tyoneal

*****UPDATE*****

To All:

I just got a couple more boxes of MAI Grand Sport Parts. It's like Christmas in April.

Thought I would post a few pictures and show you all know what all has arrived.

One of the first things I unpacked were the Polished Door handles and matching locks. I'm sorry the pictures are so crummy, the pieces are very well made and like door jewelry.

I also received the Front Headlight Covers. The plexiglass covers and the rear window are on back order at the moment.

Most if not all of the hoods accessories were included. The left and right, male/female hinges, Hood inside cable, the under hood cable, the sleeves that route the cable under the hood.

It appears that due to upload constraints, I will need to make a couple of post. Anyway here are the handles.

Ty

tyoneal

Here are a couple more of the items.

The head light covers, under hoods accessories, etc.

tyoneal

Continuing:

Much of the Trunk hardware, hinges, locks, pedal extensions, parking light sockets and lenses, rear sockets and lenses, rear window gaskets, and trunk gaskets.

I'm really getting fired up about getting this on the road. From what I can tell, all of the parts Jeff is sending look first rate. He called me earlier this week telling me they were on their way, and a packing list was enclosed.

I'm going to get some more money to him so her can get the frame further along. So far he has been really nice to work with.

Anyway, again thanks for following the project and the encouragement. It is so unfortunate that this car was cancelled by GM.

These GS Corvettes really have an unmistakable appearance of strength and speed.

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Caution: Tangent Follows
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I find it ironic that GM is NOW endorsing the GS, with of all things the droopy front and rear ends. (No offense intended to the Superformance guys, but why fix something that is not broken from an appearance point of view? Sure its better at high speed, but isn't the exercise one of creating THE 1963 Grand Sport as it was designed? With the change in design, I really don't know how yours would be more authentic than one of the MAI cars) I know it has taken a hell of a lot of work to build your car, and I'm not trying to take anything away from that. Mine thoughts are just subjective regarding this, not to take anything away from your efforts. God know your team has a lot more talent than I do. In fact I hope to owe one of your GT40 MK1's in the next couple of years. That, God willing will be my next Big Car purchase, and I think Superformance efforts on it are spectacular.
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I really do hope everyone who makes these cars/kits does well, and I hope in the future they can all compete against each other. The competition, and the exposure to the younger people is what's important right?

I would be totally shocked if GM would have had a hard time selling the hundred or so they were planning to build.

Anyway, here is a few more pictures.

Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Ty O'Neal

Thanks Jeff and MAI for making this experience a pleasurable one. I'm looking forward to the chassis shortly, I know it will be beauty,

Mr. Wizzard

Looking good Ty. BTW, Horace has spent the better part of a week here with us on a project we're working on.
Pat Weismann has also been here with a transmission he designed for our project......which isn't related to Corvettes or racing.

jim lockwood

Ty,

With my MAI car I found the small diameter pushrod attached to the push button did a poor job of aligning with and engaging the paddle on the latch. I ended up fabricating a "foot" with approximately 1/2" x 1/2" flat to solve the problem.

In the picture showing the tail and parking lamp lenses, there is a giant "fish hook" ..... what is that? If my car has anything like it, I've had brain fade and don't remember it.

Jim

tyoneal

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Jim:

Thanks for the tip on the door handle, I'll make sure and incorporate that modification while everything in apart.

The "Hook" that you see is actually a pair laid flat against each other. I believe these to be the "Petal Extensions" for the extended footwells.

I would be interested to know:

a) If you have them, and

b) How they work for you.

Jeff mentioned that me being 6'3 that I would be much more comfortable with the few extra inches that the extension, and extensions provide.

Since I have no direct experience with them that is all I know.

Thanks again for the tip on the door handles.

Take care,

Ty

BTW:
Did you build or purchase your GS already built?

How long has it been together?

Have you noticed anything other things over the period of your ownership, that are idiosyncrasies to these cars?

If anyone who has a MAI Grand Sport has something to add, please feel free to jump in.

robert miller

That is one set of seats in her for sure. Like the looks of the car...

jim lockwood

I found a picture. The "foot" is larger than I remembered. Look at the brass paddle pushing against the latch paddle:



Don't have'em, didn't know they existed, don't miss them.

My car is an older example, circa '93, so it might not have the same foot wells as yours. It does have stock, Sting Ray pedal arms.

It was a bare body shell sitting on a rolling frame. From this, I made lots of modifications and built it up over a period of 16 months at which point it would move under its own power. I then put 1000 street miles on it sorting out all the systems.
It moved under its own power in the summer of Y2K.

First track event was approximately June 2001

Total of about 6500 miles to date, about 4700 track miles included in this total.

Stock Sting Ray accel linkage doesn't fit.

Brake booster offset bracket is flimsy and wears rapidly.

Front coil overs are (in my opinion) inadequately secured to the lower control arms

Front suspension pick ups are downright agricultural.

Jeff becomes vague and evasive when asked direct questions about what does and does not fit his cars.

Front bump steer is probably awful (I've never checked, but I have strong suspicions).

Jeff's preferred seats (circa '81 Vette) don't fit without modification

Many aspects of the body have little relationship to historic accuracy.


So, no, no idiosyncrasies I can think of.

Jim

tyoneal

Thanks again for the input.

Best Regards,

Ty O'Neal

sub006

Is that a Talbot 300 Senior mirror mounted high up on your driver door? I remember buying them for six or seven bucks each back in the '60s.

Today you have to go through a Lotus/Cooper guy in Whittier, California for about $250 each. Guess he figured out that most vintage racer guys have deep pockets!

jim lockwood

I just took another look at those pedal arms. How do you attach them to the pedal hanger bracket thingamabob? And how do you attach the pedals to the new arms?

And exactly how do they benefit you? Are they shorter, top to bottom? Shorter at the bottom of the "J" such that your leg is straighter at full pedal depression?

I'm missing something there.....

I'm 6' 1", a little shorter than you. I've never lacked for interior room in my car.

I'm not a Mark Donahue. I can't give you good analytical feedback on what a chassis is doing. I've just adapted well to what ever it is my car does.

I guess so. I have no experience with such modern gadgetry.

I kept the bracket, but added a second mount point at the hood ledge of the fender. I designed a new bell crank and an entirely different pivot mechanism.

I may have enough parts left over that I could modify yours, if it, too, is as poorly made as mine was.

My coil overs were made by Aldan. I bought Aldan's lower mount piece and adapted it to the C4 control arms. That let me increase the size of the attaching bolts significantly.

And I'd bet your Kubota is so stout that you could run into stumps and no part of it would deflect. Same with Jeff's lower control arm mount, which bears no similarity to original GS mounts or to modern Corvette mounts or to original C2 mounts or, well, to anything in the known universe.

I looked at what he had crafted and immediately got out my rod saw and began removing metal. Probably shaved 3 or 4 lbs off the front end by the time I was done.

Yep. And it has to be correctly located, not a trivial job.

Jim

tyoneal

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To be honest, I haven't even really looked at it that much. I have a set of brand new Talbots I was going to run on my Camaro, but when I started this project I've just been tackling one thing after another. I've seen the ones posted high like the one that is already on there, and I have seen some that appear to have a longer "Stems" on them so the view can clear the quarter panel hump and brake ducts.

I figure I will work on it after everything gets worked out, and I have my final seating position in place.

It would be great if it is a Talbot, or if I can use the two I already have, however, when it comes to mirrors, I first want them to be real easy to use effectively. I have a "Blink" for the interior on track days.

Do any of you use a "Blink" Mirror on the street?

Thanks,

Ty

tyoneal

To Everyone:

What does the shop look like at Mid America, Inc? I've seen a fair numbers of pictures of the Mongoose Shop, and I was just wondering who all has visited MAI?

Thanks,

Ty O'Neal

Mr. Wizzard

You should see Mongoose's new shop. They recently moved into a former Chevrolet dealership.

tyoneal

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Wow!

That sounds like it would be a perfect type building for their business. I don't have any idea how many cars they make a year, but at least the electrical, water and draining needs were probably already in place when they moved in.

Ty

tyoneal

To all:

Here are some additional parts that just arrived. These fiberglass parts deal primarily with the inside of the car. The polyester resin and the fiberglass cloth appears to make a decently rigid and strong part with just nothing for weight. (They are very light)

Anyway, here they are.

tyoneal

To all:

Here are some additional parts that just arrived. These fiberglass parts deal primarily with the inside of the car. The polyester resin and the fiberglass cloth appears to make a decently rigid and strong part with just nothing for weight. (They are very light)

Anyway, here they are.

tyoneal

A couple more. Sorry I'm not able to load any more than this.

vstol

Ty on my MAI I had the option to try the J hooks but I did not see any advantage and they needed to be welded to the exiting arms. I am 6'1 and it was a very tight fit with my left leg up around the steering wheel when engaging the clutch, and I had aluminum racing seats 1/2 inch off the floor. I have sat in the MAI GS with the extended foot box but my knee would hit the dash. Stay with Jim and his ideas they are spot on. My new project a C3 clone of the 69 L88 certainly has more room so we will see. Keep the pics coming and good luck with your project.

Bill GS

Finally getting back to my GS. I have the ZZ383 engine with Webers installed and am redoing the fuel system similar to the GS (dual low pressure pumps). I also moved the tank inlet to the front pass side of the top of the tank to make it like the GS but also to remove the long inlet pipe that made it difficult to fast fill. I need to change the angle of the filler cap end which is a 2" dia. 95 Camaro piece going to a 2 1/2" tank inlet and will probably completely redo that area. I've made a tour of my local junk - er auto salvage yard and cannot find a larger - 2 1/2" gas cap assy.

Does anyone know how the GSs were fabricated? Logic says they used a "63 large diameter (4" ?) gas cap that was reduced to the tank inlet size> ????? Why would there be such a large cap cover???

Any thoughts?