Shakey's Daytona Build

[CW_MI]

Ran across your posts on YT....was hoping to find you here. That engine sounds absolutely awesome. To me, that is the way they are supposed to sound !

[8secDuster]

Ran across your posts on YT....was hoping to find you here. That engine sounds absolutely awesome. To me, that is the way they are supposed to sound !

100 %

[Shakey]

Quick update on the coupe build. I decided that I wanted a way to open the doors from the outside without sticking your arm through the window. This was a convenience thing as well as a safety thing. I had a pre track inspection done on the car and this was an item on their hit list, that you can’t open the door from the outside.

I followed Daves lead and went with a push button style actuator to open the doors. It just makes sense with the way the latches from FFR work. I wanted the buttons to be flush mount and came up with a reasonable design. I basically welded together a “cup” with a hole in the bottom and some mounting tabs. I then fitted a piece of aluminum rod with a ¼ 20 thread tapped into it for the threaded rod. I used a clevis rod end to attach the rod to the FFR door latch. I threw a spring in there and with a lot of tweaking and fitting it turned out.

Here is a list of the parts I got from McMaster Carr:

Multipurpose 6061 Aluminum Rod
1-1/4"DIAMETER, LGTH=13,NMBR=1
4012N23

Low-Carbon Steel Round Tube
0.065" Wall Thickness, 1-1/2" OD, 1 Foot Long
7767T271

18-8 Stainless Steel Threaded Rod
1/4"-20 Thread Size, 1 Foot Long
98804A487

Easy-Adapt Clevis Rod End
1/4"-20 Shank Thread, 15/16" Shank Center Length
2447K26

Structural Adhesive
Waterproof Epoxy, J-B Weld Clearweld, 0.5 FL.oz Tube
7605A25

302 Stainless Steel Corrosion-Resistant Compression Springs
2" Long, 0.72" OD, 0.61" ID
9435K141

Here are some of the parts after I made them. The spring, cup and solid aluminum botton. On the button, I cut in a grove for a rubber O ring to help locate the button in the cup.


You can see the hole in the bottom of the cup for the threaded rod to go through.


Here are the mounting tabs welded on the cup.


Here you can see the clevis attached to the door latch. I did add about a 3/4in aluminum extension to the door latch arm to make it easier to push and help clear the cable from the inside door latch.


and the inside of the door after everything is installed.


outside installed. I used two countersunk rivets as well as the epoxy to attach the cup to the door. This took a bit to make sure everything lined up. I still have some grinding to do to make the buttons truly flush. I will do that with body work before paint.


A quick video of the button in action:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ta2lFFTAwYM


That is all for now. Still shooting to get the car painted this year as well as a visit to the dyno.

V/R

Shakey

[JimStone]

Cool design and execution. I've never liked the idea of having to reach through the window to open the door. That's why I'm installing door poppers

[PNWTim]

That's a pretty sweet idea. I am going the door popper route as well but the mechanical push button makes all the sense in the world. Well done.

[Jphoenix]

After seeing your and Dave's buttons, I decided to copy your design and make one. I've been wondering about E-Crew response but haven't had anyone complain yet. So, I made one similar to yours except the button sits proud of the door skin - which I think is OK, sure works better than reaching inside all the time to open the door.

IMG_1212.jpgIMG_1208.jpgIMG_1204.jpg

[Shakey]

Hey Jim,

Looks great! I wish I would have done this earlier. It makes life with the car a bit easier and adds a bit a safety.

Shakey

[Shakey]

I was able to get the coupe out to the dyno this week. What an awesome experience. Two big things I learned are that a good tuner is worth their weight in gold and I should have gotten the car to the dyno a year ago. My tuners ability to fix start, Idle and drivability issues with a few clicks was crazy. After a few fixes and just getting it to start and idle correctly, he checked base timing and then we got her strapped to the dyno.



After some tuning and smooth runs on the dyno we did the first pull, results below. This was a pull to 6500RPM and the engine only had 27 degrees of timing in it.



After a couple more pulls we ended up at 34 degrees total timing at WOT and rev limiter at 6800RPM. Peak power came in around 6600. With just some tuning he added 26HP over the first pull.



I looked at the numbers on the screen and they seemed a little low. Just as a refresher, the engine is a 363cu.in. SBF with 11:1 compression, AFR 205 heads, Cam is 244INT/248EXT .600 gross lift 109 lobe separation. I was thinking closer to 500 brake HP. My tuner explained to me that all these pulls were done in 3rd gear so not 1:1. He does this for tuning "lower" HP cars like mine that will see a lot of street time. He said it saves a lot of wear and tear on the engine and driveline and his tune will be just as good. He said that if we did pull in 4th it would be around 440HP. So, 440HP at the wheels with 15% driveline loss would put it at about 515 brake HP which I am very happy with.

Overall, I am thrilled about the results! I thought the car drove good before, and it's twice as good now. Idle, cold starts, mid throttle, engine braking/deceleration are all improved. Here are some videos of the pulls:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bsU-ln0LqA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIQhCwxAROA

Now I just need to get it painted.

Shakey

[burchfieldb]

That is awesome, I will need to do the same for mine. Hiping there is a good tuner in the Columbus Ohio area.

[8secDuster]

That's awesome Shakey, Congrats!

[Shakey]

That was a lot of work. It has taken me a while to physically and emotionally recover from the painting process. I have a newfound respect for those that do paint and body work for a living.

This was my first attempt at any type of automotive paint or body work and I found it challenging. Technically it wasn’t too difficult, the most difficult part was planning, staying organized, taping, and getting the time, weather and daylight to do the job. As you can see below, I went with the Gulf Racing livery and on the hood and body where the stripe is present, there are 13 coats of paint. With how long that took to spray I was constantly chasing good weather and daylight. I sprayed outdoors in an inflatable paint booth and would start at sunrise and a few times I was putting the paint booth away in the dark.

The paint is far from perfect but looks good from 10FT or so. Lots of very minor blemishes in spots and orange peel in others. I am confident that once I cut and buff, most if not all those issues will be fixed.

The paint I used was all LumaBase products I got from my local Wesco supply store. The colors were a 1972 Porsche Gulf Blue and Gulf Orange and the black stripe is Chevy Black. No complaints with the LumaBase products, they seemed to work well and were fairly inexpensive. I think I was just under $2000 for all the paint (Slick Sand, Primer, Sealer, 3 Colors of base and Clear).

Over the past couple weeks, I took my time and had fun with final assembly. I think the only thing left to do to the car is put the carpet in. I got the car back in driving form just in time for the weather to get bad, but I was able to find a clear day yesterday and got to go for a drive and snap some pictures. It’s gonna be a long winter waiting for driving season. I am excited to get out to the track and to some car shows next year!











V/R

Shakey

[8secDuster]

Looks Good Shakey!

[JimStone]

Whoa! Nice job Shakey!

Mad respect for tackling the body and paint yourself. That's a huge accomplishment that not many attempt

[PNWTim]

Well done! I considered doing the paint and body work on mine but after 3/10ths of a millisecond I called Ken Pike and got on his schedule for next spring. Your car looks really nice and there's probably quite a bit of self-satisfaction from doing it yourself.

[JTG]

Bravo!! That looks amazing.
We used to live in Edmonds, WA so I feel your pain in having this beautiful car that will have to go in hibernation for the winter.

We're still a long ways off from paint, but are also considering painting it ourselves.
However, I have found a local professional who's willing to hold my hand through the process so we won't be completely on our own.

[Shakey]

All,

Thanks for all the comments! Yeah paint and body is daunting task for sure. I also looked at it as a new skill I could learn and apply for future car builds. Currently trying to convince my 4 year old to build a hot rod truck for his first car.

V/r

Shakey

[Papa]

Here are some videos of the pulls:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bsU-ln0LqA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIQhCwxAROA

Shakey

That thing sounds ANGRY!

[John Dol]

Are you going to add roundels and sponsor stickers?
Car looks great!!!

[Shakey]

Hey John,

Yes, I am planning to add stickers and numbers. I'll get most everything from Raceline Digital. Planning numbers on the back, roundels on the doors with numbers and some Gulf racing stickers. I wanna add a cobra sticker on there too somewhere. And the "Daytona" sticker. I still haven't decided on if I am gonna do numbers on the hood or not. I want to put the Gulf sticker lower on the hood in the orange part so a number roundel would have to go above the radiator opening and I'm not sure if I like that or not.

[Shakey]

This past weekend I was able to get out to my first track day at Pacific raceways. I attended the event with the BMW club and they did a phenomenal job organizing the event and making me feel welcome. I was assigned an awesome instructor as this was my first time on the track and he was brave/crazy enough to agree to get into a car that somebody built with 440 horsepower to the tires, in the rain, who had never been on a track before.

I was able to get in 8 20 minute sessions over the course of the day and the first 3 before lunch were in the wet. On my first trip out, my second lap I ended up spinning the car at turn 3B. This was a huge learning experience for me because the car spun from me getting off the gas not pressing on the gas. With how wet it was the front tires completely lost traction and the car Understeered really bad, and when I felt that my instinct was to lift off the throttle and as soon as I did that a front tires hooked and around we went. I'm glad we were only doing about 30 miles an hour at the time and the car never left the track. Fortunately, I didn't have any other issues the rest of the day and after lunch when things dried out, I was able to start picking up some speed and by the end of the day I felt like I was really pushing myself. I was nowhere near the limit of the car but, I was definitely at the limit of what I was comfortable with, this being my first time out on the track. Again, a huge shout out to my instructor who always kept pushing me to go faster and had more confidence in me than I had in myself.

I think one of the big wins of the day was that I didn't have any mechanical issues whatsoever. I haven't done a post track day inspection yet but, I had no issues with any of the major systems and all I had to do was throw more gas in it. I am looking forward to getting out to at least a few more track days this year and try to get as much experience and confidence as I can.

The car got a lot of attention at the track. I got to spend a lot of time talking to other participants and spectators. One of my favorite questions of the day was, “is that a Ferrari 250 GTO or a kit car?” If people have trouble telling the difference between the car I built and a $30 million Ferrari, I'll take that as a win.

Here are some pictures from that event. No data from my race box or camera yet, I was too busy concentrating on driving to worry about any digital media.

V/R

Shakey

[Shakey]

[PNWTim]

That is awesome, thanks for sharing! I am hoping to get mine out to PIR this fall. Did you have to have an SCCA membership/license or any kind of certificate prior to getting on the tracK

[JimStone]

Sweet!!

[Shakey]

That is awesome, thanks for sharing! I am hoping to get mine out to PIR this fall. Did you have to have an SCCA membership/license or any kind of certificate prior to getting on the tracK

I had nothing prior to getting on track. I just was looking through what events were available in my area on MotorsportReg and chose the BMW club cause they do more events during the week and a buddy had good things to say about them. I had to buy a BMW club membership to go but that's no big deal. My next track day will either be with them or Turn 2.

Shakey

[Jphoenix]

Looks great Shakey! It’s a fun track!

[AaronR]

I love your car, Shakey. You're living my dream right now. How are you liking your wheel and tire choice? Did you experience any rubbing after your time on the track? I'm wanting to go with the same wheels as yours right now.

[q4stix]

Which track/tracks are you going to? I'm a long way out from finishing mine but it'd be sweet to have our two run together!

[Jphoenix]

Turn 2 Lapping runs track days at The Ridge: https://www.turn2lapping.com/

Proformance is a good source for Pacific Raceways: https://proformanceracingschool.com/

[Shakey]

I love your car, Shakey. You're living my dream right now. How are you liking your wheel and tire choice? Did you experience any rubbing after your time on the track? I'm wanting to go with the same wheels as yours right now.

Thanks Aaron! I love the wheels and tires. I did notice some rubbing in the rears after a few hundred miles. I ended up just grinding a section out of the troublesome sqaure tube at the front of the wheel well. One of the reasons I went with the Goodyears is that they offer a 275/40R18 for the fronts and I wanted a little more sidewall. It's a plus to not have to run wheel spacers.

V/R

Shakey

[Shakey]

Which track/tracks are you going to? I'm a long way out from finishing mine but it'd be sweet to have our two run together!

Like Jim said, probably just Pacific Raceways and the Ridge for now. I have not been back to the track yet. Kinda waiting for some better weather. On that first track day, it rained on me the whole way down to Auburn. That was not very fun. It took a while for the carpet in the car to finally dry out. No matter how many times I have siliconed every gap I can think of, water always finds a way in.

V/R

Shakey

[AaronR]

Like Jim said, probably just Pacific Raceways and the Ridge for now. I have not been back to the track yet. Kinda waiting for some better weather. On that first track day, it rained on me the whole way down to Auburn. That was not very fun. It took a while for the carpet in the car to finally dry out. No matter how many times I have siliconed every gap I can think of, water always finds a way in.

Is the water coming in from around the windows and door, or are you getting water intrusion from other places as well? Just trying to get an idea of what areas to give special attention to if there's any chance of keeping all the elements out.

[ToeKneeNose]

Hi Shakey, I have a coupe order I'm waiting for delivery and I'm sorting out some of the finer details. I'm interested in your rear wheel setup.

You said you had to grind down the tube in front of the rear wheel a little bit after you noticed a little bit of rubbing. Do you think there is clearance without going totally nuclear on that bar for a tire to be 0.2" wider from centerline but 0.35" smaller radius? Is the forward angle on that tube big enough to compensate for some of the additional width of a shorter tire?
How is your fender to wheel clearance?

The context is that I would like to use 335/30R18 in the rear on the same backspacing as your wheels (18x12 -25). It should be a shorter but slightly wider wheel.

It's hard to put all these pieces together without spending a pretty penny to test fit so I've been comparing measurements on tirerack. Any insight or judgments would be helpful.

[Jphoenix]

This thread may help you, sorry if you’ve seen it already: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...l=1#post582907

[ToeKneeNose]

This thread may help you, sorry if you’ve seen it already: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...l=1#post582907

Thanks for pointing me there Jim. I had been looking at the summary table at the beginning but not the rest of the comments from the 335 R18 perspective. Looks like you have some direct experience.

My take away is that 335 R18 will work. I just need to figure out the correct backspacing to get the proper fender fitment now and hopefully reduce the the tube trimming, if needed.
I plugged in shakey's rear wheel/tire combo and my intended combo to willitfit and essectially what I was expecting.
willitfit.png

I guess my final question is do the people running these 325/30 R19 wheels have an extra 10mm of clearance between the fender and the outer sidewall?

[Jphoenix]

Also, check the tire specs page in Tire Rack, some 315’s and 335’s have different profiles, tread width and overall dimensions. Street tires are typically very similar, but my Hoosier R8’s 315’s are a bit wider than the Toyo Proxes R 315’s, not much - but almost too much.

[Jphoenix]

Also, check the tire specs page in Tire Rack, some 315’s and 335’s have different profiles, tread width and overall dimensions. Street tires are typically very similar, but my Hoosier R8’s 315’s are a bit wider than the Toyo Proxes R 315’s, not much - but almost too much.

[Shakey]

Is the water coming in from around the windows and door, or are you getting water intrusion from other places as well? Just trying to get an idea of what areas to give special attention to if there's any chance of keeping all the elements out.

Aaron,

I mostly noticed it from the floor pan in the foot boxes. The seam from the floor pan to the frame is only spot welded in a couple areas. That leaves a big enough gap for plenty of water to get in. The other place I notice water is the upper corner on the front of the doors. Just in front of the side mirrors. I have some weather stripping there but the gap is really big. Water tends to pool on the door seal and not make it all the way to the carpet.

Shakey

[Shakey]

Thanks for pointing me there Jim. I had been looking at the summary table at the beginning but not the rest of the comments from the 335 R18 perspective. Looks like you have some direct experience.

My take away is that 335 R18 will work. I just need to figure out the correct backspacing to get the proper fender fitment now and hopefully reduce the the tube trimming, if needed.
I plugged in shakey's rear wheel/tire combo and my intended combo to willitfit and essectially what I was expecting.
willitfit.png

I guess my final question is do the people running these 325/30 R19 wheels have an extra 10mm of clearance between the fender and the outer sidewall?

My guess is that you would still have some rubbing issues with the frame. Nothing that you can't fix though. Also depends on what ride height you want, I am at 4 inches all the way around which is a little higher than most. I would also say that my tires are right at edge of the rear fender in width and no issues rubbing on the body. I think a 335 would stick out just a hair. Have you seen Rsnake's build on youtube? I think his first set of tires were 335/30r18 and he talks about his clearance issues and running spacers. https://www.youtube.com/@cobradaytonabuild1671

Hope that helps,

Shakey

[Dave Tabor]

After seeing your and Dave's buttons, I decided to copy your design and make one. I've been wondering about E-Crew response but haven't had anyone complain yet. So, I made one similar to yours except the button sits proud of the door skin - which I think is OK, sure works better than reaching inside all the time to open the door.

IMG_1212.jpgIMG_1208.jpgIMG_1204.jpg

Cool - I did not think anyone else would have been interested in this...just stumbled across this post

Dave
Gen III #17

[ToeKneeNose]

My guess is that you would still have some rubbing issues with the frame. Nothing that you can't fix though. Also depends on what ride height you want, I am at 4 inches all the way around which is a little higher than most. I would also say that my tires are right at edge of the rear fender in width and no issues rubbing on the body. I think a 335 would stick out just a hair. Have you seen Rsnake's build on youtube? I think his first set of tires were 335/30r18 and he talks about his clearance issues and running spacers. https://www.youtube.com/@cobradaytonabuild1671

Hope that helps,

Shakey

Thanks for the reply. I have seen Rsnake's videos but there was something a little different that made it not exactly applicable but I don't remember off the top of my head.
In the end, I think I'm going with a 18s and an 11" rear tire. Same offsets that you have but a better wheel width for a 315 tire in the rear. I'm planning on 315/30R18 with a 275/35R18 in the front.