The last RS car is born

[Gus Meyjes]

Provided there will be no hiccups, I'm hoping to present to the world the last RS car produced at the Concourse d'Elegance at the Kohler International Challenge at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
   
   The car is getting it's final coat of paint now and will be in final assembly during the next few weeks.
   
   The car in question was the butt of jokes on this forum in 2008. It did, however,  provoke my curiosity and I decided to contact the seller after the auction ended with no bids.
   
   As it turned out, the car in question was indeed the last RS car produced by AC. In 2004 two cars were produced on original tooling by AC at Frimley: RS 5037 and RS 5038. 5037 was, as I understand it, completed by Steve Grey at AC Heritage for a client. 5038 came to the US to be built as a demonstrator for the start up AC heritage USA division, which was to be headed by Mitch Lampert. He, at that time, owned a restoration facility for vintage WACO aircraft and figured he had the craftsmen in house to build AC's.
   For one reason or another, this did not end up happening and RS 5038 sat in a hangar for some time, until I picked it up there in January of 2009.
   Mitch Lampert put me in touch with Alan Lubinski, whom I had some nice and informative conversations with about the car and he went on to send me official certification of the car and chassis number and sent me a scan of the Ac registry with the number entered. Steve Grey later also confirmed the car's authenticity.
   
   The Cars were to be finished with Triumph 6 cylinder engines for Ac Heritage. This I did not want to do. As 2.6 Zephyr Fords are not as easy to come by on this side of the pond, I decided to take some creative liberty and finish the drive train as the original Cobra prototype, with a Ford 260 V8 with Cross-Ram intake and Weber side drafts, coupled to a 4 speed top loader. The car is therefore similar to the "cutaway" image produced for the first road test of the 260 Cobra as published by Sportscar Graphic, in 1962.(published in Rinsey Mills' book "Original AC Ace and Cobra"
   
   Over the past year I have sourced parts to complete the work, both in the UK as state side. Ron Mack, from RP Mack motorsports in Spring Lake, MI did all of the fabrication, built the engine and assembled the car. It's in it's final stages now, and, as I mentioned earlier, I'm hoping it will be completed very soon.
   
   The car will be finished in a single stage urethane Red from Dupont. A nicely sophisticated darker red. It will have wire wheels with 5 inch rims, painted in body color. Interior will be black carpeting and leather with tan seats. It will have a wrap around perspex windscreen.
   
   Photos will be forthcoming. I would like to write a story about the process with photos for the ACtion magazine as well.
   
   Gus

[Gus Meyjes]

Sorry, The book showing the cutaway picture is "AC Cobra" by Rinsey Mills, not "original AC Ace and Cobra"
   
   Gus

[Mark IV]

Gus,
   
   I saw the pictures from Ron and the car looks stunning!!!
   
   BTW, it is "Lubinsky" not "LubinskI" and if I pronounce it properly I will be banned!

[Gus Meyjes]

Thanks for the kind words! And I apologize!
   
   Gus

[Gus Meyjes]

Some photos from the process of construction:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[Gus Meyjes]

Paint is done. Now it's on to final assembly! Steve Dekkenga www.sdecustomgraphics.com has a phenomenal team of artists. They paint NHRA top fuel dragsters, funny cars hot rods etc. only. He did an outstanding job on the AC. Not a blemish. It's like a mirror. They never came out of the factory this nice in the 60-ies!
   
   
   
   
   

[Gus Meyjes]

The cutaway picture I was talking about.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[Gus Meyjes]

Well,
   I guess if we were working on this for 24 hours straight every day this week, it might have been done. But, unfortunately, it will not be all together before KIC at Road America. And, given the incorrect offset on the wheels, it was not possible at all. Interestingly the frame geometry is 289, however the body is of course considerably narrower. With the 289 geometry suspension, it pushes the narrow 5 inch wheels out too much.  Even though the springs still have a good inch to settle, that is not going to change this fact. These wheels are in fact the exact same I mounted on AEX 674 and they fit perfectly on that car. So I have a new set coming from Dayton Wire Wheel with the correct offset. The spokes will be sitting on the rim more like the red 2.6 Ace (RS 5020) in Rinsey Mills' book.
   The new offset should bring the entire wheel tire tucked into the body of the car. Once the springs have settled it should have a 5 inch clearance from the main tubes to the ground in front and 5.5 in the rear. I'm hoping the springs will settle about 1/2 inch lower than that.
   
   Does anyone have any experience with how much settling can be expected? I'm told it may take between 50-100 miles of driving for the settling to happen. I have a 1/2 inch plate mounted underneath both springs  to lower the ride height just a bit.
   
    Ron did a nice job with the pedal box assembly and the throttle linkage.
   
   So, if anyone is interested in a set of wire wheels that are tubeless, are guaranteed to never need truing and made with all stainless steel spokes, send me an email. They are of course a 42 spline, 72 spokes, 5 inch wide, 15 inch tall with 1.78 inch back spacing and 4.22 front spacing from the from the rear face of the hub.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[dkp_cobra]

Gus,
   
   a real nice project. Which brakes have you used?
   
   Cheers, Peter

[Gus Meyjes]

Funny you should ask that: that's been a real issue. Being that the suspension is 289 and the body is not the 289 width. Therefore I could not use wide(r) wheels. Not that I wanted to, but this gives me limited space. Therefore Cobra comp style brakes don't work, TR3 brakes are too wide and interfere with the spokes. So we settled on Wilwood brakes with a narrower profile.
   
   The car is now very near completion. More Photos to follow soon.
   
   Gus

[dkp_cobra]

quote:Originally posted by Gus Meyjes
   
Funny you should ask that: that's been a real issue. Being that the suspension is 289 and the body is not the 289 width. Therefore I could not use wide(r) wheels. Not that I wanted to, but this gives me limited space. Therefore Cobra comp style brakes don't work, TR3 brakes are too wide and interfere with the spokes. So we settled on Wilwood brakes with a narrower profile.
   
   The car is now very near completion. More Photos to follow soon.
   
   Gus
   

   
   Gus,
   
   which Wilwood caliper did you use? GNX4? What's about the rear brake?
   
   Peter

[aex125]

Gus, I have meant to compliment you on your car since your original post but have not yet so;
   Great looking car and I cannot wait to see the pics of it when completed. I am also curious about what you used on the rear brakes. I have an issue with AEX1078 and maybe what you did would help solve my issue.
   Jay

[Gus Meyjes]

I did not use the GNX4, which is a very period looking caliper by the way. The rotor diameter is too wide in order for the caliper to clear the wheel on my car. However, the uprights and mount points for the caliper are different on the Aceca and Ace then on the 289, so this may still make a difference in your case. I mounted girlings on the front on my Aceca and they fit fine there. I kept the drums on the back on AEX 674. I don't have the wilwood info in front of me here, but I will post the model number I used.
   
   Thanks for the compliments on the car. I hope it will be finished soon!
   
   Gus

[dkp_cobra]

quote:Originally posted by Gus Meyjes
   
I did not use the GNX4, which is a very period looking caliper by the way. The rotor diameter is too wide in order for the caliper to clear the wheel on my car. However, the uprights and mount points for the caliper are different on the Aceca and Ace then on the 289, so this may still make a difference in your case. I mounted girlings on the front on my Aceca and they fit fine there. I kept the drums on the back on AEX 674. I don't have the wilwood info in front of me here, but I will post the model number I used.
   
   Thanks for the compliments on the car. I hope it will be finished soon!
   
   Gus
   

   
   So, you have Girling calipers front, original drum brakes rear and use Wilwood rotors front?

[Gus Meyjes]

On my Aceca I have Girling rotors and calipers on the front and original drums in the rear.
   
   on the Ruddspeed Ace I am mounting wilwood calipers all around. They are the "superlite", a black anodized caliper. I ground off the wilwood lettering. The rotor is 10.5 inch diameter, girling style, solid disc.
   
   
   
   Gus