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