Are the CF goodies covered in paint?

Looking good. Progress is coming rather quickly.:thumbsup:

Thanks Rodger! If I order in the next five minutes will I receive and additional box of the Game Enhancement Collection free of charge? Also, if you are any indication of how well the Tall Dark and Handsome Spray works, I'm not sure I need as much as you took. You're so tall you're probably the closest thing Bakersfield has to a monument. I don't need to be that tall.

Matt

Yes, most everything except the inner fenders are painted.

Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but for those of you with Anvil parts, it's a good idea to heat the parts to 200ish degrees (while not under any stress) for several hours if possible to allow for "post curing" as Tyler said. This is supposed to keep the carbon weave from coming up and being visible after the part is painted.

Matt

Got shot in sealer tonight.. tomorrow it gets paint :)

:thumbsup:

http://i53.tinypic.com/2ytqvlw.jpg

Today at Best of Show the car got sealed so it will be ready for paint tomorrow :beavis:

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop097.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop098.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop099.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop100.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop101.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop103.jpg

Matt

Better than new buddy! :woot:

Very cool. Great progress!

Do you guys have to sand the sealer or can you spray it the next day without any scuffing?

Awesome! Getting closer everyday!:thumbsup: :cheers:

I'm not sure, I'll be sure to ask though.

And of course, you're daily dose of pictures:
We got the engine back from Turnkey today. The new heads should breath better and wake the LS2 up a little. Hopefully now I'm making more power than Steve loses from the crank to the wheels with that 461:lol:
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop105.jpg

Major turning point in the rebuild, the car got painted today!
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop107.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop108.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop110.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop111.jpg

There is a light at the end of the tunnel for the hood too. It got primed today, and everything is looking pretty good on it. I'm guessing (and hoping) it will be ready for paint in the not too distant future.
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop115.jpg

Now we just need our wheels from Forgeline. I think Speedway is just about done with the full floater, so I need to get that as soon as possible so that we can figure out how to mount the rear brakes. I forgot to mention anything sooner, but Wilwood stepped up and cut us a killer deal on brakes. I'll post up on those as soon as I can get over to the shop.

Matt

It looks sweet Matt. Glad to see this is working out to be even better then before.

Matt - if you plan on driving up to Speedway PM me and let me know. I'll meet you there! It'll be awesome to see that floater before it goes in the car...

Gaps = Pass
Gigantic front wheels and tires = Pass
Paint = Pass
Tall Dark Handome Spray = Pass

Well done my friend. Stay Thirsty.

Doug

:rofl: She's looking sweet, you do realize SEMA is in 2 weeks?:unibrow:

Will do Ron. Monday might be the soonest I can get it though.

Doug, I'm honored you gave the gaps a passing grade. Would you sign the door jam right inside of the gap. It would mean a lot to me. I am willing to pay whatever the going rate is that Carroll Shelby charges to autograph stuff.

Todd SEMA is actually in something like 17 days, so you have 17 days to get that bitchin' sounding boat anchor ready. But hey, who's counting the days.

Matt

Looks awesome Matt! I really like that hood. Can't wait to see it painted and on the car. Very nice.:thumbsup:

Hood looks very nice.....as does the rest of the car obviously, but that's a standout feature IMO

Well, I spent way too many hours driving around southern California yesterday, but by 10:30 I was back home with a Speedway Engineering full floater. The quality and workmanship of this thing are nothing short of spectacular. Frank at Speedway is the man. In case it isn't clear in the photos, I think he has had a little practice welding. Apparently it only took him three hours to put the quadralink brackets on the axle housing.

The grand total for the floater with everything including the labor for the brackets came out to roughly $1,700. I don't think the cost is actually that much more than what my old 9" with Moser axles, etc. cost from DSE.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSC_0702-1.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSC_0701-1.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSC_0708-1.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSC_0715-1.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSC_0716-1.jpg

The guys have been grinding away and making progress on the car. You might notice a couple little changes going on in the engine compartment.
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop120.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSC_0719-1.jpg

I've also got to ask which wheels look better...
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/DSC_0725.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...SA/shop118.jpg

Matt

Floater looks good matt.. how are you going to mount a caliper on the ends? I don't see one welded on the tube ends..

Man, this thing is coming together so quick.

and I just cant keep track of all the wheels going on it! :woot:

Purple is the new grey.

Wheel nimber two (Steve's new wheels. Matt are those down bars from a supplier or something that you had bent up??

Love the hood:thumbsup:

They are yet more parts being "borrowed" from me.. lol

They are Chris Alston Chassisworks "Gemini bars" from my track rat project..

I guess the whole "you give a mouse a cookie" deal is factual ;)

I don't see the "Gemini Bars" on there web site, how can I get a pair?

Hey guys, like Steve said, those bars are from Chassisworks. I think you'll have to call them though. I didn't have any success finding them online either. I'll get you the part numbers tonight.

Steve, what can I say, you left town with the cookie jar open...

Cris G, as far as the caliper, and the floater, it looks like we're going to have to have a bracket made and weld that up.

Matt

Matt, I like the second set of wheels better...course they are Rupp's new wheels.:_paranoid
Incidentally, those welds on the rear housing are incredible whoever did that work.

Matt- You should have let me know sooner about this rear end project..

The caliper brackets should be welded by Speedway so that they have it in their jig to keep tubes straight.. No matter what bracket you come up with.. I would recomend they weld it up.. Are you running a parking brake? What caliper are you using? rotor diameter?

Speedway has a weld on caliper bracket for 12.19 rotor for a Superlite.. If you need to bigger on rotor diameter you are going to have to sketch one up.. I have the bracket for the parking brake assembly that will go from 12.19 to 14.25 rotor diameter.. I would have machined an extra set up for you!!

Get ready to do some more running around this coming week!

I just remembered another thing... Assemble your hub & fit it on the wheel.. You want to make sure that it will fit over the center bore hole on the wheel.. I am going to have Frank machine the drive flange to fit snug to bore hole on the wheel so that it keeps the wheel running concentric & you dont rely on the wheel studs to keep the wheel centered to the hub..

Hey Matt - Love the changes under the hood - masters look killer, shock resevoirs (sp?) mounted to the down bars (nice!)! and did I notice new brakes too? Haha, course you did!

Did you go w the Chro-mo down bars? The floater welds look killer. It's also nice having Chris watch out for us, huh? Thanks for paving the way you guys...

Wait, Matt, no Carbon Fiber hood anymore? I mean, why? The CF detail on the hood looked great, it made the car more awesome than it was already! Well, I bet you have something in mind.

Matt, where can I get a set of these hood vents made? Are the premade and just cut in and weld or what? Or is this strictly a custom job?

The hood was done by Precision Metalcrafters.. it's a custom "one off" deal on an aluminum hood.

The problem is that the alum is so thin that it was a biatch to do withou warping.. would be better off with a steel hood.

The alum is nice for weight.. not so much for welding on.

My understanding is that they are an option with the CA subframe. BOS made a custom firewall bracket that lined up everything for the DSE subframe.

Thanks Steve, yeah I have an original steel cowl hood that I wanted to fab up some kind of vents like this one.

They are not on the website and you can buy them 'ala carte'. Just call them up and ask for the parts. They come in 120 DOM and Chro-Mo. IIRC, the DOM's are in the $300 range plus shipping...

Speaking with a number of guys smarter than me, without A piller cage down bars all I would be doing by installing these is adding weight and flexing the firewall. I know BOS and JCG Chris made some really awesome brackets for the down bar firewall mounts, but I've decided to wait until they get mounted and tested before doing any downbars.

(edit: credit here goes to AME Matt and RideTech; both said the same thing. I am wondering if the Hotchkis version does any better?)

Having said that, they do look hardcore and I'd love to find a reason to buy them...

Ron, I think you're pretty much right on with everything you said. I seem to remember the '69 DSE test car having the bars (I could be wrong) and don't recall it having a full cage. I'm hoping that with solid bushings along with subframe connectors and everything else, the body will be rigid enough that the bars will be mostly cosmetic. I'm sure it is going to sound very "show-touring" of me, but the major reason for the bars was to serve as mounts for the shock and brake/clutch reservoirs although the brake/clutch ones ended up on the firewall. I think they should fulfill that purpose, without hurting anything (they work ok for Hotckis, right?) and I'm not too worried about a couple pounds over the front. I set out to build an enjoyable driver's car that can eat up highway miles, and make a mediocre driver like myself have fun out on the track.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure Brett with the champaign/gray '67 Camaro convertible that's been running around socal lately added frame to firewall bars to support his Martz clip with what I'd call very good results. In his case, I'd guess the bars made a big difference and his firewall has proved to be up to the task of holding them.

Cris, I would have called you, but I thought the Wilwood guys were on the same page with you regarding brakes for the floater. Oh well, live and learn. I'll give you a call Monday and see what you're up to. I've got W4As coming for the rear and haven't given too much thought to a parking brake. Also, I'll check tomorrow to see how the drive plates fit to the wheel center holes. They should be cut to the same exact size, but I'll double check.

Matt

Hey Matt - I know you and I are solid and much respect to you and your build; you know I freakin LOVE your car, so nothing meant toward you by commnets above. Your car is built right and by the right shop for your exact/intended purpose! A couple more notes on this subject - first off, these bars don't hurt and will have some measurable effect even if you're not able to raise the entire front end without any noticable flex on the front end. Being an enthusiast not an engineer I spoke to guys that knew more about this stuff and will contiune to do so. I also ran into TCI Sal yesterday in Pomona and we spoke about this exact issue before I posted this last night (BTW, Sal does not run a cage in his red Camaro and feels it's fine for track purposes - so there you go! A direct quote, "We're out to prove you don't need 'em." Last I checked, his car runs some pretty respectable times :lol: ). I took a hard run at this issue and made a decision that was right for me. What you're doing is perfect for your intended purpose. If I didn't have so many other priorities at this point of my build (and more $$$) I might much have sketched a design for a cage set up under the interior firewall to mount these to. I think Unibody car's subframes can only flex from the stresses of 1+G's in a hard corner and we spend so much money trying to figure out how to not do that. For me with kids the only answer is to not fully cage the car (yet). And just so you know, earlier in design I was trying to get RideTech to make me a set of stainless Tigercage firewall downbars and they talked me out of it - now who's show touring? Haha..

Cheers Matt. See you @ SEMA...:cheers:

Very nice Matt! She's coming along.
Keep up the great work.:thumbsup:

I feel the down bars are a good idea but only if it's tied into the structure of the car. I've felt cowl flex in my car but don't feel bolting them to the firewall is anything but cosmetic.