Kirkham Motorsports University The Making of a Flip Top

[David Kirkham]

Here is a side-view of the blowers.

Notice the custom paneling we made for Darren's flip-top. When we made the engine panels we were really bummed they hid that magnificent SOHC...

So, we made custom panels by splitting them in half so Darren could show off the hardware when he "flipped" his top

David

[David Kirkham]

Here is a side-view of the blowers.

Notice the custom paneling we made for Darren's flip-top. When we made the engine panels we were really bummed they hid that magnificent SOHC...

So, we made custom panels by splitting them in half so Darren could show off the hardware when he "flipped" his top

David

[David Kirkham]

View of the custom exhaust. Darren wanted his wife to ride along for the fun

=

under-car exhaust.

[David Kirkham]

Darren wants to go cruising in his new machine and requested power steering.

so...

Sandwich designed a billet adapter plate that bolts to the original steering mount location on the frame and then to the power steering unit. Everything was designed to keep the rack in its exact location to minimize bump steer. Also, because we used a custom power steering rack, we were able to make the rack length perfect to eliminate bump steer. (I want Darren to be happy on his cross-country cruise with me

[David Kirkham]

View with the front end opened.

[David Kirkham]

Close up of the driver's side 1/2 panels and exhaust. Notice the steering intermediate shaft is not hooked up yet.

[David Kirkham]

Rear view of the Flip-Top with the front opened. Notice the rear exit exhaust and the dual roll bar (Darren's wife insisted).

The exhaust has not been final trimmed yet.

[David Kirkham]

[David Kirkham]

Here is a close up of the locking mechanism we came up with. It is made from stainless and the pivot points are designed such that the mechanism will always fold up the right way when the front is closed.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a close up of the locking mechanism we came up with. It is made from stainless and the pivot points are designed such that the mechanism will always fold up the right way when the front is closed.

The bottom hole (with the bolt in it) is the pivot bolt. The upper hole is there for a push-pin to lock the mechanism (and the front of the car) in place. The push-pin has a ball detent to keep the pin from falling out.

You can also see a close-up of the split engine compartment panels.

[David Kirkham]

The firewall was polished because you can never see too much of that SOHC motor

[David Kirkham]

The foot boxes have the standard stainless heat shields--but they also have gold foil wrapped on the top and the sides to keep the monster heat out. Notice the stainless rub-strip where the top closes over the foot box.

[David Kirkham]

The foot boxes have the standard stainless heat shields--but they also have gold foil wrapped on the top and the sides to keep the monster heat out. Notice the stainless rub-strip we made where the top closes over the foot box.

You can also see how much we had to notch the foot boxes out to fit the massive heads into the engine compartment. We also had to do extensive modifications to the steering to get everything to fit together.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a side-view of the blowers (for the Supersnake car). Notice how the blowers stick out in front (and on top of) the X brace between the front shock towers. It was a trick to get all the belts to fit. To complicate things further, the Supersnake has a dry sump system that had to be figured into the puzzle.

Notice the split engine compartment panels.

[David Kirkham]

The heads are so wide, we had to bulge the engine compartment panels (and split them to show off the motor). All of the forming work was done by hand. We will polish the engine compartment panels before we finish.

[David Kirkham]

The heads are so wide, we had to bulge the engine compartment panels (and split them to show off the motor). All of the forming work was done by hand. We will polish the engine compartment panels before we finish.

[David Kirkham]

Here you can really see the split engine compartment panels.

[David Kirkham]

We fastened the upper 1/2 of the engine compartment panels to the tilting top.

[David Kirkham]

Here you can see more of the panels and the locking mechanism.

[David Kirkham]

We made special brackets on the water jet to hold Darren's double adjustable Penske shocks. These clamps are for the rear shocks and they clamp to the down tubes of the roll bars.