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Author Topic: Kelmark XR-2 Project  (Read 47728 times)

Surfnut

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #30 on: March 25, 2013, 02:07:00 PM »

Front end roughly located :

 

 

In the process of lining up the rear wheels (which I already aligned to the rear subframe) to the front wheels.  Two days of measuring and adjusting allowed me to get the front wheels square to the rear wheels and the overall wheelbase dead nuts to where I wanted it.

 

 

 

 
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Surfnut

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #31 on: March 25, 2013, 02:10:00 PM »

First attempt at cleaning up and mounting the extremely cut-down wiring harness (the plywood is temporary) :

 

 

Does anyone know what this thing is and what it does?

 

 

 
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Gostlrs

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #32 on: March 25, 2013, 04:04:00 PM »

Is it one of the ABS Sensors?
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2015 Chrysler 300
1990 240sx (SR20DET Swapped)
1992 240sx Convertible

Surfnut

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #33 on: March 27, 2013, 12:19:00 PM »

I don't think my '91 XR-2 had ABS.  I'm 99% sure but I can't recall.
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azgtx

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #34 on: March 27, 2013, 02:27:00 PM »

That is the knock controller for the ecu and distributor
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Surfnut

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #35 on: March 28, 2013, 12:23:00 AM »

Ahhh!  So don't cut it out of the wiring harness~

I'll find a nice place to hide it.  Thank you very much!


Dave
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Surfnut

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #36 on: April 07, 2013, 01:26:00 AM »

Quick update:

After much consideration, I concluded that I needed to redo my rear suspension.  I've trashed the '96 GMC Jimmy front spindles and hubs that I was using and am now planning on playing with '95 Mercury Cougar XR7 (same as T-Bird) rear knuckles.
 
The Cougar knuckles will allow me more suspension travel and no bumpsteer issues.  Additionally, Cougars have a rear caliper E-brake system so I won't have to screw around trying to fabricate some kind of custom E-brake.

I hope to still use the pushrod/cantilever spring system but at the least, it'll have to be reworked.  
All this equals much more time  :-(

To make matters much, much worse, my 18 month old niece has to have open heart surgery and we'll all be concentrating our efforts on her and her recovery so I probably won't be doing much or updating anytime soon.

But I will be back and I'll post again when I have something interesting to report.
Stay well Capri brothers.

Dave
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Gostlrs

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Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #37 on: April 07, 2013, 11:40:00 AM »

Good Luck....
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1992 240sx Convertible

Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #38 on: February 11, 2014, 01:11:22 PM »

Hi Guys,


Long time no updates.....I hope you all have been well and have had good luck keeping your beautiful Capris on the roads.

Since the good moderators here were kind enough to move my build thread to the snazzy new forum, I thought that the least I could do would be to update it!


The build is still on (and ongoing) but there have been a number of changes.  First and foremost, my lovely neice had her open-heart surgery, survived it and her heart has apparently healed almost completely so thanks very much to all those who sent good thoughts her way.  Your good vibes were MUCH appreciated.

Secondly, I've changed cars.  I came out of the grocery store one day and a guy was walking around my Kelmark.  He said, "I've got one of these!  But it's a bit different than this one..."
After much conversation, I concluded he did not have Kelmark (like mine), he had a much rarer "Karma GT."

He also told me that after 20+ years of storage, he'd like to sell it.  We went to his house, spent 1/2 an hour digging the car out and this is the first view I got of it :




We struck a deal and the next day my old dad showed up with his trusty tow dolly and :
 




Believe it or not, the Karma was less than 2 miles from my house.  I'll bet I passed by that car 100 or more times over the years and never even knew it was there!

The Karma was in need of a total redo.  The engine was seized, brake master cylinder was completely empty (it had 4 wheel drum brakes anyway) and he told me that he'd slid under the back of a transport one time, cracked the front fender and had it repaired.  They did a decent job repairing the damage but there's a lot more work left to do to fix the accident damage.

I quickly concluded that the Karma was the PERFECT candidate for my in-progress frame so I decided to ditch ripping my Kelmark apart and focus on the Karma instead.  When the Karma's finished, I'll sell the Kelmark.

Here's how it looked the day I brought it home :



I had to winch it into the garage :










Time to get to work.


I pulled the doors and hatches off in an effort to decrease the body's weight as much as possible:




After I gutted the interior, I made up these steel braces to tie the "A" pillars to the "B" pillars :











I reinforced the garage ceiling and set up a pulley system with steel cables and a 12 volt powered electric winch :







Undo a zillion bolts and separate the body from the chassis :















Old Chassis :




Bare body on the lift :






Here's the rear subframe I'd already made (with the XR-2 drive train in place)




I had to do some cutting to make room for the XR-2 drive train :








This is the piece I cut out:




I lowered the body :








And here's how it all sits in the Karma :





Kind of messy but for a first time fit, it'll do!

I got some snazzy new wheels and popped them into place to see how they'd look :











From there I started building my new rear control arms using the Cougar / T-Bird knuckles but those pix have to wait 'cause I have to get myself to work!

Obviously,there's still a ton of work to do but I just wanted to update everybody on what's going on.  These pix bring us up to July of 2013.  I'll post more pictures of what I've done since then. 
I just didn't want you to think I'd given up!

Thanks again for moving my build thread to the new forum.

Dave
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Rocketman

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #39 on: February 11, 2014, 10:18:52 PM »

Dave,

Boy what an update! You've been quite busy.

Looks great. So new chassis, new body? What was the original motor in these things?

Can't wait to see this thing running.
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Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #40 on: February 12, 2014, 01:09:33 AM »

Hi Rocket,

It's nice to hear from you.  I hope you've been keeping well.

I had to do so much trimming on the frame I had already built that I was only able to salvage about 1/2 of it for the Karma.  The rest of it was modified to fit.

The Karma is VERY crooked - the underneath of the car isn't straight and every wheel well is shaped and sized differently.  I had to do a lot of tweaking to get the body to sit right on my new frame and it still isn't "right"....kinda more like a bunch of happy mediums!

Through plenty of internet digging, I've found that the first Karma GT was a heavily modified Kelmark GT.  While they are extremely similar, they are definitely different animals.  Here are some side by side comparison shots :



























As far as I know, all Karma GT's were true kit cars.  They were specifically designed to sit on VW Beetle floor pans.  Kelmarks were also designed to sit on Beetle pans but Kelmark Engineering sold turnkey cars (mine is one of them) as well as Kelmarks built on V8 powered mid engine frames.  (Many of which used a VW front beam!)  So to answer your question, the "original" motor in Karmas and most Kelmarks was most likely an air cooled VW engine.  I know there are a bunch of guys with built VW engines in the 150+ hp range, a couple of guys with 911 six cylinders and a couple of guys with Subaru engines.  All of those engines fit nicely into the Karma and Kelmark's rear engine bay.  There are a bunch with 6 cylinder Corvair engines too.  They're nice because they'll put out 180 horse and weigh only 30 lbs more than a VW 4 cylinder.

The Kelmark body is far superior to the Karma body.  It's tougher, stronger, straighter, and finished to a much higher standard BUT, the Karma body is lighter.  I weighed my Karma body - with doors, all glass and trunk lids, the entire body is only 466 pounds.  The XR-2 drive train is 449 lbs.  With luck, this whole thing will be less than 2000 lbs ready to run.   8)
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Rocketman

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #41 on: February 12, 2014, 11:57:07 AM »

I would take either one, they both look cool as hell!

So you're going to sell the kelmark now? No plans to finish it?

Tossing a Subaru STi engine in there with the right transmission/adapter plate & you have a 300hp monster, that would be a lot of fun!

Waiting for it to warm up here. I have a lot of work to do on my cars, heh.
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Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #42 on: February 12, 2014, 12:19:27 PM »

It's been terribly cold here too. 



I know the picture's blurry but it says, "-11 F".  That was the temperature of the lift one day when I was working.  I have to wear two pairs of gloves, two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, ski masks, insulated coveralls etc...  I've really been suffering out in the garage this winter but thank God I HAVE a garage!  It may be cold but at least there's no wind - that makes a big difference.

My Kelmark is a finished, drive-anywhere car.  I can't really store / license / insure two vehicles that are almost the same.  I don't have the room or the disposable income for that luxury.

I really do love that Kelmark but I'm building the Karma to MY specifications for ME.  In this configuration it might not be right for a lot of people but if all goes well, it'll be really right for me.
Once the Karma's done and finished (two different things!!), I'll have to kiss the Kelmark goodbye.  It's made 2 trips to Pennsylvania at better than 35 mpg and been a very reliable, very enjoyable car for better than 5 years but unfortunately all good things must come to an end at some point. 

I still want to meet up with everybody at your yearly Capri gathering - but I want to do it in a Capri-powered car!

I know a lot of guys are running those Subie engines and everybody I've talked to is CRAZY about the power and performance.  Pulling the air-cooled VW and going to a flat Subaru is definitely the way to go!
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Rocketman

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #43 on: February 12, 2014, 12:23:58 PM »

Would love to have you down here for one of the meets. You should come down capri-power or not. Do you still have one of your capris? I thought you had an N/A too

Lucky you have a garage! I have a small shop I rent that's big enough for some of my machines and equipment, but not for a car. Boo.
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luvit

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #44 on: February 12, 2014, 06:23:54 PM »

i saw this thread on my phone.. i didn't know what i was looking at, but it was awesome.
i dig your projects!
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omgimluvit
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