Yes, yes it is. I love it. :thumbsup:

Yeah...What he said!! :D

Thanks for that Brent, are they ok to deal with & are the covers good quality?? :)

From my experience, I would recommend them. The quality is awesome!

Awesome work brent...Then again what else would we expect form you!! :hail:

Also..I know you have said this before,but what is the engine your
working on..? I know thats a Hogans intake.. what HP are you
shooting for :cool:


Great Job,

-Jim

Thanks Jim! I actually bought the motor turn key from Shaver Racing. They off ity as one of their "Crate Motors". They start with a 502 shortblock from the General. They typical is done - balance, blue print, change the cam, Pro Topline Heads, Hogan Intake. It is really mild, especially compared to the HP Junkies hangin' around here. Still has 9.0-1. The motor dynoed at 574 HP & 597 lbs of tourqe. They advertise it at 525 HP. They did a little more work to mine & changed the cam from their normal. I was hoping for 600 HP. Oh well, 574 will do me just fine.


http://www.shaverengines.com/crate.html

Ricochet was such a great car, I can't wait to see Nickelback finished :burnout: .

David

Nickelback Updates
 

Well, other than keeping my credit card company busy, I finally got busy on the car. I made some support plates for the body mounts, welded them in & made some room via the plasma cutter to shoehorn the motor/tranny in. Had to really cut it up pretty good due to raising the motor/tranny 3 inches to keep the driveline angle correct. The reason for this is I raised the rear suspension up 5" over stock. The car will sit with the rockers 4.5" off the ground with a 30" tall tire. Took notes on how Troy did "Sickfish". I'll be working on my metal forming skills this weekend with the firewall & tranny tunnel.

The twin tubular K-member is a nice touch.

What Plasma do you have?

That is definatly a nice chassis.....

Car
 

Going to be awesome.

It's a Hobart. Get's the job done & the price was right. My buddy bought it a couple years ago and hasn't used it for over a year. He said keep it & I'll let you know when I need it back. :thumbsup: Gotta like that!!

Thanks for the compliments on the chassis!

very nice
 

Very nice! What a butt load of work! Looking forward to more progress pics.

Thanks...And yes it is alot of work. It feels good to be back into swing of it. Been idle way to long!!

Looks good, Brent. :thumbsup: What's your plan for the remaining portions of the firewall?

It's going to be nice Brent. Thanks for sharing the pictures.....keep them coming.
W.

Thanks!! I'll know I will be cutting more out of it. I cut just enough to get it in. At this time I'll leave as much as I can & just go over the top. Leave as much strength there as possisble. I plan on running a false firewall inside as well to hide all the components, wiring etc.

Other than my welder, my Plasma (Hobart also) is the best tool I have in my garage.

Butt kickin progress Brent, You da man.

awesome job, that is gonna be wicked

And I am taking notes on how you do Nickelback ;) :yes: . I can't wait to see it finished :D .

David

You have to help this rookie out. What are you working on? I admire you guys that can do there own work. I'm a store bought guy as I do not have the knowledge and skill to do such work.

R.P.

I'm always up for helping anybody out. Ricochet was my first real "Big" project. I picked quite a few brains while building that car. Then again there is the old trial & error method. That sometimes though get costly & time consuming. Although you also learn real quick not to do it again!! :D

I would be more than happy to take any pointers Ricochet (I loved that '57 by the way) can give me :yes: . It is mostly the time and money aspects that are the main problems (I am going to school for autobody right now). I hope to do as much of my own work as possible, though the interior will be done by somebody else and my dad will help me if/when I need help with the wiring and/or mechanicals. I pretty much know what I want to build, I have a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air 4dr sedan, and how I want to build it (click on link in sig). I am always on the look out for new things and ideas though :D .

David

Brent, that is looking very, very trick. Can't wait to see it in person!

Thanks for encouragement guys!! Here are a few more updated pics.

I worked on the firewall this weekend. It's not in final, but this is the
direction I plan on going. The center piece I bought. I'll just piece some
sides in to make it go all the way form side to side. I had to put the real
motor in instead of the mock up. I was looking at it & thought the heads
looked a little different. We'll I'm glad I did, turns out the deck height
on the Topline heads are a little over 4", where as factory GM heads are 3.5".
That could have been a costly one...

Wow Brent, That is awesome work. You are most definately "The Man". :hail:

One question, how did it feel to let loose of Ricochet after all the accolaides, attention and WORK you put into that masterpiece? Will it be harder to cut loose of Nickleback?

YOu know Jim, I never built Ricochet to sell. It was just one of those things. He wanted it more than me. I still think about the car and miss it in ways, but it's about moving forward. The way that whole thing went down was pretty wild. I was fortunate in many ways. Selling the car opened some doors. Aside from buying some new tools for the shop, I was able to do some nice things for my family.

I'm having fun building Nickelback. I really enjoy building them. Everything that goes into it, the thought process, fabrication, execution, all of it. I don't plan on selling this car anytime soon. Aside from some shows, I have some big plans for this car which include proving it's worthiness driving & at the track. Plus, I have some obligations I need to fulfill.

Hopefully by the end of this weekend I'll have the car on the ground. I need to set up final ride height. I have to measure for wheel size & offsets. I plan ordering the wheels next week. Looks like 18X8 front & 20x11 for the rear. I'll keep you posted!

Car
 

Special car being formed in that garage. Thanks for the update. :hail:

Brent, thanks for sharing the mock up picks; they look great.
W.

chassis works
 

The chassis look like its going to work well no matter how much power you put in it. the sway bar are killer can they handle the power? I would love to see it at SEMA!:thumbsup:


Kendall

[IMG]Hopefully by the end of this weekend I'll have the car on the ground. I need to set up final ride height. I have to measure for wheel size & offsets. I plan ordering the wheels next week. Looks like 18X8 front & 20x11 for the rear. I'll keep you posted![/IMG]

I have an awesome tool that you are welcome to borrow. for setting up the wheels and the backspace. It was sure a life saver on my project. It allowed us to mount the wheels during fabrication and run it thru the suspension travel and turning.

http://www.sportmachines.com/albums/..._11_10_040.jpg

That is really cool tool. I just may take you up on the that offer, THANKS!Where are you located anyways? I got the car back on the ground today (I'll post pics tomorrow or Monday) I have a 18x8 (5" backspace w/ a 245/40 on it. Looks like everything will clear. It's close but should work. I'll probably end up running 18x7.5 with 235/45. That should clear eveything no problem. I still have to do the rear. Hopefully I'll get if figured it out tomorrow. Ran out of time today. Car doessit awesome though. Ride height up front has the rockers 4.5" front & the rear is at 5.75". I may go a shorter tire to get down further. Like a 305/40 vs 295/45. The 305 is 1" shorter (but 1/2" wider :D ) than the 295. We'll see. Ill have a better idea by Monday.

Just outside Chicago and only two day's away via Priority Mail

More pics from over the weekend
 

Thanks alot for the offer of the tool. Very nice gesture! But I think I was able to wrap it up this weekend. The 18x8's with a 5" backspace worked out perfect. I didn't think the 245/40 would work as far as turning was concerned, but no problem at all. The rear is a 20x11 with a 6". I'm going to end up going with a 20x10.5 with a 5.5". I have also decided to run the 305/40 which is a little shorter at 29.6" than the 295/45 at 30.5". I'm going to get some rear tires tomorrow to finalize everything up.

I also found out (as I suspected earlier on) that I need to move the rack up & order some drop spindles. Rack mounts are only 2.5" off the ground. Lowest part of the whole car..NOT GOOD! Once I move the mounts the lowest part of the whole car will be the frame which is at 4.25". Plenty of clearance. It is sitting at final ride in the pics. The front rockers are at exactly 4.5" off the ground & the rear is at 5.5". That's all for now.

love the ride height - looks perfect.

?? The upper control arms look to be on a step angle is that ride height

Yes the control arms shooting for the moon! If I had to do it all over again, I would have stepped the frame in the front moving all the susp up. That would have pulled both the upper & lower control arms down. Once I get the 2" drop spindles & drop the the coil over 2" that should pull it down a fair amount. We'll see??

Looks Super!

Where did you buy the firewall piece from?

Thanks Mark!! The firewall came from www.thespeedcenter.net They make it with a 2" or 3" recess. $200.00. Real nice piece. :thumbsup:

Brent

A little progress on Nickelback
 

Been awhile since I have posted any updates due to there hasn't been any :mad: Well I'm back on it now. Just got it back from my buddy, Jim , who is doing the bodywork. Had to replace the driver qtr panel and the 3 tail pieces below the trunk. The qtr had been replaced at one time & they did a botch job. The tail pieces were full of rust, typical for tri fives. As you can see in some of the pics...Jim is quite a joker!! Came out killer. Now I can fab and tie in the new floors. By the end of the month I'll have the body back off and it goes in for stepped headers & exhaust. Finally forward progress.... :D

looks good...just need the Bacardi Lemon to add into the corona's..... :D :thumbsup: