Dearest Dr Harms,
This, I must say, is the closest thing that we have had to a flame... but I will do my best to clarify anyway.
Dr Robert Harms said:
but the cars with the roof panel attached to the door meaning the GT or the GTB will likely not open if they are on their roof.
With all respect for your work I find that statement disingenuous and logically flawed.
The GT roof panel is "not attached to the door". If it was "attached" it would not open. It simply slides into the cut away for the roof.
As seen above there is actually, as viewed in A and B a place where the GT door top does indeed close to the inner part of the roof (this is a well engineered car) C is shown to illustrate the fact that, while there are many names for the actual door top of the Ford GT and the GT40 most people understand when I use plain English to say that the roof panel is attached to the doors. I am attempting to illustrate with my language as I am confined by the limitations of the written language to some degree on the World Wide Web my point was simple, and it was that the door, if closed, would be pinned by the car..
Dr Robert Harms said:
when the GT is upside down pulling on the GT door will open it and the UNaffixed roof panel portion of the door will simply slide.
I would like you to take any slippery panel, place it under a smooth object weighing just over 2,000lbs and give this "simple slide" a go.. then add gaskets, and the obvious inner clips that would be smashed by putting the car upside down.. I am afraid that you would find that the doors indeed, would not open.
Dr Robert Harms said:
even the lowly Bricklin) only have doors hinged in one plane . I am unaware of any other door system that has two attachment points at 90 degrees that I believe could not be open if inverted.
This is a Mclaren
And the Enzo
I hope that you do get a chance to see the Enzo Ferrari and the Mclaren, they are certainly worth a trip.. beautiful cars. Sadly, I will say that while our door operation is most similar to these two cars, as I had mentioned before our car does not have two attach points. The prototype has a guide pin, which we have eliminated in the final to minimalize the damage to the panel for those that will eventually consider turning their GT back to stock.
Dr Robert Harms said:
You point of "rubber side down" or words to that effect are well stated but in the real world there are seat belts and motorcycle helmets and the like ....
I use this term from my time in the Viper Owners Club, it was the runnning punchline about the fact that most of us knew that our cars would not fare well in a crash. We do add safety equipment to cars, very frequently as an included part to an upgrade that we are doing. I do not think that the GTB doors could easily be opened if the car were on it's top, but I do not think that the stock GT doors would open any better.
I must say that I did read your post about wanting to remove the diffuser from the car, and I now understand why you are planning to put the car on its top. I would certainly recommend that if you have removed the diffuser (which is not plastic, don't believe me?.. take a grinder to one of those fins.. they are made of several materials but when the carbon dust hits the air you best have a mask) and your car is no longer protected from lift or damage to the underside (since the middle of the diffuser is a very hard metal plate) you should not have the GTB conversion done.
hope that clears things up a bit for you
