Recent Improvements to my Kirkham

[W. MITTY]

In my attempt to not leave well enough alone, I've made quite a few changes to my car over the past six months. I thought I'd share a few of my ideas, for the edification of the general body of the Kirkham faithful.

1. I heard Tom Barnard of Tom's Motorsports speak at the Kirkham Summit, and I was very impressed with his expertise. The Kirkhams also spoke highly of him, so I trailered my car to Las Vegas and had him do an alignment for me. I cannot overstate how much of a difference this made to the way my car handles. FANTASTIC, and worth every penny. If you have the chance to do this, you should. Tom is a super nice guy, very honest, and easy to work with.

2. While my car was at Tom's, I had him put in a set of CV joints/axles in the rear end. He spoke about this at the Summit, and the whole "sticktion" issue of the vintage rear stub axles seemed like a major barrier to effective rear suspension control. Once again, Tom did a great job, very clean installation, and for those of you who might be considering this, it's pretty much a bolt on.

3. I rolled up my sleeves and replaced the Fel Pro intake manifold gaskets with Victor Reinz (sp?) Nitroseals. It seems that Fel Pros just aren't up to the task -- this is the second set of Fel Pros that have "migrated" into the intake port openings, creating oil burn. Thanks to my engine builder, Mike Lefevers, who talked me through the procedure after I told him that I wanted to try it myself. A gasket change on the FE is a royal pain in the fanny, btw. But you already knew that.

4. I took my windshield off, and replaced it with a cut down windshield that weighs a little less than a potato chip. More aerodynamic, too. I love it, although I took a grasshopper in the forhead the other day. Now I have a true "open car." Like a four wheel Harley, wind in the face. Great!

5. I went down to the local auto graphics shop and had them produce some stripes and numbers for a vintage look. I dig it, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I put my straight pipes on and rumble around in my pseudo 60's race car, wearing my goggles and leather helmet, I confirm to my long suffering wife that I am, indeed, in the dark depths of a mid life crisis.

6. Finally came to my senses regarding the size of my carb -- got rid of the 1000 cfm and replaced it with a 750 4150 Ultra (Holley). Much more crisp throttle response, no less power, and now I get 11 mpg instead of 10.

Hope this is of some interest!

[FatBoy]

It looks beautiful, with IMO, some tasteful additions.
I've got a Kirkham on the way (4-6 weeks all being well), and seeing yours is really getting me excited.
With regard to your alignment, do you have any figures?
Regards
Paul

[cobrajeff]

Beautiful car!

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

regards,

Jeff

[Robert Evans]

Car looks great!
I put a comp. windshield on my car once when doing open track work, but I was using a helmet. Then I drove the car on the street, and I found that I never needed to eat lunch anymore. I got my fill on bugs!

Can you post shots of the front?

[ToyCollector]

Originally posted by FatBoy


With regard to your alignment, do you have any figures?
Regards
Paul

TURK was kind enough to post the figures over at the Gasholes site. Do a search for Tom's Motorsports and alignment and it should come up. I do not have the figures on me right now.

[Turk]

I will throw in my unconditional endorsement of Tom Barnard and his skills and knowledgle of these cars as well.

The difference between before and after handling of the cars will be worth what he charges.

650 mile trip from Northern California to Las Vegas with factory settings, and the same trip back after Tom got done with it? WOW!!

Had a Porsche 930 chase car coming back, that had a hard time staying up with the Cobra even around the twisties up around Lake Tahoe,

If I find my specs, I will post them here.
Here it is..
http://www.gasholes.com/smf/index.php?topic=3483.15

TURK

[TampaFla]

Buy a motorcycle helmet with a face shield but, of course, you'll have to start buying lunch again.

[Turk]

BEFORE ALIGNMENT
FRONT LEFT:
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5" X 8" X 15" 28 LBS 82.3125" Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 3.75"
CAMBER: NEG. 6.25 deg.
CASTER: POS. 1.75 deg.
TOE: POS. 0.0625 TOTAL
SHOCK: PRO SHOCK 15.75"
SPRING: 450 lbs. 10"

FRONT RIGHT:
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5" X 8" X 15" 28 LBS. 82.3125" Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 3.75”
CAMBER: NEG. 1.00 deg.
CASTER: NEG. 0.25 deg.
TOE: POS. 0.0625 TOTAL
SHOCK: PRO SHOCK 15.75”
SPRING: 450 lbs. 10”

LEFT WHEEL BASE: 89.75”

LEFT REAR:
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5” X 10.5” X 15” 28 LBS. 85” Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 7.1875”
CAMBER: 0.0 deg.
TOE: OUT 0.375”
SHOCK: PRO SHOCK 17.75”
SPRING: 500 lbs. 12”

RIGHT REAR:
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5 X 10.5 X 15" 28 LBS 85" Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 7.25”
CAMBER: 0.0 deg.
TOE: OUT 0.375"
SHOCK: PRO SHOCK 17.75”
SPRINGS: 500 lbs. 12”
RIGHT WHEEL BASE: 89.875”

AFTER ALIGNMENT
LEFT FRONT:
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5" X 8" X 15" 28 LBS. 82.3125" Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 4.0”
CAMBER: NEG. 0.625 deg.
CASTER: POS. 3.25 deg.
TOE: OUT 0.0625”
SHOCKS: PRO SHOCKS 10.00”
SPRINGS: HYPER COIL
600 lbs.
TOP LINK: 1 AND A HALF TURNS OUT

RIGHT FRONT
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5" X 8" X 15" 28 LBS. 82.3125" Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 4.0”
CAMBER: NEG. 0.625 deg.
CASTER: POS. 3.25 deg.
TOE: OUT 0.0625”
SHOCKS: PRO SHOCKS 10.00”
SPRINGS: HYPER COIL
600 lbs.
TOP LINK: 1 TURN OUT

LEFT WHEEL BASE: 89.75"

LEFT REAR REAR:
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5 X 10.5 X 15" 28 LBS 85" Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 5.625”
CAMBER: NEG.0.50 deg.
TOE: IN 0.0625”
SHOCKS: PRO SHOCKS 10.00”
SPRINGS: HYPER COIL
450 lbs.
TOP LINK: 1 TURN OUT

RIGHT REAR:
TIRES: GOODYEAR EAGLE SPECIAL 26.5 X 10.5 X 15" 28 LBS 85" Circ.
RIDE HEIGHT: 5.625”
CAMBER: NEG. 0.50 deg.
TOE: IN 0.0625”
SHOCKS: PRO SHOCKS 10.00”
SPRINGS: HYPER COIL
450 lbs.
TOP LINK: HALF TURN OUT
RIGHT WHEEL BASE 89.875”

[ToyCollector]

TURK I was just going to paste it in as well, thanks. The search words above don't pull it up, but did pull up other neat stuff I need to re-read.

[W. MITTY]

I should have noted that I have over 5000 miles on my car now, and with the exception of the trip to the Motor Vehicle Department, every one of them has been great. These cars, while certainly hairy chested, are not as hard to live with as I had thought before.

Fatboy, I don't have my figures here at the house, but Tom's "standard" Cobra alignment uses numbers similar, if not identical, to Turk's numbers. Thanks Turk, for the post.

[GeorgiaSnake]

Nice looking car!

Randy

[Turk]

Thanks Randy!

TURK

[ENTDOC]

Mike ,it looks great. I will call some time for some more details. In the mean time ,show more pics. BTW the tranny worked out perfect. thanks; chuck

[Roger Bolick]

Any photos of those CV Joints?

Are they from some other vehicle?

How did they attach to the splined hub shafts and the splined diff shafts?

Weight? Torque limit?

Thanks,
Roger

[W. MITTY]

Entdoc, glad the tranny worked out! More photos:

[W. MITTY]

Roger, I'll try to get photos of the CVs.

[W. MITTY]

Roger,

I ran the car up on the lift and snapped two pics of the CVs.

The first is of the diff side; the second the wheel side.






I am not sure what the original source of these particular CVs are -- I seem to remember Tom telling me that this design spec had seen duty on Can Am cars. Tom told me this when I asked whether they could stand up to 600 H.P. That was his way of saying YES.

The inboard mounting yoke is slightly different than the vintage piece, but it slips on to the splines of the stub axles just the same. While I didn't actually weigh the axles for comparison, I would say the the CVs felt considerably lighter.

I've got about 2500 miles on them with no problems.

[saltytri]

Mike:

Your car looks fantastic! Is it patterned on a vintage vehicle or did you do it that way just because it makes you happy (the latter being, of course, a perfectly legitimate reason)?

By the way, the fact that your wife is abundantly perceptive and correct is quite irrelevant . Stay the course.

David

[W. MITTY]

Saltytri,

Thanks for your kind words. The decal scheme is based loosely on the Shelby 6 car, I'm not sure of the CSX number. I was trying to do something different than the tried and true dual stripes. The nice thing about using decals is that I can change the color scheme when the mood strikes me.

_

[Excaliber]

What type of decal are they? I assume Vinyl Static Cling? Or glue based backing?

...interesting idea those removable stripes.