Garcia Family Type 65 Coupe Build - Front Suspension

[JTG]

So I’m a little late to the party with this build thread.
We ordered the kit in April, had an engine / transmission package from Mike Forte sitting in our garage since July, the kit was delivered in September, and we’ve already completed inventory.

To get caught up here are the broad details:

• Mechanically we’re not straying off the beaten path. Coyote & T56
• We ordered a Complete kit and went down the list and checked off most of the boxes including IRS.
• We left off wheels and seats, and will figure those out at a later date.
• We all fell in love with the Carbon Fiber body at the open house, but had a feeling it was out of our price range even with factoring in the cost of prep and paint. FFR confirmed that recently when they announced the pricing. Sad times.
• The interior will be mostly custom, not much from the kit will be used.
• We will design and fabricate roll up windows. Not Forma Cars, not typical rollup, something mechanical and simple that still feels at home in a race car.
• Probably some sort of exhaust modification tbd. After having been for a ride in one the noise level is a bit much for me. Also lots of sound deadening measures.
• I’ll change my mind weekly on paint as most everyone does.

The goal is to have a finished car by the time my son graduates high school in 2-1/2 years. He’s going to a Vocational High School and focusing on Automotive Tech. A lot of this build will be my son and I, but will involve my wife and daughter as much as their abilities and interests allow.

My background is in design engineering, and fabrication. 12 years of that was in LA working on special effects for the entertainment industry, which involved some design engineering, some fabrication, some mechanical, and some electrical. Essentially all the elements involved in building a car, just without intentionally creating fireballs. For a period of time I also owned a company that specialized in design and fabrication of stainless parts, and I still have a TIG welder in my garage. I also have access to a lot of sheet metal and fabrication tools at my current job including a CNC laser, CNC routers, CNC bending brake, etc. So needless to say there will be custom parts.

I’m also keeping a blog to update friends and family as none of them will be interested in reading this forum. It will stay at a high level so as not to bore them with “Look! I bolted this thing to this other thing!”. However, I’ll jump on the forum here for the technical challenges we are sure to encounter.

Garcia Family Coupe

Thanks for following along and here are some photos of where we’re at so far.