Today I spent most of the day grinding down spot welds and welding some holes in the engine compartment. I still have some patch work before I can install the new cowl and inner fender. I removed the inner fender core supports as I am gonna bend some new one to check the clearance with the front suspension travel. I mocked up the vintage air unit , I took a piece of 1/8 flat and welded some studs it. The positioned the unit and welded it to the firewall.

I moved the cowl to inner fender supports to gain some tire clearance. The supports are mounted on the inside of the kick panel area and the lower cowl. Moving the suspension up gives me 1" clearance from the tire ,which should be sufficiant.

I carefully cut out the rusted areas in the lower cowl and welded in some patches. I blasted the rest, applied rust bullet, scuffed and then epoxy primer, with weld thru primer at all the seams.

After I punched holes in the new AMD upper cowl and innner fender, I fitted them to the car with only minor tweeking. I will leave the upper hood hinge area unwelded for now till I fit the hood and fenders.I plan on fully welding the seam between the upper cowl and lower cowl and blend it in so it looks like one piece.

John, looks like you're moving right along:thumbsup:

Thanks Stefan, I added a cowl bar today, Made from 1 1/2 DOM tube 1/8 wall . I plan on doing some moderate amount of cornering with it (autocross ect.) I wanted to add some more ridgity to the car. I will be adding a roll bar soon also.

John,
Nice work. Are you running the fender supports into the crossbar? I like the way you ran the crossbar thru to the outside near the hinges. I may steal that idea:unibrow:

I see you clearanced some of the dash structure. Does everything else fit including your AC box? How about the glove box (not that it really matters)?

Thanks-Wes

Hi Wes, I didn't tie the front inner fender supports to the bar for 2 reasons, First ,I would have to cut most of the cowl away to weld around the tube properly (which to me is not worth the time). The other is I would not be able to access the upper door hinge bolts. To answer the other question , the glove box would need to be modified to work. I plan on running a 10 0r 12 point cage in the body and tying it to the cowl bar. More build pictures at http://s1187.photobucket.com/albums/...uring%20Build/

FYI, there's a nice stiffening kit here for those looking for one : stiffening kits
:thumbsup:

Awesome!!,I bought my frame connectors from them,Great service. I made my own stiffening support myself as I wanted to tie into my roll bar. But for someone who doesn't have the time or the tools, those are great!

I added the main roll bar hoop supports today . After creating some patterns fron cardbord I transfered them to 1/8 thick steel plate. The supports trianglate the fram connector , rocker panel and torque boxes.

very cool. so you are planning on using the backseat. Keep up the good work and keep them pictures coming. :woot:

After trimming the main roll bar hoop for height, I proceeded to work on the rear supports. I had to cut through the rear seat area for access, then Notched the rear tubes. I sent them locally to be blasted and epoxy primed. When I get them back I will add a removable rear cross brace and possibly side supports and seat belt mounts then weld it together.

I spent the day drilling out the spot welds on the RH front floor pan and removal ,since this had some major pin holes. I want to keep the pan out as it will make it easier to weld in my supports as I install the motor and trans.

Nice work John! I am following this one closely

Not much to report other than I finished the metal work for the engine compartment for now.Finished welding the inner fender supports. I will be getting the Hemi motor and trans ready for the install into the car.

After changing the oil pan to a rear sump (a center sump won't clear the Alterkation front end) I installed the Flywheel , spec clutch, pressure plate and bellhousing. i need to clearance the belhousing plate slightly to clear one of the bosses on the T56 trans. Then I indexted the bell to the crank than ajusted the CSC cushion ajustment. with everything in spec, I installed the transmission to the engine.

thats some nifty work there

I finished fitting the rear section of the roll bar today( I am waiting on a lift in the shop so I can install the motor) with everything tack welded in for now , I plan on a removable cross bar and front supports. I used 6"X6"X 1/8 plates welded to the rear frame above the coilover support brace.

Motor and trans installed!!!

coming together very good :thumbsup:

Thanks Guys,, I fitted and replaced the passengers side floor board today and started to mock up some parts on the engine.The TTI headers were the wrong ones ,started to run some brake lines.

Just finished my header install and front engine accessory kit.

wow. what's the clearance around that shaft...looks to be a great fit. think i missed the floor update, looks good. :thumbsup:

Checking the fitment of the AMD shaker hood ,looks good only minor tweaks

Finished the transmission tunnel modifications. The tunnel needed to be raised 3 inches and 4 in width to fit the T56 Magnum. I made a plate to mount the Hurst pistol grip shifter. Looks killer.

I added the front cowl to cross bar and mounts . I had to modify the dash frame for them to come through. While I was at it I elinimated the ash tray area in the dash(looks cleaner without it. Next will be laying out my side bars and cross brace. These will have be removable .

Finishing up my Roll cage today, I wanted to make the rear crossbar and side bars removable. After looking at some weld in cage bungs ,I decided to make my own. I was careful not to have the cage interfere with the door panels or front seats. The front bars are angled so they are not intrusive to get in and out of the car. I tacked welded everything for now but will fully weld when it goes on the rotisserie for paint.

Does your shifter hit the dash?

My motor and trans is raised 1.5 inches and when I tried the stock type pistol grip, it hit the dash in 4th gear.... And the shifter was way high.... So I changed to one of the new billet ones for the new camaro

Nice! I like the low door bars, I did the ones like that on my Dart but I bent them down into the torsion bar cross member and welded them in.

The shifter does not hit the dash , but its close. It sit higher than I want. I plan on making a offset mount to move the shifter back 1" and lower it 1 1/2 inches. I will know for sure when I put the seats back in.

I spent the day cutting out the rear valance ,I deleted the rear bumper gaurd area. It makes for a more cleaner look.

Looks to me to be a very AWKWARD shift handle position -- like it's installed backwards.... the angle is just all wrong from the pic....

the shifter handle was installed wrong n a couple pics. Later in other pics its installed correctly.

Yeah guys, I was just playing with the shifter positions and took some pictures with the shifter 180 out. I may decide to make a whole new pistol grip shifter out of aluminum to have the correct height and position. I will address after I get the seats and the steering column back in.

Yeah I tried the stock one and the position just didnt feel right..... so I sent it back and got the "modern" version....better but still will need some tweaking to get it in the right spot.

Media blasted and epoxy primed the fenders , header panel, rear valance panel and dash cage. I added the fish gills to the fender , these patches were attach by SEM panel adhesive

I made a custom bracket to move the shifter back and angled it 20 deg toward the rear. It feels much better.there is no reason to go with a shorter shifter at this point. The factory boot and ring will have to be mounted further to the rear.

i see that you are going with a shaker hood. Are you going to mount the shaker bubble to the hood. I'd like to do that to mine. just wondering if you had any ideas on the best way to do it. thanks

I plan on making a fully funtioning shaker hood.This will be patterned like the Danko baseplate . I will make the baseplate out of some 1/8 aluminum, with some air box filter and tubes from the speed from specture air intake kit.