GT40 build

[pressbrake1]

I went quite deep into buying a Lancia Stratos kit and the £8k it would have cost me has climbed a bit since then!

Things that were once working mans speed are no longer affordable just like motorcycles

 

[stuvy]

Things that were once working mans speed are no longer affordable just like motorcycles

Very true I’m after a new bike and even the basket cases are £1500 upwards

 

[Haz87]

Love it! I continue to massively favour build threads like this rather than youtube vids of builds. Write up with pics etc is so much better (IMO!)

 

[Fastdruid]

Well the good news is that there are plenty more pictures to go...

I certainly could have done this years ago but I keep wanting to do things "properly" and that takes 10x longer. So things like the fuel tanks. Some people have fitted them using rivnuts... I made top hats, drilled through the chassis rails, welded them both sides and ground flush.

(Before welding)

Then there is the gearchange. Which is a copy of the original

This of course has a bushed centre.

And mounts on the sill side so the lever is a short reach from the wheel.

That then operates a rod shift.

Which goes back here...

Through the gap.

...and then we haven't linked it up to the gearbox yet (mostly because said gearbox is sat under the car atm).

 

[Nick DV]

Nice work and enjoying the build, so keep the updates coming

 

[stuvy]

Love it! I continue to massively favour build threads like this rather than youtube vids of builds. Write up with pics etc is so much better (IMO!)

Same here I can’t stand YouTube videos of people waffling on about rubbish

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Thanks for this so far, I've thoroughly enjoyed the read so far and am in awe of your skills and ingenuity. Keep it coming please!

 

[piman]

Hello all,

looking at them it's easy to forget when they were first built (1965 maybe?). I remember the inimitable Denis Jenkinson road testing one for Motor Sport magazine and it had wire wheels.

Alec

 

[Fastdruid]

Originally the chassis came with a roll cage. After some serious consideration I decided I didn't want a roll cage in a car that was predominately going to be a road car. The risks of life changing injury (at best) from a otherwise minor crash with a solid bar mere cm from my head wasn't worth it. After having a sit in and seeing just how easy it would be to hit my head without moving it very far a helmet would be *essential* and I didn't want to make it something I *HAD* to always wear a helmet in.

That said...I quite wanted to keep my options open. So I settled for welding on a substantial plate with 8 weld nuts to the rear roll hoop.

This left the option of a future bolt on roll cage to be (re)fitted without having to cut apart the rear bulkhead or leave the stubs (which were still at a dangerous level).

I could have angled it to the rear bulkhead but then it would be problematic to fit anything to it so it's slightly proud.

 

[Fastdruid]

Centre tunnel... Centre tunnel runs two water pipes, aircon #10 and #8 lines, a power cable, clutch, brake tubing, throttle, handbrake and electrics. It's f***ing rammed in there.

Started off with some CAD and then 3D printing to get an idea of how things can fit.

Water pipes beaded then lagged with silvered fibreglass heat tape and slices of silicon hose to provide protection from rubbing.

Tunnel itself is split in a rear section that is "framed" by the chassis and then the front which isn't.

I've split this further into "zones" so that the heat from the coolant doesn't affect the other "services". This sticks a vertical "wall" into the tunnel with the clutch, brake, throttle and wiring on the left side then the rest the other with one side easy to access, the other not so much.
It also gives mount points so the brake/clutch piping is adequately supported.

This is the centre "wall"

With the cover on (still rocking the protective plastic).

And the other side of the front tunnel.

The entire tunnel is then lined with the fibreglass backed heat proof tape. There is a sealed air gap between the "hot" zone and the driver/passenger (how well this actually works we'll see).

Then the piping inserted.

Tunnel sealed up

Ooooh, shiny! No idea how well this will do but it's an attempt to keep some heat away from the driver.

While we're on the centre tunnel.

Handbrake.

Handbrake cable adjusters/balance bar.

 

[Kayos]

Things that were once working mans speed are no longer affordable just like motorcycles

Couldn't agree more

Planning a buggy build with my son, its cheaper to buy a new Chinese 4 stroke engine, complete rear axle with brakes and wheels and front steering, hubs, rack and tyres than a cheap bike that would donate some of the parts

 

[Matchless]

I adore the ultima I honestly think it’s one of the most beautiful car ever made

I can remember a time when they sold for £12k. As a complete car. We almost got one between two of us as a race car but went for a t70 replica

Many years ago when I was a Norwich Union salvage dealer, I had North London as my patch, I tried to buy a written off Ultima, not the highest of spec. Rover V8 and I think Renault transaxle, it made more than I thought it was worth, shame as I had a V12 BMW 5.0 engine ready for it, would have probably used an upside down Porsche transaxle, it was the WORST self build you could imagen, it crashed after 25 miles because the brake pedal came adrift.....................

 

[8ob]

I adore the ultima I honestly think it’s one of the most beautiful car ever made

I can remember a time when they sold for £12k. As a complete car. We almost got one between two of us as a race car but went for a t70 replica

Its not hard to have 30k + tied up under the bonnet of an Ultima or GT40 which is why decent ones change hands for around 100k, at that I doubt if anyone is making money out of it.

Bob

 

[stuvy]

Its not hard to have 30k + tied up under the bonnet of an Ultima or GT40 which is why decent ones change hands for around 100k, at that I doubt if anyone is making money out of it.

Bob

Was very early 2000’s

I know what it’s like to spend thousands on a 2k car Iv been guilty a few times

 

[Fastdruid]

Its not hard to have 30k + tied up under the bonnet of an Ultima or GT40 which is why decent ones change hands for around 100k, at that I doubt if anyone is making money out of it.

Bob

You can stick a cheap powertrain in (many of the Audi powerplants which come with a matching transaxle would be ideal) but IMO all of the "modern" kits are too expensive to make that reasonable as they're too "good" vs the old original KVA and VW based kits. You're got to go for a V8.

Even the worst possible V8 powertrain, say a RV8 with a UN1 and you can have a *good* few k in it by the time you've got gearbox, adaptor, clutch and the engine.

FWIW my engine/gearbox was cheap....and yet when you add everything else up there is still >£5k in there before I've done anything to it or got the exhaust. Stick a ZF/RBT or G50 on a high power SBF and you're into serious money.

 

[Bullet2012]

Absolutely awesome!
Scary amount of work. I thought my trailer was bad enough.
What rivets did you use - and what rivet gun etc? I assume solid rivets with an air hammer etc?
A few years ago I almost bought one of these as a kit - sadly the £100,000 price tag for everything put me off but I reckon it could be done a lot cheaper buying scrap parts and making a lot of others.

We had one turn up at my old workshop about 2003-4 I think.
fuel injected GM V8, sounded gorgeous.
turned out it was a demonstrator, a certain Dave Richard’s was driving it, he wouldn’t take me for a spin though.
sounded awesome.

 

[PhillipM]

Bit late for these I guess but this is what I do with custom polybushes - the poly is only there for misalignment and cushioning against shock loads, and in this case has sealing lips built in against dirt/water ingress, etc - then an acetal inner is the actual friction surface, far less stiction that way.

Means you have the NVH and shock reduction that poly offers but you still get the friction/stiction and wear of a nylon/delrin/acetal bearing instead of the horrible stick/grab/squeaking of polyurethane.

 

[Melvyn Best]

Love the GT40 build , it certainly puts my £250? locost to shame

 

[Nick DV]

Love the GT40 build , it certainly puts my £250? locost to shame

Nothing wrong with Locosts

 

[8ob]

Love the GT40 build , it certainly puts my £250? locost to shame

Nothing wrong with Locosts

For me its not about the value with hand built cars, its about the engineering that goes into them. I can appreciate what goes into them no matter what they cost, I have done both ends of the scale several times.

Bob