IMSA GT Build Thread
Moderator: Series8217
POSTED 8/17/07
Real quick update. For some reason, the whale tail was very difficult to sculpt which is why I have been working on it for so long. I mounted it and gave it a very light coat of House of Kolor primer just to check my body work and make sure the body lines were straight. Still needs some filling of some pinholes but overall, it came out nice.
Real quick update. For some reason, the whale tail was very difficult to sculpt which is why I have been working on it for so long. I mounted it and gave it a very light coat of House of Kolor primer just to check my body work and make sure the body lines were straight. Still needs some filling of some pinholes but overall, it came out nice.
POSTED 8/20/02
Not too much to update today but I do have some info to share. As you may or may not know, I'm trying to keep this as close to the original IMSA race car as possible. I spoke to Joe Huffaker today from Huffaker Engineering and got the specs from the original IMSA racer from the 80's. He said that they used a ..... Front wheel: 16X10, with Goodyear 24.0 X 12.0-16 racing slicks......Rear wheel: 16X12, with Goodyear 26.5 X 14.0-16 racing slicks. I don't know how a 16x10 would fit on the front so I have to do some testing with the size. Here is a pic of his car.
Not too much to update today but I do have some info to share. As you may or may not know, I'm trying to keep this as close to the original IMSA race car as possible. I spoke to Joe Huffaker today from Huffaker Engineering and got the specs from the original IMSA racer from the 80's. He said that they used a ..... Front wheel: 16X10, with Goodyear 24.0 X 12.0-16 racing slicks......Rear wheel: 16X12, with Goodyear 26.5 X 14.0-16 racing slicks. I don't know how a 16x10 would fit on the front so I have to do some testing with the size. Here is a pic of his car.
A brief update .....so this is the time when I got banned from the other forum. The only way I could continue to post on the forum and finish this build was to have my wife get her owm logon and post the build for me. Everyone is telling me to just lie and get another logon....that would be fine if I wanted to start from scratch. If I used my new logon to continue updating this build, I would just get kicked off the forum completely. I pretty much just make up the story line and she types. For this forum, I have to re-edit all my posts so they are not in 3rd person.
Last edited by drumwzrd on Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
One of the biggest problems with this kit is lining up the rear fender line, rocker line, and the front fender line. The fiberglass for the lower door is 1/4 too thick which makes it impossible to line up body lines and the door scrapes on the sill plate. To fix this, I had to cut the entire bottom of the GFX off and shave down the mounting surfaces of the GFX to line up the body lines.
Here are a couple more showing how the parts line up. I have a lot of shaping to do to get it perfect.
While I was working on the lower parts, I ran a test fit on this 2 port intake. There will be a working one on each side of the car.Pretty good fit.
Here are a couple more showing how the parts line up. I have a lot of shaping to do to get it perfect.
While I was working on the lower parts, I ran a test fit on this 2 port intake. There will be a working one on each side of the car.Pretty good fit.
Last edited by drumwzrd on Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
This should have been posted first but I got carried away with the copying and pasting to move the thread to this forum. For those of you who have not seen how the IMSA kit arrives.....
2 guys to get the wooden crate the size of a refrigerator off the truck...
And some parts
Really clean glasswork from Sage Glassworks.
2 guys to get the wooden crate the size of a refrigerator off the truck...
And some parts
Really clean glasswork from Sage Glassworks.
- Series8217
- 1988 Fiero Track Car
- Posts: 5984
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:47 pm
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
IIRC the Huffaker car has inboard front suspension and no inner metal fenders. When you pop the hood you can see the huge tires in the front compartment.drumwzrd wrote:POSTED 8/20/02
Not too much to update today but I do have some info to share. As you may or may not know, I'm trying to keep this as close to the original IMSA race car as possible. I spoke to Joe Huffaker today from Huffaker Engineering and got the specs from the original IMSA racer from the 80's. He said that they used a ..... Front wheel: 16X10, with Goodyear 24.0 X 12.0-16 racing slicks......Rear wheel: 16X12, with Goodyear 26.5 X 14.0-16 racing slicks. I don't know how a 16x10 would fit on the front so I have to do some testing with the size. Here is a pic of his car.
IIRC the Huffaker car has inboard front suspension and no inner metal fenders. When you pop the hood you can see the huge tires in the front compartment
I was working with those tires and it is impossible to put a 16" on the rear of a stock GT without a custom suspension. I am going to a 17x11 wheel in the rear with a 335/35/17 and 17x8.5 in the front....I think....
I was working with those tires and it is impossible to put a 16" on the rear of a stock GT without a custom suspension. I am going to a 17x11 wheel in the rear with a 335/35/17 and 17x8.5 in the front....I think....
-
- Posts: 490
- Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2005 11:02 am
- Location: Orlando, Florida
Glad to see you decided to post here. Don't let the people on P F F get you down, they are a few assholes over there that cause 99% of the grief and then they call this place the sewer. I guess their shit don't stink. :scratch: They also will give you a hard time for posting over here, unless you are kissing their butts. Thank goodness their numbers are limited. Once you make it past the first 50 ratings it gets a little harder to auto ban you over there.
I'm Avengador1 on P F F by the way. :thumbleft:
I'm Avengador1 on P F F by the way. :thumbleft:
I treat others as they treat me
This is a little break from the IMSA updates and kind of a helper topic for some of you. For those of you who always crack your chin spoilers and have to spend a lot of money to repair them, here is an easy solution. It seems many members love the chin spoiler but have many problems with them breaking. These things cost a lot of money and sometimes get completely destroyed. This is a cheap and maybe a free alternative. First, find a beat up, or in my case an unused GT front end. Make a cut along the lower seam ( Marked in red ) and follow that into the center until it is removed from the whole bumper piece.
Next, cut the center section out. You want to follow the curve of the front end and cut far enough back that you just cut in front of the center support.
Next, remove the reinforcing strip from the lower part of the bumper, cut it, and install it where you just cut out the center support. You will have to hammer this piece on because it has "teeth" built in and they will really grab the plastic with no need for other fasteners. This will strengthen and straighten the piece.
After this, the piece is flipped upside down and the extra plastic of the spoiler is cut off. If you are mounting this on a stock car, leave the plastic intact. It will give you more mounting areas. For the IMSA, it has to flare out more so it needs to be bent to a different curve....the plastic has to be cut off.
Here is the piece temporarily held up with paint cans so you can get an idea of what it will look like. Notice how the IMSA opening curves around into the GT piece and really looks like it should have been there from the factory.
The side pieces that curve around can be cut more level towards the front tires or can be left at an angle as you see in the pics. This is not going to be mounted right now because there are WAY more important things to do on this build.
So, what have we done? Cut a factory front end down, flipped it upside down, and created a break proof chin spoiler....kinda cool
Next, cut the center section out. You want to follow the curve of the front end and cut far enough back that you just cut in front of the center support.
Next, remove the reinforcing strip from the lower part of the bumper, cut it, and install it where you just cut out the center support. You will have to hammer this piece on because it has "teeth" built in and they will really grab the plastic with no need for other fasteners. This will strengthen and straighten the piece.
After this, the piece is flipped upside down and the extra plastic of the spoiler is cut off. If you are mounting this on a stock car, leave the plastic intact. It will give you more mounting areas. For the IMSA, it has to flare out more so it needs to be bent to a different curve....the plastic has to be cut off.
Here is the piece temporarily held up with paint cans so you can get an idea of what it will look like. Notice how the IMSA opening curves around into the GT piece and really looks like it should have been there from the factory.
The side pieces that curve around can be cut more level towards the front tires or can be left at an angle as you see in the pics. This is not going to be mounted right now because there are WAY more important things to do on this build.
So, what have we done? Cut a factory front end down, flipped it upside down, and created a break proof chin spoiler....kinda cool
I don't understand why people don't just mount a skateboard truck under the front spoiler. When you hit a bump or an incline, the skateboard wheels would jusdt push the front end up.
Nice write up on the spoiler. It's been done before, but there's never been such a good how-to. Good job.
Nice write up on the spoiler. It's been done before, but there's never been such a good how-to. Good job.
My Fiero is now a Finale. The end.
-
- cant get enough of this site!
- Posts: 3289
- Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:37 pm
-
- Posts: 1010
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:19 am
- Location: The Peoples Republic of Kalefornya
- Contact:
Well, this was supposed to be an update about the build but I got royally fucked with this...
I needed to change the hinge pins because the door was sagging so I had to disconnect the wiring from the door and found out that the former owner or owners wired in 2 different alarm systems. They had about 8 relays and wiring everywhere. I need to get this all back to stock before the build continues. :cussing:
I needed to change the hinge pins because the door was sagging so I had to disconnect the wiring from the door and found out that the former owner or owners wired in 2 different alarm systems. They had about 8 relays and wiring everywhere. I need to get this all back to stock before the build continues. :cussing: