LocostUSA.com

https://dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/cto/d/ross-1974-kelmark-race-car/6838169626.html

How can you guys resist this? The parts reads like a who's who of good pieces and the guy is a race car fabricator.









Posting up an old 70's Kelmark that I rescued from a barn in Ohio almost 15 years ago. I have likely put more money and time into this project than I care to remember but it's time to part ways as my job and other pursuits really don't allow me the time to finish it. Here goes for the description.

Engine:
2009 Chevrolet 3.5L LZ4 - 350 miles (yes you read that right) - Engine is from a car that was junked out due to damage in transport - I got the whole car at a GSA auction back in 2010. It is COMPLELTE with all GM wiring, fuse box, computers and OBD-II plug. I did have it running and will come with an HP Tuners Cable and Interface for programming. All of the anti-theft features have been disabled in HP Tuners.

Transmission:
1996 Cavalier F23 5 speed with 3.91 Final Drive (Spare Included). Car also uses cavalier half shafts. Clutch is a tilton 900 series hydraulic throw out bearing and 2-disc tilton rally clutch with organic plates. I machined a custom adapter that allows the use of the tilton setup. The clutch plates are new from Tilton and replacements can be ordered from Tilton or your local clutch shop.

Front Suspension:
Corvette C4 uprights with custom upper and lower control arms with high quality US Made Heims. Shocks are QA1 sprint car shocks (large body) that are fully rebuildible. Steering is a 1988 Fiero rack with C4 corvette tie rod ends. Center crossmember is a modified 1988 Fiero unit.

Rear Suspension:
1988 Fiero cradle modified to accept heim joints on the transverse links. Uprights are 1988 Fiero with stock poly bushed 1988 Fiero lateral links. Upper control arms are custom fabricated with US made heims. Shocks are small body QA1.

Brakes:
Front brakes are 6 piston Wilwood superlite calipers with Polymatrix A pads running on 13" x 1.10 C4 corvette grand sport rotors. Rear brakes are Wilood 4 piston superlite calipers with Polymatrix J pads running on 11.25 x .81 NASCAR style rotors. Master cylinders and pedal assembly are all Tilton.

Chassis:
Custom fabricated square and round tube chassis. I recently had the cage and bracing redone by Race Fab in Rusk TX. They build some of the worlds best GT1 race cars. This alone cost almost half of the asking price.

Cockpit:
Seat is a cheap ebay fiberglass seat that i was using for mockup. Gauges are all Autometer SportComp Ultralite and include, 5" Memory Recall Tach, Water Temp, Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, Voltage (All 2-5/16). Dash is a custom fabricated aluminum unit used in GT1 race cars.

Body:
The body is in a sad state. It needs a lot of work but has been modified to be a 3 piece design with front and rear clams.

Accessories:
ATL Fuel Cell with 2017 date code (10 Gallon), JEGS high pressure fuel pump, Aluminum Radiator. D-Shape steering wheel with quick disconnect on Fiero column. Flowmaster single chamber muffler. Corvette C5 ZO6 Alcoa wheels (18x10.5 rear and 17x9.5 front).


All of the associated wiring and plumbing for the car to run has been completed including custom hard lines for fuel, oil, brakes, water etc. I took it all apart for the cage redo in 2017 and haven't gotten around to putting it back together. I really don't want to sell it but I have too much going on and I'd like to see it pass on to someone who will finish it.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Saw that on FB the week before last. If I wasn't all in on the Jag Special...

_________________
The B-3 build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13941 unfortunately, all the pictures were lost in the massive server crash

The beginnings of the Jag Special,
https://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19012
Again, all pictures were lost.

Not a good sign that there aren't any pictures of the nose or tail sections.

_________________
Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

I like it but I'd have a hard time justifying this over a well equipped fiero.
If he'd just used a bunch of arc'd exhaust tubes and called it an At*m, or used the ls4, there'd be a line to buy.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

It's not a Fiero. Custom frame with Fiero subframes worked in and Vette suspension pieces.

Front & rear body pieces are rough but not truly all that bad.

He was converting them to clamshells but didn't have the pivots complete.

To me the worst part was the fact he was getting rid of the roll up window doors and and was using glass over foam to "smooth" out the edges and was going to just use netting cause RACE CAR

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

I know what it is. I'm saying it might as well be a fiero. Everything on it has been fit to fiero.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

I'm only posting to stall off working. I can't decide what has to be done next. I truly think I can have this running and on an autocross course this next season, but prioritization is the issue. I think the next thing might be the fuse box but I'm dreading that.

OH DID I FORGET TO MENTION I BOUGHT THIS PILE OF PARTS?

It was just too good to pass up and while I knew I had a lot of things in the way of actually being able to work on it for quite a while I decided to store it and admire it while I worked my way through the other issues.

I had several really good issues get in the way of working on any car for several years (and a whole bunch of not good excuses). We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this past August and we had about 100 of our closest friends over to our house for the party. So the house and surrounds took up all of my time. Then there were 4 operations between my wife and I and, well, life. But recently I've been able to devote some time to projects.

This one has consumed a lot of time going over every piece and figuring out what was working and what was not plus inspecting and tightening all kinds of things.

I've hooked most of the engine harness up, I think, and been routing wires, adding br@kits, etc. Basically cleaning things up.

I've been amazed that this was really as advertised and a well thought out (mostly) build with lots of good goodies.

Go back and read the first post to see what pieces it had.

He was building it to the specs for a NASA race class and most of my issues with the build have to do with body, not with any of the mechanicals.

I believe that I will be able to start it within a couple of weeks depending upon how the weather holds off. It's sitting in an unheated and unheatable metal building and I have very thin skin when it comes to low temps.

It supposedly has been run and dyno'd (at 275 hp) and there's evidence it has been run and has had a few water leaks. I don't care if it really did dyno at 275, 235-250 is quite adequate for what I will be doing with it.

It is not Fiero in any shape or form, except for the steering rack and holder. It is a custom suspension on all 4 corners in a tube frame using Z06 Corvette uprights and the Impala engine cradle in the rear.

He modeled the suspension around the Z06 rims so I am going to keep them.

I'll post some pics here and I am going to make several other posts showing you places of concern.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Here are shot of the roll cage. Nice gusseting. This was built by a shop that builds NASA cages and supposedly meets all specs. I'm not completely happy with the side impact bars, but as it is it's very tough to get in and out.

I have 2 different sets of race seats, but I'll probably use something a little more comfortable. The seat mounting brackets are already in on the drivers side. I will add a passenger seat.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

There's a real problem with the pedals. The gas pedal is way behind the brake/clutch pedals. My foot won't even fit back there.

Just move the Tilton pedals over you say? That will prove difficult. They are mounted so far forward because of the bracket he had to build to be able to mount the cylinders and make them somewhat accessible. They'd be hidden under the fuel cell if the pedals had been mounted on the original firewall. That may be my solution since I've got gaping holes in the firewall now and you can't actually reach the cylinders with your hand without going under the car. So if I have to go under the car anyway I might as well fix the pedal issue. Or at least I hope the solution is that simple. EDIT: once I looked at these pics there doesn't appear to be room to the left on that panel. I know there is more room left of the pedals so apparently there's a vertical tube there which complicates things.

Here are some shots of the pedals and firewall gaps.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

On the plus side this car has actual doors.

On the minus side, with the roof it's heck to get in and out of already.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

The oil cooler is easily accessible and you can see the kill switch. I've got to get the rear body on to see where I can mount the kill switch so it's easily accessible.

It has dual oil filters, which is probably overkill.

Filling the brake and clutch reservoirs is easy.

The battery placement is in the footwell of the passenger compartment.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

The drain [rooster] for the radiator is located in the hose and is under the fuel cell.

The side mounts on the radiator do not have any provision for vibration dampening. It is hard mounted.

The top radiator mount at first appeared to be a hook to hold the radiator on, but there really wasn't room to add a rubber vibration mount and then I realized it was made just lean against it.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Yes, it uses a Pinto windshield so if I ever decide to make it street legal (and presuming the laws in Texas finally do get changed to allow that) I can remove the Lexan and put in glass.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

As you can see by the way the wiring harness comes out of the fuse box it would fit best if the wires exited the rear. Regardless of how I mount it some sort of structure will have to be built. Because of placement that means I really need some kind of inner wheel liner. I don't remember how closely the rear body fits at that point but I do happen to have some S2000 inner liners that might come in handy.

Yes, there is a rats nest of wires hanging out below the fuse box. But since the engine has been running once I'm presuming (hoping) all the basics are hooked up and the rest are for niceties not necessities.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Got me a 10,000 rpm tach. I guess that means the stock engine is good to 10,000 rpm?

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.