95ONE

I still may put a 1" bar there. but looking at all the steel that is there stock. I think that spot is one of the strongest in the car. debating.
I

95ONE

updated 1st page

333pg333

Keep it coming Bruce. It's an inspiration for all of us modders. Be nice to know quantifiably how much more torsional rigidity you're losing then gaining through cutting steel away then putting in that almighty cage. I hope you never need the cage but it will give you confidence all the same. Should help amazingly setting up the suspension too.

gt37vgt

Pat I'm sure he will tie the cage into the suspension pick up pionts and have increased torsional rigidity it can be measured a number of ways .I'll explain in email if you like
It's also has very little impact if you chop outside the wheel base .
a bit of a brace across the front rails is helpful if one has got a bit hack happy

95ONE

I've been thinking about how to do this best. (tie in to REAR suspension pick up points) I'm curious how others have done this and at exactly what points. There are only 2 true points the rear suspension attaches to the body. So, large ones on side and the Shock mounts...ONLY bcuz I will be going to coil over.. Banana arm points? Def not since I will be deleting those at some point. Front will have plenty of bracing all over the place.

95ONE

5 month update.. not much.. lol.. pics on 1st page.. quick summary
Tilton pedal assembly mounting brackets. (no small task)
finished cage. You've already seen the body panels, they're just bonded to the sides now. More fiberglass work to go.

333pg333

Nice. Sometimes you will go slow, sometimes faster. At least you're moving.

Hey on a side note. I am looking at a bolt in cage at the moment. Looking at your side intrusions, they look like they will move into the door area when closed by some margin. Clearly this will offer you more room inside the cage, but I think I will just be getting some side bolt in intrusions and my assumption is that these will be straight across from the A to the B poles. Will I have to remove my inside door pocket? Also I wonder how hard it would be to switch out to a manual winder mechanism as I have some door cars for this? This particular car is to be maintained as road registered so I am not going full strip and weld in cage etc.

95ONE

Wow, has it really been over a year since this last post? Crazy.

So anyway. I got the Fiberglass doors lined up and Bolted in. It took me 2 days to do it. Very difficult to get these things lined up as close as possible. Things like the hinge pins that were placed in the doors were close, but in no way work. So some C-clamp bending, hinge block grinding and flipping, and hinge bolt hole drilling got me there. Lining up the Door retaining latch assembly was a whole other process. So, after a couple of days of trial and error. The both of them open and close smoothly, lined up with the other panels as close as it will ever get. I'd say 90-95%. There will not be any door handles, so smoothing out the dimple for it is next on the list, along with Fiber glassing in some aluminum angle iron for the sill area and for some more strength. So still more to go later, but I'm done with that project for now. Oh yeah, weight loss is huge. 20lbs loss PER side. Compared to a GUTTED stocker. very light stuff. One of the best weight savings yet. But on the flip side, it probably still doesn't offset the weight of the steel cage basket. Safety first though.

I've welded in a radiator mount as a starting point for the front. I'm not using the Big intercooler Pig Snout piece. So I can't get the dzus fasteners on there yet. I have the front bumper ready to go when I get there. BUT.. the Door and fenders had to be lined up first. Then the front will line up accordingly. So fenders were bolted in to harmonize with door openings. Then wiggled towards the engine bay or out away from to create a nice consistent line with the Hood. I still have to finish the Hood pins to locate it solidly in place. I've done much of that work, but not finished yet. Once the hood was spaced properly, I could then align the Header panel. which when I get the proper NON pig nosed one, I can install. Then install bumper for a smooth fit. All the while, of course, making custom brackets and dzus pins to hold it all in place. Then all the ducting and flat bottom paneling can take place. A killer amount of work that will equate to an extremely light front nose. Much like the extremely light rear end. Which of course, makes for great slalom/turn in speeds. Tons to go after that! lol. But another full weekend of work that gets me ever closer. Sigh. Here are some pics;

blown 944

Nice progress. You are getting closer to driving a high powered go cart

disasterman

You're crazier than I am and that's saying a lot. Nice, you can probably get that down to the 2400 dry mark.

95ONE

My former sanity has returned. Now I'm as at my crazy self and just want it done! I'm truly going for low 2300's-daring even to think about high 2200s wet. But id be upset if it were anywhere near 2400lbs.

95ONE

I guess i will continue this thread, even though its no longer a WINTER project.. LOL.

I just spent a lot of money on the LS1 heads.. I'm an idiot. I BETTER make around 500whp. Good god. Id have the full brake system and the chassis done with that money damnit.

Its been a while, but Ill act like I didn't miss a beat. ...

Here's the latest. It's not much at all from this perspective, but it took me over a week and a half to decide on this shape. I made all sorts of designs to close this off. This is what I ended up with. Good god custom tin work is a PITA. The pics show the attrition. The first pic shows where i quickly welded in some thin steel to bring things rearward from the front, and some attachment strips of steel for the rivets.

It will be much easier to do the other side now that I figured out how to make the bends and tabs to attach.

I also got my Fuel fill pipe cover back on the car. I lost mine and Lart came through as always.. I'm really starting to like that troublemaker.. lol. (I'm still frustrated with his sawzalled dark teal 951 tub that was just beautiful before he hacked it up to throw it away!!!!! ugh. ) moving on. I had to ding a side to make it fit underneath the Roll Cage bar. It was still hard to install, but I didn't want to ding the cover any more than that.

i will fill the edges with seam sealer. Then on to the Lexan side sill window. Then fiberglass door reinforcement and seat install. etc. etc. here are the pics for now.

95ONE

Adding some new parts to the list. I bought these on close out from Tire rack. i only have 3 and am huntng down the fourth. These were the last 3. at all. I paid the closeout price of $99 ea. NO ****!. They are lighter than CCW's and I love the look. THis is an 18" x 11.5" wheel. And they still weigh less than 24lbs ea! (Pic) Wish there were more. I will find someone willing to sell 2. I will of course have to pay quite a bit more for them though.

ehall

What brand and model are they? TR has some issues with dropping inventory. I've called Damon and emailed him and can't even get a return email about a pair of tires that I need. you'd think he'd ATLEAST want to contact me to sell me something else. Very disappointed.

333pg333

+ 1 on the wheel questions and t.b.h. similar response time from TR in the past.

Is that a faint blue frost on the rims, reflection, or protective plastic covering Bruce? Looks a nice wheel btw.
Sorry to see the RX7 hood ornament go hehehe.