The finish line may be in view!

[JohnMac]

With our coupe finally coming together we continue to find things missing, not fitting and in some instances actually finding things! A while back I was going through the boxes looking for the side pipes hangers and brackets which I never did locate. George never did like the slip-on clamps which came with the kit and decided to modify the system. He cut off about 2.5-3” of the side pipe’s connection and welded on a pipe that would slip over the 2 header pipes on either side. Because I couldn’t find the brackets or rubber hangers (later located) he fabricated his own mounting system!
Now onto the hood mounting. Pretty straight forward but once again George re-engineered the heim joint linkage so that adjusting it didn’t require removing the mounting bolts in the brackets. Finally found the short struts and they mounted up with no problem. I would suggest putting a plate on the opposite side of the forward strut mount (on the glassed in particle board).
Because we couldn’t and still haven’t found the struts for the rear hatch a pair was ordered from FF5… came in way too long! A trip to Pep Boys solved the supply issue and saved a few dollars. But once again it’s a fit problem. The hatch glass almost fits into the body but not quite. Shimming gets it close but still not quite. Luckily there’s a bit of give with the glass and with the help of weatherstripping and the latch everything should work.
I’d happily include photos of our build and missteps but others have done a great job of documenting theirs that I think it unnecessarily.
Mac Morgan

[JohnMac]

As we come to the end of our year long odyssey there’s still a lot to do. Our painter/body chap hasn’t been able to break away from his normal duties enough to take the car in for final adjustments. Like many others I’m not happy with the fit of the hood to the cowl area and the splash panels have yet to be installed. We’ve test fit the window frames to the doors which is a study in frustration. I don’t like the fit and after reading other’s thoughts on the subject may not even use them. We’ve skipped the “go kart” phase of test driving and having a nice stretch of multi-lane hwy in front of the shop, used it for seeing how every thing works. Ear protection is a must but the real problem is the exhaust fumes. Everyone writing about the problem seem to think that it’s caused from lack of air flow through the engine compartment. I can’t see exhaust fumes leaking into the engine compartment. We’re using the supplied headers and side pipes (gen2 full kit). Instead of using the supplied clamps, George cut about 2-3” off the inlet side of the sidepipes and welded on a slip joint that allows the side pipes to slip over the headers- a very simple solution which allows easy removal and installation. I can’t imagine any fumes emanating out of the engine compartment… any comments? I’m wondering if the fumes are being sucked into the rear wheel wells and into the cockpit?
This past weekend we drove the car to a car show which meant about 25-30 miles on the interstate and some back roads. Having done a lot of initial setup on suspension, bump-steer, toe-in, etc., the drive to the event was uneventful- no strange handling traits and the brakes appear to be bedding in well. Steering is unassisted rack and brakes are Wilwood f/r. Other then having no speedo or rt. turn signal (probably a loose wire or burnt out bulb plus I never hooked up the trans wiring to the speedo) the drive was uneventful. We’d spent a lot of time adjusting ride height and corner weighing the car and came up with a total weight of 2500lbs with me on board, 53% on the rear. The car got a lot of attention at the show.

[John Dol]

Johnh,

Sounds like good progress. Would like to see a pic of the exhaust flange set up if you share a pic or two.

Thanks,

John