Basic Details
This is actually a combination of two cars, a '72 and a '75. The actual shell was a '75 but you'll notice a lot of things that are different about it (like the round taillights)..
The shell was mounted to a home-made rotisserie and completely stripped. All the rust (and there was a lot of it) was repaired, including both front floopans and sectioning in part of one frame rail from the '72. The car painted inside and out, top and bottom. All unecessary metal (every little bracket and brace) was removed along with ALL undercoating. We did this mostly with electric grinders with wire brushes. The frame work on all the hinged panels was cut off and removed. All the hinges were removed and replaced with pins. The sunroof was removed and a riveted panel put in it's place. The nose was minimized and made removable for easy engine servicing. All the glass except the windshield was replaced with Lexan. Weight was the enemy, and I think we won.
The roll bar was fabricated with a manual pipe bender from blemished steel tubing sourced from an airplane material supplier and welded in place to assist chassis rigidity. The trunk floor was cut out and replaced, and a plastic fuel cell (sprint car swap meet) resides where the heavy steel tank once was.
I painted the car (my first time) with a budget HVLP gun and a gallon of Kirker paint (Ebay). Lots of sanding and hand buffing later it doesn't look bad. We wanted the 'sponsor' decals to all be the same color. Since we didn't have any money left to have them made, they were cut out by hand from a sheet of black vinyl. Ditto the flag graphics. The front air dam is actually a windshield visor (damaged) that came off Denny's pickup with custom welded aluminum braces.
The entire suspension was rebuilt using cut Eibach springs, Bilstein sport struts (both came on the car), and urethane bushings. Custom sway bars were made from aluminum sprint car steering links (swap meet). Brakes are stock except for braided steel lines. Hoosier autocross tires reside on the stock rims. Rear diff was welded, and traction is not a problem! The pedal assembly inside the car was custom made to rid it of the moronic floor mounted pedals (that, and the pedal box was totally rotted). The steering wheel is quick release (yet another sprint car swap meet purchase) and the 'horn' button is a butchered BMW hood logo.
The entire wiring harness was made by hand to replace the non-functioning stock one. There is an MSD ignition unit in the glovebox.
The engine is, of course, the heart of the beast. Basically, a stock 2002 engine with a T-Bird SC Eaton supercharger (Carlisle GM show) attached to it via a custom welded aluminum intake. The overkill belt drive bracket and tensioner are completely home-made. A 2v Holley truck carb was used, but sits on the intake the wrong way so can starve for fuel in some turns. There's a Stahl header on the other side (came on car #1) and a huge 3.5" exhaust system that exits out the right quarter panel after running through a custom chamber in the floor. This had to be done for ground clearance after lowering the car. The radiator is a VW unit and the water pump drive is an electric motor. The heating system was completely removed. There's a Nitrous Express system to add a little extra to the 14lbs of supercharger boost we have normally.
If you haven't read the magazine stories about the car, it did win the event, though with a slipping clutch and an exploding crank pulley that really didn't allow us to show our real potential in the quarter mile. Before the car was sold, I did drive it on the road a bit while it was being photographed for Roundel magazine and it's a real hoot--loud, fast, go kart reflexes and really, really uncomfortable. The interior is an echo chamber and the Kirkey seat (yup, sprint car swap meet), combined with the solid (home-made aluminum) drivetrain mounts and stiff suspension, can be brutal.
The car was sold on Ebay for $4500 (aren't you sorry you didn't bid?) so other team members could build a new car for 2003. As for me, I'm looking at building something different just for my own use this winter, probably a dedicated autocross car as the Audi isn't really competitive in D/SP.
The bulk of the project was done by Denny and my brother-in-law Scott. Chad did a lot of the mind-numbing slave work (like sanding and buffing) after I painted it. Without drag racer Denny's expertise and engineering skills the dream would not have become reality. Denny, Scott, Chad and some new faces are putting together something completely different for $2003. Can't let the secret out, but think of the complete opposite of this car and you'll be close!
