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Steel was the right material here, since it needed to be welded to the OEM windshield section at the rear and tubular structure forward. Each curved section was patterned in tape, pulled off in sheets, and transferred to steel. It was then cut and formed to fit.
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Pockets were also added for hood hinge clearance, which were taped then tack welded together. We had tried to use OEM style hood hinges previously but they are MASSIVE things that would have touched the 315mm front tires at full lock, so these pockets will allow for simple hinges that take up a lot less room.
These steel panels were tack welded to the remaining factory cowl section, strengthening the base of the windshield area. Clearance around the two windshield wiper motor posts were also added, which is shown in more detail below. This cowl area will be final welded to the sheet and tube sections in this area for strength and fire proofing, but mostly hidden under an (aluminum) OEM cosmetic upper cowl panel.
FIREWALL - DRY SUMP TANK AREA
The dry sump tank area is fairly sizable and a mount was built for the dry sump tank earlier but now it was time to make a metal firewall enclosure around this, to seal it away from the passenger cabin. All of the steel unibody structure around the tank has been blasted, primed and painted, so ignore the rusty picture (below left) from earlier in the project.
This dry sump enclosure had a complex shape that required more than a dozen individual panels to complete. The tank had to come out a few times to make room for patterns and panels to be built, step by step.
Some of this enclosure was built into the interior panel section above as part of that task. Again, many of the tasks shown in this update were built concurrently - many components interacted with each other for space.
Several cage and chassis tubes pass through the top of this "box" around the dry sump tank, so those panels had to be bisected around each tube.
The end result looks great and works well, but most of this will be hidden under the composite dash or the cowl. It still needs to be there to seal the cabin from fire / fumes / fluids, of course.
WIPER MOTOR MOUNTS
Using the OEM wiper motor and heavy, complex steel drivetrain wouldn't have possible with the setback of this engine & firewall, the taller tunnel structure, and the aftermarket defroster box mounted like we have. We researched several aftermarket options and proposed the
Bosch Motorsports wiper system. This uses "Wiper Direct Actuators" (motors) and an ECU that syncs multiple WDAs, sets the sweep angle of each, and drives the motors in forward and reverse instead of a continuous 360° rotation with linkages to reverse the wipers like OEM systems. These are used on prototypes and other racing cars with windshields.
We offered up multiple options, and at nearly one third the cost the customer wanted to try a pair of
Wexco wiper motors, which give us a compact and lighter system than the single factory motor and steel drivetrain linkages. Wexco is a Tier 1 supplier of wiper motors to marine, heavy trucks, school bus, RV, agricultural, construction vehicles and heavy duty specialty vehicles. We understand the cost barrier to the Bosch system, so we gave it a go - and we will share the results after these are wired and operational. They make waterproof, stand-alone adjustable sweep motors that can be mounted just about anywhere.
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