Thanks Mike! Was a pleasure to meet you at SEMA.



Thanks guys! Appreciate the encouragement.

I'm working through the taillight question right now. I am definitely going to rebuild the tail light holes as the factory holes are a good 3/16" bigger than the tail light. I don't think I'm going to move them out though, seems like they will look better in the original location and just letting the return to the fender fill the gap. Go for it on your Nova, patience will get you there!!

Hell yes we should!! You and Steve Lenning were very inspirational in my approach!! Thank you very much!! Enjoying the parallel paths we are on! If I keep to my schedule, should be ready to fire it up Summer 2018.

Truth be told, I knew that if I started slicing the rear of the fender to get it to lay back down the factory location, I would end up with an ocean of waves! I wanted it wider to help with the 3rd gen spoiler I'm planning to mimic but I really just committed to letting it decide how wide it wanted to be without cutting anything more than the center body line. You and Steve both get serous props from me!!

Here are some more pics of the rear flares and tail section mods. The bumper is on just so I could template it for the sheet metal bends. Will keep the original shape everywhere it's possible. I moved the bumper out 1/2" and then straightened out the upper portion of the fender/tail piece to remove the downward curve. Can't really see it in these pics, will post some better ones while doing the other side.

Wow!!! Serious skills going on here!!

I really like where you are going with this one. Very nice work!

Nice ride! I like how you've kept the flares subtle. Its a nice touch and really makes the car pop.

I'm torn between the silver and the Burgandy. Leaning towards Burgandy.


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Thanks guys! Hey Marty - Yep, today, I'm leaning towards the Raspberry color as well. That said, I've gone from White to Grey to Raspberry almost weekly! Ha! I doubt I will truly know until I actually order the paint. Suspect that I am not alone in my inability to decide here!

I was all set on a certain red, until I bought paint. Somehow, it came back black :)

I couldn't stomach th4 4.7K that red was... so 2K for black was more palatable.

After the rendering was complete, it became clear that I needed to move the front of fender flare out so the front spoiler would flow right.

Very nice fabrication work.

That's magic from my perspective.

Subscribed. Amazing metal work. Really really nice. I see you've got a side splitter in the rendering, what are your plans there? I'll be doing something similar with my 80Z.

Thanks - really appreciate the encouragement !!!!

Seems every decision I make comes with at least 3 zeros!! Ha! Appreciate that info John!!!

I'm in that weird zone were every desired action has some roadblock because something else should be done first and truthfully I didn't do a good job of predicting this so I'm waiting for parts (fiberglass hood and deck lid). I really need both to move forward with confidence on the significant changes to the rear end/bumper area as well as the front spoiler.

Thus I will likely do the side skirts/splitter next. My plan is bend up a new side skirt that runs the entire length (means modifying the front fender). My plan is to basically follow the second to last body line and mostly just continue that line down which mostly just eliminates that complete roll under of the factory side skirt. Then I will make an aluminum side splitter that bolts to the new side skirt and sticks out about 1-2". I will include some pictures next week, would appreciate your input!!

That rendering makes me want to see it finished

Space for the mufflers created.

Nice job as usual. I'm planning to do something similar with mine for more exhaust clearance. Thanks for posting the detailed pics.

very nice.

Looks great. I thought about doing that as well but decided I'd make slim mufflers instead. I'm only running 2.5" exhaust so I don't need a thick muffler. That and I don't have the equipment to make it as pretty as you did. Keep up the good work!

Damn that looks nice!

Thanks. Don't hesitate to PM me if you want more detailed pics, glad to share what I did. Certainly, I'm appreciative of others here (and DSE of course) paving the way on this detail.

Cheers John!

Thanks Trey. Couldn't justify the $1500 to buy a proper bead roller and while I hate buying Harbor Freight tools...$500 for their bead roller and a 120V winch along with a weekend of fab time and I came up with a motorized bead roller. It works pretty well, worth the effort.

Thanks Wayne

Nice job on the bead roller, John. Shows what I know about bead rolling. I didn't know a power roller was a thing.

Installed the DSE fuel pump access panel. No surprise that it's a really nice piece with a cool anodized aluminum cover. It's not big enough to provide access to the pump and the level sensor but I spoke to the guys at Rick's and they said not to worry about the level sensor, it's pretty stout and should live a long life so no access should be necessary. Attachment 62048Attachment 62049Attachment 62050
Fab'd up the new bumper that will of course be hidden underneath the body work that will mimic the bumper..more to come soon on that. Attachment 62051

Started the rear body work mods. I bought a fiberglass trunk lid from US Body Source, pretty nice piece...will of course need some fitting but the shape is mostly accurate. Started the tail light area, lots more to do....but it's coming along nicely. Tightened up the line to the deck lid.

Ah, I like that muffler idea...I should have done that. But I'm way too far past that now! haha

I have no idea how the heck I missed this build --- and I run down to Boise all the time (Boise Gun Co is my home away from home! LOL).

I live in Sun Valley....


Metal work is sweet --- I think you'd like to learn how to TIG and do a LOT LESS grinding.... just sayin'. Once you do sheetmetal and TIG it - you'll park the MIG machine on some farmers field. Hope I'm not being offensive here as that's not my intent.... it's just that there's a LOT of fantastic metal work going on here - and TIG would save hours and hours of tedious work.

Where's the shop?? I'd love to see this and meet you.

I so hear you on the TIG, I sure tried.....but was less than successful. Decided to leave that for another day! Felt like I was learning to play the drums again...but at 50 years old with bad eyes and shaky hands! Ha! Blowing holes, warping...etc and I think I was spending more time grinding tig tips than grinding mig welds!! It was pretty comical. Stop by anytime, will send you a PM with my contact info!!

Two flams and some paradiddles..... you got this. TIG takes a lot of hours to master.... but once you do -- OMG so much nicer!

THANKS!!! I'd love to see the shop and meet a fellow Idahoan.

GReat update. Hard to believe you did the beadwork with the HF modified BR. And closer pics showing the bear roller? WHat whinch did you use? I bet others would like to see this and copy. Great idea. Never seen one powered like that before. :thumbsup:

Posted my backyard bead roller pics here, though I'm a little embarrassed....it works but...!!!

https://lateral-g.net/forums/show...d=1#post658249

Pretty cleaver !!!

thanks,
JIm

Still a work in progress but did manage to tighten up the deck lid gap.

Rear bumper body work is in progress. I think it might be a little too "angular", think I might have lost some of the softness of the factory bumper shape. Once I get the other side done, I'll decide if I should redo the transitions and make them softer.

I see what you're saying. I admire the work and more so that you're wiling to do it twice to get exactly what you want.

:captain:

Top notch work as always, but I agree, I think it's too angular. Good luck!

Appreciate the feedback. Started the correction. Should be done this weekend. I don't know WTF I was thinking. Had the rendering hanging on the wall, 3' away from where I was working and I still went down that angular path. The whole point of this was to keep the factory lines.....brain fart I guess.

Still have the lower section on the passenger side to complete but I did get it much closer to the factory shape. Still laughing at myself with that first effort.

Will tackle the outer areas next weekend.

That right there explained to me why I see cars being worked on with a copy of the rendering tapped to the part they are working. Total light bulb moment.

:idea:

Made some more progress on the rear bumper. Ended up rebuilding the sides again, just trying to get the shape right and symmetrical. Templates and a laser have it pretty darn close! I'm in the middle of the lower radius'd part. Made a wood jig to shape the lower corner. I will finish it all by the weekend.