to have it "drilled" out, twice. I feel for you.

that was the last time I had this got that t-shirt... this time I jumped right on it... way better today! SHould be 100% tomorrow I am hoping. Turns out when the doc looked in there the debris was already gone - but it did a number on the coating of the eye.... so lots of eye drops and dark rooms for a day....

[Erik W. Treves]

Well started to feel better this afternoon so took a few minutes here and there.... doing my best to do my one-eyed pirate "capt jack sparrow" impersonation .... arrrrrrrrr!

Anyway - got the body back off the car and over to paint... after proving that the CAD design of the body is close enough for the gaps to be correct without the need for body work this was a plus in my book. FOr the coupe builders out there you know what I am talking about when getting the nose to align with the pontoons and getting the gaps dialed in. In this case all the pre-dimpled holes for the chassis pickup point lined right up and the gaps were consistent. On top of that the body is so stiff that I left the hood latches on the body and was able to latch the good to the body - realigned everything and it basically looked just like it did on the chassis... nice time saver right there....

Anyway - ripped off all the aluminum today, all drilled, scuffed, marked and in the truck for powder coat; gas tank re-mounted; front suspension disassembled since the chassis is matte black powder as are the control arms - well... me being OCD... that won't pass for the SEMA lighting ... so the front half of the chassis that will show all got basecoat clearcoat glossy black.... and since I have the guns out ... all the aluminum that will be in the engine bay got painted... they will also get the gold heat barrier treatment - in the areas that I learned from the coupe.. went ahead and hung the pedal box, master cylinders and go fast pedal.... not bad for one eyed "jack"... anyway here a few messy pictures, but I was running around between breaks at work and then only a couple hours after...I started to hurt so just dropped everything... tomorrow should be better I hope... for sure this weekend I should get some better production going...

Naked:



This panel is actually black: full disclosure - most of these will be really hard to see after the body is on - but at least we know they look good going in





off angle:



right on it:

[65 Cobra Dude]

Arrrr! Good work Chief!!!

[Chadillac]

What kind of gas tank is that? New FFR design?

[David Hodgkins]

What kind of gas tank is that? New FFR design?

Something tells me that is due to the rear suspension moving back 9" compared to the Type 65 frame...

Erik, sorry to hear about your eye issue and hope it is healing up ok!

[Erik W. Treves]

yes this is the F9 gas tank... standard issue

[John Dol]

Looking good as usual Erik, glad the eye is better.

John

[first time builder]

Exact thing happened to me, when DR said have to drill it out, I was expecting a 1/2Black and Decker LOL. The drill was like a pen size..

[first time builder]

Those front Calipers look HUGE !

[BLUE KNIGHT]

yes this is the F9 gas tank... standard issue

Give some thought to making an " access " panel for the Fuel pump.( if FFR hasn't already done so ) .... I just had to pull my gas tank to replace the pump .... and nice work on this build..... Mike

[Erik W. Treves]

Give some thought to making an " access " panel for the Fuel pump.( if FFR hasn't already done so ) .... I just had to pull my gas tank to replace the pump .... and nice work on this build..... Mike

The panels in the rear of the FFR's all have access panels... I did have to open the holes up a bit for the new style tank though.

[dukegrad98]

Speaking of access, this may be a premature design question -- but is there any access planned for the rear "hatch" area, like hinging the glass, or is it basically sealed in? (I realize there's not going to be an SUV's-worth of cargo space between the aluminum sheet metal and the body/glass, but I was just curious if there was going to be any way to get something like a briefcase or a soft-sided duffel back there, other than passing it through the roll structure between the two seats.)

Great progress, thanks again for the posts -- and glad to hear your eye is recovering!

Cheers, John

[Erik W. Treves]

The rear has a glass hatch like the coupe - not the same shape obviously - but there the whole rear of the car like the coupe is storage.

[RF RIDER]

How is the interior fitment? I built, drove and then sold my GTM. I found the view out the windshield very limited and when looking out drivers window your head is pretty much touching the rollbar. Will this one be any different? side windows look smaller in height then the GTM. Car is amazing looking, but I feel they are missing the viewing out the car for the driver again. foot box and basically the drivers area seem small like the GTM.
have you had a chance to sit and get a perspective how much you are seeing out the front windshield and side windows.

[crash]

How is the interior fitment? I built, drove and then sold my GTM. I found the view out the windshield very limited and when looking out drivers window your head is pretty much touching the rollbar. Will this one be any different? side windows look smaller in height then the GTM. Car is amazing looking, but I feel they are missing the viewing out the car for the driver again. foot box and basically the drivers area seem small like the GTM.
have you had a chance to sit and get a perspective how much you are seeing out the front windshield and side windows.

While I have not sat in a bodied F9, I can tell you that there is a TON more room in the F9 compared to the GTM as far as space between driver and chassis bars. As you may or may not know, we "raised the roof" on the FFR PDG GTM because we have drivers that are 6'+ and with a helmet on it pretty much would not work as we also needed some "wiggle room". I do not see this same issue with the F9 happening...at least not if the SEMA prototype chassis arrangement is kept in place during production, which is what I sat in at SEMA and I am over 6'.

As to the GTM visibility? I guess I am just used to it, but unless you are the first car at a stop light, which makes seeing the signals difficult, I have not had many issues with visibility out of the GTM. Is it far different than a run of the mill SUV? Yep. Does it take some getting used to? Yep.

[AC Bill]

Maybe more Aston Martin ? Ron

I agree that it has some of the Aston Martin's, Vulcan characteristics..But hopefully less expensive..lol

[BLUE KNIGHT]

I haven't seen whether the side windows of the F-9 are moveable ( ie. roll-up roll-down ) or not ??? .... if so will will they be manual or electric ..... Thanks .... Mike

[Erik W. Treves]

The side windows are powered

[Erik W. Treves]

Well obviously a slow week - I did manage to get all the aluminum back from the coater yesterday so that was fast but at least I won't be waiting on all that... seems the old eyeball is back to normal so I got up early today - got 6 hours of good rest - which isn't normal for those who know me - anyway, I did manage to work on the car about 30 minutes here and there in my monocular state.... mounted all the engine aluminum (this pic below was mid progress) - The reflection of the painted panels is funny in the picture, almost looks like the panels are transparent to me. Anyway - also not pictured is the front brake lines and the coil packs are installed... I will get updates on these areas today... Hopefully with a full press today I should have some big pieces put in the car and get some progress made since I slowed down a bit and it's pissing me off... anyway - here is a pic to show the theme of the interior engine bay.... should set the engine off pretty well.

[Erik W. Treves]

Well got a little more done... engine and tranny are in ... brakes front and rear are run, fuel system is in, ECU is in, radiator is in, power steering all done... headers still need to be tightened..... pretty productive day - 12 hours. The Red valve covers days are numbered.

[narkosys]

what components are you using for the power steering?