James' GT-Forté scratch build GT40 MkI

[James Harvey]

Hi Bill - yep, I don't think my garage is the most suitable storage place from a temperature point of view. Luckily my wine has a pretty fast turnover, so shouldn't be too much of a problem

Hi Nick - I've been following your build too. As you've already overtaken me on progress, it's even better seeing your updates!

 

[James Harvey]

All the pieces are now in for the front end. Just need to turn it over to finish off the welding. It's getting pretty heavy now - I'll need some mates to help me turn it (wife is no longer strong enough )

 

[NickD]

Deja Vu, I remember that stage. ;-)

 

[Darrin]

I decided to get back into dead lifting about the time my kit arrived for this very reason. LOL!

I recall the last time I flipped it was after all of the panels were on and the tanks attached to get the bottom coated in a sound resistant spray. Swore it would be the last time I flipped the thing alone. Be glad you have help.

Looking good BTW! Lot of work welding but worth doing right.

FWIW, the kit builder did a very good job welding too. No complaints in that area for sure.

All the pieces are now in for the front end. Just need to turn it over to finish off the welding. It's getting pretty heavy now - I'll need some mates to help me turn it (wife is no longer strong enough )

 

[Bill Musarra]

Hey,,, you guys cheated. You were lifting just the frame. I did it with my spyder, stainless paneling, uprights and the central tubing attached!! HOO HAAA

It is a lot easier if you use your engine hoist. Just have to go slow and move it to the center as it goes up(it will try to slide toward the hoist as it goes up). I raised mine when I had to do some vertical TIG welding. Could do flat or angle but not vertical. So I tilted it up like this to get it done. Don't go to, or past vertical. It will pull the hoist over.:stunned:
I used LINEX on the underside. Just take the frame to their shop with all the under paneling done, and they will do all the heavy lifting.I also had them do the inside of the front framework and paneling. Came out very nice.

Bill

 

[James Harvey]

Just returned from a great weekend at Stoneleigh. Really good to put some more faces to names.... had a good chat with Andy Green (spent many hours reading Andy's Norfolk Tornado build log) and Dave Collins let me have a sit in his fabulous RCR MKII - my first time in a 40 - glad I liked it

 

[James Harvey]

Got to use the lathe again tonight... enlarging the steering wheel centre to fit the GT40 logo in.

Just need to find a 3/4" diameter 48 spline steering column shaft now to fit into the boss. They were on the original mini's, but these columns are pretty expensive on ebay - have to keep looking...

 

[James Harvey]

My seats arrived today

Really good timing as I'm about to fit the upper harness mountings, so will be able to check they fit squarely behind the seat harness holes.

 

[James Harvey]

Seats look to fit pretty well, although I think I'll need to change how I was planning to fit the threaded tubes for the harness eyes.

Usually these are fitted horizontally (in red), but this would put the mounting too high as you're supposed to have a horizontal or slightly sloping downwards fixing.

I think I'll mount the threaded tube vertically (in green) which should give the harness a nice slope, maybe around 10 degrees.

 

[NickD]

Hi James,

They look great. Am looking to order seats in the next 2 - 3 weeks, can you tell where you purchased ?, They look like Intatrim ?

Thanks.




Nick.

 

[Bill Musarra]

James,
I have considered Schroth the authority for installation of harnesses. You don't want to use an Eye bolt at a right angle. The force has to be in alignment with the crash. not at right angles.You can use a bolt into the bar with a bracket to the belt. The bracket holds the belt flat so that during a crash the full width of the belt takes the pull. With an Eye bolt the shear is all wrong. If you are going to use a bracket it needs to be a bolt not an Eye bolt. It can take the shear force. It is what it is designed to do. Here is the full story of how to install a belt system and why. It also tells you how to loop a belt to the brackets as well as how to mount the lap belts. Very informative.

http://www.schrothracing.com/sdocs/2009_Competition_Instructions.pdf

Bill

 

[Dave]

Yeah love the seats, where from and how much?

 

[Gus Richmond]

Yep! I second that. The seats are gorgeous, I would love a set of them! Some details please.

 

[James Harvey]

Yes, they are from IntaTrim. They do some specific GT40 seats but I tried them out at the Stoneleigh show and found them uncomfortable. They do a whole range of seats and I found the Odyssey II seats really comfy. They added the stitching and eyelets to give a total price of £550 delivered. Everything is made to order, so you can pick whatever colours, piping etc you prefer. I think I got a slight discount as it was at a show, but the price shouldn't be too far from this.

Thanks for the link & info Bill - really interesting. Will go with a bolt - not an eye bolt. Cheers

 

[David]

I had the same issue with the Inatrim GT40 seats. I found in my case the 'wings' dug into my shoulder blades. Very much a personal preference thing though as Jayson tried and he was fine with them.

Looking at the specs they're pretty much the same width as their 'GT40' seats but a bit higher.

What angle do they lay back at?

 

[James Harvey]

What angle do they lay back at?

In the photos they are flat to the floor and the back looks to be parallel with the main roll bar - which is 75 degrees from horizontal. You could lay them back further by lifting the front of the seat up

 

[David]

D'Oh! Of course, perfectly visible from the picture!

I think most GT40's run them parallel to the rear bulkhead which would be a bit more laid back. All depends on if you've got enough head room or not though.

IIRC you don't yet have bodywork but you can pretty much take the top of the roll bar as being the interior roof line. So have a sit and as long as your head is a comfortable amount under the top of the roll bar you should be fine.

 

[NickD]

Yes, they are from IntaTrim. They do some specific GT40 seats but I tried them out at the Stoneleigh show and found them uncomfortable. They do a whole range of seats and I found the Odyssey II seats really comfy. They added the stitching and eyelets to give a total price of £550 delivered. Everything is made to order, so you can pick whatever colours, piping etc you prefer. I think I got a slight discount as it was at a show, but the price shouldn't be too far from this.

Thanks for the link & info Bill - really interesting. Will go with a bolt - not an eye bolt. Cheers

Hi James, Thanks for that. Can you advise on the material, Leather, Leatherette, Vinyl ?

Thanks.



Nick.

 

[James Harvey]

David - yep, I've got the body but it's not to hand. Head is a little above the roll bar so might have to recline it a bit. Any more of an incline though will mean I can't use the roll bar for the harness fixing and use the harness holes in the seats. I'll give this some more thought, but what I could do is weld in another cross member. This might mean the engine access hole would be a little smaller but the harness fixings would be in exactly the right location. Probably be back to using eye bolts then.

Nick - mine are vinyl but they'll do them in leather as an option

 

[David]

Well the standard is to have the seatbelts off the 'front' of the bar but if you want them lower could always run them off the very bottom. Would mean the belts would pass 'through' the bulkhead and having to 'box' in round them but would be doable.