In the driver's seat

I decided to buy a Kirkey racing seat instead of making my own. The "economy drag seat" looked the best since the side supports aren't as big as the standard seats. Problem is the smallest size is 15.5", exactly the size of my opening. I took a chance and ordered one...sure enough it was too big (the 15.5" is an inside dimension)

Nothing a hacksaw and hammer couldn't fix though...


Since I was already modifying the seat I decided to change the angle of bottom to give a little more thigh support. I'll either rivet the sides together in the new position or find someone that can weld aluminum. Since the seat bottom and back will be bolted to the chassis, this joint won't see a lot of stress.


Next step is to fabricate seat mounts and decide what to do for the passenger seat...I need to check with Kirkey to see what they charge for custom sizes...

Shiftin Gears

Mechanical paddle shifter is tacked together and works. I used a push-pull cable from mcmaster. The engine side mount is complete and I'll finish the other end once the scuttle is in place. Despite taking a guess at the amount of travel needed, it seems to work okay.

Not sure what I'll work on next...my checklist says seats, but I may skip to another task...

I can see!

Two lines can now be crossed off the to-do list.
-Mount Headlights
-Mount Nosecone

I'm pretty happy with how things went. To mount the headlights I cut a 0.4" length of 1"o.d. x 1/2" i.d. tube (fits the 1/2" bolt on the bottom of the headlight) and welded to the end of a 3/4" tube about 6" long with one end smashed down to match the 0.4" thickness. The 3/4" tube fits snuggly into a 7/8" tube welded to the chassis. This makes the lights easy to remove, or adjust the position side to side.

I used dzus 1/4 turns to mount the nosecone. First I riveted the 1/4 turns to the nosecone and attached the mounting plates (after marking and trimming to size), then positioned the nosecone on the car and tacked the mounting plates to the chassis. The nose comes on and off easily. I still need to repair some cracks in the nose, but that can happen at a later time...

Next two items on the list are to mount the steering column bearing and fabricate the shifter. I have the push-pull cable and am planning to make a mechanical paddle shifter.