Glen Strightiff/Chris Wilson C3 build

[Rmc]

Looking really good guys

[baja-chris]

For the wing, I'm copying the BFG Blazer. There will be a main wing then a movable aileron. The main wing is made up of ribs that are fit around and welded to the cage work. The rib profile is actually more similar to Big Oly than it is to the BFG Blazer. We needed to keep helmet clearance in mind. I cut the shapes, then we welded lips to the ribs, then cut out openings for the cage and tacked them in. The leading edge has a piece of thin wall 2" tubing which will butt into the ribs that go on the outside of the cage (not shown). The ends of the wing will be capped with thick aluminum end plates that should provide some strength to resist hits with small branches. Thin aluminum sheet will be wrapped and riveted to the rib lips to complete the wing.

[baja-chris]

More wing details.

[300]

Will you be able to access those cage intersections for the annual inspections once that wing gets skinned?

[baja-chris]

Yes, the top surface is flat above the cage and we plan to put a thicker panel up there (from A-pillar to B-pillar) that bolts down both for roll over protection and also for our own post race cage inspections. Then I'll bead roll a lip onto the thin sheeting that wraps the nose and underside so it overlaps the thick panel up top. The sheeting for the nose of the wing will be a separate panel from the sheeting underside between A-pillar and B-pillar because it needs the opening for front V-tubes in the windshield area. We could nutsert the bottom panel in and rivet the nose skin on. I'll ask Jake at SCORE if he will need to have both top and bottom panels removed or if only the top is adequate.

[BDKW1]

I think he was joking about annual inspections like an airplane gets.......

Are you still going to french the lights into the leading edge? Will that tube be staying there?

Looking good!

[baja-chris]

Gave up on idea of frenching the lights into leading edge of wing. That tube is staying there. It will back up the skin as it gets whacked by branches. Also gave up on the idea of having the lights pop out of the wing, I'm using LED bars and would have to compromise wing strength plus add serious complexity to have lights pop out. Plan is to just mount the LED bars under (or above?) wing. Will get driver seat in there with tall driver and see if there is room for LED bar under the wing without hurting outward visibility. I bought two 30" ONX bars. I think if they won't fit under the wing, then I'll move them to the front of the car. The headlamp openings have four 6" HID's in them.

[BDKW1]

I think mounting them over/under would really fuck up the look of the wing. High mounted lights are only useful when there is little dust and high-speed. Bumper is useful way more of the time.

[baja-chris]

Got our SCORE inspection tag today. Asked about the wing blocking access for future annual cage inspections and was told our plan to have a removable top panel would be fine, the rest of it can be rivets.
Also took another look at light bar mounting, and I think we will put both 30" bars up front, stacked one above the other. Since we have not yet made bumpers, will design the front bumper with this in mind.

[SteveG]

I haven't kept up with SCORE's changes. How is the new tech guy?

[baja-chris]

New tech guys are just fine. There are two of them, Jake Velasco based in San Diego and Art Saverda based in Vegas. They have tough jobs and are very busy.

[ESHALLBETTER]

Loving the wing. How about some full body pics of the thing? Did I miss them somewhere?

[baja-chris]

Still need to fab rear fenders. The other pieces of the body are going out for final body work and paint. It won't all come together until it's painted.

[baja-chris]

Finished up the main wing structure with the exterior ribs and end plates. Now just need to finish welding ribs to cage, paint the ribs, and then skin it. The adjustable aileron will fit behind it in between the rear cage down tubes. Not sure if i'll get to the aileron before the Baja 1000.

[baja-chris]

Started on the rear fenders. The EB rear fenders were made from two pieces, upper and lower, and spot welded together. We drilled out the spot welds to divorce the lower metal and are replacing it with new "uncut" metal. I think we can make it work with "uncut" fenders. We started by mounting the rear fender structure on some heavy duty supports off the back of the frame, strong enough to jump on. Added some diagonal supports so the fenders don't shake and crack. Will need to fill in the gap at the front of the uppers with some new metal, either from another fender or hand shaped as we did for the front fenders and dual headlamp fills. For the lowers, I think we will widen the wheel well opening at the wheel center line then fill the gaps. I like the look and body lines on the uncut fenders. In the pictures the rear end is at full bump. It's a foot lower at ride height so the top of the tire is even with the bottom of the uncut fender. Will look great if we can make it work.

[yikes]

Oh, I'm diggin the uncut look. That is going to be bitchen!

[ESHALLBETTER]

Oh, I'm diggin the uncut look. That is going to be bitchen!

OH YES!!!!

[cs_drums]

I freaking love this thing!! Classic and inovative all rapped up into a ball of awesomeness haha

[tcm glx]

Chris,
Is the plan still to race the Mil? Can not wait to see it in person if so!

[baja-chris]

Yes, we are entered.