To be able to get a single vehicle approval in Sweden you have to get i inspected by an organisation called SFRO. They must see you project before you start and after you have finished building it. At the first inspection the inspector notes down the components you are going to use. He checks the quality of the spaceframe, wishbones and other vital components. The SFRO also does a driving test when the kit is finished where they check the manouvrability, brake bias and so on. When the inspector has approved the car you can go to the public car testing instance "Bilprovningen" and have it approved and get your license plate. I called the inspector as soon as I could and after a brief inspection I got the go-ahead to start building the car.
Now I continued unpacking the big parcels and made sure everthing was there and trying to figure out where all parts were supposed to go. I had to start finding all those things which I didn't order from GTD, such as pedalbox, brake calipers, steering wheel, wheels and so on. I've listed the things which I didn't buy from GTD here.

Started slowly to assemble the car bit by bit. I started with the tub, continued with the front and rear aluminium panels. On the photos they appear green because of the protective plastic cover. To get perfect fit I had to trim every panel before screwing them inte place.
The cooling water goes from the engine compartment at the rear to the radiator in the front in nicely bent stainless steel pipes and are joined together with long life hoses. The pipes run outside the tub but inside the fuel tank on the passenger side. Unfortunately the cooling pipes goes through the tub and steel some foot space for the passenger (who cares).

I went on with the roll cage, electrical system, gearshift linkage, brakepipes and hoses etc, and finally it was in a state where it was possible to lower the car from the supports and being amazed over it's low height. When you've been looking at it raised on supports for more than three years you don't reflect on how low it really is! As some of you already knows, the number 40 in GT40 stands for it's height i.e. 40 inches which is approximately one meter. To get it into perspective one can say that one meter from the ground is approximately where the appendix is on a person of normal height.

I assembled it completely. I did everything but starting it, then I took it apart again. I painted the parts which I wont be able to remove later and put it together again with all rubber sealings and everything. When this was finished I started it up and took it for a spin. It was really great. The neighbours were all staring.
This last proceedure may sound a little over the top but I can assure you when all holes are made and all things fit at once it doesn't take very long and it was defenitely worth it.

Read more about the project and see some more photos here.

In the autumn of 2000 I tried to get it registered and approved by the vehicle inspection unit here in Västerås. In September I went there for the first time.
They checked it properly and took the weight. They did not approve it because of three tings. One, I didn't have the proper papers. I had to get an approval saying that it is OK to get a single vehicle approval. Number two was that the roll cage did block the vision. Number three, I had to confirm that the V8 don't give more than 121kW. A vehicle which is going to get a single vehicle approval must not have more than 100kW/1000kg. My car weighed 1210kg and can only have 121kW which is 165hp.

I got the paper regarding the single vehicle approval. I removed the roll cage, I had to remove lots of things from the car to be able to do that. I changed the engine specification to a 1979 Mustang with 100kW. I ordered a new time at the inspection unit.

A month later (November) I was there with the car again. They looked at the paper, they were satisfied whith the vision but they were not happy with my engine. Somehow I must confirm the performance of the engine. They suggested to take it to a dynamometer and so I did.

I went to a Autokinito in (December) where Christos did the measuring. He likes GT40's and is very thorough. Unfortunately the engine misfired badly on maximum power and we had to abort the measuring because we didn't want to damage the engine. Due to this I didn't get a confirmation that the engine gives less than 100kW.

Then the winter and the snow came and I let the poor thing rest.
In the winter I managed to get a complete used 100kW engine from the states. It arrived in Sweden in April and I picked it up in May. I put the in an engine stand and when we turned it upside down we heard a metallic noice in the oil pan. We removed the oil pan and it was a piece of a piston that made the sound. Due to this sound it took another few months and some money before the engine was in shape to be fired up again.

Thursday September 13 was D-day. I took the car to the inspection place again and this time they didn't have one single remark and the mission was completed. A week later the 100kW engine was thrown out and the other one was put in again.

I've got some milage in the car now. It's hot and noisy in the cockpit but it handles beutifully. I've also tried it on the race track and it goes really well. The brakes does not put up to the test. The main objective this winter is to fit bigger front brakes. It wouldn't hurt having a few hundred horsepowers extra.

Read more about my Ford here:

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