Oh, that's preeeeeety. Congrats! Good luck moving forward with everything.

So it's been awhile since I updated but things have been moving... slowly.

To start we had a cut out panel on the driver rear window lucky enough Vince saved the day and was able to provide an OEM piece of just the cut out so I didn't have to buy the entire sail panel.

Here's the installed piece all lined up and pretty.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5592/...9718dbd9_z.jpg

We also picked up a 22 gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell from Chris Gonzales over in Oxnard and are fitting the tank in the trunk. The goal is to have it not show from the lower valence for a clean look and to allow as much ground clearance when the car is staged for track use. Also the tank support will run from one rail to the other for added rigidity and bracing.

Starting with measurement of the tank and trunk we got our main box support

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3873/...2863e185_z.jpg

Clean tig welds:
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3864/...7a0ed6d2_z.jpg

threaded locks are added to attach the tank to the brace using the 20 + tank cover screws. This thing isn't going anywhere and is legal across all racing sanctions.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3871/...9d3081b9_z.jpg

Setting the trunk fitment - it's going to be tight.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5566/...359eb685_z.jpg

I'll update once we've got a final install.

AD

looking good AD!!!!!

Update time!

With the trunk pieces made it was time weld in the new hinges we received from AMD but to do this a new trunk lid was needed because one never came with the car.

Weighing my options I considered the follow:

Oem used trunk lid - I've searched for 6 months already and could not find one that was in good enough condition to deserve going on the car. 37-40lbs of sheet metal plus metal work plus bondo, I might as well use a man hole cover.

AMD aluminum trunk lid - $400 - drops the weight to 13 lbs but shipping is going to be killer and to be honest I've had some issues with them (parts are out of stock, no shipping timeline, and first set of hinges were defective).

Last... Anvil Auto trunk lid - 9lbs - This is the most expensive lid out of the list but it's lighter than the rest and comes from a company with a good rep. Also there local so no shipping cost and great to work with.

And the winner is:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3851/...ae3bcd5e0d.jpg

Anvil Auto! After weighing my options and talking with the people at Anvil I felt that this was the best option for the car. I was able to go down to there warehouse last Wednesday, review there inventory, and talk to the staff. I picked up a satin trunk lid that i will be painted down and the fit on the car is great.

While at the shop we had to determine the final fitment of the wheels so we mounted the hubs to the Speedway Engineering floater rear and got some final numbers.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5552/...c9a0ee71_c.jpg

If you look closely you can see the Fuel Safe fuel cell where the license plate would be. We opted for a 22 gallon fuel cell so the car could make the distance on long drives. I previously had called DSE and they said with a 16- 18 gallon tank (approx) they were making about 200 miles per fill up (LS7) and that just doesn't cut it for me.

Once mounted up we got our final inside measurements and after mulling over the math when choosing a rear end size we ended up with 1 1/8 clearance from inner fender well (with mini tubs) to the wheel - pretty tight tolerances but just enough room.

The tank plus DSE suspension, plus the wheels and rear end come together nicely. (please excuse the cell phones pics)

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3871/...2b5343ee_c.jpg

better look at the tank set up (still not finalized)
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5552/...50bcd604_c.jpg

The wheels are currently at 10 inches wide and I'm planning on widening them. After discussing with my welder we feel that massaging the fender like Tim Allen's car or Blu Ballz would be needed to handle track conditions with a 335/30/18. Doing this is still up in the air... any thoughts guys?

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3870/...36a62a72_c.jpg

very nice,

can't go wrong with anvil and a 22gal. I like the way you guys pushed it back to close up the space. Reduces fab work and creates a natural belly pan.

On the flare, are you guys replacing the quarter panels?

Nice welds. Its looking good.

Looking great!! What wheels are throws?? I really like them.

Yeah our goal was to leave the most trunk room as possible while not having the tank (which is quite big) hang out the bottom of the car.

We purchased some AMD quarter panels just in case but the quarters are pretty clean except some rot around the fender line. I will note that someone baseball bat rolled the fender on the driver side which gave 4 inches of clearance on the left and 3.5 on the right.

The flare would mostly be to allow a 335 to fit and freely move during a track run without hitting. Also fix the bad roll job.

Thanks Rick the wheels are Forgeline GA3R's.

Final install

So first up we had to get the trunk hinges welded in so a riser was made to position them correctly.

I thought they came out pretty cool and the dimple die is a nice detail touch.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3911/...130b8ddb_c.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3905/...d9653398_c.jpg

After risers it was time to finish off the fuel cell cage. Each end is tied to the frame rail for added reinforcement. A filler panel was made for all four sides of the box to close out the trunk floor. Final out come...

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5562/...796868cc_c.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5582/...1ee16054_c.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3894/...500b7db9_c.jpg

I'm really happy with the end result!