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Kirkham Motorsports

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  #1 (permalink)  
Old 07-09-2008, 05:43 PM
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When the aluminum body is made, the areas where the aluminum wraps around the body are left long. Here we are trimming them to fit. We use an air saw to cut the aluminum with a 24 or 32 tooth/inch blade. We don't use sheet metal snips if we can help it as the snips tend to distort the aluminum. In this video we are trimming the aluminum that fits right at the base of the trunk.

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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."

Last edited by David Kirkham; 07-09-2008 at 05:48 PM..
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Old 07-09-2008, 09:26 PM
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I'm just glad there are people out there who want to see it. When you throw a party you are always nervous if the people you invited will really show up! I know I am.

Thanks for watching! I do appreciate it.

David
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-03-2008, 11:16 AM
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Welcome to the Kirkham family! All it takes is a few miles and the smiles wipe away all the pain at the pump!

Good to hear 142 is still running strong!

David
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-05-2008, 05:42 AM
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This is incredible work. I'd second the suggestion on a lightweight E type with removable LeMans top.

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Old 07-05-2008, 11:20 AM
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Hey David,

Amazing work, I'm one of the many who have been following this with excitement.

Quick question, are the jack hooks on this going to be functional? (meaning that you won't risk tweaking the body when the car is lifted by the jack hooks). Just curious, I figured if any frame could support this type of load, it would be yours.


cheers
-Will
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Old 07-05-2008, 01:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Berg View Post
Hey David,

Amazing work, I'm one of the many who have been following this with excitement.

Quick question, are the jack hooks on this going to be functional? (meaning that you won't risk tweaking the body when the car is lifted by the jack hooks). Just curious, I figured if any frame could support this type of load, it would be yours.


cheers
-Will
You are right, the original car tweaked the body if you picked the car up by the jack hooks. Of course, as a race car, they really didn't care. Our car "should" be able to be picked up by the jack hooks...I haven't tried yet!

Hopefully I will post more pics tonight. This week was more engineering and calculations than making parts. A big chunk of the week was spent making tooling for the body tubes.

David
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-05-2008, 01:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TButtrick View Post
This is incredible work. I'd second the suggestion on a lightweight E type with removable LeMans top.
Thanks for the kind words! That is a really beautiful car. I have thought about making it more than once, but for now, we are buried on the billet car to get it finished.

David
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-05-2008, 05:17 PM
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It Is Nice To Be Here At The Dealership When It Is Quiet And Look At The New Pics And Posts On This Thread. Can't Wait To See Some Of The Final Work.
Are You Going To Post Any Live Video Of Say A Dyno Test Or Running Out. I Am Sure We Would All Love To Here Her Purr!!!

Keep Up The Good Work And Thank You.
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Old 07-05-2008, 11:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywood View Post
It Is Nice To Be Here At The Dealership When It Is Quiet And Look At The New Pics And Posts On This Thread. Can't Wait To See Some Of The Final Work.
Are You Going To Post Any Live Video Of Say A Dyno Test Or Running Out. I Am Sure We Would All Love To Here Her Purr!!!

Keep Up The Good Work And Thank You.
Thanks for the kind words!

I will post pics of the custom tooling we made for our CNC tube bender tomorrow. Also, I will post some videos of the car, machining, CNC tube bending, etc. as soon as I can breathe!

David
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-06-2008, 10:24 PM
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By the time you are done you will have more money in tooling than the car itself.

Can't wait to see the final results and performance numbers.
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Old 07-06-2008, 11:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xlr8or View Post
By the time you are done you will have more money in tooling than the car itself.

Can't wait to see the final results and performance numbers.
We took a different approach on this car. We had to. With all the holes that had to line up, we had to do everything in CAD. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

I can't wait to see the performance either. Just from preliminary tests, it feels much stiffer.

David
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-07-2008, 02:40 PM
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This whole thread should have been started with bold print that simply stated, "KIDS, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!"

Just amazing at the level of knowledge and sophistication required to make this car a reality.

-Dean
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Old 07-07-2008, 02:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RedBarchetta View Post
This whole thread should have been started with bold print that simply stated, "KIDS, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!"

Just amazing at the level of knowledge and sophistication required to make this car a reality.

-Dean
More like I should have said that to myself before I started

I told him he would get "my best work" and I am doing my best to make sure that happens.

Thanks for the kind words!

David
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-07-2008, 03:05 PM
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A little more lining up of the part to make sure everything is perfect.

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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-07-2008, 03:08 PM
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Here you can see we had to do a little modification to the lower clamp. It ran into the machine so we had to mill it off at a 45 degree angle...you can't foresee everything. In this view you can see the lower clamp die and the upper roller dies. That is why this machine is called a "stacker."

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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."

Last edited by David Kirkham; 07-09-2008 at 09:21 AM..
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Old 07-07-2008, 03:11 PM
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Incidentally, the upper rollers are made from a bug hunk of 4340 that we had laying around here. We used to make our hubs from that stuff, but 4340 is very susceptible to stress corrosion cracking and so we ditched it. Glad we found a use for it. I guess we have the strongest roller dies on the planet (most expensive ones too)
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-07-2008, 05:08 PM
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Here is the first test bend. We are all quite happy with the results! That is a very tight bend.

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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-07-2008, 03:53 PM
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Trying to figure out YouTube. Never done this before. It can't be harder than making this car! Stand by...
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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Old 07-07-2008, 07:39 PM
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So how about some video of the car in action?
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Old 07-07-2008, 08:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ntCobra View Post
So how about some video of the car in action?
coming up...
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David Kirkham, President Kirkham Motorsports
Manufacturer Aluminum Body Kit Cars and supplier to Shelby* for their CSX4000, CSX7000, and CSX8000 289 and 427 Cobra
*Kirkham Motorsports is not affiliated with Ford or Carroll Shelby or any of their trademarks.
"Fear is the thief of dreams."
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