Million Dollar Skunksworks Kirkham

[lineslinger]

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

My fingers are hurting from all the posting and emailing I have done today. I will definitely post more tomorrow. Maybe after I play a few Chopin Nocturnes my fingers will limber up and then I will post a few more pics. But thanks for the interest! I am glad you like it. I hope others like it too and I don't think I am being a big mouth by monopolizing the CC band width.

David

I think Mr. Chopin would appreciate your work.

[David Kirkham]

Head on shot of the chassis going together for final assembly.

[David Kirkham]

From this shot you can see into the passenger foot box. You can see the area we are going to leave as billet aluminum. I think it looks cool and it would be a shame to cover it all up with carpet. As you can see, we didn't get around to enclosing the passenger foot box today. That will have to wait for Monday. Then the engine and transmission will go in. Then we will start on the nightmare of the under car exhaust!

[David Kirkham]

Originally Posted by lineslinger

I think Mr. Chopin would appreciate your work.

I can only dream he would. He was a genius. If my work were ever uttered in the same sentence as his work I'd be proud (probably more like shocked!). He will be one of the first people I will search out when I go to the Great Race Track in the Sky. I just want to know how he did it.

Interestingly, my customer once told me, "Music is man's greatest invention." I believe him.

David

[David Kirkham]

Originally Posted by Don

David, should you desire to publicize the accomplishment, via an interview and article, consider MotorSport, i.e. international recognition and exposure

http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/

Simon Taylor writes terrific articles. He interviewed NicK Mason, drummer for Pink Floyd, on the CD " The Sounds of Goodwood " For those that are not familiar with MotorSport, a very high quality publication, a natural for the vehicle being constructed.

I was just scanning through for spelling errors and came across your post! Sorry I missed it. I guess I was posting too fast. Thank you for your kind words.

I think it would be cool if other people were interested. Right now I am just focused on getting the car done, getting it done right, and making my customer happy.

David

[David Kirkham]

Here are my final posts for the night. As you have probably already noticed, there are a zillion bolts in this chassis. So, you have to be careful to make sure you have tightened them all correctly. Notice the paint marks.

[David Kirkham]

We paint a line across the bolt and onto the surface of the part that is bolted together as a "witness mark." This way we can see if any of the bolts are loosening up as you drive the car.

[David Kirkham]

Good night, it is time to commune with Chopin. Thanks for listening.

I'll post more on Monday.

David

[David Kirkham]

I had an email question. "What kind of bolts are you using?"

We are using aircraft bolts anywhere there is a through hole that needs to be bolted together with a nut. You can see that on the front of the chassis where the jack hooks bolt on. When we have to bolt directly into the aluminum, we are using coarse threaded bolts. They are not aircraft bolts, but USA made, grade 8 bolts--where possible. We can't get a hold of AN (military/aircraft) coarse threaded bolts, or we would use them. We try to use "Unbrako" or other high quality socket head cap screws or taper head cap screws where possible. The large surface area under the head of a taper head cap screw really helps to hold the parts together.

David

[David Kirkham]

That said, I am happy to answer any more questions you all might have. Not sure if I will have the answer or not, but I will try to answer the best I can.

David

[David Kirkham]

I just found another pic.

This is a shot of a little fixture we made to set the proper distance on the rod ends to the control arms. As many of you who have worked on control arms with rod ends know, the rod ends have to be screwed in a certain distance for you to get the alignment reasonable close to where you want it. Otherwise, you are liable to start to align the car and chase your tail. We have even had some customer's alignment guys call us up on the phone and tell us there were NOT ENOUGH THREADS on the rod ends to align their car...

We had to tell them to screw the rod ends back in on all the control arms and start over. Sometimes you can screw yourself right into a big hole you can't get out of if you aren't careful.

[kris-kincaid]

Thats slick. I've often thought of different ways to pre-set the control arms and I've never come up with anything that simple.

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

This is a shot of a little fixture we made to set the proper distance on the rod ends to the control arms,,,

[Don]

We can't get a hold of AN (military/aircraft) coarse threaded bolts, or we would use them

Possible source ?

http://www.mcmaster.com/

[David Kirkham]

Kris,

They are really slick. I have good guys who are always looking to make things faster and easier.

David

[David Kirkham]

Originally Posted by Don

We can't get a hold of AN (military/aircraft) coarse threaded bolts, or we would use them

Possible source ?

http://www.mcmaster.com/

We get stuff from mcmaster.com almost every day. I don't think they have AN coarse bolts. If they do, I'd love to find them.

David

[CSX 4039]

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

I do have a nice piano, but one day I would like to get a European piano like a Steingraeber, Fazioli or a Bosendorfer. But with the Euro exchange rate like it is I don't think I will ever be able to justify it!

David

I'd consider trading our Bosendorfer Imperial Grand for a couple of polished turnkeys.
http://www.youtube.com/profile_video...adaJeffery&p=r

[David Kirkham]

Originally Posted by CSX 4039

I'd consider trading our Bosendorfer Imperial Grand for a couple of polished turnkeys.
http://www.youtube.com/profile_video...adaJeffery&p=r

That was some beautiful playing! That piano looks to be in the 9 foot range. I think it would shake my walls! I am looking for something in the 7 foot range.

David

[Johnson]

Why don't you run more button head or countersunk solid aircraft rivets instead of bolts? Also are you running anything like mastinox between the bolts and aluminum to reduce the dissimilar metal corrosion?

[Ronbo]

David, Any plans of a CV retrofit for the existing U-joint half shafts??

I'd be interested.

Now I did it, here comes the originality posse...

[sshurts]

Tom Barnard of Tom's Motorsports did the CV-Joint modification to a couple of Kmp's that I know of (mine included).

He is also well known for his mastery of chassis setup.

He is located in Las Vegas, NV.

Best of Luck,

Scott