Coupe 557 is at it's first home

[Jacob McCrea]

You guys aren't fooling around out there!

[jkrueger]

We are done! The body is out in the garage drying, and my Dad and I are knocking back beers!

[Timb]

Love the color!!

[John Dol]

JC,

Wish I could do in a year what you guys do in a week. Excellent progress. No stripes on this one?

John

[jkrueger]

JC,

Wish I could do in a year what you guys do in a week. Excellent progress. No stripes on this one?

John

It has been a busy week for sure (see the next post)! We are going to do vinyl stripes and meatballs. I'm still afraid to paint stripes.

JC

[jkrueger]

Since I hadn't started any of the body work before this, I thought it would be interesting to see how many hours it took us since we would be doing it all in one run. Over eight days it took my Dad and I 73 hours to do all the body work, fitting of the panels and painting it. We did end up cutting down the passenger side of the hood and re-fiberglassing it together to make it fit the body cowl. I probably could of spent another two days chasing down a hand full of minor body finishing details in areas that you won't see, but for a dedicated track car that will see a bunch of scrapes and dings the first time on the track it is good enough for me. We used about 1/2 gallon of rage, most of a gallon of featherfill, 1/2 gallon sealer (3/4 gallon sprayable), 1 gallon of base (1 1/2 sprayable), about 3/4 gallon of clear (just over a gallon sprayable). The paint has some dust in it. Just the nature of a home made paint booth, and I got two runs in the clear in places you won't see (bottom of a door, and the panel behind the passenger seat). I'm not going to wet sand it. It has a OEM looking orange peel look to it which I am happy with, and again it is going to be a track car.

Since I know everybody likes pictures (including me), here are some shots in the sun.

JC

[vnmsss]

Congratulations!!! Love the color!

As an observation, I'm thinking the body to cowl fitment on the passenger side is an issue with the mold.....My car, Tom's and now yours all needed the same re-work of the fiberglass to match up to the cowl......Not sure if others had the same issue, but it's likely not just coincidence.

Karen

[Rick Masters]

Looks great, can't wait to see whats next.
Rick@FFR

[loeffler1]

JC

I'm envious!! That red body must be something else. My black body is at 204.5 hours and no paint yet!! Not only that but I'm paying for it!!

Bill

[tcoon]

JC that looks great! You just gotta love the blue! Almost no other car in the world looks so good in basic blue! For me, since I already have a blue one, I'm going for a red/white reproduction of the scuderia filipinetti livery from LeMans 1965. Right now I'm sanding like hell to catch up with you. You're a great inspiration. I'm shooting for a March debut at Infineon. The biggest challenge seems to be working out the infinite number of small details that consume hours of time to resolve...small leaks, wiring of accessory items, panel fitment, exhaust, etc. You worked it all out! You're my hero!

[Rand]

your car is looking great.nice work

[jkrueger]

JC

I'm envious!! That red body must be something else. My black body is at 204.5 hours and no paint yet!! Not only that but I'm paying for it!!

Bill

Bill

I'm sure your body will come out looking better than mine with a pro doing the work. Like i said I could have spent another couple days chasing down small details. I also didn't grind seams, and that adds a lot of work and time. But compared to the black body roadster (MK 3.1) that we painted this new red body mold is tons better. The only seams that were even sorta off were the seams on the roof, but that only took one layer of rage to fix. The passenger side hood fender was high as well and we cut out a slice and fiberglassed it back together.

I can't wait to see your car painted.

JC

[jkrueger]

JC that looks great! You just gotta love the blue! Almost no other car in the world looks so good in basic blue! For me, since I already have a blue one, I'm going for a red/white reproduction of the scuderia filipinetti livery from LeMans 1965. Right now I'm sanding like hell to catch up with you. You're a great inspiration. I'm shooting for a March debut at Infineon. The biggest challenge seems to be working out the infinite number of small details that consume hours of time to resolve...small leaks, wiring of accessory items, panel fitment, exhaust, etc. You worked it all out! You're my hero!

I'm shooting for a Feb 23rd track date for some testing. That will be tough, because like you i have a million small details to finish up as well. Keep sanding, it will get done. My back muscles are still sore from it.

JC

[tcoon]

Yeah I'm spending a lot of time now grinding and filling seams. Paint booth arrives this week! Instead of spending money on a paint job I decide to spend it on a booth...the gift that keeps on giving! Hopefully will be ready for primer in a few weeks if my back holds out. Shooting for March 15 track date! Still have custom side pipes, dyno tuning, first tech inspection to get done. It's a pretty daunting list.

[jkrueger]

Got a few things done in the last couple of days. I got the wipers working. I decided to do things a bit different than using the crappy Lucas wipers that FFR sells. Using a RX-7 wiper motor and modified Lucas wiper boxes, I made a system that uses solid rods instead of a cable. See the video.

I also got the dash finally mounted, and got the tail lights mounted and working. I also got the white vinyl but on the back. I’m not sure I like the numbers. I think they need to be a bit bigger.

[tcoon]

Great progress! Very cool wiper idea, I may have to use that one. I find it interesting you have #21 on your car...that's the same number mine has, I have been racing in the challenge series with it for 4 years. Great minds think alike! I'm still slugging away at the body work, but making good progress. I guess it's about time to post something!

[jkrueger]

My Dad and I have had another marathon week. We have gotten a lot done. Here is the car with it's new exhaust system. We have a muffler guy here in town that does great work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Ale...ature=youtu.be

[STLMARSHALL]

Sounds great! What cam did you go with?

[jkrueger]

Sounds great! What cam did you go with?

Comp cams 227/235 .614/.621

[jkrueger]

We got the engine back from our engine builder after he fixed it. My Dad drove it down to TX since it was going to take to long to ship it, plus he could help me install it. We got it put back in and still had time to do a bunch of other things to get us closer to being ready for the one lap race. We built the front air dam, the radiator exhaust spoiler, installed the windows and quarter window scoops (cracked one), did the cockpit insulation, installed the carpet, fabricated the rear seat mounts, bled the brakes and started on the tow hitch.

Then today my Dad was able to get it to the dyno to get the engine tuned. 357 RWHP!!! That is about 415hp at the crank. That should make the us really go with only a 2500 lb car.

Woooo Hoooo! Now to get it corner weighted and aligned and on the track.

[CobraKai]

Awesome!

[tcoon]

Way to go! Really glad you got it fixed! Good luck with your track debut.

[jkrueger]

Here is a video of one of the dyno runs. Make sure your volume is up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF242E7bjPM

[tcoon]

Sounds awesome! I really like your white single side pipes. Can't wait to get mine on the dyno as well...getting really close.

[Timb]

X2 on the white single pipes. Are those a creation of your own or the roadster pipes

[jkrueger]

X2 on the white single pipes. Are those a creation of your own or the roadster pipes

I bought the mufflers and tips from FFR and had my exhaust pipe guy weld them together and make the connections to the headers. I still need to get some pictures of it and post them for you guys.

JC

[smithtlw]

Sounds good! I'll bet it drives a bit different without the valves slapping the pistons and the correct valve timing. It is good to see you have recovered. Those are pretty respectable HP/TQ numbers out of that 5.3.

Todd

[jkrueger]

Sounds good! I'll bet it drives a bit different without the valves slapping the pistons and the correct valve timing. It is good to see you have recovered. Those are pretty respectable HP/TQ numbers out of that 5.3.

Todd

Have you made any progress on your car this winter or are you still working on the garage? One my car is back up in NY for the summer, I need to finish my garage.

JC

[smithtlw]

Have you made any progress on your car this winter or are you still working on the garage? One my car is back up in NY for the summer, I need to finish my garage.

JC

Still garage work. I do have your Glen date on my calendar and look forward to seeing yours in person. I should be getting started soon..

Todd

[jkrueger]

Time for an update and some pictures. I've been so busy lately with work, the farm and working on the car that I haven't had time to do a good update. So here we go.

Got the car aligned and corner weighted. 170 lb driver, 11 gallons (approx) of gas)
total weight: 2890 (a little heavier than I thought it would be)
front 45.7%, rear 54.3%
cross weight 50.3%
corners 674 646
............807 763
cambers -1.5 -1.4
..............-.1 -.4
caster 4.6 4.5
toe 1/16" toe out total

Picture of my fuel cell filler hose and vent/ charcoal canister


Tabs I fiberglassed in to help hold the front splash guards


Shock tower covers




tabs for the seat back mounts. I have the kirkey high back seats


Couple of pictures of the front air dam we made. It is off a C4 corvette and then modified to fit.

[jkrueger]

Some pictures of the cross over pipe I had made.






My idea for a trailer hitch. 3"x 3/16" channel for the down pieces and the cross piece bolted to the rear tank strap mounts. Then with 1.5" x 3/16" angle between the two. I figure the back and forth load will be taken by the angle welded to the channel down pieces and the tongue weight will be taken by the tank straps which are 2.5" x 1/8" flat bar welded to the trunk square tube. I plan on keeping the tongue weights very low (like less than 50 lbs).

[tcoon]

Very cool! I have the same spoiler sitting in a box ready to install...great minds think alike! I like the crossover pipe, should improve exhaust scavenging. I had a similar hitch on my c5 corvette and pulled a $250 harbor freight trailer to the track for tires and a jack...worked great! Looks like we're both gonna hit the road at the same time. My windshield goes in Monday then the only remaining task is light installation.

[Hankl]

Same thought process, just a little different execution, I'll just use a single blade below the nose.



Hank

[jkrueger]

Very cool! I have the same spoiler sitting in a box ready to install...great minds think alike! I like the crossover pipe, should improve exhaust scavenging. I had a similar hitch on my c5 corvette and pulled a $250 harbor freight trailer to the track for tires and a jack...worked great! Looks like we're both gonna hit the road at the same time. My windshield goes in Monday then the only remaining task is light installation.

That is pretty funny that you have plans for the same spoiler. The guy that tuned the car didn't like the crossover there. He thought it probably hurt the power by 10-15hp. I did it mostly to give it a different sound.

JC

[jkrueger]

Put over 100 miles on the car today. I can't wait to get this car on the track!

[vnmsss]

Thanks for posting the great pics! Great minds for sure! After having lived with the hood struts on my coupes (and the reality that in any kind of a wind, the hood falls), I believe a C-4 Corvette hood strut would be a much better solution as well.

Karen

[jkrueger]

Same thought process, just a little different execution, I'll just use a single blade below the nose.



Hank

That is a cool idea! That is a real practical mod that will help with the aero that doesn't take away from the classic look. If I every have to re-paint I'll do that.
JC