Goodbye Kansas

[ERA2076]

Thanks - very fortunate to live in a time where beautiful things are not valued with money.

chr

[ERA2076]

You can get an idea of how low it sits to the ground. The side pipes are configured for a 351. They are being reconfigured and will be raised abd tucked up into the chassis - we'll get some out of it. The tire gaps are horrific, but there is a sense of purpose when sitting on the ground.



I need to cycle everything and check for clearance especially in bump and turning. If it all can be made to work we should get ground effect by sheeting the bottom. The difference in tire diameter will give us the rake.



Unfortunate the front is on an 8" rim (steering response), but the tread width is inspiring. I'd like to push the front tire inboard a little, but I am against constraints. I can see trying to drive it hard with this setup much more than I ever could with the 225. If we can get it to work, it should be able to run down all kinds of stuff. The pipes could prove challenging.

[ERA2076]

I weighed the car tonight with most piled into it. We are at 2015 lb and I feel like we are within 100 of final assembled weight with coolant.



We found .400 so with a deeper brake hat and I was able to move the front wheels in board with no spacer (caliper bracket and steering arm will need re-design ). I weighed the front un-sprung and we are at 81.88 lb. 80 is still within reach, but I am very pleased with this. We started at 102. I am still working on changing the camber timing on the front. That part is at FEA so if we can get it to work we will build new lite weight UCAs. I weighed the control arms with them attached to the car and the upper is as heavy as the lower i.e 3lbs swing weight with joints.



The frame is around 3.5 in the rear and 3.1 in the front. We have lowered the CG around 1.5 and front geometry is maintained. I plan to measure the cg height when we are a little further. We are going to change the pan to a Daytona. It is an inch shorter,will not drop below the rails, and will allow smooth sheeting front to rear.



The aesthetics are not as pleasing to me, but for the first time I can see driving it briskly.With it sitting on the ground, it really feels like it could be capable.



I have been hanging around some FFR guys that ran Can Am cars in the 70's.They are quite knowledgeable and its interesting see the different ways guys build them. A lot of discussion on learning how to drive it.

Really getting excited - a ton of detail left.

chr

[xb-60]

Does that mean you have taken around 400 pounds out?

Cheers,
Glen

[ERA2076]

Originally Posted by xb-60

Does that mean you have taken around 400 pounds out?

Cheers,
Glen

I think final assemble will be 300+. It weighed 2440 with a 351.

chr

[ERA2076]

Hi guy's

We have slowly been completing the parts for the front suspension. This has been a lot of work both in study and fabrication. We ended up removing one of the lugs on the upright and incorporated the connection with the steering arm. This allows disassembly with the minimum amount of work and outstanding radial positioning of the caliper to the rotor.



I had FEA done on the steering arm and several other pieces for the front. The brake bracket is a little suspect becuase we did not have FEA done on it. I am concerned if it is stiff enough in the transverse direction. Originally we were going to build this piece out of titanium, but settled on 7075 Al. If it turns out to not be stiff enough (pad taper at the top) we well re-machine in Ti.



IIRC - The tire and wheel weigh 36. We are fabbing new shorter upper control arms out of CrMo and a new UCA bearing cup machined out of Ti. Total Front un-sprung weight could be as low as 78lb but not over 80 This configuration has the front roll center not migrating more than .100 vertically and I can move it laterally where ever I want. My thinking is the rear will have limitations so I can calibrate the front to the rear.



After consultation with Wilwood, I remodeled the brake package (4th iteration) using 6 piston Dynapros and 12.19 x 1.1 rotors. I have been running with some FFR Cobras at the track and I was very surprised how heavy their wheels were and they run 11" Mustang brakes in the front. Wilwood did not seem concerned at all about downgrading the caliper and rotor mass - they are being used in SCCA on vintage Mustangs. The rotors are straight vane. I did a little research and I think I maybe able to replace them with a curved, high count vane configuration from AP.