checked out Sheridan's car this weekend

byndbad914 · 08:31 AM

Roger Sheridan has one bad-a** 914-6.

Full tube chassis (in Excellence in Sept 05) setup with his wide body kit. I drove just over 3 hours to get to his place from LA on Sat morning and another 4-1/2 to get back (Santa Barbara to Ventura just simply sucks mid-day anyday of the week

) and it was well worth it. I ended up shooting about 23 or 24 pix of the chassis as I am working on getting quotes to build a tube car myself. And Roger is a pretty stand up guy - really cool to talk to and very knowledgeable. And he makes the sweetest bodywork out there.

Actually seeing the custom rear trailing arms... I just couldn't get any appreciation for them from the article and pix in the mag. There is some serious work in that car. If you're at a track and see that car, take the time to walk over and take a look, you will be impressed.

I looked at that car 10yrs ago in his garage when he was in the LA valley (when I bought the kit for mine), but wasn't smart enough to just do the tube chassis then.

I have his standard body kit on mine, which is a bit narrower, but still a good base for such a car.

Cory M · 11-29-2005, 07:39 AM

so lets see some of those chassis pictures!

byndbad914 · 12-01-2005, 09:00 AM

I am at PRI this week. I will have to ask Roger to be sure he doesn't mind me posting pix of his stuff... I don't think it would be an issue, so I could throw a few on the site sometime next week or so.

byndbad914 · 12-08-2005, 05:44 PM

I took a lot of "detail" shots more so than car shots, but here are a few of interest to me and maybe you guys/gals...

that is the adjustable sway bar - you push/pull the cable in the cockpit to rotate the "I-beam" for stiffness - pretty slick

driver's side coarse adjustment for stiffness range

byndbad914 · 12-08-2005, 05:47 PM

notice that the firewall has been inset to the door sill. This was of interest to me since I have a V8 and want to dry sump it... meaning I would need to move the firewall forward in a similar fashion. the Motec is sitting on the ledge created by the inset.

you can also catch a glimpse of the 7As on the passenger floorboard area.

The obvious is the carbon-fiber seat. Next to it is the two air hoses/ducts that come from a NACA style duct in the window and feeds cool air to the engine fan through the firewall.

byndbad914 · 12-08-2005, 05:50 PM

trailing arm mounting... pretty beefy. Notice they don't have adjustment at the pivot area like a stock arm. See the next photo for the crazy custom made upright stuff he has for alignment.

byndbad914 · 12-08-2005, 05:52 PM

The aluminum spacers at the top can be changed out for camber adjustment, and the "spindle" pivots and toe is set with the adjustable links.

byndbad914 · 12-08-2005, 05:55 PM

overall shot of the engine/trans stuff. The car is clearly all business

byndbad914 · 12-08-2005, 06:00 PM

This one shows the oil tank, fuel surge tank, strut mount (notice the struts have been cut way down; they are basically a "shell" with no shock absorption and a separate shock is used).

I have a few more pix, but that should give the board a jist of what is up with that car. He has a lot of custom stuff on this car, but those pix were pretty intense and if I add too many, a lot of you won't be able to download this post without waiting a 1/2-hour.

Enjoy as I did

Cory M · 12-09-2005, 11:48 AM

Nice! Thanks for posting the pictures. Have you found a shop to do your chassis yet? What are the ball park estimates you've been getting from the fab shops (If you don't mind me asking)? I've been considering building a tube framed racer (more along the lines of a D-Sport car) as a future project.

126coupe · 126coupe's Garage

That car is pretty cool! What lap times at willow?
What engine?

byndbad914 · 12-11-2005, 05:47 PM

Cory, the NorCal shops were all around $20-$30K which is crazy. The guy in New Mexico was around $10-$14K which is what I expected. A fab guy in Orange that is a friend of my old boss said he might do it for around $5-$8K but that is probably a good guy deal. I am taking the car down there in a couple weeks to really go over what I want and he can give me a more solid quote and I can "feel him out a little better"... I said feel him out, not up

Of course, I might have to if he only quotes $5K

If he does full custom chassis (makes trailing arms and front lowers from scratch) which I am not planning to do, he said maybe around $10K, which is still a smoking deal. I don't want to get custom arms f/r just because one off-track excursion can bend it, then you have to go back to him or find someone else if he has moved, and so forth. I like the go to junkyard, get another, weld reinforcements to match idea.

I will see what he says, and if he really seems to be the guy, I can PM you and we can talk price quotes privately then.

Minkoff... here is probably incorrect info since it is a memory thing, but if I recall correctly, best lap time at Big Willow was something like 1:20-ish = fast. ...pulling out the Excellence article... the engine is a destroked 3.6 993 engine that is 3.3L now. I can't recall exact HP, but around 350-ish if I recall correctly. Definitely over 300.

Just an amazing race car - I love that car. Any car with laminate floorboards (I can't find a drooling smiley, but you get the point).

Britain Smith · 12-14-2005, 08:04 PM

I know a full tube frame 914 for sale right now in Nor Cal. PM me if your interested, I am not sure how much he is asking but I can hook you up with him.

The wiring has been cleaned up since then...

Adding a large front cooler.

Some older picture:

I am not sure if he is selling it with the built 3.2 and WEVO tranny. It has all the tranny goodies though. The car has stock front and rear suspension parts, the interior is all nicely skinned.

-Britain

byndbad914 · 12-15-2005, 12:30 PM

Funny you mention his car... I talked to him about a month or so ago to ask him where he had the chassis done and so forth. He expressed interest in selling it, but it won't work for what I want to do...

That said... Cory, I am not sure what a D-sport car is, but if that chassis would be accepted (maybe you need a different engine size or something??) I would highly recommend talking to this guy as this car is already done, and it is amazing what tin-work costs these days!

Nice car and I think the price would be reasonable, but I will leave that to you guys to determine. It would be a great track car for sure! Notice it has the same wide body Sheridan kit as Sheridan's car. The older photos look like the standard kit that I have.

I lost the phone number somewhere in my pile-o-contacts, but apparently Britain has it. The guy that owns that car seemed really cool over the phone.