nice!

Have you seen the real take off where the controllers are making fun of the Russian plane until things start to get serious? It's worth finding. Vodka Airlines is one of the comments they make.

Trey,

Haven't seen that one...

Btw- very cool how well those headers worked out. :thumbsup:

Thanks, Skip!

That was one slo-mo takeoff Trey.

Your 'Bird>that bigg 'bird.


:D

Be careful when cleaning and welding. Chlorinated brake cleaners when exposed to the welding arc can release Phosgene which can be fatal.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/phosgene/basics/facts.asp

You're right, Michael. That's one of the reasons why I use the non-chlorinated stuff. Thanks!

Very nice work on the exhaust! :cheers:

Thanks! I really need to update my thread. The exhaust is coated and done and the new rear end is in the car. I'm fighting a high speed vibration, too. Been driving the car a fair amount though. I'll get some pictures up soon.

Please do. I feel like i've known you for years, yet have hardly seen your car, and i'm not really sure you exist LOL .....(no pics :(

lol, I've been sack about updating I know. I was really hoping to do more than just the exhaust and rear end this year so that was a bummer, but overall, I'm happy with what I've accomplished this year. Next will be interior work so I can just continue driving the car. I have to change seats so I can actually drive the car safely. I slide right out going around corners now. Good problem to have, right? I also figure it's time to replace the 36 year old seat belts. Thanks Mike.

Lot of attention to detail, the headers look amazing!

The car looks great Trey.. those headers turned out awesome.

Trey nice work on the headers and the exhaust the ground clearance is perfect.

Thanks everyone! I'll get the updates posted soon, I promise.

Wow Nice! Beautiful set of headers

Well, I'm finally getting around to an update. I don't have a lot of pictures or much to report. I've been driving and enjoying the car as much as I can since it was on cribbing for most of the year it seems. I'm going to concentrate on odds and ends and interior for next year I believe. I think this will let me drive and enjoy the car more while still performing needed upgrades. I really need new seats and to have the seat belts redone. I'm pretty set on Recaros. It's just a matter of can I find vintage ones that can be rebuilt or do I just bite the bullet and get new ones.

Ok, onto the updates.

I had the headers coated in satin/flat black depending on who you ask. I like them this color. They do scratch easy and show the scratches so you have to be careful when putting them in and working around them. I taped them up when putting them in the car. I painted the entire exhaust system satin black from a rattle can. I didn't want to spend the money on coating since I knew it would be scratched over time.

One thing I did screw up with the headers is the flange. I put the flanges on upside down. I liked the look of them this way better and they fit the ports the same so I figured no big deal. Well, the gasket shows a lot more than normal. Oh well, I may put the gaskets in upside down one day if it ever really bothers me enough.

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/r...psv0ok9xnm.jpg

The sound has started to already increase and rumble more from when I first finished the system. This is to be expected. It also works out a little better this way as I don't think the car has the traditional SBC rumble. It's smoother sounding than the typical alternating pulses from the engine. I was able to confirm my way of making the mufflers is just fine. I tore apart the can on my new motorcycle to shorten it and make it louder :D The insides where steel wool wrapped around the perforated pipe followed by fiberglass material just like I did the mufflers on the car.

Another area of the car I worked on was upgrading the rear end. Some of you may have found my thread where I talked about going with an odd ball setup. That's under the car and working well. I have Ford Torino tapered bearings on the end of my factory 8.5 10 bolt. I put a 30 spline TruTrac posi in there along with US Gear 3.90 ratio gears. The gears are quiet and you can really feel the posi working when taking turns. The Sumitomos don't have a chance now. 180k miles on the drive train, and I break 2nd gear loose. I'm happy! This is the 3rd or 4th rear end that I've set up that's been quiet. I'm waiting for my luck to run out one day in that area, lol. I finished up the rear end with a Moser cover that has the main bearing supports. It also has fill and drain holes which will come in handy.

An unexpected upgrade related to the rear end was to add Kore 3 rear brakes. I didn't want to spend forever trying to make the C5 kit I had on the car work with the new housing ends. So I called Tobin and he hooked me up with a kit and new flex lines for the rear. If you need a GM kit for a rear end that has Ford style bearings, you'll need to contact him. They have the kit. They just don't have it on the website. I now have Kore 3 front and rear. Quality was top notch just as you'd expect. I'm also happy to report I have a functioning parking brake. I'm really enjoying having it as a foot pedal, too.

I did my best to install the brake lines and flex lines in a compact, clean, and protected manner. I'm happy with how it all turned out.

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/r...psomwarjbf.jpg

The last thing I did was to dearch the rear springs. I just couldn't stand how high it sat in the rear. I've brought the rear down about 1 inch and it looks so much better to me. Ground clearance is still great.

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps7fjokg6g.jpg

That's about it for now. Like I said I have a mixture of odds and ends to do for a while. I need to come up with a coolant overflow container. I want to replace the gas tank so I can stop smelling fuel. I have a high speed vibration I need to work on. I think I'll go ahead and replace the driveshaft now instead of waiting til I rebuild the transmission. I'm not sure if that is the source of the vibration but this will rule it out. A better one is needed any way. I have a better gauge panel already in my hands that looks way more professional than what I have in there now.

The seat install may get complicated depending on what I do to the floor to accept the seats. I may go ahead and change the transmission mount at the same time since I think it will combine with the seat mounts. I'm really looking at and liking how DSE has always incorporated the trans brace as a frame brace. I don't want to pull the transmission now in order to do this though. We'll see what happens. The transmission has to be rebuilt at some point, too. Scope creep! Suggestions on my seat/transmission brace idea?

Thanks for looking!

Really turning out nice Trey!!! Good for you!!

Looking good Trey! Are you looking at a tranny crossmember for your car? If so these guys build a great looking brace. They are built to fit headers/exhaust like what we decide to put in these cars. I'm very pleased with mine so far. They also have mounts you can get as well. Maybe this will help
http://www.crossmembers.com/shop/cro...s-c-1_2_7.html

Way cool Trey!! I like keeping these cars over time and just improve them part by part overtime....It seems when tech on these cars become more advanced than what we started with, we simply upgrade (in time) to what we want. Definately makes it a fun hobby (at least for me)

Congrats and Cheers and Merry Christmas!!! ps, i'm waaaay overdue for an update...

Glad you are getting to enjoy your car, that's why we spend so much time planning and working on them. Sounds like you are happy with the upgrades so far. I'm happy to report the torino tapered bearings I put in my 9" survived a full season of racing, appears to be a good choice for us so far.

What is the thought process on having one rear caliper in front of the axle and the other behind? Is it something about the mounting pad that only lets them mount one way?

I've had my calipers on both the back and front side of the axle but always both the same way. By moving mine forward I gained the room I needed to keep mine from smacking the frame. Only change I had to make was redoing the e-brake cables.

Glad your enjoying your car Trey, it looks and sits great! The headers are fantastic also!

Panty dropper
 

Trey
Great news you are driving the car now
Love the stance and wish I had your ground
clearance


Bob

Good to see you're able to enjoy it now Trey. :thumbsup:

Nice thing about TA's is that they are a good starting point...imho.

(Your posts remind me how much I miss my Buccaneer red '74 455 TA...so thanks for that. :shakehead: )

lol

Hi Skip
 

I don't see the "pro tourism" thing working for you mate. Unless you see heading down the highway at 45 mph towing a big ass caravan with 20 cars bottled up behind you as being a good thing . LOL

you're hard work is paying off, mods look great!

Joe

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I do appreciate it.

smitty, I'm looking at building my own transmission crossmember. It will run through the floor like the subframe connectors so that it also reinforces everything.

Mike, hurry up and post your updates before you get too sidetracked with the p-car.

Lance, I have staggered shocks so I have to have staggered calipers as well. I made some changes to the Kore 3 kit though and have both my parking brake cables pulling towards the front. Normally, with the Kore 3 kit the cables would be staggered as well. I had already run my cables with the old kit I had on the car, which also pulled forward on both sides, and really didn't want to change that around. That's why I made the changes to the Kore 3 kit. The cable barely clears the shock on the passenger side.

skip, you should get an SD455 before the prices become even more ridiculous than they are now. There's a gorgeous gold Formula 455 that shows up at a local car gathering every month. The car looks like it was just restored. It's mint. It's amazing to look at. You need to get yourself another 2nd gen, lol.

Thanks!

Woops. I had no idea it had been so long since I did an update.

I haven't done much honestly. Been busy doing other stuff. I do have a pair of older Recaros for the car now. They feel great compared to the stock seats. I can actually stay in place when going around a corner now.

I took advantage of Schwartz's discount on Tanks Inc tanks and purchased one of their EFI tanks. I welded a bulk head on the side of the tank which allowed me to run hard lines from the pump around to the side. From there, I just have a couple small flex sections to connect over to the frame of the car. I powder coated the tank flat black to hide it away as well. So far, it's working just fine. I haven't put any miles on it really though.

I got my cylinder heads and intake back from Advanced Induction a couple weeks ago. I hate having to hide those pieces away as they are gorgeous. I went ahead and bought their entire top end kit. So I'll be running a 234/242 110+6 cam in my 383. The bottom end will get built in a few more months. At least that's the plan anyway.

The big news is I have a damaged clutch. It's been making noise. I was hoping it would last until I built the engine. It just went out today as I was pulling back into the neighborhood. So the car is now sitting back on the cribbing. I'll start pulling the transmission soon. I figure I might as well go ahead and build the transmission, too. It has 180k miles on it and needs to be rebuilt as well as upgraded to handle the new engine. Any suggestions on who I should get my part from is appreciated. I was thinking I would check with Tick Performance and The Gear Box but am open to other suggestions.

I finally decided to also get off my butt and start spending some of this money I have been saving to build the car. That's honestly been a big reason this build has taken so long. I just didn't want to spend the money I intentionally saved for the project. Sounds weird I know but I've never been able to spend money like this before. I'm having to get accustomed to the idea that it's ok and I can afford it.

That's it for now. Thanks.

great to see an update, trey. bummer about the clutch.
i can relate to the money worries...
it must be one of the more challenging aspects of projects like this- building a car is one thing and paying for it is something completely different.
but if you've got the cash saved up i encourage you to make it rain, buddy!
:G-Dub:

best of luck moving forward!
danny

Thanks Danny. I appreciate it.

What kind of noise is the clutch making? You still run the LT1 style clutch right?

I ask because my clutch is noisy as well, especially when the pedal is out and trans in neutral. I've decided it is the throw out bearing wobbling back and forth and hitting the clutch fork and decided to live with it. :D

The fork is rubbing up against the pressure plate. I also have no hydraulic control over the fork. The pedal is stiff and won't move. I'm going to investigate the hydraulics a little before I pull the trans. However, the fork has been rubbing against the pressure plate for a while. It even did that when I had the engine still in the Formula if I pressed the clutch too far. It went away when I put everything back together and into the TA. It recently came back and was worse than before.

You still liking your clutch, Lance? I'm not sure which direction I'm going yet. I have a Fidanza flywheel now, too. Not sure if I should keep it or go with a billet steel unit. Right now, the car was driving well since I put the 3.90s in the rear. I'm leaning to keep the Fidanza since it does rev well.

I bet dollars to doughnuts the bolt holding the fork in place has worked loose. Happened to me twice before I blue lock-tighted the crap out of it, been good ever since.

So far so good with my new Mcleod street extreme clutch. I had worries about it at the last event as the engine was over revving on corner exits just like a clutch slipping, but upon video review, it was the posi slipping and spinning just right rear tire instead of both of them.

Thanks Lance. It might be the fork pivot. The fork is very loose even when connected to the throwout bearing. I'll get under there tonight with the flashlight and see how it looks inside.

Here is mine when it loosened up the second time

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V...105119_876.jpg

And after I douched it with locktite and reintalled

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0...140852_114.jpg

You can see this view when you take the slave cylinder off. I initially had to shorten the pivot block when I installed the Ram clutch and I noticed after looking at these pics that I also should have shortened the bolt itself. In the bottom pic the bolt is bottomed out but the block isn't quite up against the trans itself. I have ran it like this for almost two years though, didn't even take it loose when I put the Mcleod clutch in this winter.

After pulling the transmission I found that my throw out bearing had come apart. Clutch is a Luk replacement. I'm using a Fidanza flywheel if that matters. I've got 50k miles on this setup easily. Looks like the flange that rests against and is pushed by the fork sheared off the center section. Any ideas why or how? Just thinking there might be some other cause besides a failed throw out bearing.

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/r...pstyg9pnok.jpg

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps2oj599h4.jpg


Also, it looks like my fork was contacting the pressure plate. I'm guessing this may be a result of the throw out bearing starting to fail before it finally let loose.

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/r...psfacdxmkv.jpg

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/r...psljpyszg1.jpg

Thanks

What are you going back in with? (may have missed it if you already said)

I have an LS7 Luk in mine, so far soo good (although i went through a pplate already, the springs aren't apparently good and don't retrack at sustained 6500rpm, front stretch at Thunder hill.....

Once the new engine is in, I'm not sure. I'm eyeing the Center Force clutches that are offered for the LT1 T56 though. Lance is having good results with his. I have no factory alternatives available since the LS clutch don't work the same way as the LT clutches.

With this current adventure, I think I'm just going to replace the throw out bearing and put the transmission back in. Center Force also make a replacement bearing which isn't easy to find. I wasn't prepared to rebuild the transmission now. I'll start gathering the parts though so I can get to it this fall/winter when I pull everything again. At least that's the plan as of now.

Thanks Mike

If you have any questions when you're ready to do the clutch, feel free to shoot us a call or PM!

Will do. Thank you.I hope to be putting in the throwout bearing that I got from you guys in tomorrow or Sunday.