I went to V8TV to see the progress on Lou's Change today. While I was there, Kevin asked me if I would like to go along on a shake down run of the car they are taking to SEMA this year.

The car is called S71. It's a 1971 Cutlass S. It is beautiful. The quality of the build is excellent. The color really pops in the sun. At first glance, it looks like a really nicely restored car with a stockish interior and nice wheels. Closer inspection starts to realize goodies like big brake rotors and other tell tale signs of serious performance. Raisng the hood reveals a huge 75mm turbocharger and a humonguloid intercooler hidden behind the grill.

Out of respect for all the things I know Kevin is trying to get done before he leaves for SEMA, I was reluctant to accept his offer to go along but with a little coaxing from Kevin and Trevor I let the voice inside me that was saying HECK YES!! prevail. Boy am I glad I did. That car is simply amazing.

We idled away and down the road waiting for things to properly warm up. The car drives and rides like any perfectly restored 71 Cutlass S. No squeeks, no rattles, not too loud and not too quiet. You could ride in this car all day no problem. Hearing each other talk was easy even with the windows down.

Eventually we got to a rarely used country road that Kevin uses for his shake down runs. All the gauges were saying everything was ready for lift off and up to operating temperature.

He told me that around the next bend there would be a long straight stretch and he would show me how the car accelerates.......

Oh My Gosh!!

That car is Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde!

When he first put his foot in it the car started to accelerate as you would expect but then the "expected" acceleration turned into unbelievable acceleration.

I don't know how to explain it exactly. I have a C6Z06 that accelerates with authority but this thing is very different. I would have to say the acceleration is more exponential than linear.

First you feel your back pushed against the seat. Then you can feel the seat being progressively compressed more and more as it just keeps pulling harder and harder. Things in your peripheal vision speed up and you get a kind of tunnel vision as they become more of a blur.

The long straight away was soon behind us and when Kevin lifted his foot the wastegate dumped its load making a very cool noise that sounded like surface to air missles launching.

Two words describe it: IN SANE! :bow:

I can't imagine how cool it is going to be for the owner of that car to literally blow someone in the weeds and when the job is done the wastegate will telegraph that "I'm done embarrasing you now" signal.

I now better understand why you Turbo fans are so into them.

Very Very Cool.

Here's a couple pics of that bad boy. For those of you lucky enough to be going to SEMA, I think it will be parked outside at the MagnaFlow display.

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3c28b6b6.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps08be4449.jpg

Getting back to Lou's Change, I'm happy to report we've officially turned the corner and the body shell is now "coming back" vs. being disassembled and cut up.

I know I've said it before but I really appreciate the fact that V8TV does all this work with the shell welded to their jig so things will all be nice and square when its done.

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...psf0c7b754.jpg

Nick removed the inner and outer dash along with the upper firewall for replacement.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...9.21.12_55.JPG

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...9.21.12_57.JPG

The lower firewall flange was still in good condition.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...9.21.12_61.JPG

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...9.24.12_04.JPG

New dash and upper fire wall installed. A little more dolly work will make it all better than new.

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps09a71bc0.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...pscb8832d7.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...psb4118d4c.jpg


The floors have also been repaired and look good. The trans tunnel mods are already done in order to clear the Magnum T56.

Since the repairs in the floor are all butt welds, a little more weld clean up and dolly work will make the repairs virtually undetectable.

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...ps99a5c1fa.jpg

Looking good Lou.

Not sure how i missed this thread - Great looking project and it couldn't be in better hands.

The 2012 Camaro base steel wheels with stock tires have worked fine to clear the DSE spindles Wilwood brakes during mock up so far but once the front sheetmetal goes back on they will be too big to fit in the fender wells. We will need to find lower profile tires or something else once the front fenders go back on.

Looks great guys

The metal work continues. It's getting exciting to see the car come back and starting to resemble a Camaro again..

Nick has been busy. After he installed the new dash, cowls and floor repairs he moved to the rear of the car.

The trunk floor, both quarters, minitubs and rear tail panel all need to be replaced. As the work unfolded it became more than obvious that he was thinking many steps ahead when he braced things specifically the way he did. The braces held everything in alignment without getting in his way any more than necessary. I'm sure that's a function of how many of these they have done in the past but it was impressive to see their rhyme and reason reveal itself as the job progressed.

As usual, the V8TV crew takes lots of pictures and video along the way. Here are some pics that show their attention to detail and hopefully offer some guidance to others who decide to take the job on themselves.

First he drilled out the original factory spot welds and removed the trunk floor.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.19.12_22.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.19.12_18.JPG

Of course the body jig is critical to help keep things in alignment but Nick also recorded lots and lots of reference measurements from the old sheetmetal before he removed it.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.19.12_24.JPG


The rear deck drip rail, the frame rails and some of the inner rear tail panel are about all that will be reused from the rear of the car. The rest will be replaced with new metal we ordered from Classic Industries.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.19.12_28.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.19.12_33.JPG

The inner rear tail panel had a rust spot in it at the rear of the driver side frame rail. Nick cut the bad spot out, fabricated a patch and installed it before replacing the trunk floor.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.19.12_44.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.19.12_62.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_026.JPG


I appreciate the way Nick always takes the time to put weldable primer everywhere he can.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_071.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.26.12_05.JPG

The new trunk floor was trial fitted into the car.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_004.JPG

The original spotweld hole locations in the frame rails were marked on the bottom of the trunk floor while it was test fitted in the car.

The trunk floor was then removed and Nick drilled holes where he wanted to plug weld the floor to the frame rails.

When finished, his plug welds will resemble the original factory spot welds.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_057.JPG


Similar preparation was done for the reinstallion of the trunk floor to rear tail pan braces.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_040.JPG


Trunk floor back in for welding this time. You simply can't have too many clamps when doing this kind of job, neither in quantity nor type of clamps.
Notice how Nick took the time to use wood shims so his clamps wouldn't mar the trunk floor.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_081.JPG


Floor trunk in. Coming next, the DSE minitubs and quarters...

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_094.JPG

You are going at it hard it seems. Thanks for lots of pics. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Keep em coming Lou! Lookin good!:cheers:

UP next, installation of the DSE minitubs and outer wheel houses.

First Nick used tape to mark the areas that needed to be cut out of the stock floor and frame rails for the DSE minitubs.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s....20.12_096.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.21.12_04.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.21.12_10.JPG

You can see here that to clear the minitubs, the frame rail needs to be notched as shown on both sides. That "window" in the frame gets reinforced and welded closed before the mini tub goes in.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.21.12_07.JPG


A little trial fitting of the minitub confirms that the layout for cutting was on the money.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.21.12_15.JPG

Next he cut out some material to reinforce and close off the frame rails where they were notched to clear the mini tubs.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.26.12_36.JPG

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.26.12_49.JPG


This area also needed to be reinforced and closed back up so Nick made a piece to fill it all in nice.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.26.12_54.JPG


Nick drilled holes to allow plug welding the patch to the sheet metal flange behind it.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.26.12_55.JPG


Lots of trial fitting both in and out of the car.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.26.12_12.JPG


http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.21.12_34.JPG


During mock up and fitment the parts were marked so holes could be punched for plug welding in the appropriate areas. Not sure, but I'm suspicious the smiley face may have been compliments of Kelle.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.27.12_29.JPG


Starting to look like wheel wells again..

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.27.12_27.JPG


Next the wheel well brackets all needed to be massaged and welded back in to the body reinforcement.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.28.12_04.JPG


Nick decided to make his own brackets that tie the minitub structure to the seat back frame on each side.

http://v8tvshow.com/1969_Camaro_LC/s...1.28.12_35.JPG

Next up, the quarters and fitment of the rear tail pan....