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I realized that I don't have an official build thread, so here goes. Real quick, I'm working on a low light Ghia ('58), on a Mendeola chassis with the Subaru EZ30R engine.

I'll fill in the blanks a bit more when I have more time but this week I'm calling roll rage week. Heres what we have so far:

Platform "feet" for the roll cage:


Rear section tie-in feet:


Cage taking shape:

Incredible build! I've been watching your project come together on your site, and looking forward to the updates.



Jeff-

Cage is looking really nice, as is the rest.

But.. please reconsider putting the radiator in the back, the KG grills in the front are begging for a radiator behind them and work great (I did it on a later ghia). As you, say the weight up front will also be welcome..

makes me want to find and svx and a ghia. . . ghia's are the best, followed closely by notches.

Awesome build. I'm on an aircooled kick, but always vacilate between a suby ghia, or a s/c aircooled.

Can't wait to see it done.

Looking great. Keep the rad up front though.

Jason

Post a link or picture of your radiator, Volksdent! Yours is so unique and I haven't seen anyone else do what you did.

Been lurking for a while and thought that you might want to see what I was doing with my ghia as far as a radiator locations. Hope this works not much of a computer guy.

I down know what your plans are for this when it is done and I hate to spread some negative vibes -- but just a thought before you get to far with your cage -- every oraginzation that I know of require the main loop to be one piece and most require a 4x4 plate for the cage to be welded to --- just thought I'd share from my own experiences

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic ... 3&t=139246

Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions and input. We're going to try the rear radiator mount concept first. Kevin assures me that it will work ok. the pics of the radiator above look great.. I'm a bit leery of hacking up the lowlight front nose, but I was thinking about some shrouds to route the nostrils to one radiator in the tire well.

Also, fiatdude, this car won't be raced. The cage is for increased safety over stock and maybe some increased chassis stiffness as a side benefit.

I wish you guys luck with the rear radiator, but please keep a front radiator in your mind in case it has to happen. It's possible to hide it quite well without changing the iconic lines, but it takes planning.

If you are talking about real handling, adding weight behind the CG is not ideal, especially because your leaving the engine in back. Your target weight is going to start going up when you have to add weight to the front end to get it to bite. Just hate to see you ass backward in a ditch when the oversteer bites ya.

I'm not a newby, i drive my cars hard and would love to see this thing be more than a trailer queen.

Keep up the nice work!

Jason

Noslzzp, here is how Ventsdent did it. Looks like a good way to go IMHO.





More pics here http://germanlook.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10369

Those radiators in the nostril are are pretty slick. With the vents painted and everything black behind it, I don't think anybody would notice

Ok, a couple of pics of the cooling system work are attached. The idea is to have scoops under the chassis to direct air until the radiator and then out the rear deck lid:

Positions above the transaxle..


Another shot..


Empty radiator frame:


Three fans will be on the transaxle side to push through the radiators. Also, this is a closed radiator system.

crankwalk wrote:Those radiators in the nostril are are pretty slick. With the vents painted and everything black behind it, I don't think anybody would notice

I agree, pretty slick.

I've also been thinking about the center of gravity with our radiator setup and I am not convinced that it will matter much. Here are some thoughts:

1. The amount of weight that the radiator will add will be about 26lbs (16.1 lbs of anti-freeze, 10lbs for the radiator itself). This is based on the core dimensions of 31 x 10.31 x 1.25 in. (~400CI) and using the weight of anti-freeze for that volume (9.33 lbs/gallon). [ someone please check my math! ] One down side is that even though the radiator weight will be "over the wheels" it still rides higher.

2. We're moving the battery to the boot which will be anywhere from 30-50lbs. (will probably shoot for the heavier battery just to even things out a bit).

3. I don't think it will feel as ass heavy as my old 911 did. The EZ30R is a skinny marathon runner compared to the 911 motor. Granted, it's heavier than a stock ACVW unit but I don't think it's that much more (not "911" sized more in any case).

outlawghia wrote:

What car is this rad from? Outer dimensions?