The Ugly Duckling is Street Legal

We have passed the NSRA inspection, traveled to Springfield Illinois to complete the state paperwork to obtain a title, renewed and transferred the license plates from my Stalker and obtained insurance coverage.  Lots of time involved but those tasks got done.

The pictures submitted to the state follow:

Front view

Rear View

Right side

Left side

 

Now that we are legal and insured we can actually drive the car!  Hooray!

I have about 250 miles on it so far. All gentle street miles with no adventurous driving.  Compared to previous kit cars that I've driven it is extremely stable on the highway. Also wind buffeting in the cockpit is much less than we were used to. This is even with the crude Lexan windshield and wiper blade/motor that I have rigged up.

The Ugly Duckling reference mentioned above came from a fellow we talked to at a Sunday evening Cruise Night Car Show that we stopped at.  He commented about the D2's lack of a body. I replied that it was coming and showed him pictures of the current state of the body that we had printed from Palatov's website.  He smiled at the pictures, nodded at the car and said "that is the ugly duckling". He then looked back at the pictures and said "and it will become a beautiful swan".  That seems like an appropriate observation to me.

While waiting for the body, I have plenty of work to do.

The speedometer is accurate up to about 40 MPH but then seems to read low.  I suspect that one of the speedo magnets has fallen off the right front wheel hub or the sensor to magnet gap is wrong.  In addition the fuel gauge seems to not be showing correct levels.

Fixing the above are my next priorities. Then getting a digital dash and data logging system purchased, installed and working.

More posts to follow.  The really fun stuff has begun.

Goals, Frustration and Progress

Setting and achieving goals has always been a really big deal to me.  Since I was a teen, I've set written personal, sports and financial or business goals around the beginning of each year. Once set, I concentrate on and work hard to achieve them.  I think about and spend at least some time dedicated to achieving those goals almost every day.

With several notable exceptions, I usually achieve those goals.

After my wife Denise and I ordered the D2 last November, several of my 2013 Goals involved our new Palatov D2.

In January of 2013 they all seemed very reasonable and achievable.   The result has been excellent so far but it has occurred much more slowly than we had hoped.

Despite diligent efforts and a large commitment of time, I FAILED to achieve most of the goals that were set.  I'll continue to work on and finish the car but took some time off and will work on it with a little less urgency.

It now has headlights, brake lights, tail lights, turn signals, hazard flashers, horn, windshield, wipers, speedometer, odometer etc.

It is now street legal (I think) and will be inspected for legal compliance and safety by a representative of the National Street Rod Association next Tuesday evening. If it passes inspection and we receive a corrected Certificate of Origin from Palatov, I'll be ready for the Illinois State Police inspection and then finally get it titled and licensed by the Illinois Secretary of State.

Hopefully we will have a street legal car that we can actually drive within a couple more days.

I'll post again when that milestone is achieved.

Weight distribution

A friend questioned how I thought the D2 would handle with 64% of the weight on the rear tires. He thought that the ideal weight distribution was 50/50 front to rear.

My answer was that 50/50 was great for a car with little horsepower. The D2 has plenty of power, larger rear tires than front and needs the rear weight bias to achieve outstanding acceleration without wheel spin.  My USAC midgets always had 60%+ rear weight bias and I am sure that the D2 will be able to utilize the extra rear weight to achieve great forward bite.

Penta Star XP turn signal controller arrived today.

Finally - the device to control the turn signals and flasher lights arrived - along with separately ordered IP-67 waterproof push button switches to control the turn signals and hazard warning lights. They are now partially installed and the left rear turn signals operate.

I also moved the emergency electric cutoff switch's location in the dashboard today. After readjusting the shifter linkage, I decided that there was a possibility of inadvertently bumping the cutoff switch when shifting into 5th gear and shutting off the engine. This would not be a good thing:). Consequently the cutoff has been moved several inches to the right on the dash and the XR-S speedo/odometer/fuel gauge is placed where the cutoff switch was.

The KOSO XR-S electronic speedometer/odometer/trip odometer is also permanently installed on the dashboard, calibrated and tested. It utilizes 4 rare earth magnets inserted into the right front brake rotor mounting bolt heads and counts the number of times per second those magnets pass a sensor. From that information it can compute, display and store vehicle speed and miles traveled. It also has a fuel level display and low fuel level warning. Made for motorcycles but is a neat device for my D2.

The plan tomorrow is to finish wiring the turn signals and warning flashers in the rear and begin the installation of headlights and parking/turn signals in front.

We have tail and brake lights.

The rear bumper is widened and brake/tail/license plate lights are mounted and working. Waiting for a Penta Star motorcycle oriented self canceling turn signal controller to arrive from Amazon. Thought it would arrive today but now hope for tomorrow. Also ordered 6 point Simpson seat belts that are expected to arrive Friday. The WoLo Bad Boy horn is here along with headlights and the cute little Koso SR-X digital speedometer and odometer. 

Worked tonight on making a bracket to mount the SR-X's proximity sensor pickup to the right front wheel spindle. This will measure the time between brake rotor studs passing by the pickup when the car is moving.  The SR-X will display MPH, record trip and total miles traveled and also the current fuel level.

Wow, that Bad Boy horn is loud!  I love it.

I will post more pix when the turn signals and SR-X speedo are working.

Radiator ducts and side panels from the latest PFP

The radiator ducts and front side panels are now installed.

We ordered different rate rear springs Wednesday.  They arrived yesterday and my next project is to install them on the car with slightly revised spring perches and reset the ride heights. 

 

I am also planning on preparing the car for state inspection and licensing. The first part of that will be making a wider rear bumper and mounting tail/brake/turn signal lights and a license plate mount with light. 

 

It is beginning to look like a real car!

Got another PFP Tuesday that contained the radiator inlet air ducts and side panels. Installed same today but ran out of time and energy to take and post pix. Will do that tomorrow.

Also got some pix from DP of the current status of the body. Looking good.