DRB #5

[Bill Musarra]

As some of you know, I have been working on DRB #5 for a little over a year. Getting the car took 6 months due to lack of knowledge. When the car arrived there were problems which led me to write the article on purchasing used or unfinished kits(see "Articles and Frequently Asked Questions at the top of the main page next to the GT40s.com logo). The car arrived in Feb 2003. As I had dealt with only photos of the car, and never went to see the car, it was in a little bit different shape than the pics led me to believe(front bushings were dry rot, the newly rebuilt engine had been left out in the rain and rusted a few of the cylinders, which got me a partial refund, and the brakes were less than usable).
Then along came family problems, which take precedent over hobbies and the funds to complete those hobbies.Ao in the meantime I built a stand for the car and proceeded to go to work on it. As it was only the fifth car ever built by DRB, the welding of the panels was below my personal standard. So almost all the panels were removed and new stainless panels were prepared. The car frame and suspension was completely stripped, sanded where needed and primed(took very little money and filled up the time).
Well those are now behind me and its time to get back to the much faster snails pace of building the car. A roll cage has been added and it is at the painters now. I should be picking up the car today or by Friday at the latest.
I will tell you this, if you are not going to paint the car yourself and you want a decent job done, find someone who knows fiberglass. I mean someone who does it all the time, not just an occasional job. I found Danny Scott of Awesome Specialist Inc.(what a name) by way of friends of friends. Danny is located in Lawrenceville Ga. and has done some work on "original" GT40s, Team Lotus when they were racing, Panos, amd most recently team Miata making all the replacement panels for all 72 of their race cars this year. I have some of the preliminary pics of the car. It isn't qite finished and lacks a coat or two of clear coat and matte finishing the door sils and front headlight areas(the polished finish will throw out star beams from all the reflections). They deepened the twin nostrils and designed a better way to fasten the cover to the bonnet(actually cut the corners out, flipped them over and glassed them back in so that they mate up to the cover). I would have never thought of that myself. At any rate, here are some of the pics with more to follow when they finish the spider section:
As it looked from Australia

Under the bonnet, notice how wavvy the pannels are and paint overspray is everywhere

The inside was a mess

Here the panels have been removed. If you look close you will see a hole in the center cabin. That's so I can "sit" in the car while working on the dash and interior area. will be welded up when finished.

Roll cage has been added. It is a six point, with the rear supports in the engine bay.

First coat of paint. It is the new color by Ford called Dark Shadow Gray that we modified with a little more metal flake

The stripes ar a new color from PPG that was used on the "Trucks" TV series called "Copperehead". It's a 6 part color with about 3 or 4 of them incorporating a clear base. The camera doesn't quite do it justice.

If you look close you will see the corners where the nostril pannel was mounted.

Now the new.

First fiberglassing for the deep nostrils.

We had to construct a place for the license plate.

Then finish it.

 

[Bill Bayard]

Bill,

I must congratulate you on your progress to date. The car has come a VERY long way, since you first got it. Keep up the good work, and you'll be driving it before too long.

BTW, I love that color combination!!!!! Beautiful!!!!

Keep those photos coming!

Bill

 

[Mark Worthington]

Excellent progress, Bill; keep at it. That is a very unique color scheme and it looks great. You've done excellent work and your fiberglass guy/painter is a genius!

 

Bill, your car looks great! I would love to see a picture of how your nostril attaches to the front clip, very curious about that. Can you provide any pics for the two rear legs on your roll cage? You treatment of the license plate spot is very good. I've been wondering about how a US plate will look in a spot designed for English tags. I amy stop and redo this area on my car, you've given me something to think about.

Great color scheme, very original. And these days, that's hard to do!

 

[Hershal Byrd]

Great photos Bill. I like the sequence of where it was and how it is. The license plate is just like John Schneider's GT.
The colors are really an unusual combo...I Like It !!!

Hersh /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Bill Musarra]

Well I just got the car back from the painters. Man are these guys good.(Better be for what I paid)

Front:

Top, doors haven't been fitted yet:

Nostrils:

I had them Matte finish the window sils to cut down on reflection and glare:

Engine bay roll bar. Will finish weld the base later:

Cage:

Front cage at windscreen:

Front mtg. of cage (no that's not a wooden fuel tank):

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Looks fantastic Bill, I bet it looks even better "in the flesh" than on the computer screen.Great stuff.

 

[Russ Noble]

Bill,
In a post in another thread you stated that you had purchased a rebuilt 930 and intimated that the old non rebuilt unit would be for sale. If this is so, I would be interested. Could you please give me details, time frame, etc. Either here or by PM or e-mail. Thanks in anticipation.
Regards

 

[Bill Bayard]

Russ,

If Bill doesn't have his extra 930 anymore,

there's a non-LSD version for sale on ebay.


Bill

 

[Russ Noble]

Thanks Bill Bayard,
I saw that last week when it was first listed but vendor is not interested in shipping outside the lower 48 States. This is not uncommon and is a problem that makes obtaining parts just that little more difficult from this distance. Thanks for the steer though. Not wishing to hijack the DRB#5 thread but I have never seen gear ratios anywhere for the 930. You seem to be the expert on G50's, how about the 930? If you know the ratios you may like to post them in the Tech Engine and Drivetrain section? Thanks.

 

[Bill Bayard]

Russ,

I'll see what I can find in my files.

930 ratios are in there somewhere....... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

1st: 2.25:1 48MPH
2nd: 1.30:1 84MPH
3rd: 0.89:1 123MPH
4th: 0.64:1 171MPH
4.22:1 Final Drive

The speed figures are based on 26" tires @ 6000RPM

These are for a 930/30.

Bill

 

[Bill Musarra]

Russ,
I am in the middle of purchasing a rebuilt 930(long story). As soon as I get it and it is inspected, I will be selling mine. i will send you the full details on it so you know what you are getting(if you decide you want to buy it). They are kind of hard to come by. I chose the 930 after the original seller informed me that the 930 was in the car. I researched it and from the way these cars can accelerate, the torque curve of the Windsor is well suited to the gear ratios of the 930. The RPMs rise so quickly that you are having to shift rather quickly, and on a road course with a six speed, or five speed for that matter, you would be changing gears all the time. I keep hearing people talk about keeping the engine in its power band, but for me, I think 500 HP in 2300#s doesn't care where that is, and the torque of that much HP will pull you up through the revs without any problem. Not to mention that I am not as young as my mind tells me I am, so I don't like the idea of changing the gears that much. It also goes back to my love of the four speeds in the muscle cars of the 60s.

 

[Russ Noble]

Thanks Bill,

Keep in touch, your box could be just what I am looking for.

To the other DRB Bill, thanks for the ratio info.

Regards

 

[Bill Musarra]

Well, after a brief rest from the car, actually dealing with life’s little inconveniences, I’m back on the build trail. I have finally had the short block built and collected from the builder. I also have acquired some of the less glorified parts of the build. To date I have gotten:
1. Auto wire Highway 22 wiring kit. This kit is everything you need for one of our builds. I got two extra double relays and a few smaller items and it seems that’s all I needed. I am using 4 fans (2 front radiator and 2 rear small radiators for the oil and trans) and two pumps (Moroso electric water and Mocal transmission). Their instructions are very straightforward and their support staff is top notch. I wasn’t going to use the GM column connector and they helped with the rewiring to the extra switches and grounding needed. They even showed me how to wire in a safety and antitheft wiring for the ignition when I raised a question about wiring in the high-pressure fuel pump. It saved me from having to purchase a neutral safety switch. As you can see, I have 2 extra power outlets that may be used for the Mocal pump and a remote camera setup(one day).

2. Vintage Air Gen II A/C/heat/defrost system. I chose the Gen II mini unit and it fits like a glove. Haven’t done the hard tubing yet, but it is soon to follow. It measures 7.3”wide x 9” tall x 19”long and is hidden fairly well by the dash. It has 3 main outlets; two defrost outlets, and two foot outlets. It uses servo-actuated valves, and is a true bilevel operation. For now I mounted it in the center of the dash. If need be it can be moved over to the right side if space becomes necessary.
3. The Kennedy adapter and clutch package. My car came with an adapter but its measurements (mine) were off from theirs by ever the slightest and I didn’t want to save a dime to spend a dollar, so I ordered theirs. If mine checks out to be theirs, I will offer it up for sale later. It should be here in a week or so. I went with their heaviest pressure plate and organic clutch for the street. I plan on limited track time and I don’t think I will need that kind of compressive forces.
I picked up the short block from the builder and he did a great job. Started out with a 79 351 Windsor that had been bored 30 over by the previous owner (never cranked). We discovered as soon as the car arrived that he had left it out in the rain and some rust had formed in several of the cylinders (that got me a $1500 refund from the seller). So, since I had to rebuild the engine anyway, I sold off all the components except the block and went from there. Installed the following:
Eagle 3.85 stroker crank and internally balanced it.
Eagle H beam 5.956” rods.
Comp XE 282 hydraulic roller cam with 1.6:1 roller rockers.
AFR 205 heads
ARP bolts throughout.
TWM 8 port F.I.
Moroso electric water pump.
Kevko oil pan with pickup. Heavily baffled with trap doors and a crank scraper.

I chose the Kevko only because it was a little cheaper.
Will probably go with a FRP dampner as you can remove the 28 oz. offset to make it neutral. Will get the 2 grove pulley and then I can order the Electromotive ignition system (it would have been bought already, but one of life’s little inconveniences got in the way). Probably next month.
I picked up some Felpro gaskets to trial fit everything and all looks pretty good. I am enlarging the intake manifold outlets to match the gaskets, as they match the heads perfectly. As you can see in the pics the amount of aluminum needed to be relieved is considerable. The original outlets measured 26 mm. across and finished off about 31mm. The vertical height doesn’t increase even though it now matches the gasket. The narrowest part is in the curve and I felt it was a little thin to be grinding in that area, and I didn’t have a grinding tool long enough to reach all the way around the bend. It does make a better transition to the head though. The area of the outlet increases from 1.85 sq. in. to 2.23 or a 17% increase.

I outlined the area where the water jacket meets the intake manifold. This is where the vent lines will be drilled and tapped to relieve any trapped air.
I have borrowed a friends TIG welder and am practicing and practicing. Straight mild steel is not too difficult, but stainless to mild steel is another matter. I may have to let someone better than me handle this as I want it to look and function (read strength) correctly. A good friend who owns a chassis dyno has offered to make the headers out of stainless. He runs the outlaw class of drag cars and does good aluminum and stainless fabrication work, as all of his exhaust/blower/intercooler tubing is fabricated from aluminum and stainless. So he may be doing my paneling as well as the exhaust. When we sit down to hammer out the pricing for all this I will let you know if it is favorable.
Waiting for the 930 to come back to Atlanta from Los Angeles(very long story), and with a little luck it should be back some time next week. It all depends on how nice the judge and the Los Angeles police department is. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Will tell the whole story when the oddesey is over.

Bill

 

[Bill Musarra]

In an ever ending search for space on a GT40, I have come up with an idea which I plan to do with mine that others may want to explore. It started out with wanting to move the engine further forward to aid in balance. I also want to use a Moroso electric water pump. As most of you know, the Moroso unit sticks way out there. So not wanting an arm rest, the pump had to go. Not away, but out of the way. In one of my earlier pics, I had decided to leave the sloping side panels in the engine bay. The more I looked at them, the more they had to go as I was replacing all the panels elsewhere. I was going to replace them, as they were, with stainless. Then I got to thinking about space. It was going to be at a premium as I wanted to add a remote oil filter and cooler and a transmission filter/cooler as well. The move forward necesitated an ignition system without a distributor, thus the Electromotive unit with multiple coils. Well as usual, one change nesesitates another. I had sent inquires to others who were contemplating moving their pumps, but got no replies. So after a few cool ones and looking at the area, and contemplating what to do, I came up with an idea or two. The forms in the pics will be used to make templates, which will be transferred to stainless panels. On the right side will be the coils for the DIS unit. Maybe even the high pressure pump. This panel just does clear the bolt on the lower trailing arm, so it is still accesible(barely). The rear section will have the pump/filter setup for the trans cooler. The left side has been lowered further to accomodate the Moroso unit so It doesn't stick up beyond the top rail. It will also hold the remote oil filter/thermostat setup on the way to a rear cooler. The Moroso unit may face toward the trailing link or toward the engine bay. Final position will be determined by clearance issues with the trailing link and the A/C unit. So I have drawn in several posible locations. The trailing link makes contact if raised much higher than it will ever go, but if the suspension ever fails, it may make contact. I still have to make the adapters for the hoses. The rear section will hold the battery for now.

I don't know how or if the other models of 40s can be altered for space, but there seems to be a lot of room in some between the engine and the lower trailing arms.
I have sent the pics to Peter Ransom for his take on it. It could be incorporated into the GT40 Australia cars, as they have not changed this area from the original DRBs that I am aware of.

Bill

 

[Peter Delaney]

Bill, I think you are definitely onto something here - that space in the standard setup is really hard to use on either side of the sloping panel, so your idea makes a lot of sense.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[JackW]

Hi Bill

I noticed your last post for your build was in August last year. How is it going?

Cheers

Jack

 

[Bill Musarra]

I have been a while since posting on my progress with DRB#5. Sometimes I feel as though I am the only one currently building a GT40 that is constantly interrupted by what I call “Life’s little inconveniences”. About the time I start to order some expensive parts, up pops a new one. This spring I thought I would have the car finished this summer, as I was encouraged by my wife who is tired of all the wham, baming in the basement (bending stainless can be a noisy proposition). I think I have found the way to get the car finished. Just irritate your better half enough with the build, and they will tell you to hurry up and finish the damn thing. Well, as usual, and right on queue, another hazard has popped up. So it is delayed another month or three.
These delays have, other than depleting the budget, been beneficial in a way in that it has allowed me to get some things done that are extremely time consuming. I decided early on that the panel work on the DRBs was to my liking. I wanted my car to be as good looking on the inside as well as on the outside. The steel panels that came with the car would have to have a finish applied in order to inhibit rust. Paint was not what I wanted. So, stainless was the choice for me for several reasons. Knowing my limited knowledge of working with stainless, and my twenty years since any welding (class in a voc-tech school). I knew the learning curve was going to be steep. I knew the panels would have to be put on and off the car many times before they were right. That means slight scratches and warps. The stainless would have to be coached into place where bends and angles were not 100% lined up, and not having a commercial brake to work with, I had to improvise, and came up with a home made brake that would do the bends to my satisfaction. Some of the bends would have round edges, other sharp. That would leave some marks even with the whacks on the bender to make them sharp. Below is my homemade unit. Some improvisation has to be utilized when compound bends are made, or the length of the piece is shorter than the face of the bender. Here it is with the one armed bandit attached to help out with the bending. The trick to using the angle iron is to face it with duct tape.
With the new software, I can't post as I did with the old setup.(Text, pics, text, more pics etc.) The new software only puts the pics at the end of the post. So I will make several post

 

[Bill Musarra]

I have for years liked the finish of Machine turning. With practice and guidance from an engineer out California way, I mastered the technique. Heat is the big enemy causing the panels to warp. Water didn’t help much. The engineer told me about using WD40, and that soved my problem. I built a slide table with my Shopsmith suspended from the rafters and braced to the wall to give the finish to pieces too wide for the throat of the machine.
The trick to replacing the panels was to make templates of each panel. To put holes in the panels, I used a plasma cutter and a template for the various sizes in ¼” plywood with Fortsner bits.

 

[Bill Musarra]

I also needed some space for all the goodies to be added. The sloped face of the engine bay was too tight so I came up with the idea of making a shelf for the pumps, coils, and oils lines. I also removed the engine mounts and temporarily moved them about 4 inches forward for better balance. Their final placement will be with enough room for the engine to squeeze up next to the firewall. With the engine so far forward, the electric water pump had to be moved, as it sat next to you in the cabin.