Blair Patrick thanks for my Tunnelport for my 69 Torino Cobra project

[fetorino]

Very nice build Rob! I love those old cars. I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I've got a Stocker motor coming from Blair and my car is at the chassis shop getting a new chromoly cage etc... I also just took out the old heater case and removed all the factory wiring. As far as the wiring goes I'm going with RacePak's new Smartwire. I don't know if you've looked into this but its a pretty cool little deal. Everything is programable. I'm also going with a V300SD data logger from RP and it works hand in hand with the Smartwire. For example it will read your sensors coming through the data logger and say turn on your fan at 160* or whatever you program it at, turn it off a 100* etc... I'm going to run everything through it and program it accordingly. For example in a drag car application. I have a clutch switch and I'm going to have input switches for every gear. So I can tell it that when it see 1st gear input and the clutch input to activate the 2 step and shut off the fan for X amount of seconds and when it has 4th gear input to not enable the brake lights (so my competition doesn't see my game lol) Etc... Anyways, I didn't know if you already had something in mine but its worth going to RacePak's website and checking it out I think its a pretty cool little deal. It also does away with relays and fuses as its a solid state device. You can set amperage limits for a circuit and if it exceeds that it will shut it down and or retry for how ever many times you tell it to. Anyways I thought you might be interested in it.

Kris

Sounds like you have a nice project of your own.  I have an ISIS multiplex wiring harness I am going to use.  Very similar premise to the smartwire. 

Rob

[fetorino]

I've been working on getting the steering column and shafts to the rack and pinion sorted out and determining the backspacing for my wheels to put the skinnys up front.  I'll be ordering wheels next week.

[fetorino]

Also took some backspace measurements for the back half. Little 27" tall 345s back there.

[BruceS]

Rob, haven't seen that wheel mockup tool you're using... Can u tell us a little more about it? Thanks, Bruce

[fetorino]

It's a wheel fit tool.  Year one sells them.  It works pretty well but it is sorta spendy.  I think I paid $275 for it.  I figure after I don't botch the bs measurement on a $3k+ set of wheels the extra $$ will be worth it.  Plus it should have some resale value.

[fetorino]

Found some more parts I needed to finish this project.

[cjshaker]

Boy, wish I could "find" stuff like that. I keep looking around my garage, but all I keep finding is worn out junk
What has been done to that Tremac to get it to live up to the abuse? And what clutch are you going to use?

This build is awesome. I think road racing would be the most fun motorsport.. A huge thumbs up on your car. I can't wait to see some in-car video when it's done (hint hint )

[fetorino]

Boy, wish I could "find" stuff like that. I keep looking around my garage, but all I keep finding is worn out junk
What has been done to that Tremac to get it to live up to the abuse? And what clutch are you going to use?

This build is awesome. I think road racing would be the most fun motorsport.. A huge thumbs up on your car. I can't wait to see some in-car video when it's done (hint hint )

Well you will have to wait a while longer but I guarantee some in car video once I get it running.  The Tremec it a TUET 11009 a T56 Magnum 6 speed.  It is rated to 700 ft lbs out of the box.  It is a variant of the 6060 Tremec used in the 600+ hp vipers and the big hp Shelby GT500s.  The ZR1 Camaros and Vette use a version of the same transmission.  It's a pretty stout piece and has much beter shifting manners than a TKP at high rpm.

I am going to run an AL flywheel and an RST dual dics clutch set up both of which I already have.

[fetorino]

My wheels arrived

First off let me say that Travis at Formula 43 was a huge help in putting this set together for me.

The wheels are Formula 43 RAD10 Clubsports.  They no provision for centercaps and the I beam lightening on the spokes.

The fronts are 18x10.5 and the rears are 19x13s.  I weighed them with my hanging hay scale and the fronts come in around 22 and the rears around 24.

They have a couple little custom touches to them.  One of which is the lug pockets.  They are opened up 6mm larger than a typical street wheel to expose the lugs more.  This is done on a car that needs to get in and out of the pits quickly to aid in getting at the lugs.  On mine it is more ascetic and a little less weight.  I'm going to run some MSI NASCAR wheel studs and lugs so the large lug pockets will add to the racer look.

Formula43 builds wheels for race cars and their wheels are currently running on the Stevenson Camaro leading the GT class of the Rolex series.  Despite their race heritage and quality their price is within reason.

 
My pictures don't do them justice.

[jayb]

They look great, Rob.  What kind of finish is on the wheels?  Is that a paint, or an anodizing, or ??

[fetorino]

They look great, Rob.  What kind of finish is on the wheels?  Is that a paint, or an anodizing, or ??

Thanks Jay.

They are powder coated.  Travis does offer anodizing as an option and I had considered it.

In discussing it with him the anodizing is tough but fades in harsh sunlight.  Since I'm in CA and the car will spend a lot of time in the sun I opted for powder coating. 

F43 powder coats in house so there quality control is good. I saw a few sets of their wheels at the COTA when I went to the Austin 400 and the finish all looked great even on used and abused race stuff.

The 285 35 18 and 345 30 19 Michelins Pilot SS should fit really nice on these.

[cjshaker]

The anticipation of seeing this thing run is killing me. This is the coolest 'total car' project I've seen in a LONG time! That chassis work is just amazing.

I'm normally not a fan of big rims, but I think they are going to look perfect on this car. Low, lean and mean

[fetorino]

The anticipation of seeing this thing run is killing me. This is the coolest 'total car' project I've seen in a LONG time! That chassis work is just amazing.

I'm normally not a fan of big rims, but I think they are going to look perfect on this car. Low, lean and mean

Thanks for the kind words.

With the black wheels the wheel diameters won't stick out as much.  To get a modern street tire rated over 150mph that is 27" tall , will clear 14" disc rotors and has 13" wide tread you pretty much need to go to the Viper sized rear tire.

The front tires are about a 1/2" bigger than the rollers I have on it in this picture and the rears will be 2" taller to fill the wheel well.  This is on the ground at ride height.  The roof is only 50" off the ground.



Don't mind the undersized drive hub in this photo.  I'll be running the Speedway AL ones which are 3.06" that the hub centric wheels were cut for.



I was working on building up my rotors and safety wiring them the other day.



These are the rear 4 piston brakes the wheels have to clear.  The fronts have the same sized rotors but they are floating and have 6 piston calipers.

[fetorino]

Today I grabbed my correct drive plates and dust covers from Speedway Engineering.  That place is like a candy store.

[cjshaker]

Very nice attention to detail on that safety wiring. You have it ran correctly for tension in the right direction. Seen a few examples where people didn't do it correctly.

Is that "AL" for aluminum, or just a designation? They look like steel. I wouldn't think aluminum would be good for a drive hub because of the lateral forces in corners.

It would be killing me not to hear that engine run. I think I would be starting it up every few days just to hear it run