i got the body on the rotisserie today, but spent the rest of the day cleaning the garage. its amazing how much crap floats in even though i do my work on the driveway.

ive been asked about the exhaust and swaybars here and elsewhere, so i took a couple more pics.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_9959.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_9964.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_9970.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_9972.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_9980.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_9978.jpg

very nice work............. VERY NICE!

Jody

very nice build , all the hard work pays off at the end , :thumbsup:

Sweet! Nice detail on everything. The Watts bars are a very nice eye grabbing contrast.

Killer build man.
Keep up the great work.:thumbsup:

I love this build! I really like how it's done at home, it's really inspiring me to get going on my car.

and tell rupp that he copied me :_paranoid .

i needed to tie the red in, and i love the mechanical aspect of the watts, so i figured id do something similar to BP.

heres a small update. i sent the rear brake brackets back to Tobin at kore3 and he is taking care of the machining. i also took the axles back to currie to have the holes drilled for access to the flange and they were less than happy with me. they ended up having to install new bearings, and it appears that all of the studs are new as well. they had to chuck them up in the cnc machine and that required removing all of that stuff. my position was that i had told them what brakes i was running, the offset, the housing length, the bolt pattern, the stud size, the register dia, the bearing i wanted etc., all because i was prompted with " what do you need for......". they didnt do that for the access hole, and since i dont buy axles everyday and they sell axles everyday, i figured that they knew what i needed by what i had told them. they took care of me though, so ive got two of the issues for the rear solved. the last should just be a spacer and wont take too much time.

i also finished some work on the firewall and cowl. i welded up all of the seams and ground down what i could. its still going to take a TON of work to get it nice and smooth, but its closer. i also ground down the plug welds from the quarter installation and welded in a notch for the filler neck of the raised tank.

i plan one more day cleaning up some welds and stuff on the bottom, then it will get dropped back on next week.

here are some pics. i threw in one of a recent project for my sons 3rd birthday. its a late '70's AMF model 508 fire engine that i had when i was a kid. i guess i crashed it a few times because it was in pretty bad shape. there are still a bunch of dents i left in it, but i'll call that character. i did fill the hood and smoothed it out a bunch. a lot of time, and this is 1/100th of the chevelle. another reason somebody else is going to do it.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0165.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0163.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0168.jpg

Very cool. Hope that takes care of your brake issue.
Nice fire truck!

so after spending some time and money on the lathe to get the tolerances a little better and to get something to cut with, i finally got the spring spacers cut. i had been using the hss stuff that came with the lathe, but it doesnt compare to the tool holder and carbide indexable inserts. i spent about $70 bucks for a boring bar, another insert holder and 5 ccmt inserts. money well spent.

so, a little background for those that arent aware of the problem. it is becoming more common for chevelle guys to run a short spring and an adjustable spacer on the front of their cars. all is great, except that the tolerances are tight between the spacer and the shock that has to go through the spacers hole. it gets even tighter when guys run shocks that have a larger diameter, ie. my varishocks. so, the solution is to run a spacer that captures the spring on the od, not the id like the current one. i have to give some credit to bochnak on the chevelle forum for the idea, but we have found through pms that our spacers are completely different lengths. i have a feeling that our different lower control arms are to blame.

the initial idea was to make the spacers the same length as the current ones that are mocked up. i know that i still dont have all the weight on the car so its going to sit a little lower, but my tires are 1" taller which will raise the front 1/2". i ended up making these 1/4" taller than my others which should raise the front another 3/8". the lathe isnt going away, so i will fine tune when the time comes. i also plan to make a few thin spacers that will go under the urethane spring isolator on the lca. the global west arms have a really deep bucket, so i can get a bunch of extra height if needed. i have a feeling that my extra 1/4 will come off in the end.

here are a few pics.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0220.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0221.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0222.jpg

the body went back on the frame today. i plan to get the rear bumper finished and the rear side markers done in the next couple weeks. you can see how much the rear was narrowed with the old wheels on. and thats with them flipped around for more backspace. more to come.....

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0226.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0233.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0235.jpg

Very nice werk, keep it up!!!

Very nice man. Very nice.:thumbsup:

ive been busy between work, family and the promotional classes that ive been taking. but, i got a little more work done on the bumper. i didnt take a whole bunch of good pics before i started, but i did dig up some that i shot last year at a car show. it really shows how much ive been able to suck it up.

i still need to finish working the sides a little more. if you notice in the first pic of the car at the show, the bumper never followed the quarter in stock form. although i got them much closer, there was no way to make this perfect without a huge amount of work to the bumper, and if i want to get it rechromed it may have been too much. but with the bumper not following the quarter perfectly, it gives the illusion of the gap being off when viewed at certain angles. this is bugging the CRAP out of me. i also started with 1/4" gaps, but decided to close them all up to about 3/16". if you look at the side pic you can see how much black hides gaps. i have since shot the quarter white in that area, and the although the gap looks large, its only 3/16.

the last part will be getting the bottom filler piece fit and making a new "bumper pad". the stock one is rubber, but i plan to do something out of aluminum.

here are some pics of the bumper today and the one i shot at the show.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_8310.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_8311.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0306.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0314.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0321.jpg

Very nice. Looks much better now.:thumbsup: :cheers:

This build makes me want tp rob a bank and rip my car apart again!!!!:hail:

looking great!

Nice progress! You're doing a great job!! :thumbsup:

so another 25 hours later (not kidding), the brackets are welded on the bumper and its been off and on and falls back in place. this thing was a PAIN in the ass. the main problem i had was how the brackets mounted to the bumper. since the mounting surface wasnt flat a slight movement twisted the bumper instead of just moving it up or down. since the bumper has dimension to it, and some areas are closer or futher from the axis, a small twist would send some areas +/- .050 out of spec. this caused so many headaches that i was ready to just give up. but, like i said the bumper is DONE. i still need to finish cleaning up the quarters and i still need to fit the lower valance. this was all supposed to be done weeks ago.

like ive said before, i am breaking all of the purchases up and buying stuff in advance. this has screwed me many times and ive sold and repurchased a ton of parts, but if i dont spend it on the car, it gets spent at friggin Target. this month i picked up my single 10" subwoofer and the ISIS inmotion controller. for the sub, and after a ton of research, i picked up a focal 27v2 to go with the focal components. i narrowed it down to a few, but decided to just stick with one brand for the audio. its not a loud sub, but the quality is supposed to be amazing. i'll be building an enclosed box in the coming months.

i also have a little money left to send to mike a musclerodz. ive given him a few deposits which all should add up to a PRC radiator and ac condensor in the near future. i was stressing about the ron davis/prc choice, but ive decided to add an intank engine oil cooler. rd wanted 700 since they cant fit it in a stock tank and it then makes it a tank custom, and PRC wants 85 and says if it needs a custom tank there will be no charge. i think the $615 difference in oil coolers, plus the $260 in base price has made my decision. i really hope prc delivers on their welds. ive seen some really good and some pretty good. rd usually looks machine done.

hopefully i can get the rest of the bumper buttoned up and some new pics soon!

It looks great tucked up like that, nice work.

What coating did you get done on your bolts ect? You have convinced me to do mine soon! lol:hail:

Awesome project.69-70 chevelle's don't get enough lovin.:thumbsup: Scott

here you go. this is all i really know.

btw, just a quick update. its been raining here and i havent been able to roll the car out to work on the rear bumper, so i started on the wiper motor relocation. i wasnt able to come up with a way to make it work with the stock linkage, so im mounting an arm where the old motors arm was and then connecting my new linkage to that to power the wipers. everything is still hidden, but im on my 3rd design. its been fun playing with the mill and the lathe. ive run into a few snags, but i'll have pictures and an explanation when its all done. im not sure how others have done it on the chevelles, but i couldnt come up with any other good ways.

Tim

Where are you relocating it to. I was considering putting mine under the drivers fender. Using the original plate and welding it into the firewall just under the fender. Then taking an original linkage arm,cutting it in half, and welding in the center section from another arm after cutting off the ends.Was this method one of your attempts?

to be honest, im not following your mods of the arm. this is why i hate the internet. we'd be on the same page in 30 seconds if on the phone.

i am moving it to the ds fender. the main problem is that the stock arm travels from the ds towards the center of the car. the easiest fix would have been to extend the arm to the passenger side. but, the arm would need to be really light and very strong and i couldnt figure out a way to do it. plus i want to run the ac lines through that side and didnt want it to all interfere.

i also thought of trying to manipulate the stock arm. but with the severe angles it didnt look possible. the way i have done it doesnt change how the stock arm or wipers function, it just changes how they are powered. it will make more sense with pictures.

Tim

so here are a few pics of the new wiper setup. its still a work in progress, but now all i really need is the linkage from the wiper motor to my new arm and its done. i have an 18" piece of aluminum hex on order from mcmaster and it should be all i need.

so a little vocabulary to keep it all straight. "arm" is the pitman style arm on the motor and the new arm on the firewall. "linkage" is the stock piece from the wipers to the firewall arm and from the motors arm to the firewall arm.

a little background. i originally thought that the motor only spun 180* and then reversed. its the only way my mind could grasp how the motor could "park" the wipers when turned off. i had thought that when turned off the motor just spun backwards a little more sucking them down. i was wrong. using a method still unclear, the motor spins clockwise 360* and then uses a cam action to make the arm longer when turned off. this is how they are sucked down.

so, the original thought was to just rock the new arm back and forth like i thought that the stock arm went. once i found out that it went in circles it posed a slight problem. the new motor would be providing a lateral force, not a rotational one. meaning, if both arms were the same length there would be an issue getting the new arm to pass both 90 and 270 without ripping something apart. since the stock arm was 2.25" and the dse is closer to 2" (still need to call on that), i decided to make my new arm 2.5". this means that my arm will never be forced to make the full circle and instead will just rock as initially intended.

the other issue was the mounting of both linkages on the new arm. i had a few ideas but settled on this one. i had to do some milling to offset the mounting points and to keep the thickness thick enough to tap, but thin enough to keep the stock linkage from pushing too far towards the windshield. the closer to the windshield it gets the more bind that is introduced. this is currently a sweet spot and there is no bind.

here are the pics. like i said, still needs to be cleaned up.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0410.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0565.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0562.jpg

Very nice. :thumbsup:

i built arm #3 last night but bored .020 too deep for the bearing seat and the snap ring fits too loose. i dont have enough material to bore another .025 and add a second snap ring, so arm #3 is going in the trash after a couple hours work. i changed some things up a little on this one, but most notably i swapped the side being milled which required a smaller relief and it presents with a solid side when viewed instead of the offset notches that you see now. i also overlapped the area around the notches so its full thickness for .188 instead of being much thinner like the one above.

i did however clean up arm #2 above and it looks much better with the newly radiused corners. since arm #3's main difference was appearance, and since you wont friggin see it anyways, i may not build a #4.

i work the next 48 hours, but plan to get the linkage hooked up on sunday after making a few more small parts. i may also do a short video clip to show how it all works.

Tim

here is a little video of the new linkage. i am actually making the 4th arm tonight. this will have a little different ratio to get a full sweep on the window. the first few arms assumed that the starting angle and the finishing angle would be the same. since that didnt actually happen, even though the motor was moving the arm 4", it was only moving the stock linkage about 3.75". that .25 was a few inches of the window.

theres one other issue that im working out with a few phone calls, but i hope to have an answer tomorrow.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...iperonline.jpg

Do you have enough room to open the groove for the clip and put two to take up the extra room?

it was just too thin to take another ~.025 out of the side to add another snap ring. plus, its geometry was different than the 4th one that i made. i have them down to about 2 hours now though :) .

ride height
 

Hey Tim what is the measurement at your front crossmember to the ground and your frame rails at center point with your rushforths on.

its hard to get you an accurate measurement since i never mounted the fronts and i dont actually have any of them right now. the plan is about 6" at the bottom/middle of the frame and about 3.5-4" at the crossmember. that put also puts my exhaust and mid crossmember at about 4" as well.

im not really as concerned about the front cross since it sits even with the wheels. although an object in the road is obviously a concern, im more concerned about speed bumps and the exhaust. its tucked up within 1/2" of the floor, so theres nothing more i can do.

this is at about those measurements. i have been toying with the idea of doing a rocker extension, but i think it looks a lot lower with how the wheels are tucked.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_9148.jpg

Thanks i am in the process of starting to order parts and fabbing 4 link and a watts so i set frame to mimic yours i want the same stance as your car

i finished ironing out the issues tonight with the remote setup. i ended up making another arm.... yep, number 5. this one takes dse's .550 and turns it into about .280. it keeps the wipers much further down using the delay feature. i called them again and spoke about the difference and they cant give me an answer as to why theirs parks the wipers so much more. either way its done.

oh and about 6 months ago i promised myself that i was done swapping unused parts and losing money. but since the brand new tko is up for sale i guess i didnt keep my promise. i have a couple guys interested and the bell housing is already sold. a t56 magnum will be going in its place.

since i finished up the wipers, im back to the bumper again. i finished fitting the lower valance piece today. it has about 20 slits in the top where i was able to reform it to fit correctly, and both ends needed some work to line up correctly. i now just need to drill some holes for some bolts and then finish up the cuts in the quarter panels. both sides need some work where the top corners of the bumpers meet the quarters. i'll post some pics when done.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0781.jpg
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0783.jpg
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0786.jpg
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0789.jpg

and the tremec is still for sale. i had a couple solid buyers, but nobody has sent the funds yet.

if anybody is interested, i'll sell the trans (tko600 .82 od) for $2000 or with the reverse harness, neutral safety wirng, speedo adapter and pilot bushing for $2050. If you add a mount and yoke from summit for $100, you end up with the basic kit that sells for $2395 new. so basically, this is $250 off on a brand new trans.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0793.jpg
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0795.jpg
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0796.jpg

Looks good Tim. Keep up the great work.:thumbsup:

your project is lookin awesome. Keep up the great work. You're given me good ideas for my 69' chevelle. :thumbsup:

Tim, this pic is pretty sweet.