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Project E-Mod MGB-GT


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Wow, the effect of moving the cabin forward by removing the roof is quite amazing. The other pictures you posted (of the glass body cars) didn't really give a good side shot like this. The roof line of your body style always gave the appearance of being tail heavy, IMHO. This way, it really balances the look of the car. Does this mean you will also be on the long list of "car swappers" this weekend, maybe a little red on the horizon?

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If there are any remaining real MG parts left when you're done with the body' date=' you should paint them BRG. Just because.[/quote']The only MGB left will be the section between the windshield and hood and the section between the driver and boot lid, and maybe between the boot lid and the rear valance.
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When I cut the top bars out of the roll cage, the car sagged in the middle, check out the picture of the body line where the door closes.Posted Image I fixed this by welding in reinforced door bars.Posted ImagePosted Image Without the need for doors that open and close, I was able to cut out the door handles, latches, hinges and door structure. I couldn't believe how much all that stuff weighed, and am now left with just a door skin which rivets to the door bars.Posted Image

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Geez Mark, I thought this was a winter project ... seems like you're more than halfway there already! Good work. You don't waste a lot of time.What is your overall weight target again? And how close are you already?

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It's been slow in the afternoons at the track and I don't need to order any parts to cut things out of the car, so it moves quickly for now. I don't have scales to track my progress but I'm confident that the net weight loss so far is 200 of the 400 lbs I need to lose. The body kit should be another 125-150 lbs gone, lighter front suspension another 50 lbs and aluminum diff 20 lbs. All this will take time

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  • 2 weeks later...

I picked up the fiberglass panels for the car today. The 4 fenders, boot lid, hood, valance and air dam together with the boxes they came in and packing weighed a total of 75 lbs!! The panels are beautiful and well done but I gave a quick test fit on the car and it's going to take a lot of work to make everything fit right. It's not the fault of the Spridgetech but there are some big differences between my heavily modified GT and an unmolested roadster. First off, the front fenders of a GT must be different than roadster fenders because the profile where the fender meets the cowl area is completely different and is going to be tricky to match up. Also, to allow the old V12 to fit behind the front crossmember, I moved the entire front suspension forward 2 inches and moved the rear suspension forward the same amount in order to keep a 91" wheelbase. This was all fine because I was cutting away metal to clear the tires anyways. But with the new fenders, the tires are no longer centered in the wheel opening and would look funny, so the whole front and rear suspensions will have to be moved back 2 inches-ouch!!Posted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImageOn a side note, to all of you driving to the border to pick up parts, Canada Customs is now charging duty of shipping costs as well.

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On a side note' date=' to all of you driving to the border to pick up parts, Canada Customs is now charging duty of shipping costs as well.[/quote']I'd suggest you take this document http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gp/rc4080/rc4080-10e.pdf ... refer to page 8 & 10 in particular and take it and your paperwork from the border to the customs office by the airport and see what they have to say. It's generally only happened to me at Gretna ... usually in amounts not worth making an issue ... so I try to avoid coming home that way.
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I'd suggest you take this document http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gp/rc4080/rc4080-10e.pdf ... refer to page 8 & 10 in particular and take it and your paperwork from the border to the customs office by the airport and see what they have to say. It's generally only happened to me at Gretna ... usually in amounts not worth making an issue ... so I try to avoid coming home that way.

There's one of the guys there that does charge taxes on shipping, also goes through all your packages looking for country of origin labels for duty. Seems to get pretty excited about finding a tag or stamp, where he and apply 18% duty on something not part of NAFTA.If you have an internet invoice, he will also suggest that you have changed the numbers on it to save taxes. Basically..."I see this stuff come through all time, and there is no way you paid this amount. You should come clean now... because I will find out". I think he does this often, just to see how you react.
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If you have an internet invoice' date=' he will also suggest that you have changed the numbers on it to save taxes.[/quote']I had this with a snowboard. He really went out of his way to make me feel like I was committing a crime, even though I wasn't. He was accusing me of making a false receipt, a false money order receipt, writing "Made in USA" on a snowboard, and creating http://www.donek.com to cover up my lies. I don't go through Gretna after that. The extra 5-10 minutes of driving you save by going through Gretna is lost while defending this guy's pointless accusations. I've had 10+ good interactions there, but this one has spoiled me.
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I cut away all unnecessary material for the rear fenders and attached them temporarily with rivets. It turns out that the tires still stick out the side by an inch. If I want the fenders to cover the tires, I need to a) Run narrower tires b)Narrow the track width which would involve moving frame rails or c) Widen the fenders. I really don't like the idea of trying to widen the fenders because the risk of them becoming ugly or heavy is too great, so I am going to widen the whole car by 4 inches. That's right, each side of the car will be moved 2 inches out, which means the front spoiler and hood will have to be widened but that will be much easier to do than slicing and dicing the fenders.Posted ImagePosted ImagePosted Image

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Ignoring the craploads of work to narrow the frame/suspension/axles - wouldn't you want an autocross car to be as narrow as possible?

Not exactly, in theory slaloms become easier in a narrower car but you lose stability and at high G, a narrow car will go up on two wheels. Don't you think Jeff Kiesel would keep his tires within the bodywork if it would make him faster?
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There's clearly a sliding scale where one end is a bicycle and one end is something too wide to fit through a regulation gate. I'm not smart enough to figure out where the sweet spot is, and it would likely change for every track too. I just think of the Solstice, which feels like an amazing car but yet it seems to be slower than the other cars in the class due to its width. (your N.T. results notwithstanding)

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There was discussion on the Mod Forum over this and many listed the track width and wheelbase that worked best on their car. Doing the math, it worked out to be 1.61:1 (WB:TW), which happens to be the Golden Ratio. See here for Golden Ratio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratioWith my cars wheelbase, my ideal track width would be 54.8" and it's actually 51.75", so I'm on the narrow side. I have a suspension program that predicts that with my settings, my car would go up on two wheels at 1.5 G if I narrow it enough to fit inside the fenders. I need to change my CG and RC's to raise the numbers again.

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Before you do all the work to move the front fenders forward to center them on the wheels, have you made sure that is where your wheels are going to be with the new front suspention you are putting in? I am guessing you want to keep the same wheel base though since you engineered it that way before.

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http://www.donek.com to cover up my lies. I don't go through Gretna after that. The extra 5-10 minutes of driving you save by going through Gretna is lost while defending this guy's pointless accusations. I've had 10+ good interactions there, but this one has spoiled me.

Wow, I Can't believe it. I have also had the same experience at the customs office at the airport here, when the siezed a bumper I bought because I only paid $50 or something and the eBay seller just charge a whack load for shipping to make their profit.
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