Mid- Engine Modified Sports

[manta22]

JH;

My car isn't going to be ready for SW this August but it should be there next year. I wish I could find a place near here to make some shakedown runs before towing it all the way up to Bonneville.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[manta22]

I’ve made a bit of progress on my black Mirage—not as much as I’d like—but progress nonetheless.  I thought I’d show what an inverted Porsche G50 in a Mirage looks like.

 It does stick out the rear a bit but it is not too bad. My Bonneville class (BGMS) requires a parachute so I needed to cut away a portion of the rear fiberglass anyway to clear the ‘chute line. It has to be attached to the chassis of course, not the body, so the clearance I cut for the G50 plus its rear mount will work for the ‘chute as well. I cut away the recessed area where the tail lights & license plate was mounted and set the rear body section on temporarily to check the dimensions. I need to cut away about 3” from the rear of the carb opening in the top of the body to allow the body to slide forward to where it should be. It is hanging up on my Crower FI manifold right now.

I did move my engine about 1” to the rear of its original location to give me a bit more room to access the stuff mounted on the front of the block. The body is propped up in the rear temporarily and hasn’t been positioned carefully—this is just a rough trial fit. I mounted a round pine panel to simulate a wheel/tire for checking the clearances. The diameter is 24 ¼” , smaller than I’d like but it was the closest thing I could find. I don’t have any wheels with a 5 x 130mm bolt pattern yet to use for mock- up.

The rear hoop of the roll cage still needs to be installed (on the backside of the bulkhead and there will be two tubes connecting the F & R hoops. The Inconel firewall will be riveted to the hoop and chassis bulkhead.

See you at the Salt Talks!  Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ


 

[Glen]

Neil, looking good see you in a few days.

[manta22]

I think the top of the Mirage rear body is not stiff enough to withstand substantial aerodynamic downforce-- the fiberglass is not as thick as one made for the street. I had a few lengths of hat- section 0.035" titanium that I bought surplus some time ago and this seems to be a good way to stiffen the body. I cut & trimmed the hat section, drilled a pattern of #11 holes in it and then match- drilled the fiberglass so that I can rivet it into place. I have some large- head Allfast rivets that I'll install. The photos are of the hat section held in place by cylindrical Cleco fasteners and one of the rivets.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Neal, I know you are a smart guy but I am not sure those plywood wheels are going to provide enough traction!!!

Waaaay to skinny...you will need at least 1.5" of plywood for a car that weight.

LOL.

~JH

[manta22]

JH;

If I paint "Goodyear" on them do you think I can get through tech? 

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[manta22]

I have been doing rough trial fits on my black Mirage body and trimming away fiberglass to clear the instrument panel, roll cage hoops and bracing, and chassis modifications. Cutting fiberglass is not fun but I try to keep the dust under some degree of control by vacuuming often.

I use a pneumatic “body saw” that I bought at Harbor freight on sale for around $15 and it was a good bargain. It uses cut- down blades like a saber saw but it can trim tight radius cuts. The blades that HF sells for it are nothing to write home about but they work and aren’t hard to replace. I’d like to find some bi- metal blades for it but I suppose I could grind down some good saber saw blades but I’ll use up the cheap ones first.

Here is what the front hoop of my roll cage looks like. The tubing between the front & rear hoops are not installed yet.

Here is the driver’s view through the windshield.

That’s it for now. I’m listening to Renata Tebaldi singing Madam Butterfly on the workshop stereo and now getting back to work on the Mirage.

 Regards, Neil   Tucson, AZ

[Stan Back]

Got too dam'm many switches -- they'll only get you in trouble when someone forgets to throw one.  We're Neanderthal -- if the car starts, it's ready to run.  Read on another thread today about someone forgetting to turn something on -- and I showed some restraint because of my respect for them.  Didn't make a comment (hope they don't read this!).  I don't know how many engines have melted down between the three and the four because someone forgot to turn something on.

Maybe you're gonna use it on the street and I'm way off base (this from the guy who left the injector cover on, but we made it almost to the two and didn't hurt anything).

Stan Back

[willieworld]

manta  is that front roll cage hoop welded to the frame or just to a sheet metal door jam   i cant tell from the pics  willie buchta

[JimL]

manta22.....use the good bi-metal blades (I get them at McFadden-Dale, but any good industrial hardware should have them)....you just grab with a pair of pliers and snap them off where you want.  They fit that air saw well, but the saw wears out after a while.

Works good for the price..... I cut a complete trailer hitch out of my flatbed last Saturday, and some of the metal was 3/4" solid bar stock!  Now the saw is getting gutless....time for another!

Regards, JimL

[SPARKY]

Been there done that on the switches on the water pump---lol---we now turn every thing on then the master---well we leave everything on except the MASTER  turn one on ---we will work toward a simpler car---and most people think the RATICAL is primitive----lol----we now have lights that can be seen to indicate on---oh by the way year before last we found out a not vented fuel cell doesn make a good water tank---it has ballon tendices  can pop of body panels which cause right turns---lol

[manta22]

Stan:

Those are actually two toggle switches (master on/off & ignition on/off) plus a row of circuit breakers that can also function as switches. In operation, the whole row is in the "up" position. Any one not turned on can easily be seen. I haven't installed the switch guard on the ignition on/off switch yet. The round one is a starter pushbutton.

Willie:

The front hoop of the roll cage is welded to 2" x 2" x 0.120 chassis tubes. There are also forward braces between the hoop and the chassis. I haven't tied the forward & rear cage hoops together yet. The door jamb is fiberglass. There is a steel tube structure underneath.

JimL;

Thanks for the tip on bi- metal blades-- I'll try breaking some off to fit the saw.

Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ

[manta22]

My Manta Mirage fiberglass body has pop-up headlights and I wanted to make SURE they didn't "pop- up" at speed so I fabricated some covers out of 0.040" 6061- T6 aluminum sheet and riveted them in place. The rivets are 5/32" flat- head AVEX rivets with a closed end. I used these so the heads didn't protrude into the airflow and so the salt thrown up by my front tires won't wick up into the rivets from their back end. The hole locations were laid out and center punched, drilled #20, and countersunk with a 100 degree piloted cutter in a ajdustable- stop counterbore. A coat of zinc chromate primer completed the job.

Thank goodness for a pneumatic rivet puller!

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[doug odom]

Neil, I take hack saw blades and break them off to use in my air saw. I will also grind the back side down to make them thin when I need to cut tight turns. Works great on fiberglass. It is a little more work on aluminum. If I mark it on top and hold the saw under the sheet and pull it toward me with just the blade showing it will do a nice job.

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Neil, being an MS just wondering why you didnt opt for removing the hinge and fill the seams for the pop ups to shave the lights out for smooth fenders. Being close (or in) to the wetted surface area I would think that you could loose a good bit of drag by not having the headlight seams. Is this a vehicle that may see the street now and again?

Just wondering

~JH