Front Fender Brackets

I finished fabricating the front fender brackets and mounted the fenders. I used 1/2" 16ga tube with 1/8" tabs that bolt onto the uprights. Since the weather was nice I decided to take it for a spin and see how well they would hold up. I've heard a lot of stories of wobbly fenders and fatigue cracking, but these seemed very solid. No noticeable vibration when running over rough pavement.


The punch list is getting smaller. I plan to focus on things needed to get the car inspected first, so I can work on any remaining items while waiting for the paperwork to be processed. I'm pretty sure they don't care how pretty the car looks, so I can save the body work and paint for later.

Driving impressions:
So far I've only driven around our development, but enough to get an initial feel of the car. I was expecting it to be a challenge to launch and a bit sluggish at low rpms, doesn't seem to be the case. The clutch feels surprisingly like a "real" car, and it has great response even at low rpms. I haven't had the nerve to wind it out yet or even use full throttle, trying to be a good neighbor...
The drivetrain clunks if you step on and off the gas and during 'rough' shifts. I expected this but want to make sure I don't have excess play somewhere. Some BECs run a "cushion" section in the driveshaft to smooth this out, may look into this in the future if it becomes annoying. I'm not used to the shifters yet but this shouldn't take long. For now I have to think about which is up/down, get it right about half the time...
The steering ratio and effort feels about right, so far no issues with turning radius. The car feels very solid and goes where you point it, even with only eyeballing the alignment. I need to do a real alignment and detailed check before taking it for high(er) speed tests.