12/29/11 The last major accomplishment for the year - the Stiletto is now sitting on its wheels. Still a lot of work to do before it's drivable even as a bare frame but this is the first time it really looks like a car and one can get a sense for its proportions. Keep in mind that's 430hp sitting there. I like it.

Having the Stiletto off the table means the first D2 frame weld will start shortly. 2012 is going to be a fun year!

Oh, and if you haven't yet, check out the cool article eGarage.com did on the D4.

10/30/12 While not a whole lot has been happening on the Stiletto front (the car is still waiting for much-delayed bodywork) we do occasionally make additional progress on it when time permits. There have been many small steps like that.

The custom aluminum driveshaft is here and installed. At the same time the center tunnel was redone at customer request to make it lower.

The side rails will get cut away and lowered too, but I'm waiting for the body to show up so we can make sure the dimensions will match.

Other bits include the steering column, radiator, additional exhaust progress and so on.

The steering wheel is quite different from our regular practices :) It does have an electronic paddle shift that operates the automatic transmission. Nothing like a race sequential setup but it will be a lot more pleasant around town! Horses for courses, as they say.

Of course through our philosophy of shared technologies quite a bit of the work being done on the D2 also applies directly to the Stiletto. From billet pedal set (minus the clutch in this case) to everything needed to make the LS3 engine run.

Hopefully the updates on this blog will be more frequent going forward. I'm eager to get this car done and driving!

01/05/13 The body is here so after removing most of the tubes on the sides of the chassis we test-fitted it. Fits quite well actually. New tubes will be fabricated and welded lower on the chassis to clear the bottoms of doors.

In the pictures the ground clearance is around 7". The actual car will be 2-2.5" lower than that.

We still have lots of work ahead. Besides making and installing new chassis tubes we have to trim the body for the suspension to pass through it, figure out mounting scheme and install the doors whenever they show up. Then there's the interior, wiring, exhaust, intake... quite a list still. The windshield may change also. But all in all we're now that much closer.

07/17/13 One good thing about working on multiple projects is that if delays or backorders occur on one and we're waiting for parts or other things, we can work on others. The Stiletto has been waiting on many things but now we have them all and the ball is in our court. Coincidentally, the D2 assembly process is waiting on a few parts now so while I continue on D2 bodywork Tristan has been moving the Stiletto forward.

The first immediate item is to mount the bodywork and trim it so that the suspension can be mounted. We also need to figure out door hinges and latches which won't be trivial due to the challenging combination of shapes.

You will also note the black tape on the windshield frame in the picture above. The windshield was kind of created by a vendor out of thin air without checking with anyone and Al is really not fond of it. Nor am I, honestly. A shame because a fair bit of work obviously went into creating the shape, the mold and the part. A reminder of the importance of communication. So the next item was to cut the frame and figure out what the proper shape will be. It does change the look of the car a lot. For the better.

By themselves the back wheels are enormous (295/45-20) but mounted on the car they actually look smallish somehow.

So now the bodywork is actually mounted and the car is properly on wheels again. Door hinges and cutting the actual windshield (coated polycarbonate for now) are next. Then everything comes apart for finish welding, powdercoat and the like. And yes, somewhere in there are still exhaust, steering, wiring, interior and so on. We do have most of those parts onhand. It's moving forward and there should be a good deal of progress in the coming weeks.