big surprise, more rust repair
 

Looks like I'm overdue for an update. I finished up the inner cowl, and moved on to starting the DSE rear suspension install. I'm still waiting for my rear axle, but I have the suspension brackets. I started to make the holes for the upper link brackets and realized I have more patch work to make. Below are some pics of that project, too.

I've about used up my old passenger door skin in making patch panels. Time to get more sheet metal. I'm sure I'll need it somewhere...

After patching the floors, I bolted the brackets on but they are not parallel to one another . One sits .25" forward of the other. (I installed the arms and placed a rod through them and measured them to the front of the car. I get a .25" discrepancy.) I'm going to wait until I get my axle so I can remeasure, confirm the location of the brackets and adjust as needed.

DSE panhard bar cover install- I mean more rust repair
 

Since I'm temporarily on hold for the upper 4 link brackets this weekend I thought I might install the panhard bar cover. I started by removing some of the old trunk floor. That revealed more rust that the chemical dipping didn't catch. Upon more inspection I figured I should split the triangular shaped pocket of metal that I'll otherwise probably never be able to access. Now is the time to get in there and paint it with some rust encapsulator paint. As I split it open I'm glad I made this choice. It's rather crusty in there.

After cleaning it out as best I could and letting it sit overnight with some rust dissolver today I painted it and welded it back shut. After that I measured the location of the panhard cover and placed it. Now, the instructions call out to make a bracket to cover the driver side gap between the frame rail and the cover. they don't supply a bracket here. I thought it would be better to make as much reinforcement with this bracket as possible, so I made a long one that ties into the frame rail and can be plug welded on the side of the rail.

Below are pics of this.

After completion of this part, I had my neighbor weld it as my welder isn't powerful enough to weld these parts together. It fits like a glove. I haven't welded it to the car yet as I want to make sure the passenger side fits properly, too. I'm not happy with how the panhard bracket itself currently fits. It doesn't fit like the instructions state it should. It'll require more trimming, but that will have to wait for another weekend.

Forgot to attach this pic- it's of the interior floor with a coat of rust encapsulator paint on it.

Looking good :thumbsup:

trunk panel fab
 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update. Last weekend I worked more on my friend's firebird than mine, so about all I got done was to fabricate a simple sheet metal patch panel that goes in front of the DSE crossmember.

Since I don't have any fancy metal brakes, etc, I had to make this the old fashioned way- hammer the folds and hammer the compound raised areas. I used my welding tank cover for a nice large radius as well as some square stock and clamps to make my 90º bend. It did stretch the metal a bit so I had to use some weight to level it out.

I went to install said panel on Friday and noticed that my DSE crossmember sits crooked in my car. I discovered it when I was trying to align my panel for tack welding in place. Upon closer inspection I see that the crossmember is assymetrical with approx 3/8" more metal (height) on the passenger side. Now the instructions say this part should sit level, so this must mean the frame rails are not symmetrical from side to side. Strange. I didn't like how the panel sat high to the right (it would become more obvious as I weld my sheet metal trunk panels to it) so I trimmed it to sit level in my car.

baby got back
 

Following the small panel install I decided to start chopping the back of the car off for the trunk floor and tail panel replacement. I made some decent progress, imo, as the tail panel is roughly trimmed and could be tacked in place. I think. Before I do that I want to make sure the inner panel fits and everything looks square. I also need some paint for the inner frame rails. I would use some rust encapsulator and tried to order some, but I was just informed as of Aug 1st the Eastwood co. can no longer sell that to residents in CA. @#$$%!!! I'll keep my political comments to myself. I'll have to see what else I can get in its place.

I used some square stock to brace what's left of the car while I chopped the tail off, and I repaired some of the frame rail ends to reinforce them as they were pretty much rusted away.

Good looking progress :thumbsup: Keep the pics coming :cheers:

Thank you! OK, will add more pics below....

This weekend I worked on welding in the middle trunk panel as well as the tail panel. I did my best to align it, and, of course, the panel only fits so well, so I spent some time revising the weatherstripping channels to make them align again.

I also plan on a little customization to the car, and with that requires the removal of the upper half of the tail light panel. I plan to recess it in an inch or 2. I realize it seems like more work to install it and then rip it apart, but I wanted to make sure the panel was installed and fitted before cutting the panel up. Hopefully I can get it back together again.

oooohhhh yeahhhhhh
 

"doo baum baum. (whisper) chicka chickahhh..."

If you say that right, you'll get it. The pics speak for themselves. This showed up today.

Did you order the rear straight from Moser with the Quadralink brackets installed or did you get this set up by someone else?

Great build!

I ordered this one through Frank at Prodigy Customs

Must be pretty cool to have a good welder in the neighborhood:hail:

Welcome to the board! In my case it's the difference between being able to do this project or not.

Unfortunately, no vehicle progress to report this weekend. Other priorities took over, including my wife's birthday this upcoming week.

Francais
 

It's been a few weeks and I only have a couple of hours of work to show. My project is to recess aka "french" the taillight panel in. Nothing crazy, but I thought it would give a subtle change to the car and it'll allow me to blend in my widened fenders better.

My first part is to build the metal under the trunk lid. I don't want that to just be left hanging, so I need to make something there. The trick is that it can not be too thick as that cuts into the area for the taillight panel.

I started with some solid wire and and made some tabs to help hold it where I wanted it. Then I made some sheet metal strips and attached them onto the top. I ran out of time today so all I did was my first pass of welding.

The next 2 weekends are booked so I don't suspect much progress for another 3 weeks. Rough time of year. It happens.

the trunk transition looks great. can't wait to see it in person.

Brett

stop on by anytime. Plenty of cold beer in the fridge....

Progress on this car is awesome... i am really enjoying following this thread!!! :hail:

Thank you, Luis!

Turns out I had some time this weekend to work on my car a bit. I took a hand at some sheet metal fabrication. I don't have a lot to show, but a lot of it was honing my metalsmithing skills. And, by that, I mean bending metal in ways that I wasn't able to fix and slicing my hands with sharp edges of metal. I'm getting real good at that :)

I did get the base of the recessed panel and one area of the top. Pics are below, it should be enough to get the idea. Of course, I'll be trimming and modifying the bumper once the quarter panels are back on and the overall width of the car is determined (I am widening it a little)

Cool idea with the tail panel, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out :thumbsup:

Nice progress its looking good.

I'm still alive. Just been busy with work, family, etc. Even though I had a "4 day weekend" only today did I have any time to put into my car. Attached are pics of what I did. I wasn't happy with how the panel was coming out. I was getting a negative (concave) dip in the panel in the middle of the car, so I cut it and re welded it. You can see as I placed a ruler along it the "gap" went away.

I also did more welding to it and got it roughed out to where I'm happy with it for now.

I should get more work done this next month, I hope.

Framed
 

OK, these past 2 weekends I've been able to spend one day each on making new frame sections for my car. I will weld these in and it'll give a stronger support for the car.

I started out with single pieces I cut out, but ended up cutting them and rewelding them back together for a much better fit.

I'll have the 17th to the new year off of work and plan to work on my car. I hope to get more progress done during this time. Even my wife is out of town (out of the country, actually) so if I don't get much done I can only blame myself! :)

Nice work its coming out good.

Rear axle locating
 

Thank you, Wayne!

This weekend was very productive! My neighbor Brett helped me locate the rear axle under the car and we have it mocked up in place. Upon measuring, and remesauring we got it pretty square, within 1/16". The welds are tacked in for now, and when the body goes on a rotisserie, then final welds can be done with much more ease.

The upper link brackets needed modification to fit the contour of my frame. I also made a jig to help ensure that the left and right side were square to one another.

The panhard bar isn't on yet, but the mounting bracket for it needed cutting to make it fit.

Engine placement mock up
 

We also started to fit the engine/ trans in the car. My goal is to retain the oem oil pan as well as use the oem brackets if possible. To accomplish this the engine will go back. way back, as well as some trimming to the car. Once again Brett to the rescue with his plasma cutter.

Because part of the firewall will be recessed, I'm thinking it might be cool to make a removable panel inside for access to the back of the engine.

I need to make more cuts to the car, then clean them up. So far it's looking good. clearance for the steering, headers, etc. The trans tunnel will need to be raised a bit to clear the t56 magnum.

The engine mounting still needs to be worked out but should be no problem.

I'll get back out to the garage tomorrow and make more ruckus.

Great updates!
the car is coming along nicely:thumbsup:

framed 3
 

Thank you, Kevin!

This week I've worked on the frame crossmember altercation to make room for the LS engine. There was a little scalping, a little reinforcing, a lot of grinding and trimming, a lot more hammering and pounding and bending and tweaking and adjusting to get it to fit.

My neighbor helped me with this and welded this together for me. My 110 volt welder would not be strong enough to handle this.

After getting this back together it became apparent that the headers won't fit and will need some modification on the driver's side. It's a bummer, too, as they had that coating on them. Oh well. This will give a chance to modify them as needed to clear the engine mounts/ supports.

I also raised the trans tunnel to give more room for the trans. Even with that lift it is still a snug fit up there. I only tacked it in place in case it needs more modification.

Next steps will be to mock up the mounting systems/ brackets, etc and start building them.

Nice work it looks great. The subframe is looking good.

Car looks great

What happened to the early build up pic

Thank you! I've exceeded my allotment of pics I can post onto this website (even though I try to make them low/ web resolution) so in order to post more I have to delete the older ones.

I more or less duplicate this thread over on hotrodders.com. They don't seem to limit the amount of pics I can upload there.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ournalid=20939

Nice work Brendon. I'll stop by soon to see the progress in person.

engine mount mock up
 

Thank you, Brett!

Well, the vacation is all over and I have to go back to work tomorrow. I was able to get a lot done during my break. In addition to Brett helping me locate the rear axle and place the engine in the car I mocked up some tubular bars for the engine mounts and built the revised trans tunnel.

Attached are a couple of pics of the tubular mounts. Now the challenge will be to get these built out of metal.

Once these are done then the two driver side header tubes and be rebuilt, preferably to the back of the mount so the header can possibly be removed without the engine coming out.

firewall build up
 

I spent my available time this past week building the recessed firewall. I decided against making it removable, and I made it intentionally asymmetrical to provide more room for the clutch hoses/ linkage.

I went through 2 sets of cardboard mock ups and ultimately warped the heck out of it by welding it too quickly. I need to be more patient. Lesson learned, I hope. I made a slice to help alleviate some of the warpage, but it'll need more finessing to make it presentable.

I still need to build a cap in the front, as there is a slight overhang of the firewall sheet metal on the top passenger side. I'll box that in.

Looks good Brendon. Let me know if you want help finalizing the engine mounts and header adjustment.

Brett

Starting the Engine mounts
 

Just a quick update- here are some pics of the reinforcing plates I'm making for the frame rails. These will be welded to the frame to help support the load. Following this I hope to work on making the tubes for the engine mounts. Progress will be slow these next few weeks. There's a lot of other family stuff happening.

I also made a panel today to help close off my recessed firewall.

It looks great, nice work.

Thank you!

I didn't think I was going to have any time this weekend to work on the car as there were family plans, but they fell through and I ended up having some time after all. I welded the cap for my recessed firewall on, and, on a whim, decided to see how my center console would fit in the interior. I discovered it didn't fit. Part of the issue is that the console will be moving back some, and, as many of you know, the shape of the console is tapered, so it created gaps along the sides. I had already spliced my console and raised it up a bit, then cut it down the middle to see if widening it would fix it. But then I realized how "hacked" it was looking so I decided to cut the whole thing out and build a new one.

Of course, a project like this would be much quicker and cleaner with a nice metal brake, which I don't have, so I improvised with my floor jack handle, some clamps, lots of groans and grunts.

I haven't finished it yet, but I have it roughly trimmed and starting to tack it in place. After it's in I will build a tapered area in the back to blend it down to the tunnel.

american pie
 

Still alive. Have been really busy with work, family, etc. Had a few hours this weekend (cancelled plans) so I worked on the trans tunnel more. I welded the rest of it in and added some patch panels up front. I also sliced open the rear part along the top to blend into my new tunnel and will need to make a pie shaped patch panel to fill it in. When I do, the tunnel should be level across the top. I took a pic from the side view, you can see the original area is just slightly lower than the new section- this should be corrected when I add the patch in. I hope.

chicken dinner
 

This weekend I was able to build my trans tunnel patch and get the car up on my neighbor's rotisserie. It was quite fascinating to get the car up there and rotate it around. It's amazing how nice it is to be able to work on the underside of the car while not crawling around underneath it through the dolly with only inches of room to move around. It took the greater part of the afternoon to get it all set up. Earlier today I started grinding down some welds and making a couple of small patches that were still needed. I won't be able to work on it next weekend but after that I'll get back to

Great job man:thumbsup: