It's alive!!! - the 71E project moves on its own.
 

Happy Easter everyone.
My weekend started off with some wheel refinishing. Start with some nearly trashed 16x7 fuchs. Combine one bag of playsand and 80 psi. Next stir in 2 hours of cleaning and taping followed by a touch of rattle can finish work and voila!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206321999.jpg

Now that I have rubber on the E project car it was time to make it move on its own.

I went for a maiden voyage around the block tonight. I fit the new wheels and tires but they will not work. they are too large and are rubbing badly in the rear. I will try a bit more negative camber but I don't think that will solve the problem. I don't want to shave the fender lips but that is an option.

I think the front hubs need to be rebuilt. One of them is groaning. I found two small weeps in the oil lines. I will re-tighten the fittings and that should solve the problem.

Other than those minor things the car ran well. It smoked a lot for the first few minutes. but that is to be expected since it has not been run in 10 months. Once it was warm I ran it up through the gears a few times at redline. Lemessee! 2.7 check, S cam check, MFI check, 7300 rpms check. yep, Fun and quick. This is quite the ride.

Here are a few pictures.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206321963.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206321972.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206321982.jpg

Nice ride!

Where did you get your bumpers?

SWEET. Looking good.

Can't wait to see it in person.

Bob

PItargue - the front bumper came with the car and is unknown origin. The rear bumper is a narrow body RS unit from Rennspeed. Oh, and the hood and rear decklid are also from Rennspeed. the stock steel units had suffered too much "heavy hand" syndrome over the years.

Bob, It has been too long coming to get this car back on the road. nothing like taking a rusty beat-up driver and making it look good in its Easter Sunday Best. ;) Come to think of it, it has been exactly one year. I looked at the car and had a handshake deal on Good Friday 2007,

That looks light.

I really like what you did with those wheels

Sweet Bird Jamie congratulations.

S.

Really like its super clean look with those gorgeous wheels. Nice work.

sanitary!

can you post a low angle shot of the front? looks like you have grill installed?

Congrats Jamie, looks great!

Outstanding work, Jamie! That's a nice looking hotrod. :)

Its good to see that you all notice the theme of the build. That is, to build a very clean, sleek car that maximizes the visual impact of the shape of the car with no distractions from trim or other things. I love the color (964 linen gray) and how it works well to establish the whole look and design.

The car corner balanced at 2170#. I managed to shed a few pounds but it was not built to be ultra light weight. It retains all the stock interior and ancillaries.

Randy, Yes, there is a grill. While replacing the rockers I ran AN16 lines inside.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206362927.jpg

then I mounted the oil cooler.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206362940.jpg

then I built a duct for it.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206362947.jpg

Here is the final install.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206362954.jpg

The bumper has a cutout to match the size of the cooler.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206363076.jpg

I shaped a section of grill material to match the contour of the bumper so that it would better blend. I think it came out rather nice.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206363128.jpg

Wow, beautiful build up and I love the way you pulled off the oil cooler. Very classy car.

Nice - the perfect car for touring the Hill Country...

Jamie! Great ride and photos...

Two Questions...

1. ) What did you do to get your wheels like that? I want that bad...

2.) The oil cooler project; did you buy a kit or did you fab that your self? Can you provide and details and specs on DIY?

Thanks so much! Great job!

Tom

Wow, real nice E!!! Any pictures of the engine?

Tom, The wheels are finished similar to the current economy RSR finish threads. Do a search. I did the prep work months ago but just got around to finishing them.

My Procedure: The wheels are prepped like this. First use chemical stripper to remove as much paint as possible. Then sandblast the entire wheel. I used $2.50/bag play sand in a HF pressure pot blaster. I set the pressure at about 80 psi. T his will remove the residual paint and also etch the surface of the factory annodizing. The resulting finish will look like flat aluminum with a very rough texture. The next step is to mask the center to the pattern of your choice. I think that masking these wheels was the worst part of the whole project. Next I sprayed two coats of rattle can primer and then 3 coats of satin black. Both were $5/can Rustoleum products. To finish it all off I sprayed one light coat of satin clear on top of it all. The rough texture and the clear gave a slight sheen to the aluminum finish.

The oil cooler setup was entirely DIY. No kits at my house. Its a Setrab radiator style cooler. I just found one that had the size I needed to fit snugly in the nose. Then I started cutting. Once the cooler was fitted and the lines attached I sketched the shroud on cardboard and built a metal version. Any local HVAC shop could make the shroud for a nominal fee.

Funny, I don't have any pics of the engine except when I first picked it up. Let's just say it was a bit dirty.

Jamie,

Hey, thank you very much for the come-back on how you handled these projects. As a follow-on; where did you attain the cooler and hoses? Custom too? Also, did you find your config to drop the temps dramatically?

Thanks again! SmileWavy

Tom

the oil cooler setup came from several sources. the cooler came from Hoerr Racing products (www.hrpworld.com). The hose and hose ends came from my local Aeroquip dealer. FYI, they have roll leftovers that they sell at a reduced cost/foot. You just have to dig until you find the right length. Call your local airplane mechanic to find the best location in town. The other adapter fittings came from BAT, Inc. in FL. I am using a Mocal thermostat mounted in the pass rear wheel well.

I do expect a noticeable change in temperature. The problem is that I can't give you a number. When we bought the car it was too rusty to drive hard enough to get really hot. After lots of surgery its finally ready to go. With the 2.7 oil temperature is key. My cooler is sized about 20% smaller than a Carrera Fender mounted cooler. I think I make up in airflow what I loose in capacity. Time will tell if this is true but other's have noticed the same effect.

jpnovak,
Beautiful car, and it inspires me to finally make some progress on my light ivory '72T this year.

Out of curiosity, what size tires are you running in the rear? I've gone back and forth with getting a set of 4 16x7's and mounting 205/55's all around. Maybe they won't fit after all?

Jim