I can't leave anything alone - I've always got some crazy idea how I could "improve" my stuff....
I'll break these down to things I did during the build, and then things I modified later. I have added a bunch of pics to Gallery, so you can see some details and alternate views there.
For starters, I knew I was going to put a Cleveland in my FIA, and I knew I wanted it to breath through 427-style side pipes. Fortunately, I made about three trips to New Britain during the cars construction. Early on I determined that some frame mods would be required to accomdate my side pipes through the body:
The outer frame rail had to be cut back, and unique braces added.
I planned to open track the car, so I took it to my old friend Stu Galbraith at Weldcraft Welding to have the tunnel brace modified, a forward leg added to the roll bar (I originally ordered the car from ERA with a 427-style rear-braced roll bar specified), and side impact braces (copied off Frannie Kress's Cobra) added in:
I'm pretty sure the finished product added a lot of stiffness, and it helps insure that I step high enough over the side braces that I clear the hot pipes, too.
I also copied Fran's racing mirror mounts on the windscreen:
Since I used a rivet-on 427 style hood scoop (I liked the looks better than the FIA-unique scoop), I had to make my own scoop insert...
And I finished off the inside of the
oil cooler scoop with aluminium, so the raw 'glass doesn't show up:
That's enough for now. Will post later with other mods.
regards,
Jeff