56 Vette Road Racer Update

[mfain]

New firewall and motor mounts going in. Man-law #256 says you can't move the motor too far back (#255 says the motor can never be too big). For those of you in Finland, that isn't snow on the ground -- it's 107 degrees in the garage. That's ground-up fiberglass that somehow didn't end up on me. On a more serious note, I built the new firewall using a high-quality marine grade polyester resin that has a flame inhibitor in it. You can hold a torch to it, and it will "consume" the glass until you remove the heat source, then the flames go out instantly. Not as good as 14 ga. steel, but not bad for fiberglass.

[groovyjay]

New firewall and motor mounts going in. Man-law #256 says you can't move the motor too far back (#255 says the motor can never be too big). For those of you in Finland, that isn't snow on the ground -- it's 107 degrees in the garage. That's ground-up fiberglass that somehow didn't end up on me. On a more serious note, I built the new firewall using a high-quality marine grade polyester resin that has a flame inhibitor in it. You can hold a torch to it, and it will "consume" the glass until you remove the heat source, then the flames go out instantly. Not as good as 14 ga. steel, but not bad for fiberglass.
:unibrow: Gotcha...

On a serious note, you've done great job modifying the firewall. Sounds like you got both the skills and knowledge. I'm staying tuned for this topic! :cheers:

[mfain]

The firewall and motor mounts are back in -- further back with provision for a new, bigger dry sump tank. Also, the Woodward NASCAR steering column installation is almost complete. The difficult part was installing the column to retain the turn signals and ignition without compromising the integrity of the column. The only thing I had to give up was the auto-cancel feature of the turn signals -- not a big deal since the car won't be on the street that often.

Pappy

[waynieZ]

Nice work . I love 56-57 Vettes

[groovyjay]

That is going to be one helluwa ride! :thumbsup:

[syborg tt]

Great looking firewall - now we need to see the car itself

[68MaroSam]

Great work. '56 is my fav out of the 50's Vettes

[Viperlover]

What steering wheel is that? It would go well with the wheels on my car.

[mfain]

The steering wheel is a LaCarra -- made in France. I adapted it to the Woodward quick disconect with an adapter manufactured by Joe's Racing Products. It also has an adapter ring on top that allows you to use a stock horn button. As for those who asked for a picture of the car, I have attached one that I had on the "New Guys" post a couple of months ago. There are several pictures of different aspects of the car (suspension, aero stuff, etc) in that post.

Pappy

[syborg tt]

now that's a cool vette

[Mean 69]

Sicko.... And very cool. REALLY nice craftsmanship so far.

I likey!
Mark

[mfain]

Not much of an update, but I am very slow! Redid the trunk to move the fuel filler -- had to get it higher than the old filler door to accomodate a larger fuel cell (22 gal). I built carbon fiber finish panels for the inside of the trunk (very thin and light). The hole in the trunk floor is where the dual inlet carbon fiber duct for the rear end cooler goes -- forced air comes from the fender scoops through the ducts you can see in the trunk side panels. The two slots in the trunk floor are where the wing supports go through to the frame. I am almost finished with the metal (aluminum) firewall between the fuel cell and passenger compartment (required by SCCA, NASA, and the Nevada Open Road guys). Pictures to follow soon.

Pappy

[Vegas69]

Great to meet you and your wife today Pappy. Crazy project you have here. Get it on the road so we can duke it out. :thumbsup:

[mfain]

I was so fired up about watching the Lateral G guys at Optima that I decided I better get moving on my project. Here is a small update. Sorry for the poor quality of the construction shots. I added side vents to the car to accomodate exit air for the oil cooler (left side)and to pull air from the engine bay and the dry sump tank area (right side). High pressure air is drawn from in front of the radiator, through the under-hood scoop, into an air box/diffuser that is built into the left fenderwell panel, and through the oil cooler (mounted behind the left front tire) -- then the air is extracted out the side scoop. Building this set-up was a lot of work, but I wanted to get as much weight as far back as I could and to shorten and straighten the oil lines as much as possible.