FB IMSA GTO/GTU body kits?
 

Hi, does anybody out there know somewhere to buy the "Hart Racing" style IMSA GTU or GTO wide-body kits besides Mazdaspeed, Mariah Motorsports, and HSV snowboards (formerly Hartman fiberglass, they sub-contract all the body panels for Mazdaspeed)? P.S. I am only really interested in the authentic kits, not Black Dragon style kits. Any Info would be greatly appreciated.

try prodbodies.com

Is this something you can get through the Mazda Competition program?




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Yes, here are some pictures from the mazdaspeed catalog I had them send me, HSV snowboards (formerly Hartman Fiberglass) has all the molds and said they could probably make them for cheaper than mazdaspeed wants, but I am just trying to see if there are any other companies out there which may have the same thing for a better price, I have looked into this very closely, infact I talked to Jim Downing and Mandeville Auto Tech personally over the phone to see if they had any molds, but no such luck.

the file I have from Mazda is too large to upload, but here are some pictures I found online, the yellow one is the GTO kit, and the other is a Mark I GTU kit, the MarkII kits have the rear wheel arch extended into the door

I have the molds for what looks like the Mark 1 GTU. They came with a car that I prep for a friend. I can look at them when I get back to Florida(staring at Lake Erie behind my sister's house in Avon Lake, Ohio right now) and see what kind of shape they are in. I only have the fenders and nose though, no wing.

I would like do sumthing like this on mine :nod:

Man, the back half of the GTU looks damn sexy! One of the first widebody kits I've seen that made me say "I want that". :)

I'm interested in buying one of those! I can do the wing myself. I'd like that early GTU look!

GD

I'm also keen on the GTU, have a bunch of pics of that car also back when it was black. Curious how much shipping would be to NZ hmm.

I'll go pull the molds out of storage tomorrow and see what it will take to get them prepped for making parts.

OK, I pulled the molds off the shelf and they are a different body than what is on the car they came with, go figure. They look like the Mariah style fenders and the nose is an integral bumper cover and air dam with big rectangular openings for the brake ducts. The car has what looks like the stuff ISC sold with a nose that covers the front valence and headlight doors.

Sounds interesting

So, Jgrewe, the molds that the guy had are not the same as what was on his car? do you have any pictures of the panels on a car you can post?

The stuff on the car looks like its right off the ISC website which in turn, I think, is their copy of the Mark l body. We had a guy talk to us up at Roebling Road last year that said he remembers the car as Mike's personal car a few years back. My friend bought the car from a guy that never raced it and had lost to logbooks so we kind of don't know its pedigree.

Here are some pics of the body that I had in my laptop. I will probably make molds off these since we like this body for the race car better than the Mariah molds we have. Either one would probably still be around $200 a corner so if you are in a hurry don't wait around to try to save 50% or something like that. I'm glad I figured out the difference in the molds now, I'd hate to have brought the car back from the track damaged to find out the stuff doesn't match!

Looks great!

Still interested.

GD

Are they made to be Dzus'ed on a tube frame or are they intended to be glassed on an existing steel body? I've seen both, just wondering ....
Also , is the nose available also?


Thanks!

GD

Does anybody have more detailed pictures of their kits? The pictures they have are all microscopic, and they used the same pictures for the E-production and GT components.

These are the add-on parts. The rears are riveted on, I think the fronts are bonded onto slivers of stock fenders to bolt them on. I can do the nose too. The car is due for a paint job this winter so I'll be able to smooth things out and make some good molds for the car.

Thanks for being so honest and free with answers. I've done some searches for wheels for this type of kit and haven't found much that wide with the needed bolt pattern. Do you have any good leads on wheels?

Thanks,

Carl

The car runs Diamond's. 15x7 with 0 offset IIRC. The cantilevered slicks for EP are 12 wide when you lay them on their side though. I haven't gotten my hands on any of the new radials to see what they actually measure. From what I hear they are narrower which could lead to some new bodies being built for these older cars.

I found this guy in Canada who has the Mk 1. GTU kit (white car), I talked to him a few months ago and he wasn't sure exactly which kits he has, so he may also have the Mk 2. kit (#92 in black and white picture). and I don't think the kit on the #63 car in the link is still available (Jim Downing told me he destroyed the molds in the early 90's) but I didn't find out for sure, The guy was supposed to call me back and never did.

http://www.showcars-bodyparts.com/rx7.html

I love the front fenders on the GTO 38 Mandeville car!
I havent had any luck finding these for sale. I imagine these were just on Mandevilles car...

Does anyone know where they could be bought?

The IMSA Mk-I style was originally designed by Dave Kent. That is the style that I have on my 1979 IMSA GTU road racer. The last time I had to buy a nose & front fender, I bought it from ISC Racing. The nose piece roughly matches the shape of the 1979 & 1980 SA chassis front bumper.
The IMSA Mk-II style, also called the GTO style, is sold by prodbodies.com
http://prodbodies.com/mazda.html
When the company was called Japco, they posted pictures of the complete car bodies. I don't see any pics on their prodbodies race glass website. I guess you can contact them and ask for pics.

All of these front fiberglas parts require considerable work to mount them onto a car. None of them will just bolt on right out of the box. You will have to make several tabs or brackets to mount the noses in place, and to attach the nose to the front fenders. You will have to make duct work to direct the air from the front nose opening to the radiator. Without proper duct work, most of the air will go under the radiator, not thru it, and your car will overheat in competition. With proper duct work, no fan will be required for wide open operation on a road race track.
Most of the rear fenders were made to be mounted over a modified rear quarter panel.

Mariah also sells this front end for an FC GTO kit. MFR sells this too , It is the Kent body second genII for the FC.

GD