Passed on the LS1/T56 Panoz and went with another Z06

[NZGTRA17]

Brian, looks great, what sort of cost for a custom cage like that in the States?

Kel.

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by NZGTRA17

Brian, looks great, what sort of cost for a custom cage like that in the States?

Kel.

They're all over the map. If you took the car in stock shape with the interior to a shop and wanted them to paint it too figure north of $6000. A close shop with a very well known name wanted $4400 even with me doing all the prep work I did and without paint. The shop I picked ended up agreeing on $3100 without paint. Well known shop around NASA (group I run with the most), but without the big fancy name yet.

Very happy with my decision on using them and the decision to go the extra mile and take the roof off etc.

[Cobra4B]

Now the real work begins... 20 days left until I have to head out to Road Atlanata.

[Cobra4B]

Got fuel tanks abck in the car over the weekend and made sure the car started w/o issue... now on to masking/taping... this crap sucks even with the roof off.

[NZGTRA17]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

Got fuel tanks abck in the car over the weekend and made sure the car started w/o issue... now on to masking/taping... this crap sucks even with the roof off.

Lookin good Brian. Have always hated painting cars after caging. Need to be a damn contortionist...................not so good for those of us over 6'3 and 200lbs!!

Brian we just had a new touring car class announced in NZ a few weeks back. Spaceframe based sedans with changeable panels so you can run as either Ford of GM.

Thought you may be interested as the engine is a dry sumped LS7 that wears either blue or red rocker covers depending whether car is Ford or GM panelled!! Claimed 575hp and 505ftlbs of torque. Cars are using a 6 speed Quaiffe sequential box.

I understand that the cars cost around $250,000NZ. I expect some will start turning up at endurance races in the future so good job the 370 is now in the car and running. Dont like my chances though, as these cars will be darn fast, well set up and driven by pro's.

Kel.

[Cobra4B]

That sounds really neat.... any pictures? Quarter million dollars can buy a lot of race car!

I finished all the taping last night and taped off the roof. Just have to tape off the door shells, scuff sand the metal parts already coated black and then get to cleaning. Goal is to primer tomorrow AM, then paint Sunday AM.

[Cobra4B]

Primer done.... painting tomorrow AM. Everything battleship gray will be gloss white.

[Cobra4B]

Thanks to Mills for the tutelage, allowing me to use his spray gun, and doing the hard part of painting the cage itself.

So fresh and so clean...

[Cobra4B]

Starting to look like a car again... doors reassembled/reinstalled and the roof set in place for now.


Figured out a clean way to mount to door handle rods and re-installed the weatherstripping where possible.


Fire bottle and pull cables mounted. Still need to run the actual lines




Nice and bright inside


Nascar bars are the width of a sheet of paper from the door shell.

[PanozDuke]

Brian,
Are you going to weigh it now? I'm interested to see what your net weight reduction is. You are doing a first class job, just looks great.

Is Charlie Bowers your dad? I noticed the graphic.

Mike

[feqrags]

amazing what time, time,time, and hard work can do, looks great!!..never liked the black in the school cars..maybe will be inspired..thanks Bill

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by PanozDuke

Brian,
Are you going to weigh it now? I'm interested to see what your net weight reduction is. You are doing a first class job, just looks great.

Is Charlie Bowers your dad? I noticed the graphic.

Mike

Charlie is my Dad... has "Brian Bowers" on the driver's side. I'm curious about the weight too. I'm guessing between the cage, fire supression system and cool-shirt setup I'll have hadded 200 lbs to the car. But I fully gutted the doors, trimmed the roof, removed the OEM "rollbar" and deleted the HVAC box and climate control completely.

Originally Posted by feqrags

amazing what time, time,time, and hard work can do, looks great!!..never liked the black in the school cars..maybe will be inspired..thanks Bill

Thanks Bill.... I'm trying to convince my dad to tear-down the Panoz over the winter and let me paint the chassis white. At least yank the roof off and paint the interior white.

[Cobrafang]

Well Dang! I guess that beats the hell out of my rattle can paint job. Quit upping the ante!

Looks awesome.

Tom

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by Cobrafang

Well Dang! I guess that beats the hell out of my rattle can paint job. Quit upping the ante!

Looks awesome.

Tom

Thanks for the compliments. I was all set on rattle-canning it but a buddy convinced me to spray it. After listening to his advice I'll never rattle can something like this again. If you have a compressor and some basic ability you can lay down paint well enough for something like this. The paint and supplies was around $150, but I'd have had to buy a bunch of cans of fancy spray paint at $8ish each so I'm guessing my cost wouldn't have been much cheaper and it would have never been as nice. The best thing about using a proper paint gun is how the paint lays down, it covers much better than spray-paint. The one downside is that you have to do a very very good job masking since the paint will get anywhere. I had a tiny hole in the dash paper where I fished the ignition switch through and that was enough to allow a light mist of white on the area back there. Nothing that matters for a race car, but it just shows how gun sprayed paint can travel through the tiniest hole.

[Cobra4B]

Car is basically done... glass will be installed tomorrow, need to change the oil, swap on the race wheels/tires and install some rollbar padding.


Window net in place


Cut up the dash to support the gauge cluster and remove any sources of glare vs. making custom brackets.


Seat in and cleaned up



Vettes get the chicks... neighbor's daughter likes to come over and say hello every now and then. She asked to sit in it. After about 15 seconds I hear a loud "OUT NOW! OUT NOW!" 2 year olds are bossy.


Cluster in ,switch panel done and traqmate installed


Longacre mirror installed


Fire system plumbed and cool-shirt fully installed/wired up


First nozzle sprays on the trans/diff


Tubing and wiring run using OEM holes/bolts


2 more nozzles to hit legs/waist and feet


Wiring for master cut-off run using OEM nutserts and a preexisting hole in the firewall. Also pictured is the fire suppression system tube running through the firewall.


Fabricated brackets to support 2 of the 3 engine bay nozzles


Insulated the rear tub to keep the coolshirt cooler.... cooler.