Building a NASA NP01 Prototype the Right Way with StopTech! Part 2
Ever since we laid eyes on the conceptual drawings and parts of the NASA/Elan NP01 at the PRI Show 2 years ago, we have been enamored by it. Since we have loved the exotic cars in the various Prototype classes throughout history, we saw the NP01 as the affordable Prototype anyone could own. The fact that it looks like a contemporary P class car seals the deal!
The NP01 can be bought as a complete running car or as a kit. In kit form, it is assumed that the people assembling it have a pretty high level of competence. There are no instructions and the car comes as two big crates full of parts.
You could just slap the kit together and go racing or you could prep the car like a motorsports professional and take your time and take care of the details to build a car that is more durable, easier to work on and more reliable in the long run.
Check out our continuing coverage of the right way to build an NP01 with the guys from StopTech as they have taken over the palatial MotoIQ Megashop to build as ultimate of a spec racer as the rules will allow!
Check out our driving impressions of the NP01 press car.
To read about how the build of our car started check this out!
Part two of putting it all together look at this!
Part Three is here!
When we last left off the powertrain was installed in the chassis as well as most of the interior stuff in the driver’s compartment. The boxes of parts are starting to look like something now!
Next, the left side floor was installed so the heat exchanger unit could be installed.The heat exchanger cools the coolant and has a water to oil cooler for the engine oil. A duct feeds air from the side pod through the heat exchanger. The floor is made of a marine-grade plywood with a laminated non-porous skin on both sides to make it oil resistant.
The wire harness goes from the driver’s compartment through the outside to the rear part of the car via these mil-spec connectors.The StopTech crew invested in upgrading the basic wire harness that comes with the kit to one using mil-spec components. In our opinion, this is money well spent because the majority of race car failures are caused by plumbing and wiring issues in our experience. Making the wiring as easy to maintain and as goof-resistant as possible will go a long way towards increasing reliability.
The breather for the dry sump system is installed.
