Discovery Automotive - White Lightning: Phase Seven

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White Lightning: Phase Seven

Phase Seven

Now this gal came to us a couple months ago to have a few more personal touch items tended to as she is made ready for another season of being exercised; specifically she is to have her exhaust tweaked with her tips to become up higher as they were in the early days of the original GT40's, we are going to change much of her heat shielding to the gold material as used today by the most of extreme race teams throughout the world, and last but not least we are to design, fabricate, and "integrate" a front brake air duct cooling system that appears and remains serviceable as if OEM. Now if this alone were not a large enough request we were then told that in the ideal world that he would also like electric fans incorporated into the front brake air ducting system so as to give him the ability during track event slowdowns and or in the pit activities the brakes can be cooled on demand; as such the with the mission defined the project commences.

Here after several cardboard mockups we are finalizing the basic layout and design of the rear portion of her exhaust. Thanks to the team spearheaded by Vince at Burn's Stainless the project is albeit slowly unfolding nicely.

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Here after spending a great amount of time with the gold material we have finally got a handle on what it can be made to do as such have completed one of the heat shields. Once this was completed and confirmed as the direction desired by this gal's owner additional material was ordered from one of the firms that specialize in the creation of Indy cars as such use this product throughout their builds.

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With two of the three projects underway and outside sources performing their magic for both of them it is time for use to remove this gal's nose so we can begin to assess what will be required to complete the custom OEM style front brake air duct system.

Here we have carefully and methodically removed her nose thus exposing what appear as a an endless number of obstacles/opportunities to contend with.

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Here we are having her a/c system evacuated as we already know that much of it will need to be disassembled during the many phases of this project.

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Here we have removed one of the OEM a/c lines; it was obvious to us and confirmed by our friends The GT Guys that the pressure switch was going to have to be relocated because Ford stuck in smack dab in the middle of the opening that runs through the passenger side radiator saddle as such if it were not relocated there was no chance of successfully routing a pieces of air duct from her nose to her brakes.

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Here we are working through the custom front brake air duct system mockups; because of the manner in which the OEM false air duct was designed it exited (albeit sealed as OEM) directly into the side of the heat exchangers so routing an air hose would be near impossible as such we decided to cut the extension pieces off and then surface the back side all the time planning to create a curved transition for it thus allowing a visually pleasing look from the front and also allow us to move the air through a very tight area as well as create a means to attach the air duct hose.

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Here we had to relocate the OEM power steering line. This line as OEM traveled through the driver side radiator saddle opening which would have precluded us from migrating a piece of air duct hose through without distorting its shape as well as eliminated a place for a fan to reside therefore we decided to bend the OEM line so that it now resides on the outside of the frame rail and while doing this we made sure to use the OEM retainers in their OEM location and then decided to add a solo p-clamp at the upper OEM mounting point for the radiator saddler to eliminate transient vibration through the line.

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Here we cleaned up the inside edge of the two radiator saddles creating a cleaner radius so that there would be a little more space around the soon to bit in place electric fans; we felt that this was important so as to insure that no fans vibration was transferred through the frame and into to cab thus annoying the operator.

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Here we are fitting the fans determining their exact location and the custom brackets that need to be created.

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Here we have opened up the OEM wiring harness so as to allow us to extend the pressure switch portion by simply rerouting it so that it does not need to be cut and not additional wire added; with this having been confirmed we will now wrap the exposed wires with OEM sheathing so it appears as if never touched.

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Here we are beginning the process of completing and then integrating the first run duct pieces as created from the dry fit mockups. In this picture we have successfully installed brass threaded inserts so as to insure a solid secure assembly whereas as OEM very small self tapping plastic screws were used.

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Here is the custom drill fixture created so as to insure that every duct receives the brass insets at exactly the same location.

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Here are the first run duct pieces being fit and the final assembly confirmed with no issues prior to the pieces being removed for the final time to be painted and or powder coated.

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Here the custom crossover wiring harness for the fans has been created and now integrated into the gal's boot area with a portion of the harness routed to the SJB box which is located under the access panel located at the passenger side foot well. The power for the pair of fans even though drawn from the SJB box with go through a relay; this will allow us to use a smaller non-load bearing switch. The fans were each fitted with multi seal Deutsch connectors and then once in place the connector resides discretely along side of another OEM wiring harness barely visible and easy to access for service. The ground for the fans was located at the mass OEM grounding point located as can be seen in the last picture at the front of the frame rails.

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At this time we continue to tend to the final details of the front brake duct conversion; at this time we will be creating a custom two piece fender liner system for this gal. Shadowman designed this system long ago as an OEM appearing and fitting system that uses all of the OEM retainers. This custom two piece inner fender liner system allows for easy removal and installation of the front inner fender liners and even more importantly the custom two piece eliminates the high risk of damage as associated with the removal and installation of the OEM one piece inner fender liner system.

Here is requires 4 OEM front inner fender liners to allow for the creation of the custom two piece inner fender liner system.

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Here the conversion takes place; all that remains at this point is the final detailing of the cut edges and then the "now" easy installation process however we first need to incorporate the custom front air duct transition.

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While the final custom front brake air duct system's closure panels are being completed we are going to tend to a few of the remaining items associated with the custom front brake air duct system. We need to locate the point to integrate the air transition manifold within the lower portion of the front inner fender liner and also design the backing plate for the rotor that will allow us to secure the air duct hose and direct the air flow towards the inner portion of the brake rotor.

Here we have selected the place for the air transition manifold to be located. This air manifold will allow for the ease of installation as well and the ease of future servicing within this area.

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Here we have removed the OEM stub axle and bearing assembly so that we fully integrate the mockup rotor backing plate as well as confirm all of the clearances and proper/desired location of the air duct. Now we will use this mockup rotor backing plate as a pattern to create the first run pieces.

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As the custom front air duct system pieces continue through the final stages of the first run fabrication process we are tending to all of the detail items as associated with this portion of the project.

Here the OEM power steering hose as removed from the driver side of the power steering cooler. Because we relocated the OEM power steering line this hose will no longer be used.

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Here is the new power steering hose that replaces the OEM hose. This is a premium XRP hose and then we also used full wrap stainless steel band clamps that create cinching pressure a full 360 degrees of the hose rather than as most typical hose clamps that tend to pinch the hose as the securing point.

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Details...details...details...this is what we are tending to as we continue working to make this gal ready to be exercised. We will be integrating the manual switch for the custom front brake air duct fans and also completing the integrating of the gold thermal barrier materials throughout her engine bay.

Here we are integrating the manual switch for the custom front brake air duct fan. We selected this location because it is easy to access during real time driving events because during many of these events gloves and harnesses will be worn as such movement within the seat is limited. The switch was discretely placed on the underside of the OEM steering shroud and the custom wiring harness was sheathed as in a mesh material as if OEM and then we used a multi-seal Deutsch connector for both a positive connection as well as ease of future service.

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Here we are completing the process of integrating the gold thermal barrier material throughout her engine bay. Her owner says that whenever he sees this material it reminds him of the Apollo Lunar Lander Module, a McLaren F1, and now of course his gal. We would say that she is in great company and with the product in place it not only looks great but will also provide a wonderful increased heat deterrent.

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