1149 Mono Replica

[Jim Rosenthal]

Another quick update since I have to be up early this AM for work...GT40-1149 is coming along handily. Ron is starting to piece the fuel supply system together; this consists of getting everything into position and then figuring out where all the fuel supply hoses will run. (and then ordering all the pieces to make this happen, which is where I come in, if anywhere) Andy is sending me two rebuilt fuel pump switches which ought to arrive in a day or two- we can reassemble the fuel pumps at that point. I had to get the headlight switch from a Cobra supply outfit; K-Four does not make a toggle switch which will work in this application- that has delayed the completion of the dash. However we are almost at the point where the dashboard can go in and stay in. This will permit me to get the windshield out of my garage, where it has been taking up space and making me nervous, and stick it on the car, which at least in theory is a safer place. The sound you hear is me knocking on wood. Also yet to be done is the speedo sender cable, and a spacer to mount the sender close to the drive hub bolts. That is in process as well. The idea here, if I have it right, is to mount the speedometer sender close enough to the drive bolts that as you drive faster, the hub "grows" just enough that the drive bolts shear off the sender, thus telling you that you have achieved a speed greater than 150 mph. No? That's not it?

John has made up a number of very useful and very well-done bits for this car, the biggest being the fuel tanks, but he is also doing the exhaust shield, the sheet metal for the front of the car (undertray), the shifter cover, modifying the shroud for the Avro fuel tap, and probably some other items I can't recall. He is morally opposed to the use of the word "perfect". So- let's just say that his work is quite superior indeed. How's that?

Today the drive shafts went in, to stay in (hopefully) and the process of checking everything for tightness so that it won't back out continues. Ron's attention to detail is meticulous, I really could not have found anyone better for the final trip to completion of this project.

More to follow in a few days. Watch this space for further details

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Spent some time with 1072 today, looking at details of how the seats are fastened in (single bolt from the back of the fiberglass upper part of the seat, which goes through the removable panel in the front engine room bulkhead- the bulkhead panel is secured with Dzus fasteners to the fixed part of the engine room bulkhead) The driveshafts are out for replacement of the donuts, which gave me a chance to see more of the way that the rear suspension is arranged etc. Lots of fun, plus there were a variety of cool race cars running around, altogether a great time.

All the pieces for 1149's dashboard are here, and also the fuel pump switches here today courtesy of Andy, so it looks like all the wiring will be in and tested within a week. Then the fuel system plumbing, and at that point I suppose we'll have to start it up. And at that point it will cease to be a project, and become an automobile- after all these years. Astonishing.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

I agree, but in my case it was easier to just have a set of tanks made to fit my car than to try to set up all the tooling for what would be an extremely limited demand. Essentially there was no other course than bespoke tanks for this individual chassis. The advantage of the rubber bladder tanks would have been that they would fit any chassis that was close to the right dimensions, because of their flexibility. But I wanted safer technology.

All done now. Pretty soon we'll be putting fuel in them, with any luck.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Some photos of the exhaust system shield, made by John Shriver in MD, fitted, but not yet polished. Very nicely done as is all his work. Reinstalled the updated switches into the SW pumps today with Ron, and he expects to have the dash finished and in the car within a day or two. The metal parts of the fuel system are almost done, and we may be able to have the fuel fill pieces in by the end of the week; I am waiting on hose and T-bolt clamps from West Marine. Also a list of all the AN fittings and hoses that I have to order to connect all the dots together and have a complete path for fuel to get to the engine...

Keep your windows open, you'll hear the general rejoicing soon, I hope....

What does not show in this limited set of photos of only the exhaust system is how good the dash looks. Ron has done an outstanding job on it. It really looks the business, AND it looks sufficiently like the original car that I have for comparison that I am very happy with it.

Now if I can just get a key fob like 1072 has, it will be perfect. It says something like "Duncan Hamilton Classic Cars, Bagshot, Surrey" etc etc. THAT would be a class piece. Anyone listening across the pond?

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Here are some recent photos showing fuel system, fuel tap shroud, etc etc.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

actually much of these are of the completed dashboard, and the very nice wiring that Ron did in there, also the modified fuel tap shroud. I'll try to get some others of the fuel system plumbing in there also; this computer is new to me and I am still figuring it out. The fuel system is almost complete, only the rollover vents to install and plumb, and just about all the wiring is connected, which means that we might get to try to start it up before Thanksgiving Day. Now THERE'S a turkey pan for you...

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

a few more, hopefully not too repetitive.

 

[Randy V]

Nice work Jim!

I like the exhaust shield.. Ought to look even nicer once it's polished up!

I'm curious if you have a diagram of your fuel system. I'm also going to be running the Stewart Warner pumps.. Those look brand spanking new!

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

They are not new, but they were overhauled in UK by Andrew Booth, who is probably the world's authority on SW 240A fuel pumps, or one of them, at any rate. It is probably better to have old pumps which he rebuilt than NOS ones, as the NOS ones have forty-year old seals etc in them...so will leak from startup.

The fuel system is identical, I think, to the original SBF cars- there is a hose to each tank that runs to the Avro fuel tap which functions as a selector valve, and from the output of the valve another hose runs to the fuel pumps, which are plumbed in parallel and switched on and off together. The outputs of the pumps are united and feed the fuel filter/pressure regulator unit, which is mounted on the firewall above the port side of the engine. A final hose runs to the Webers from the regulator unit. We have fitted a fuel pressure gauge to the Weber inlet lines, as I want to make sure we don't flood everything by overpressurizing the fuel system. 3-4# ought to be plenty.

We used 6-AN hose, a cloth covered item from Russell, which I bought from Summit Racing. All the AN fittings are black or nickel, except where we had to buy blue ones which we then painted black. Blue/red hardware is nice on modern cars- not so good on a car which is at least intended to look as if it was made in the '60s. To be sure, the tanks are not rubber bag tanks, they are aluminum, but how many cars are running bag tanks nowadays, I wonder...

I have tried to avoid dress-up items as much as possible, feeling that "bling" in engine compartments is for hot rods and show cars, at least that is my preference. The great thing about these vehicles is that you get to do it the way you want, and I have tried to make the engine area look as close to original as I could, noting with some amusement how many original cars contain many modern pieces.

I don't have photos yet of how Ron and John Shriver did the fuel inlet pipes, but from the pieces I saw, I expect they will look very nice indeed. In another departure from classic, we used marine fuel inlet hose and Trident T-bolt clamps, which are very robust and great for areas where you REALLY don't want things to leak, plus are hard to get to for servicing. Two feet of hose and four clamps were about ninety bucks. And you thought race cars were expensive....

 

[Randy V]

Very nice Jim - thanks for the explanation on the fuel routing..

Yes - Andy did a fine job on those pumps! :thumbsup::

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

More completed and photos to come when I am not so tired; I spent the day winterizing my boat and getting ready to haul it out for the winter. it may be cold here, but it's warm in the engine room....

I got some additional photos from Ron of fuel fill pipes, painted front end where all the mechanicals reside, and good news that he thinks we can get mechanical parking brake calipers from Ipsco, who evidently make them for RCR Australia? I didn't know that. Anyway, he is taking measurements, and hopefully I will get the order in to them soon. I have never been crazy about the idea of the handbrake handle just applying the service brakes, it seems nuts to me. There ought to be a backup to hold the car when it is shut off- and now there will be, with some luck. There is a good chance we can put fuel in and see if she will start up, next week, perhaps.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Some photos from today of plumbing and wiring work done by Ron. All of the fuel system except the overflow vent lines is in; the lines will be made up from the leftover tubing from the fuel supply system itself, since there seems to be enough left over. Today I "helped" Ron install the Aeroquip lines for the remote oil filter, as well as revise the placement of the ROF mount and the senders which are screwed into it (oil pressure gauge, and low oil pressure warning lamp). "Helping" is when the owner of the car hangs around and makes everything take twice as long, but has fun doing it.

You can also see the fuel fill pipes, the mounted master cylinders, and a general shot of the port and starboard sides of the engine compartment, showing the pumps and MSD box mounted, and a few other odds and ends tucked in such as the coil, fuel filter/regulator, etc. It is all very neatly done and there seems to be enough room around everything to avoid heat in undue places.

We are trying to figure out where the nozzles for the windscreen washer can go; we have photos of 1072 which show the location, but I am not certain we can get to the back of that area to run the hoses. We'll see.

What remains to be done for an initial startup is to finish wiring the modular plugs which will link the dashboard to the rest of the car- one bundle of wires to the rear of the car, and several to the front, such as lights etc. And some relays left to put in. But overall it seems to be close to the time when someone turns the key and begins testing each circuit, in preparation for starting the engine up.

Watch this space for further details, as they say.

 

Looking great Jim.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

First test of the fuel supply system today; the tanks do not leak, one of the fuel pumps does. Well, we only tested one tank, but we will have to remove the battery to get the leaking pump out and try to reseal the switch. While all that is out, we can fill the tank on the port side and see if that leaks. Wiring is coming along- now a matter of mating the car to the dashboard, and checking all the circuits. A shame to hide all that nice wiring.....

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

A shame to hide all that nice wiring.....

Jim,

In a perfect world, once installed, you would NEVER look at wiring again!

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

You're right.... but the quality of his work is excellent. As good as the wiring on John's SPF is, this is even better- it ought to be, since the entire loom was created by hand for this individual car. And the dash is completely removable, since it is all on plugs that allow it to be disconnected and taken out without undoing any wires.

Not only that, it is made to be serviced, which is a huge plus. Too many modern cars are impossible to do anything on once it is all in place.


Of course, we DO have to take the fuel pumps out to change the battery... and to make sure the port tank isn't leaking. My fault for insisting on real vintage pumps, SW 240As, which I am now beginning to regret.

 

[JimmyMac]

Congratulations Jim!,
You are nearly there. A very enjoyable build thread.

 

[Bill Cooke]

Beautiful car, you should be proud.
Bill

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

I spent the day today working on the car with Ron (helping Ron, who is doing the work, really). Most of this consisted of sorting out all the circuits from the dash into the car, and figuring out how to connect all the electrical dots. We are to the point where we have almost everything connected- a few circuits left to sort out, but not too many. Ron started with a commercial wiring harness, but not much of that is left- that supplied the fuse box and some labeled circuits, but all the rest of it was made by him including all the Weatherpack connectors and modular plugs that hook everything together. It is AMAZING how much wiring is in even a very simple car like a GT40, which does not (at least this one) have a heater, AC, radio, not even any interior lights. I am going to have Italian food tonight- it seems appropriate for someone who has been looking at colored spaghetti all day.

Tomorrow no work on the car, at least not by me; I will be out of town in Virginia, visiting family for the Thanksgiving holiday. So before I leave, a holiday thought or two:

We are, indeed, as Jimmy points out, nearly at the end of this process. To be sure, the car has not awakened yet, but it shows signs of life, as we say in my trade. I am very grateful to the huge community of GT40 enthusiasts who have contributed so much to this car. For no particular reason, I have decided, in this season of giving thanks, to publicly thank, in this space, some of the folks who have helped me with this effort. Beyond any doubt this list will be incomplete, and I hope to rectify that in the future. But with the car so close to a life of its own, and with the end in sight, this seems a good time to thank the following folks:

Chuck Wray, Bob Wood, Brady Pack, David Brown, Kerry Adams, Henry Atherton, Jay Cushman, Andrew Booth, Neil Lefley, Pat Senatro, Jay Mull, Tom Ruff, Ron McCall, Dennis Quella, Marino Perna, Glenn Brown, Derek Chew, Fran Hall, Audie Swartz, the staff of the Marriott collection, and others I can't recall at this point. As we also say in my trade, "too numerous to count"....

Playing with cars is a lot of fun. Hanging around with other people who like to play with cars is even more fun. To all the folks who have helped me with this effort, thank you, and my gratitude to you all. It won't be long now, and joy will in fact be unconfined (and a bottle of champagne to whoever figures out where that phrase came from )

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

1149 started and ran today- not for very long, because the coolant isn't in yet, and we have an oil leak, and one of the fuel pumps also leaks. Her engine was built an dyno'ed several years ago, but had never run with the Webers and never run in this chassis. Despite that, after some preliminary cranking to get the oil pressure up etc, we hooked up the MSD box and she started almost instantly. Wow!!! And she sounded good....

It's a car, it's ALIVE....amazing.