Lofty Aspirations: My GTV6 racer

[Brad Porter <bporter@domain.elided>]

Hello All,

         Well, I'm sure no one here remembers me, but I've been on the list 
for several years.  I can't even remember the last time I posted or kept 
current with other's posts.  Occupational busyness has caused general 
inactivity with my hobbies for the last few years.  This year seems, in an 
eerily familiar way, like it may be the year that I finally have the time 
and resources to get back into building my GTV6 racer.
         My GTV6 racer project started with the intention of restoring my 
'83 GTV6.  Basically, I started dismantling the car, and found two 
things.  First, there are so many little problems (body rust, trashed 
interior, poorly repaired previous crash damage) that it would be easier, 
and no doubt cheaper, to just buy a good southern car if I want a nice 
stock specimen.  The second thing I found was that the car was much easier 
to push around the garage with all the non-essential pieces removed - and 
this got me thinking, "this thing would go like a scalded cat if I could 
get it started... and it had a drivers seat in it".  Smart one, I am.
         Additionally, I thought that it will surely be less work to simply 
do what is necessary to make the car go, rather than what is necessary to 
make it go back and forth seventy miles to work in Michigan weather.  So my 
need for speed and my laziness took a vote, and it was unanimous.  Stripped 
down racer it is.
         So, now I'm trying my best to think up all sorts of complications 
and additional work that I can do to ensure that the project never actually 
gets done - this isn't what I WANT to do, but I can't help it, it's just my 
nature.  There are four such things currently floating around in my head 
which I'm anxious to hear opinions on and get help with.  Now would be a 
good time to mention that I'm not concerned about the affect these changes 
would have on classification of my car for racing.  I just want to put 
together an enhanced car and take it racing, against whatever turbine 
powered carbon fiber monsters I happen to be classed with.  I'm not 
interested in winning.  Let me rephrase that: winning is not my primary 
interest.  So here's my short list:

1) Coil overs up front.  We'll start simple here.  My car is structurally 
sound, with no rust in the shock tower area.  I also have the contacts and 
tools (but not the skills, yet) to do major sheet metal surgery, 
fabrication and machining.  Should I even consider coil overs?

2) Home built, welded in safety cage.  It won't surprise me at all to one 
day watch a bunch of upside down race cars drive past me on the ceiling, 
but bolt together roll cages just give me the creeps.  I want something 
more substantial (if you drove like me, you would too).  I have three 
questions concerning roll cages.  First, what makes a roll cage legal for 
SCCA racing?  The bolt-in kits are pre-approved by the SCCA, but if I build 
my own is it just a matter of having it inspected and deemed acceptable, or 
is there more to it?
         My second question is on the construction: where are the best 
places to tie a cage to the car's existing structure?  The rear shock 
towers and the lateral brace beneath the rear seat seem like obvious 
choices, but what about up front? Any pointers to literature/websites/etc. 
that I should check out would be appreciated.
         Third, what material and size should I use?  I've researched 
fabricating tubular motorcycle frames and found that 1018 CREW is generally 
accepted as a good choice - is this the same for roll cages?

3) Light weight fiberglass doors.  The GTV6's doors are _heavy_!  They will 
certainly slow down my smoldering little feline.  The way I figure it, if 
I'm going to build a safety cage, it only makes sense that side impact 
beams should be incorporated - but the doors are in the way.  The doors 
have their own beams (and a large chunk of lead as well, I'm guessing), but 
the doors seem to add little, if any, rigidity to the overall 
structure.  So doesn't it make sense to make light weight fiberglass doors 
to cover the permanent and presumably stronger side impact beams that are 
part of the safety cage, enhancing safety and rigidity?  These things just 
make so much sense on paper!  I know there's one fella (here in the States, 
I think) who builds fiberglass doors for his Alfetta racer, and will also 
sell them - but I don't know how much they are (if you have to ask...).

4) Oh, I'm gonna wish I hadn't put this in here.  How do I approach this 
delicately?  Has anyone ever though about replacing the DeDion rear 
suspension with fully independent upper/lower control arms mounted on a 
subframe that bolts to the existing DeDion & Watts linkage mount points?  I 
know those points weren't meant to bear the weight of the car, or the 
various horizontal forces that such a system could transfer to them, but 
the mount points could be reinforced, and the existing shock and spring 
locations could be retained.  I also realize that the DeDion arrangement in 
general, and Alfa's implementation in particular, is elegant, refined and 
works very well.  In reality, there is almost no chance that I would ever 
engineer and construct such a replacement sub-system - but to me, the 
DeDion just seems like something that should be fiddled with, or at the 
very least, it's something that I should think about fiddling with.

         Well, I hope I haven't annoyed anyone with my 
soon-to-never-be-completed ideas for messing around with what is a damn 
good package until hacks like me get their paws on it.  Boy, I'm sure glad 
I didn't mention my FieRo-meo idea, which I'm sure would get me kicked off 
the list on general principal.  Oops, I guess I did mention it ;-).  At 
least I'm not stupid enough to push my luck by telling anyone about my 
plans to put my big block nitrous motor in a Spider!  I think I better go 
to bed now...

         Finest Regards,
         -Brad Porter            Williamston, Michigan USA
           http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/5300
           ICQ: 3011142
           83 Silver Alfa Romeo GTV6 (The Good Twin)
           85 Black Alfa Romeo GTV6 (The Evil Twin)
           88 Pontiac Fiero GT (The Italian-American Step-sister?)
           88 Pontiac Fiero Coupe (one of these days... ;-) )
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