Congrats on the ink! I noticed it this morning...but have yet to read it.

So your saying you just looked at the pictures?:D


That's our Anthony.:rolleyes:

So....yeah.....more photos.....

I have the fill plates on the drivers side complete.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3932.jpg

Still working on the passenger side. Nothing happened tonight. I decided to make a really nice lobster/scallop risotto for my wife tonight. BTW, Girgich Cellars Chardonnay.....get some.

So yeah....not all is grinding, wire-brushing and burning my junk with weld spatter.

We have some parts porn!

Front suspension coming together....

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3934.jpg

ATS spindle
Speed-Tech Upper/Lower Control Arms
LG Motorsports brake backing plate
$2.00 worth of angle iron from Lowes pretending to be a shock absorber

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3935.jpg

ATS/Lee Manufacturing Steering gear:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3936.jpg

I know, I know...the nice cad plating.....CA EPA said Lee can't use the stuff anymore.....freakin hippies.

Something light and itchy and strangely similar to a decklid

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3938.jpg

One of my favorites up there on the top shelf......The Twist-Machine / Jakes Rod Shop rear spoiler. That thing makes me tingle in my special place.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3940.jpg

One of my next projects is to create a bulkhead out of all of these holes. Haven't decided if I want to weld a bit of metal into each of those openings, or just cover the whole thing up with a couple of sheets bent to fit. Suggestions?

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3939.jpg

Ok...totally unrelated..... my wifes father installed this sink in the house. Her parents have both long since passed and we've totally renovated the entire house. I still have some of her Dad's tools and they still get used quite a bit which I think is kinda cool.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3941.jpg

.....and a couple months ago in Grassroots Motorsports Magazine they did this silly test of commercial hand cleaners. They found that something rather odd worked better. That's whats in the white tub. A couple of days worth of coffee grounds and a few tablespoons of dawn. Seriously, it works amazingly well and sure is cheaper than commercial hand cleaners.

Thats all for now.....

I now have my wife saving her coffee grounds.

Well the drivers side tub is all but finished. Just need to grind the welds down a bit, close over that flap on the lower forward bit and hit it with the seam sealer.

I have a quart of seam sealer from Eastwood, but I'm wondering if it might be better to use a different product that is more of a caulk type. Any thoughts?

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3943.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3944.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3945.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3948.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3949.jpg

Very nice :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :cheers:

Awesome job so for, can't wait to see more.:thumbsup:

A caulk type seam sealer might be easier to put in that inner to outer wheelhouse seam.

Any good seam sealer would do, but the tube type that goes into your caulking gun would be easier to apply and force into the gap. Just be sure the degrease the bare steel and shoot it with some type of etch prime to avoid future rust before you apply the seam sealer.

My dad told me that "your caulk shrinks after 35 years". This has me concerned.

My dad told me that "your caulk shrinks after 35 years". This has me concerned.


HAHAHA LMFAO

Why was your pop's looking in my windows 5 years ago?

LOL. I guess that's why they make the Corvette.

HA HA, yeah I prefer pics to reading!! :lol:

Nice progress!! :thumbsup:

It really works quite well.

Ahhhh the tubs are done. Thank God allmighty the tubs are done!

Well, I still need to seam seal everything, but I think I'm going to wait until after I finish the rear suspension install and seam seal the whole shootin match at once.

The black stuff is Eastwood "Rust Encapsulator". They said it makes a primer/sealer for underbody stuff so I went with it. I'll seam seal then cover everything in "Lizard Skin" sound/heat attenuation material.

Pax side tub from the inside:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4003.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3998.jpg

Drivers side tub, from the outside:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3997.jpg

Drivers side from inside the trunk.

Tweaking the trunk hinge support to fit the profile of the new tub was quite a challenge. I bent, unbent and rebent each of them at least 1/2-doz times.

The sheetmetal is a bit ugly just above the weld. I had to hammer the tub to fit the curvature of the cutout. I'll hit it with a little trunk spatter and if that doesn't hide the ripples I'll break out the hammer/dolly and smooth it.......I hope to not have to though.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG3992.jpg


Finished up the subframe connector as well. Welded back in the relief cut in the seat pan trimmed the body drain plug to fit, welded that in and primed the whole mess.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4000.jpg



Next up on the hit parade.....stripping all the undercoat from the bottom of the car. This is gonna be a messy freakin job. I am not looking forward to it, but it's got to be done prior to installing the 3-link and sending it off for a cage.

Thanks for watching.....

Nice progress!! I know you are glad the tubs are done!! :woot:

Hey, is that pink paint I spy?? ;)

Nice progress so far. I keep thinking I should have mini-tubbed the Rat.. oh well, can always do it later.

What's the next big project on the car?

So do you drink wine before, during, or after your shop time for the day? :lol:

I'd just finished dinner when I went out to the garage to take the photos.

Beer while working, wine after.

Weld spatter does not complement a Carignane.

Lot's of it!

Well I tell ya....1/2-way through I was second guessing the tubs. I have room for a 335, though I really don't see running anything larger than a 315.

Up next is getting all the undercoat off the bottom prior to installing the 3-link.

I know I said the next task was to remove undercoating from the car but I just couldn't bring myself to crawl around on the floor tonight. My back has been bothering me a bit and......oh now I'm just making excuses....I didn't freakin feel like it. Ok?

So anyway I got a bit of lightweight goodness in the mail a few weeks back:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...CIMG3938-1.jpg

Fiberglass decklid from VFN fiberglass. Weighs less than 10lbs :D

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4004.jpg

Pretty darn smooth right out of the box. I'm hoping for minimal bodywork. But...it is delivered a bit oversized which is, I suppose, better than undersized.

[Michael Scott] Thats what she said! [/Michael Scott]

Sooo I had to take a template from the OE decklid and transfer it to the fiberglass replacement. You can see here that the fiberglass decklid is about 1/4" larger than the template. It's oversized by about that much on each axis.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4008.jpg

Transferring the template. I am totally good at coloring!!!!

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4013.jpg

The line is actually at least 3/16" fat all the way around. So what I'll do is cut to the line then begin test fitting and sneak up on the final dimension little by little.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4014.jpg

After a bit of sanding....but quite a bit more to go.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4016.jpg

Can't believe how much progress you've made...puts the progress on my car to shame! Do you have a goal date set? 1/2-Trak and Trackday gotta tear up Norcal ASAP.

Are you kidding? You are practically running. I'm still doing fab work and haven't even started on the biggest part, putting in the rear suspension.

No goal date. Originally I wanted it to move under it's own power before my 40th birthday (September) but that isn't going to happen. I'm just doing all the stuff that doesn't cost any real money right now. Just time and elbow grease. I still need to get our front and back yards landscaped. House is built, but no yard. Can't do anything expensive until that is done. Gotta keep the wife happy.

As for the last bit. You are on! I plan to auto-x the thing A LOT and get to as many track days as I can.

Knocked out a couple of things tonight.

Had to re-clock the brake cooling ducts on the spindles because they were going to hit the frame. So I had to disassemble the spindle & hub. Easier than it sounds with the fine instructions on Tylers website. How many mfr's post this kind of detail on their website?

Data sheets and install instructions here: http://www.t56kit.com/downloads/

The spindle instructions here: http://www.americantouringspecialtie...ds/files/7.pdf

In the process of re-clocking the backing plate/duct I had to relocate the three holes that are used to clamp the backing plate between the spindle and hub. In doing so I have discovered my new favorite tool.

The uni-bit is freaking awesome! Where have these things been all my life!?!?!?!

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4089.jpg

So got that done on both sides pretty easily and went to work on a little more lightweight love.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4092.jpg

These things weigh NO-THING. Two of them together weigh a tick under 1/2 of just one of the steel OE units. And......super-bonus.....they FIT! I did have to drill all the holes, but hell, that's a whole lot easier than......don't get me started.....

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4093.jpg

See....they fit! Sweet.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4091.jpg


...and yeah....I'm blowing off the VFN decklid and getting this:

http://i44.tinypic.com/1zwp66r.jpg

Anyone wanna take on the task of finishing fitting that fiberglass unit is welcome to it. I'm out of talent and patience with it. PM me and we can agree on a fair price.

Very nice project, DT. And well planned out, I might add. :) I look forward to your progress reports.

Holy schnikey work has been busy. Haven't had a day off in close to three weeks and thus haven't had much time to work on the car lately but found myself with a couple of free hours tonight. So I decided to remove a big heavy thing from the car:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4099.jpg

The heater core. Lead, brass, ugly and GONE!

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4100.jpg

But.....a big gaping hole. A number of different things I could do here. I could buy one of those DSE panels and pay quite a lot for what in reality is a simple hunk of steel with a bevel rolled on the edge.....nah! I could do the street-rod-esque firewall smoothing bit......nah!

Which begs the question; "What Would Smokey Do?"

Well.....I'd like to think Smokey would have just tossed the factory delete plate on the hole and moved on. I went a tad further than just that, by welding up the mounting holes from the OE heater core, and welding in a fill plate in the original hole. Then drilled and cleco'd in the panels to check the fit. Took me just shy of two hours.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4104.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4105.jpg

I'll finish it up with seam sealer and rivets after I paint the firewall. Of course that won't happen till the cage is finished.

There will be a heat/def unit of course. Vintage Air makes this nifty little heat only (no AC) unit.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo...65608932BKChyx

Yes.......I am avoiding climbing under the car and removing the undercoating.

Looking good :thumbsup: :cheers:

It is coming along great! I read the page in the mag when that issue came out and just today found the build thread. I'm glad I did! Subscribed!

Been putting off this task for too long. Time to get after that damned undercoating. Mercy sakes this is a miserable job! The best (worst) part is that when the car is done, nobody will ever, ever say, "Gee, you did a really nice job removing the old undercoating. Completely thankless labor.

I'd scraped for a while and swept the floor when the debris got too messy twice before I took this photo. This is the third cycle of mess from the fourth circle of hell. Nothing but a heat gun, various scrapers and a wire wheel......and beer......and the Giants on the radio.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4201.jpg

Looking from the drivers side rear toward the front. I left the bottom of the trunk pan alone, that'll be cut out. The dark bits forward of the back seatbelt mounts are just grease/dirt. That'll come off with simple green

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4202.jpg


I made it to the front seatbelt mounts and had to stop.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/CIMG4205.jpg

I hope to finish the scraping tomorrow and start with the de-greasing. I have a plan in mind for that. Not sure if it'll work. Good thing the wife will be away. It's going to be messy.

I used a heat gun and scrapers too. Then I went back and would warm up a small area I wanted to finish and use a rag with mineral spirits. Too many hours though! Nice progress.

Well, I finally got all the undercoat scraped of the bottom of the car. What a horrible job that was. My garage floor is a wreck!

With that done, though I had time to work a bit on the assembly of the steering system last night.

Started with the idler arm and steering box. Found out from David Pozzi that there can be some bind with the idler if the drag link is not installed with the idler arm/subframe bolts loose. He's right. I didn't loosen the bolts before I put the drag link in and....Yup. Sure enough. Bound up like a colon full of cheddar cheese.

Not to self and anyone else with a Camaro: David Pozzi knows his stuff. Listen to him.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4206.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4209.jpg

The steering box is an ATS 670 unit. These are built for ATS by Tom Lee. I've had the pleasure of speaking to him on the phone. He struck me as one of those eccentric old wizards. When he isn't building super high-zoot stuff for teams in NASCAR, ALMS and others he works on stuff like this for us mortals.

The ATS/LEE 670 boxes are initially built on an assembly line with normal production tolerances. ATS's spec for the Lee box requires that every brand new unit is completely taken apart, re-honed, blueprinted, re-valved, dyno tested, magna-fluxed, and finished in some kind plating. They used to use a really sexy looking cadmium, but the CA EPA (nazis) rules are such that they are now using zinc. Still a good looking unit, but not as cool as the cad plating. These are race proven precision boxes, built exclusively for ATS. I don't know all the details of what Lee does with the valves, but I've driven a car with one of these in it, and it is by far the best feeling recric-ball steering gear I've ever felt. Better than a lot of rack/pinion setups in terms of feel.

Tyler, feel free to expand on this a bit.

Next up is the tie rod assemblies. The inner is a run of the mill Moog unit. The outer though is kinda neat. Baer brakes makes these things called "Baer Trackers" (a bit silly) but cool. Big honkin high offset rod end connected to a 1-3/16" dia aluminum coupler that threads directly onto the inner tie rod. The Baer Trackers provide the capability to adjust out any remaining bump-steer from the system by swapping the cad-plated shims (see photo) either above or below (or both in differential amounts) the rod end. A bit bulky, but still lighter than the traditional tie rod it replaces.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4210.jpg

So with those bits installed I can see about mocking up some of my clearances.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4217.jpg

That's a 275x40x17 tire on a borrowed 17x9 vette rim. The offset of the wheel is nothing like what I'm going to run, but it gives me something to calculate from.

....and it looks like I have some "cipherin" to do here.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4213.jpg

With the steering arm bolted directly to the spindle, the tie rod assembly set at the OE length and the max offset on the bump steer adjuster the rod end crashes with the inner flange of the wheel.

Spoke with Tyler about it this morning, and the solution is not that big of a deal. I can space the steering arm inboard a bit, shorten the tie rod assembly accordingly, and the wheel spacer I will need to run to clear the Wilwood 6-pot brakes will move the wheel outboard enough to provide the required clearance.

It's always something isn't it?

Not to worry though. With the Speed-Tech control arms adjustable steering stop feature I'll be able to make the above modifications without much negative impact on total available steering angle. SWEET!

Que suspenseful music..........


The 3-link install begins.


Step one, the front x-member.

Take a minute to perve out on Matt's welding.....it's a shame it'll be covered up....not to mention it'll have to spend the rest of it's days next to my slipshod hack welds.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4225.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4226.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4229.jpg

Start by using the all-thread to lift the x-member into position. Ensuring it is level f/r and l/r with the angle finder.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4230.jpg

The first place to make contact is the center of the trans tunnel.

MORE HOLES!!!

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4224.jpg

Lift a bit more and the front trailing arm mount boss makes contact with the torque boxes.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4232.jpg

The floor is two layers of steel here. This was tough to cut exactly vertical because all the goofy curves and angles in the sheet metal made it tough to keep track of the correct axis.

Sneaking up on it little by little....

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4233.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4234.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4384.jpg

In that last one there you can see I've started to work my way down the sides of the tunnel as well.

Something of a gap in my photo taking.....skip ahead, skip ahead, skip ahead....

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4385.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4388.jpg

Just clamped in at this point. I still need to clean up the edges and weld.

Looking good! Thanks for posting all the pics. Can't wait to see more.:thumbsup:

Update:

Tacked in the front x-member a week or so ago. Not sure why I didn't get an update in then. Life interrupted I suppose.

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4398.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4400.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4401.jpg

Then I was able to get crackin on the rear x-member which also provides the support structure for the watts link.

Began by using the axle centerline marks that I'd put on the fenders prior to removal of the OE rear suspension to provide a datum to measure from:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4402.jpg

Then measured back from that datum point 5-3/8" to the spot that will be the front of the rear x-member. Then used the back edge of the x-member to mark my rear-most cut line.

Hmm, don't have a photo of the hole. I do enjoy cutting big holes in the car for some reason....not sure why.

Anyway, here are some photos of the rear x-member just clamped in place. I have a couple of questions that I hope Mark, James, Matt or Katz can answer and one for Alan as well. But first, the pics:

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4462.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4466.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4459.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4461.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4457.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4458.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4455.jpg

http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4467.jpg



So, the questions:

Mark, James, Matt or Katz:
Will the trunk floor be welded to that x-member where it makes contact? Or will I cut it further back and join it to the fill panel once its trimmed to fit?

I see booze in every photo. Are you sure your working on the right end of the car? :cheers: Not sure I'd use the factory axle centerline. That is, unless you measured it from the front spring mounting points.

I thought the point of the adjustable bumpsteer spacers was to get the tie rod as close to parallel with the control arm as possible, so they pivot on the same axis, this pic looks like the tie rod is way to low....?? Im not an expert i just thought that was the way to do it..?
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/CIMG4213.jpg

At ride height Chris....

a few things True...

1. you can weld the trunk floor to the crossmember where they are in contact to the rear (depending on what you will be doing with your cell) but...

2. you need to think about your exhaust - you can see why I cut the (trunk) corners at 45 degrees where the exhaust reliefs are in the crossmember (assuming you are taking the exhaust back) and

3. when you build your panel to the front of the crossmember be sure to build in some relief for the upper shock mounts - I just dimpled the panel slightly to allow for some clearance


with respect to the bumpsteer photograph - I'm not sure that True actually has the spacers where he wants them - but the key to the spacers is to be able to properly set bump regardless of rules of thumb. On my car we needed 0.8" to get the best curve but the goal is to be able to adjust to what works best in the individual application.