I just love the GN's, these are still such a bad azz looking car! I have a friend up here in IL that still has his 87, his is a street car but has been in storage for a long time now. Last time at the track it went 9.0 yeah street car!!

Keep it up, I like the wheels on it as well!

I had to take a break from the car for a few weeks, but I'm back on it. I knocked out the brake lines today. I still had lines from about the frame rail back and up to the front corners, but I had to get from the new master down to the frame rail. I get better at brake lines each time I do them, but there is still so much room for improvement.

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I also installed my coil packs for the XIM addition. I had a belt drive distributor and MSD 7AL2 box on it before. The XIM should be more long distance friendly and removing the distributor frees up room for the accessories.

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For the first time since I've owned the car, it has a working parking brake. I had to source all the parts, but it wasn't too hard.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps4730382b.jpg

Sweet build man I really like the directions your going. We needs to see moreof these cars built like this.

I got a little done on the trans swap this weekend. My block has a lot of crank centerline offset because of a line hone issue a while back. So, that requires some offset dowel pins. I measured and had .039" runout. That is a .0195" offset. I was going to order a set of offset dowel pins from Robbmc.com, but they were on back order, so I made my own.
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While I had the bellhousing on the motor, I measured for the hole for the shifter. This is the minimum I'll need to cut. It may need more cut once the trans is in the car. I'll make a sheet metal cover and put a lower boot from a mustang on the floor once I get it all situated.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps23e78c48.jpg

McLeod RXT clutch looks like blown apart. They sent me some metric bolts where I needed standard, so I can't put it in just yet.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps904d2713.jpg

I mocked up the slave and shifter while it's on the floor.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps0333454c.jpg

Very well done on your GN transformation. If you don't mind what sizes are you wheels?

18x11 and 18x9.5

Clutch is in. I need a trans spacer before I can put the trans in.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps8e1f6dca.jpg

Power steering is back on the car. Not real impressive, just a bunch of stock parts, but they work well so why try to improve them.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps6c3df304.jpg

This is truly great to see you put this car together, I really hope these cars gain momentum. You and Blake are trend setters and I hope a bigger restoration aftermarket follows for these cars.

Trans spacer came in yesterday and I did a little cutting on it to clear the hydraulic fittings. I had to wait until today for a friend to come over and help me stab it in. The trans by itself is as heavy as a th400. Add the clutch, flywheel and bell housing and It's definitely not saving any weight.

Notice I have also put the quick disconnect back on. I put a clutch in by brothers ford ranger last weekend and that QD setup was a lifesaver. We were able to completely remove the hydraulics from the truck, bench bleed them and then reassemble it on the truck with no issues. It was super easy to bleed like that. So I'm going to buy the McLeod -4 line with the male end of the QD on it instead of a simple hose between the slave and master.
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I had to modify my trans crossmember also. I probably have a bit more driveline angle now and the mount is spaced lower than a th400, so I ended up remaking the trans mount.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps644b3536.jpg
I got lucky on the shifter placement. It's in the exact same place that my automatic shifter was. It won't take much cutting on the console plate and a nice shifter boot to get that looking good.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps472f7917.jpg

I moved the trans up another 1 3/8" and had to remove a lot of trans tunnel.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psbd41cfbb.jpg
I've been working on a new cover all day. It's nothing compared to most of teh sheetmetal work I've been lookng at here, but I'm trying. It's mostly done, now I've got to figure out how to mount a piece of rubber sheet and have it hug the shifter for an inner boot. The new tunnel piece couldn't be any wider than this and still fit in the console.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psccc2cafb.jpg
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Cool build.

Since you shimmed the transmission back did you have to shim the slave forward? Should you?

Andrew

McLeod says you need .125"-.250" for the rxt clutch. I only had .050 without spacers. Adding the .250 trans to bell spacer put me at .300" clearance. I put a .113" tick slave cylinder spacer my friend had left over from his corvette. That put me back at .187.

So, yes, but it depends on what your clearance is.

Wow, the amount you relieved the tunnel to raise the trans is really going to help with the driveline angles. Nice work.

Love this build, can't wait to see it on the road.

Thanks. Surprisingly the tail shaft still isn't as high as the old th400 was. This trans is a monster. If I went any higher, I would have to cut the tunnel all the way to the bellhousing.

I got a plan for the shifter boots. I made another sheetmetal riser to get up higher around the shifter. I don't think I can cram any more sheetmetal inside the console.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...pse009261f.jpg
I'm going to sandwich a piece of rubber sheet between that and an aluminum hold down ring. I machined that today. I have to find some rubber sheet this week.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps24bc48b7.jpg
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For the upper boot, I found a grey universal one on ebay that I'm going to fasten to the bottom of this new bezel that I also machined today. I'll figure out the mounting better once the boot gets here.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psb92e8ebd.jpg

I haven't gotten much done in the last couple weeks. I did get the tunnel cover painted, installed and seam sealed. I put a piece of rubber to seal the shifter to the tunnel. I've stripped all the interior in preparation for dynamat (fat mat) install and some carpet pad to try to get the heat and sound down. I also figured out how to make the upper shifter boot attach. It turned out pretty nice and it matches the steering wheel almost perfectly except the steering wheel is a bit dirty. I'm thinking of either having a turbo 6 shifter knob made, or have it engraved in the shifter boot plate, then powdercoat the plate to match the ash tray cover behind it.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps67ecf5ec.jpg

Looking good mike! Sent you a pm.

Very nice build. Your fab. skills look great to me. Always liked the GN's. Was that a 90 degree fitting for the clutch master cylinder? The one that is pinned to the end of the cylinder. I have been looking for one due to the proximity to my steering shaft. If so can you tell me were to get one?

Thanks. The fitting in the picture is a straight fitting, but I have looked for a 90* fitting before and found this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/84-97-CHEVY-...2c8728&vxp=mtr
They have it in -3 also if you look at their other items.

Nice progress. You're going to need closed cell foam and mass loaded vinyl if you want to block out sound like road noise. Dynamat and the other stick on products are only for vibration dampening. Lots of good info here http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/

That's actually what I'm putting in. I'm doing sections of fatmat where needed, then a layer of 1/8" ensolite then a layer of mlv.

Mike the work you did on the shift boot and console plate looks great! Nice work.

Good deal. My Sierra is quieter than my sister's lexus now.

I decided instead of powder coating the shifter boot plate, I would make the other plates match. The pictures aren't great, but I epoxied pieces of aluminum sheet onto the areas where it used to be dark grey.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psebdcdd12.jpg

Started on a new switch panel, just waiting on the switches to show up.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps9b3fa33f.jpg

I decided to follow this guys recommendations on sound proofing. A lot of people recommended it and I can't say I know better. http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/
Layer of Fat Mat to keep the panels vibrations low especially on the rear firewall.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps072c85e3.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psd3c79f02.jpg
Then a layer of 1/8" closed cell foam covered in a layer of MLV (mass loaded vinyl) This stuff is heavy. I probably added 100lb into the car but it should be as quiet as a new car. I have to pick up some contact cement tomorrow to glue all the loose edges together. Finish the rear firewall and then I can put the interior back in for the last time.
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Don knows what he's talking about. Be sure to do the doors and behind the sail panels as well.

Thanks. I'll be dynomatting the doors soon and I'm waiting to do behind the sail panels when I put the stereo and speakers in the car. I don't think I'll bother with the foam and mlv on the doors.

It's definitely worth it but it all depends on just how quiet you want the car to be. My truck is my daily driver and it has a nice stereo. I wanted quiet so I did as much as I could.

Yay, I have interior again! I think the front seats have been in and out of the car 10 times on this conversion, hopefully they are in for good now.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps3a35b371.jpg
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Next project is the trunk. I'm going to seal up all the holes. Install a removable panel over the fuel pump hole and spare tire well. Finish up the rear wiring for the fuel pumps and battery disconnect. Repaint the rear cage down bars after removing all the other tubes. Then install a nice thin black carpet.

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Looks great Mike. So, how close is this to being on the road?

Still a long way. I'm only getting one day a week to work on it. I still have to run fuel line (stainless hard line), make a crank pulley, fix a coolant leak around my belt drive, rework my intercooler charge tubes, wire most everything, shorten my driveshaft, fill and bleed all fluids, alignment, hang the exhaust and build a new air intake and filter box. Hopefully it will be done before spring is here, but I'm not rushing it.

lol... I hate it when I start making lists like that and they keep going and going and going... :waveflag:

Interior looks good, keep on plugging along and you'll be done soon at the rate you work.

Yes, the list. I get one thing done and add two more to the list. But you know you are close when you get summit gift cards for Christmas and can't figure out what to buy.

I really didn't want to work on the trunk today, so I started on my crank pulley instead.

I had a V-belt on it before with just an alternator. To use the Turbo Buick power steering pump, I had to switch to a 6 rib belt. I could only find one place that made a 1" mandrel driven 6" 6 rib belt. It wasn't exactly what I wanted and they think a lot of them, so I figured I would just make it myself.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps857736db.jpg

I have a piece of 1" x 6" flat bar that will work. If I had a 6" round piece that might have been better, but I used what I had.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps51e4b720.jpg

First bore the 1" ID in it, so I can fixture there and build off that centerline. Drilled it 7/8" and then bored to size with a boring bar.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps6305ac32.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps1977531f.jpg

The I found a piece of 1.5" scrap to build a mandrel out of.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps69fc15e6.jpg

I roughted out the OD in the bandsaw and mill and started turning.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psbabee94c.jpg

Finshed to size. 6.000" OD.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps7fb4541d.jpg

I found K sized serpentine belt dimensions online. They use a 40* angle, so I had to grind my own cutter.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psc74c28f0.jpg
Then I cut the grooves. This was a little nerve racking because that's a lot of chip load on a really thin (brittle) carbide tool.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psc55fd6e0.jpg

That's just showing off... :military:

Very unique, good looking car, can't wait to see it on the road.
You have some great fab skills.

Very nice, Mike!

Crazy skills! Let's see an overall view, Mike. I want to see what you did with the front face. Does it press on, or is it keyed, or what?

Wow nice!

The face and detail work is tomorrow or Sundays project. I wanted to get the v-grooves done before I spent too much time making it pretty.

It will be keyed (1" shaft w/ 1/8" key), but I don't have a 1/8" broach right now. I'm going to see if one of the local shops I use for work has one, if not I'll buy one.