Kirkham Motorsports University The Making of a Flip Top

[David Kirkham]

Here is a close up of the locking mechanism we came up with. It is made from stainless and the pivot points are designed such that the mechanism will always fold up the right way when the front is closed.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a close up of the locking mechanism we came up with. It is made from stainless and the pivot points are designed such that the mechanism will always fold up the right way when the front is closed.

The bottom hole (with the bolt in it) is the pivot bolt. The upper hole is there for a push-pin to lock the mechanism (and the front of the car) in place. The push-pin has a ball detent to keep the pin from falling out.

You can also see a close-up of the split engine compartment panels.

[David Kirkham]

The firewall was polished because you can never see too much of that SOHC motor

[David Kirkham]

The foot boxes have the standard stainless heat shields--but they also have gold foil wrapped on the top and the sides to keep the monster heat out. Notice the stainless rub-strip where the top closes over the foot box.

[David Kirkham]

The foot boxes have the standard stainless heat shields--but they also have gold foil wrapped on the top and the sides to keep the monster heat out. Notice the stainless rub-strip we made where the top closes over the foot box.

You can also see how much we had to notch the foot boxes out to fit the massive heads into the engine compartment. We also had to do extensive modifications to the steering to get everything to fit together.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a side-view of the blowers (for the Supersnake car). Notice how the blowers stick out in front (and on top of) the X brace between the front shock towers. It was a trick to get all the belts to fit. To complicate things further, the Supersnake has a dry sump system that had to be figured into the puzzle.

Notice the split engine compartment panels.

[David Kirkham]

The heads are so wide, we had to bulge the engine compartment panels (and split them to show off the motor). All of the forming work was done by hand. We will polish the engine compartment panels before we finish.

[David Kirkham]

The heads are so wide, we had to bulge the engine compartment panels (and split them to show off the motor). All of the forming work was done by hand. We will polish the engine compartment panels before we finish.

[David Kirkham]

Here you can really see the split engine compartment panels.

[David Kirkham]

We fastened the upper 1/2 of the engine compartment panels to the tilting top.

[David Kirkham]

Here you can see more of the panels and the locking mechanism.

[David Kirkham]

We made special brackets on the water jet to hold Darren's double adjustable Penske shocks. These clamps are for the rear shocks and they clamp to the down tubes of the roll bars.

[David Kirkham]

Front upper control arm update:

This is the first, prototype, front upper control arm out of the mill--(lots of chatter; we'll fix that with the feeds and speeds on the production parts). Notice we now mill "L" (and "R") with an arrow pointing forward in our front upper control arms.

[David Kirkham]

On the billet chassis car

427 Billet Chassis Book

we made some really cool sleeve nuts for the control arms (page 135).

We decided it was time to upgrade all Kirkhams to the billet chassis sleeve nuts. We got the idea from a Riley and Scott Lemans chassis. The nuts are brilliant because you don't have to unbolt the control arm to adjust camber, caster, or king pin angle (if you are so inclined). The sleeve nut is right hand thread on the outside and left hand thread on the inside. Just loosen the jam nuts, twist the sleeve nut, and tighten the jam nuts. They save a TON of time aligning the car--and are more precise.

[David Kirkham]

Another shot of those twin Paxton blowers.

[David Kirkham]

Sorry for the delay in posting pictures on Darren's awesome ride. Here is the reason for my delay. Our Utah politicians decided to pass a shameful law in Utah, hence the crossed out 116, referring to "House Bill 116." I decided to let Governor Herbert (and everyone else who shamefully voted for it) know how I felt about their actions. As many of you know, I have been involved heavily in the Utah political scene lately (Go Utah Tea Party!)

HB116 is an immigration bill that was passed here in Utah that grants amnesty to illegal aliens residing in the state so they can work "legally." The politicians figured they could pull one over on everyone by putting a "positive" fiscal note on the bill.

How???

By requiring employers to forward all federal withholdings from the illegal workers they hire under HB116 to the STATE...NOT to the federal government

NO, that is not a typo.

I can not imagine any employer in their right mind who will not send the federal government the federally required witholding taxes on their employees--unless they want a visit from some unfriendly IRS agents. This is voodoo accounting at its worst. Even worse, this holds out an unrealistic hope to a desperate community. It is wrong. Eric Holder has already promised to sue Utah over the bill

Sorry for the political detour...no political comments please, just filling you in...back to cars

[FatBoy]

Darren's car is looking stunning. Congratulations to Darren for having the balls and the imagination to initiate and fund the project and to the Kirkham team for their wizardry to put it all together.

Have I missed something, or is this the first we have heard mention of any blowers?

When my numbers come up, I want one just like it.

Paul

[N2VENOM]

Hey Paul, It looks like the flip-top will be coming home very soon for completion.

The blowers are for another customer’s project. It's easier to fabricate parts on the front tilt. Darren

[FatBoy]

Originally Posted by N2VENOM

The blowers are for another customer’s project. It's easier to fabricate parts on the front tilt. Darren

That makes sense. My imagination was running overtime trying to work out how you were going to connect the blowers to the intake trumpets.

All Kirkhams are special, but this is special amongst the special.

Paul

[dallas_]

Originally Posted by FatBoy

That makes sense. My imagination was running overtime trying to work out how you were going to connect the blowers to the intake trumpets.

x2! Very nice!

Love the adjustments on the LCA's. That's genius.