Jason's Coyote Powered RCR40 Downunder

[Jason Ferraro]

I have finally decided to start a build log on this forum mainly because of all the great advise I have seen given to other builders. I would like to thank you all for the posts in advance as I expect to make more than a few mistakes on this build. I hope to enjoy all of them!

INTRODUCTION

I live in Melbourne Australia near the city, it’s a great place but I have a tiny garage. As we all know the best house is a huge garage and who cares about the rest! I’m not that lucky. I’m expecting limited room to be a bit of an issue so I will need to keep things tidy!

My professional background is in automotive engineering. I’m currently the engineering manager for Tyco Electronics in Australia & New Zealand and have spent most of my engineering career in the automotive industry. This simply means I know how to engineer something to death!

I have always liked working on cars, mainly Porsche’s (yes I know that rates me as a bit of a “wanker” (Aussie term, you may need to look it up)). My first Porsche was a 1970 911 from California. A full LHD to RHD conversion, ground up restoration and preparation for track work taught me a lot on my younger years (especially how to go backwards at great speed at the first corner). It was on the track a fair bit and I had a great deal of fun with it. I sold it and purchased a new Porsche in later years and kept it for about 6 years, it was fun but I found it a little boring, I like to tinker with things, it was a little expensive for that. I really miss the 1970 one I sold :cry:

My decision to purchase a GT40 kit was based on finding a good looking mid engine vehicle and equip it with a relatively quick engine/transaxle. I hope the build is a fun pastime for me, we will see. Let the fun and spending begin!

 

[Jason Ferraro]

DELIVERY OF MY RCR40

Being the first person to order an RCR 40 in Australia way back on the 19th of September 2007 was a little daunting. We have a few locally built GT40 kits here in Australia, however the decision to go with RCR was based mainly on the aluminium monocoque chassis. All others in the local Australian market are of RHS steel construction (nothing really wrong with steel, just preferred the aluminium). Having the support of a local manufacturer would make things easier (the RF guys were, and still are very supportive), but ease of the build was not why I was doing the vehicle. I wanted something different.

A visit to RCR in the USA during January 2008 was a lot of fun but bloody cold! Fran and his bunch of guys were most accommodating.

I chose the transaxle from Fran (Ricardo Ford GT) and specified a few extra items, hard not to buy the stuff when it's in front of you. Final payment was made to RCR on the 3rd of March 2008 in order to get the car dispatched.

My vehicle was made ready for dispatch from RCR on the 1st May 2008.

Organising the sea freight personally and complying with the laws regarding importation of car parts is a lot of work. If you can have someone else do it (RCR Australia) do it.
Delivery on the 6th of June in Australia was a great day.

Unpacking something you have been waiting for is great although a number of parts were not included due to stock levels of some of the parts at RCR.

The final back ordered anti-roll bar parts are reported to be due at the Australian RCR dealer this week (29th September). This will complete the delivery of the vehicle parts ordered. All up from the first deposit to the last part delivery we will be looking at just over 12 months.

I must give a big thanks Craig White (RCR Australia) for his continued parts freight support of a product that was not originally purchased through him. Thanks Craig.

 

[Rob]

Hi Jason,
Looking forward to seeing your build progress. Enjoy!

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Hi Jason,
Good luck with your build. I'll look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[JackW]

Hi Jason

what sort of engine do you plan on putting in it? are you going to road register it or just for track work? As a Melbourne person myself I would love to come over and have a look one day. Anyway, best of luck with your build - I look forward to seeing the direct comparison of your finished RCR with a few of the local RF's when it is done.

Cheers

Jack

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Jack,
swing by the Nationals at the weekend...John W will have his 4 month build RCR40 on the track...

 

[Jason Ferraro]

VEHICLE SPEC


From the outset my car mechanicals were not going to resemble an original GT40 in any real detail. Performance expectations coupled with Australia’s strict ICV/ADR requirements would make that too difficult. The interior will where possible look similar to an original GT40 in the way many on this forum have built their cars.
My paint scheme is planned to be based on P1075 at Le Mans in 1969. I feel the Gulf color scheme makes the car appear a little more historic than boy racer (all black etc). Just my opinion.

I have purchased a 6.0lt GM V8 for the car.

I plan to supercharge it. That is two large contradictions with the original 40 but it should provide a cost effective and largely emissions compliant (if a Harrop ADR compliant Supercharger is used) big power solution. I have purchased a Ford GT transaxle from Fran (Thanks Fran). This will be more than capable of handling the torque generated by the engine. I did not want a “no burnout clause” although the Porsche gearboxes in reality prove to be quite strong. I expect this to be a difficult power train to package well. The car has 17” BRM’s and +2 rear suspension with +2 flares. Brakes will be a custom AP racing setup to easily gain compliance in Australia.

 

[Jason Ferraro]

GETTING THE WORKSHOP READY

As I have very little space in my garage a movable vehicle lift was constructed. The blue lift was purchased in the USA with the red structure made over a weekend. It allows me to move the car around in my dog box of a garage!

 

[Bobski]

Hi Jason,
Congrats nad I'm looking forward to following your build thread. Don't beat yourself too much about your garage as it's much bigger and cleaner than mine. It's frustrating not having enough room to work with, but we make do. With limited space, it's a good idea to paint the car once it's finished.

Bob

 

[Jason Ferraro]

Thanks Bobski, but I cannot imagine a much smaller garage!


DESIGNING AND ASSEMBLING THE UPGRADED BRAKING SYSTEM

As the vehicle was broken down completely for shipping basic suspension assembly has begun first. I have concentrated mainly on my custom brake setup first. After mounting the car and raising it to a comfortable working height (yes I am the king of lazy town) work began.

I did not purchase the standard RCR Wilwood brakes as they do not meet the ADR’s (Australian Design Rules) and while they fit in 15” diameter rims they look a little small to me inside the 17” rims. Looks are not everything, but I also wanted the challenge of designing a few alloy brackets and rotor hats myself as I have not done it before. As reports on this site are that the performance of the standard Wilwood RCR brakes are more than adequate, this setup should simply be a little better and with a larger disc diameter reduce the pedal effort slightly.

I decided to use AP Racing calipers and DBA (local manufacturer) slotted rotors. These are not the best brands on the market but they are fairly cost effective. The sizes I decided on (based on some basic brake balancing calculations) are below:

Front – AP Racing CP5555 6 pot calipers and 343mm (13.5”) x 32t rotors
Rear – AP Racing CP5200 4 pot calipers and 330mm (13”) x 28t rotors

I also decided to use the Precision Brake Co. handbrake calipers on the rear. While I was designing the alloy components I had the logo changed on the face of the handbrake caliper. It’s a flat out lie but it looks better to me!

I designed all the brackets myself on CAD by measuring the RCR parts, wheels etc. very carefully to ensure a perfect fit. I then had the rotor hats and caliper mounts NC machined up directly from the CAD data here in Australia. For the front no modifications to the RCR uprights were required to mount the upgraded brakes.

FRONT SETUP

REAR SETUP

Assembly was quite a nervous time, it all looked good on CAD but did I make a stuff up? Very happy to say no! All parts fit perfectly. On the rear I simply milled off the existing Wilwood caliper mount on the RCR upright and tapped some holes and bolted my custom brackets on. I’m also happy I found some great NC machinists to make the alloy parts and they are first quality. They will be used again for more custom machining work for my build.

I’m very happy with the final setup. When my engineer visited he questioned the legality of the brakes as he thought they did not have dust seals. A letter from AP Racing advising that there are internal seals fitted to my calipers made the money I spent on the braking system worthwhile. The standard Wilwood’s would not have met the ADR requirements according to my engineer but they are dirt cheap so if you do not have any compliance requirements you would not change them.

 

[JackW]

That is some bloody impressive work. Take that Mr engineer man!!

Jack

 

[David Briggs]

That is coming along very well.
Dave

 

[Murray Cowley]

That is superlative work, it looks the Dogs B?**%**s!
I'm going to keep watching and make myself really, really jealous!

 

[Jason Ferraro]

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

TRIAL FITTING THE ENGINE AND TRANSAXLE

I thought I would trial fit the engine/transaxle next. Temporary engine mounts were made from loose parts sent by RCR. Completed brackets are not available for the LS2 engines for the RCR40. These will therefore be custom manufactured later on. My compliance engineer would not accept rigid mounts anyway so I will need to work something out.

Positioning of the Ford GT transaxle benefits from moving the engine fairly far forward in the vehicle. All the issues associated with this are yet to be fully resolved. The first casualty was the standard water pump assembly. Remote electric is the only way now (L76 engine) which is fine by me.

I also noticed the RCR adapter plate appears to only facilitate four of the transaxle mounting locations. Some work will be required on the adapter plate to improve this situation. Holding this huge transaxle on while its screaming down the road with 4 M10 bolts is a bit too scary for me. A whole new adapter plate (costly) or some modifications to access a few more of the existing Ricardo transaxle mount positions will give me peace of mind.

As can be seen the transaxle sticks out a fair bit at the rear even though I have moved the engine a fair way forward, but it looks OK.

I had to cut a fair bit out of the rear plate to clear the gearbox but I think it will look cool from the rear of the car later. I will be stabilising the rear plate later to provide a stable fixing point for the rear clip.

I will also have to look for a shallower and wider sump to create additional clearance. I'm not to keen on a dry sump at this stage. If anyone can recommend some good aftermarket wet sumps for an LS2 engine it would be appreciated. Choices are limited in Australia.

Also fitted the drive shafts and starter motor.

Unfortunately a foul exists with the standard RCR rear bracket bolt and the CV boot. I will be replacing this bracket with a custom solution as well.

Next is lining up the suspension and measuring the chassis to determine the reference points for the body.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Jason,
if you put the rear tray radius rod on the top side...just like with a ZF transaxle...it should clear.

We installed the same package into Jay Salmons car and got everything inside the tail of his Mk1 RCR40....he has a dry sump LS7 though...so no need for a different oil pan..

http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-build-logs/24421-j-salmon-rcr-40-build-2.html

Enjoying your build...

 

[Dutton]

That is some bloody impressive work.

Well said, Jack!

Keep at it, Jason. You're doing one hell of a job there.

T.

 

[Jason Ferraro]

Thanks for the replies.

Fran, I did try what you suggested before posting the comment but it is not possible. The bracket design does not allow enough room between the heim joint and the bolt head (even if you fit the heim joint first).

Even if it did fit the bolt head is still very close to the boot.

 

[Jason Ferraro]

Preliminary Fitment Of Auxiliary Fluid Holder!

Our first baby is home this week (little girl 7lb 9oz). She is already having an impact on the vehicle specifications :shy:

Saw it there and could not resist the photo!

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Congratulations Jason.....

Hope Mum and baby are doing well...

Now the real work begins....

My daughter just saw the avatar and shouted Gulf cupcakes....cool...start them early

 

[Jason Ferraro]

Thanks Fran, appreciate the congrats. Been a pretty stressful period of late. However mother and baby are doing well.

Lovely sunny Sunday in Australia and today little Amy actually slept in the pram next to the car during the whole LH Front suspension assembly process while mum (mom) was out!

I thought a newborn was going to slow the build down a little? Maybe not........