jim lockwood

Snow. Ugh. Keep it. Out here on the left coast we've definitely had our fill of the stuff. A talking head on national TV recently pointed out that the California ski resort at Mammoth Mountain has more snow than any other resort in the world.... if that tells you anything.

How many miles do you now have on your Grand Sport, Larry? It seems like you've been getting to drive it a lot lately (which is great).

Ours haven't been out of the barn in weeks.

Jim

silverslashstreak

Hello Jim, Larry and all the GS guys, I am in the process of setting up my body height on the chassis and chassis height, it looks like I am going to have to get shorter coil overs for the front.

My test tires are 26 inch diameter and I am 27 inches from the floor to the top of the wheel openings front and rear.

It would help me to have a target height to shoot for. Would any of you with completed cars mind taking a measurement from the ground to the center of your wheel openings. I realize there are a lot of variables, but some point of reference would be helpful.

We have a couple inches of snow here in southern Arkansas nad it shows no sign of letting up.

Thanks
Jeff

Mr. Wizzard

The snow has ended....so the drive to work will be easier in the morning.

27" in the front and 28.5" in the rear.
Once I've narrowed things up, I will drop the car at least an inch all the way around.

jim lockwood

Jeff, are you talking about the center of the circle formed by the wheel wheel opening? Or are you just wanting a measurement from the floor to the highest point of the wheel opening?

I'm not sure how to do the former, but I'm happy to do the latter if that's what you want.

Jim

silverslashstreak

Yes, the highest point of the wheel opening.

Also what brand of coil overs do you guys prefer. Aldan came with my purchase but I have heard they aren't to good and I am going to need new front ones anyway.

Thanks for the measurement Larry, it looks like I am pretty close to your

set up.

Jeff

Mr. Wizzard

When I finally get everything situated where I want (suspension-wise), I'm probably going to go with Koni double-adjustable shocks. I've been using them since the mid sixties, and they've worked well for me in every application.

jim lockwood

Jeff,

Thanks for clarifying. I ought to be able to get you some comparative measurements tomorrow.

Both our cars have Aldan coil overs up front. We haven't had any problems with them, but that could be just the luck of the draw. What have you heard?

Jim

silverslashstreak

I think it was on the racing forum here a couple guys were not to high on them. I am glad to hear you have had good luck with them. Mine seem to be new and are double adjustable so I hope they work out.

Jeff

jim lockwood

Jeff,

Here are some numbers from our cars...

D&D prototype: F 27 R 29

MAI: F 25-3/4 R 28


I wouldn't put much stock in the numbers from our cars.

For one thing, the molds from which ours were made aren't the same ones from which yours was made. The early D&D bodies, for example, had a subtle downward rake to the front of the car that was missing in bodies from the 2nd design molds.

If you take my numbers at face value, it looks like the D&D stands proud of the MAI. Side by side, though, and it's clear the opposite is actually true. The difference is how high on the body the fender flares are mounted.

It's also possible the radii of curvature of the wheel openings differs and that could have an effect on the measured number.

Anyway, these are how our two cars measure out.

Have you got any fresh pictures of yours that you could post, Jeff?

Jim

silverslashstreak

Thanks Jim, I figure they are pretty much all over the board.

I have been working on getting the front suspension heights to minimize bump steer and I am about to settle on running the rear suspension with the rear half shafts horizontal with the ground.

At this point I still can adjust the body mounting points a little to try and achive the proper tire to fender clearance. I prefer the front to have a little down ward rake on a midyear but an overall level appearance may be were I end up.

Your and Larrys measurements indicate I am in the ball park at this point

A Business acquisition put the car on the back burner the last 7 months so I don't have much progress to show at this point, but I am back on it now.

Thanks again for your help
Jeff

Mr. Wizzard

We're still tuning the program, but we believe that our new fixturing using the live 4th axis will cut the time to machine the door hinges by 30%.
Hope to have everything finished up by the end of the day tomorrow.

Mr. Wizzard

New machine fixturing:


Increased rigidity has allowed us to cut machine time significantly.


Our pattern was this stock clunker

Next up is a stress analysis and then we'll swiss-cheese the hinges for use on cars with lightweight doors.

silverslashstreak

Larry those are sexy door hinges if there is such a thing.
Do you have any idea how much you will be selling them for?

Jeff

Mr. Wizzard

We've got about $600.00 in a set (of four) right now.
I still need to either have them hard anodized, or insert two (per hinge) thin steel rubbing strips so the OE tensioner springs won't wear the aluminum. We've also sourced high-tolerance aircraft bolts and hardware to go with them.
I'll try to have something hard on prices early next week.

Dante Lombardi

Yeah, MAYBE 150....... This is the OTHER D in D&D, the businessman...... until we were starving to death. Yep, E.R.A. wanted a copy to make molds, but they didn't have the talent to make the parts work, JUST ask them! I know more than any of the "geniuses" about D&D Corvette..... I was THERE and it was my '64 Corvette coupe we cut up to make the molds, NOT any of the original GS Corvettes, contrary to many BS stories by the fabricators of all these cool lies. I'm here, you can contact me, and i have NO reason to lie....... Just hate to hear the BS scuttlebutt by those who are looking to make a profit, or make themselves look like heroes. We had fun, made way-cool replicas, got shafted and just faded away............ Any other "HEROES", contact me personally........ it will not end well!

El Pirata, (Dante")

Lotsacubes

Dante Lombardi

Like I said,, Senior member, I was only there for the first 25 or so cars.........I KNOW I LOT more than any of these "geniuses" about these replicas and WHERE they came from. None of them were cast from ANY of the 5 Original cars... NO, there were not 6, unless you think you are James Bond, ANOTHER genius. I don't trigger S.H.I.T, brother, I'll tell the truth when asked, IF I can remember. Been there, DONE that.

vettebuyer6369