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Thanks for the pics.. they help a lot. I put a bit more rake on mine to clear some steering and suspension parts, but your pattern can easily be adapted to it.

What did you do for the tilt portion of it? Bolt through pivot? Glassed in hinge?

Cheers!

KS

The bottom of the KInetic nose is flat I used a piece of angle about 12inches long into which I drilled and tapped four 1/4 inch holes. On the outside of the nose I used a piece of 1inch wide flat stock into which I drilled four matching holes. I bolted thru the flat stock and the bottom of the nose into the angle. In other words, I made a sandwich with the fiberglass nose, using the flat piece on the outside as a large long washer. I add two small hinges to the angle with bolts and bolted the assembly to the car frame. To remove the nose, I can either remove the four bolts at the sandwich or I can remove the bolts at the hinge. I did consider just welding the hinges, but decided to use bolts. Here is a hastily drawn sketch.

...that is how the whole nose/hood is attached to the Centaur as well..... two hinges, one each side....

Man, you have a big nose.

All I can hear is the Brian Setzer song "Nosey Joe" playing in my head!!!

OK.. that's kind of what I was thinking but I have been hesitant to commit to putting holes in it! You win... I'll do it!

Gblawson... Yeah, that is one big nose. I like the one piece, but having it rest on the ground like that when open would drive me nuts. I would have to put a leash on it to limit its forward tilt. I just know myself and I'd forget one day.. tilt it and go to work on the car, only finding later that I scuffed the DS out of it!

Thanks for the pics and "drawings" Photoman... I appreciate it a lot as it helped clear a couple of small blocks!

Cheers!!

KS

Concerning the resting on the ground problem. Yes, mine rests on the ground when it is open all the way, however, the portion that actually touches the ground is the very bottom of the cone, below the grill opening. That portion of the cone isn't visible when the nose is closed. You could put a piece of aluminum or stainless there or some other material, even a small strip of rubber, but I decided it really wasn't needed since I won't be opening it all that often. I also decided not to use a restraint bar or such.

....am afraid with mine, the forward / top of the grill portion is the part that rests.... am looking at one gasshock to keep it off the ground....

last time i posted something about Barry Massivenose i got shouted at.

Ah come on John. who's afraid of a little shouting?

It's time to work on the seat belts. I went to a junk yard(breaker to you Brits) and bought a couple of seat belts. I've been playing around with them. On this car, there isn't an easy place to install them and have them work properly. On a regular passenger car, the retractor reel is usually placed at the B pillar, but on a seven, there isn't room between the seat and the frame, so , another place has to be found. I didn't want to use a four or five link harness system like many people use. Anyway, after getting the system home from the yard, I found that they must be almost perfectly vertical for the reel to unwind.Just a few degrees off vertical, and I mean maybe 5 degrees or so, the reel locks the belt, meaning it will not unwind. This makes placement much more difficult.About the only place i could mount the reel was between the seats at the rear bulkhead.Mounting them at that location means that the belts will be reversed, ie, the shoulder belt will be on the opposite side from normal, but they will work just as well. I could have mounted the reel on the rear deck, but I didn't like them there. I welded a small bracket to the roll bar to hold the upper belt ring. I'm not exactly thrilled with the looks of this setup, but for now it works. I may go with a non retractable belt system later.

Couple of photographs of the belts.

I also have been playing with the heater dash vents. I finally cut the holes for them. The vents are not centered on the panel. The fan switch will be on the left of the vents.
Note the different switches. I'm trying to decide which one I like. I am also considering toggles. Opinions are welcome. I have added plexiglass to the front of the gages but haven't removed the protective film, that's why they look dull in the photograph.

I'm about ready to set the caster and camber of the front wheels. After getting advice from others on the forum here, I will go with seven degrees of caster and one degree of negative camber to start. The upper control arms were built with seven degrees of caster so I can change it in either direction without running out of adjustment. If I had constructed the arm with zero caster, I could possibly not have enough adjustment. Some people run ten degrees or more. It's little bits of info like this from people who have been there and done that which make these builds much easier to accomplish.

But wait, there's more. Like the exhaust system. I finally got the exhaust system pretty much completed. I ordered a 180degree mandrel bent pipe which I cut into two equal pieces and used on either end of the system. The front one welded to the flange and the back one for the turn out in front of the rear wheel. Here is a photograph. The coffee can support system will be replaced by a specially designed, super duper, custom, metal hanger system. The muffler will have a cover, probably stainless. Working on that design now.

Not only do we need to see where we're going, but sometimes we need to see where we have been, or at least what's behind us, so I ordered a couple of rear view mirrors from Summit Racing. I don't know for sure, but I think i will replace this mounting devise with something else.