LocostUSA.com

Great project! I'll be following.

Thank you, looking forward to getting all the parts in.



You know, you're not wrong about that!

Ordered the tires and will be picking them up tomorrow, wheels are coming in next week.
Went with Pirelli Cinturato CA67 in 185VR16 and a Rocket Racing Wheels Igniter as Cast in 16x6. They supposedly weigh 18lbs a piece which isn't great but there aren't that many good looking wheels I could find that are only 6" deep. Would have preferred a 5.5" wheel but those don't grow on trees.

Looks like a great build idea!
Can you cheat the IRS pumpkin a bit lower to help your height issue if you set up the axles correctly (not ideal, but...)?

As you can see by my screen name, when I joined I was sure I was headed the Duratec route, but I've since gotten my hands on an Olds 215 (also a big fan of this engine), and am seriously considering it for my 7 build (should I actually ever get my garage clear enough to start on it...). Small and light,makes it a great engine for a small light car. But getting to driving age in the 1970's with plentiful cheap used muscle cars, I'm addicted to the sound of a V8...

_________________
Planning a Duratec powered, Miata suspended 442

Thanks! I will definitely have to try all the tricks in the book to make this thing work but I luckily have some automotive engineers as friends who will be yelling at me the entire time to keep me from actually building something that doesn't work at all.

I feel you on the engine choice, this whole project started out as sub-1000lb idea that was supposed to be powered by a Honda Valkyrie engine with no more than 120-150hp.
Then it kinda ballooned into what it is now because I too am a sucker for V8's and from what I can tell you can't register a bike-engined car in California.
Would have loved to build something with a small flat six and a sequential gear box. Maybe later..

Here's a small update.

Mostly still waiting for parts so I can start the packaging process. I should be getting the transmission next week and am sourcing the bell housing tomorrow.

Got to look at a couple of things that are more down the road but they have to be done at some point, so I'm killing time with them.

Also got the push-pull cables that I will be using to remotely mount the Hurst shifter as the Super T10 is a side shifter transmission, the ones I got are a little short but I'll just return them for 2ft longer ones.

I included some shots of the model I'm using to get a feel for the dimensions of the car. These are not really indicative of the shape but I'm trying to figure out roughly how big it will be. The roll bar also won't be that big

The wheels are an inch too wide, so I will see where I can get them narrowed an inch. It's not that easy to find 16x5 wheels in a look I like and with an acceptable weight.

I'm pretty happy with the tiny alternator I found. It weighs only 6lbs and 4oz IIRC and cost a whopping 81 bucks. Not bad compared to other lightweight alternators. I'll just have to cram my electrical system into a budget the 35 amp alternator can maintain. I plan on running LED's throughout the car along with not really planning on running it at night anyway.

Looking forward to next week when I get the transmission and the aluminum Explorer diff. Will be dropping off the differential to receive a rebuild with 3.08 gears along with a Truetrac LSD.

Drove 750 miles yesterday to pick up the bell housing as every other option would have taken 2-3 weeks.
These things are surprisingly rare as the don't share the bolt pattern with anything else in the GM family.

Just talked to the transmission guy and it should be done by the end of the week. Can't wait to mock it up. The diff is supposed to come in on Friday.

They are quite rare, good you found one.
Fun fact, the 2 little ears on the top are covers for 2 matching openings on the block. On the automatics (a tiny little 2 speed), they were open, and the finned torque converter body was the only cooling on the automatic trans. The fins acted as a fan and pumped air around the converter, and these were the discharge air slots.

We swapped the auto out of my brothers Buick special, the 4 speed (cast iron T-10) was about 10 or 12 inches longer than the auto.
We also swapped out the odd-fire cast iron V6 lump for the aluminum 215. Funny losing 10 CID by adding 2 cylinders onto the same size block, but it was worth it.

_________________
Planning a Duratec powered, Miata suspended 442

Did not know that about the little ears, thank you for sharing!

Oh I just had to buy an engine in parts to get it. There's one on eBay Canada right now that is 650 plus shipping which would have taken a while to get here.
The other option of course was D&D but that would have been 800 and 2-3 weeks.

Paid 700 for the engine in parts plus the bell housing
It did come with a serviceable crank, a 4-barrel intake manifold with a carb, a flywheel, decent looking heads and an oil filter relocation kit. All in all I feel it was a decent deal.

They pop up here and there for 2-300 but I'm in a bit of a hurry and as we know, getting something sooner costs money. At least I'll get a nice coffee table out of it with the spare block

Question. Couldn't the Land Rover V8s be used in place of the original Buick/Olds V8s?

They should be more plentiful and cheaper here than the 50+ year old American units.

Also, I read somewhere that speed/hop-up parts were more available for those engines in Australia than here in the USA. I'm not sure that's true, but maybe it's worth checking out.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Yes, they absolutely could be used and they are likely a better choice for more reliable power.

I’m in Los Angeles, so I’m not sure where you got Australia from. Although I am originally from Austria, so I’ve gotten than one many times before

I’m using a Buick 215 because of the SB100 registration in California and the engine being a 1963 which means smog exemption. Also there’s something about using the OG engine along with many other GM components in this build.

The engine I bought already has higher compression than stock along with an Isky cam. The seller (a MGB V8 conversion place in Michigan) said it should be good for 220-230hp. Really more than enough. Even stock power levels of 180-200hp would have been fine but this one was available at a reasonable price.

Thanks for the input!

On a side-note: how can I set up my profile? When I click on profile in the control tab my browser doesn’t load a page and just says un-secure page. Happens both in Safari and Chrome.

One of the endearing aspects of this forum is the backup of the forum has a broken profile and every time it gets used we loose the profile until it gets fixed, which takes years sometimes.

_________________
Honey anyone?

Thank you for clarifying. That means a signature is also not in the cards I assume.

Had a great chat with Mark over at D&D Fabrication out of Michigan about the project.

He had some good insights and I'll be getting an eleven pound flywheel along with an organic clutch actuated by a Tilton 6000-series hydraulic throw out bearing.
They also make some nice block hugging headers which will allow me to run the exhaust tighter than before (several inches overall width less) along with a smaller diameter resulting in less weight (2" instead of my original 2.5")

For oiling I'll skip the oil cooler for now but will be going with an Accusump instead of the dry-sump setup. It just isn't necessary for my application and definitely not cost effective.

Also found someone nearby who can narrow my wheels by an inch to the 16x5 I feel are more appropriate for the Pirellis in 185VR16.
He builds wheels for land speed racers so I feel I can trust his work.

Got the Wilwood Pro Mustang 2 spindles in the mail, just waiting on the front brakes to be able to get a feel for the from suspension.

Small update while I wait for the transmission, flywheel, clutch and hydraulic T/O bearing to come in.

Went with a Griffin two core aluminum radiator. It has two 1.25" cores and a 12" electric fan.
That should work well in combination with the generous ventilation I plan on incorporating into the body.

Also got the Accusump in the mail as well.

And yes, I'm using apple boxes to mock it up for now. You use whatever is around and I'm building this in my photo studio

Mostly waiting for parts, but I got the bell housing, 11lb flywheel, clutch and pressure plate installed.

Also picked up the transmission which was a 320 mile roundtrip to 29 palms from Los Angeles. The things we do for cars ...

As soon as the throw out bearing is here, I'll be able to install the transmission and have a better idea of the packaging requirements.

For the rear uprights I read about people using Miata knuckles with Mazdaspeed 3 hubs pressed in to get the 5x114.3 bolt pattern that I'll be running.
So I'll be going to a pick and pull tomorrow or Friday to grab those along with the aluminum Explorer IRS diff. The ebay one I bought fell through.