I decided to share my project here on a new thread with all of you that are interested. Hopefully I can help anyone else going through the same thing and maybe we can solve some problems together. It doesn't seem like embedded pictures are working, so I am inserting links, instead throughout my posts.
My goal with this project is to build a wide body Ford GT with some modern conveniences and improvements. My intention is to use the body from the car in the link. This body is 8" wider than a stock GT, which concerns me a little that it might be too wide. I may change my mind on this as the project progresses and make some modifications.
I'm starting with a new OEM Ford GT Chassis in the box. I made a roll-around cart for the chassis so that its easy to work on and in this picture, you can see my chassis resting on it. It comes e-coated and its pretty much ready to paint. If you were wondering about the weight, the bare chassis is so light that a person on each end could completely lift it off of the roll around cart! I have a professional paint booth and started by painting the chassis, the stock ford silver right away. I was careful to study how the GT was originally painted (some areas remained e-coat) and followed suit in case I wanted to go original in the event that I found a donor wreck. pain booth #1, Paint Booth #2, Paint Booth #3
So, the chassis comes without any of the rivnuts installed and for those of you that don't know what these are, they are little threaded bushings that when installed squeeze permanently into the pre-drilled holes that they are placed in. There are a gazillion of these on the chassis and thanks to the elf in the red shirt for helping me with this. BTW, having a forklift handy was a big help.
I bought a new fuel tank, which BTW is called a "ship in the bottle" tank because the tank is blow molded around the interior components (another cool Ford technology at the time) and installed that since its in the center of the car and everything goes around it.
Thanks to one of the forum members, I acquired an engine and transmission and put that in (I realize that it will be coming out a few times later). As I continued to collect parts, I quickly learned which parts were difficult or impossible to find. It turns out there are a lot of bent control arms or the defective "squish casted" style that were recalled and replaced by machined billet ones by Ford under warranty recall. The thing about the control arms on the Ford GT, is that they come with the bushings and ball joints already installed and there is no way to replace those components other than buy a new control arm. I did a lot of research on the control arms and decided that some parts were going to have to be made. Since my body is a wide body, I will need longer control arms, but the bushings are still going to be an issue. In the process I decided to make upper control arms since the car uses four identical ones and I made them as stock replacements, again in case I could use an offset wheel in the rear with stock arms. Control Arm 1, control arm on car with proto bushings
I spent a lot of time on the bushings and produced a set of high quality bushings that press into the stock control arms. I used polyurethane instead of vucanized rubber as it is more durable and performs better than rubber. I experimented with different durometer polyurethane until I got the right stiffness that matched the factory specifications. I also learned that the the bushings are pushed into the control arms at a certain angle so that they are neutral (not stressed) in the normal sitting position. For those that lowered their suspension, the bushings are actually now preloaded all of the time. I worked out he geometry so that if I do a drop suspension, I can also rotate the bushings accordingly so that they are neutral in that lower position. I'm pretty excited with how good they turned out. Complete Bushing Set, Large Lower Bushing, small lower bushing, upper bushing. I made quite a few of these as I have some friends that need these too.
I have much more to share and I will continue to update as I go. I prototype a lot of my parts in 3D and lately I've been working on some plastic parts that I will need. I also discovered that my 3D printer can use wax filament and this opens the door for possibly using an investment casting process to make some parts that are hard to come by like the passenger door hinge. (that was a hint, if anyone has one!)
My goal with this project is to build a wide body Ford GT with some modern conveniences and improvements. My intention is to use the body from the car in the link. This body is 8" wider than a stock GT, which concerns me a little that it might be too wide. I may change my mind on this as the project progresses and make some modifications.
I'm starting with a new OEM Ford GT Chassis in the box. I made a roll-around cart for the chassis so that its easy to work on and in this picture, you can see my chassis resting on it. It comes e-coated and its pretty much ready to paint. If you were wondering about the weight, the bare chassis is so light that a person on each end could completely lift it off of the roll around cart! I have a professional paint booth and started by painting the chassis, the stock ford silver right away. I was careful to study how the GT was originally painted (some areas remained e-coat) and followed suit in case I wanted to go original in the event that I found a donor wreck. pain booth #1, Paint Booth #2, Paint Booth #3
So, the chassis comes without any of the rivnuts installed and for those of you that don't know what these are, they are little threaded bushings that when installed squeeze permanently into the pre-drilled holes that they are placed in. There are a gazillion of these on the chassis and thanks to the elf in the red shirt for helping me with this. BTW, having a forklift handy was a big help.
I bought a new fuel tank, which BTW is called a "ship in the bottle" tank because the tank is blow molded around the interior components (another cool Ford technology at the time) and installed that since its in the center of the car and everything goes around it.
Thanks to one of the forum members, I acquired an engine and transmission and put that in (I realize that it will be coming out a few times later). As I continued to collect parts, I quickly learned which parts were difficult or impossible to find. It turns out there are a lot of bent control arms or the defective "squish casted" style that were recalled and replaced by machined billet ones by Ford under warranty recall. The thing about the control arms on the Ford GT, is that they come with the bushings and ball joints already installed and there is no way to replace those components other than buy a new control arm. I did a lot of research on the control arms and decided that some parts were going to have to be made. Since my body is a wide body, I will need longer control arms, but the bushings are still going to be an issue. In the process I decided to make upper control arms since the car uses four identical ones and I made them as stock replacements, again in case I could use an offset wheel in the rear with stock arms. Control Arm 1, control arm on car with proto bushings
I spent a lot of time on the bushings and produced a set of high quality bushings that press into the stock control arms. I used polyurethane instead of vucanized rubber as it is more durable and performs better than rubber. I experimented with different durometer polyurethane until I got the right stiffness that matched the factory specifications. I also learned that the the bushings are pushed into the control arms at a certain angle so that they are neutral (not stressed) in the normal sitting position. For those that lowered their suspension, the bushings are actually now preloaded all of the time. I worked out he geometry so that if I do a drop suspension, I can also rotate the bushings accordingly so that they are neutral in that lower position. I'm pretty excited with how good they turned out. Complete Bushing Set, Large Lower Bushing, small lower bushing, upper bushing. I made quite a few of these as I have some friends that need these too.
I have much more to share and I will continue to update as I go. I prototype a lot of my parts in 3D and lately I've been working on some plastic parts that I will need. I also discovered that my 3D printer can use wax filament and this opens the door for possibly using an investment casting process to make some parts that are hard to come by like the passenger door hinge. (that was a hint, if anyone has one!)
