Christmas present from my wife Julie arrived today. Does she know she's supporting my addiction with stuff like this .... ??

thats cool! your wife really supports you or she is trying to drop a subtle hint you spend too much time in there!!! lol!:D

356G gets a spine....
 

Took some vacation time so I could work on the car. Backbone and lower A-arm pickups almost done. Should get the a-arm tabs from the water jet guy tomorrow - that is if the nascar guys will stop it with the last minute orders for Daytona....

Rodger at www.ironworksspeedandkustom.com stepped in at the last minute and bent some hoops for me - benders in my area had a 4 - 6 week lead time and I waited too late. Thanks Rodger !!! (and shipping in a Budnik box was perfect !)

I've never done this before - and it took a couple (now scrap) tubes to get the hang of bending offsets. I could bend 2 in a row, but when I tried to do the entire piece with 4 bends on this style bender - both sets would be on different planes and dog legged something awful. So I split it in half and will stub in an insert.

Going to complete the backbone tomorrow and finish clearing the underbody for the perimeter tubes that connect to the backbone.

Jim

Wow that California tubing sure looks great. But i'm not sure if you would call that a budnik box, more like an envelope.

Project is looking good. Almost done.

Lunch Break
 

Back Bone in. Time to get the tube notcher setup. No parts from the waterjet guys today .... bummer.

Sunday Update
 

Little slower then I wanted - but it's moving along. Learning a lot of new stuff. Math formulas for bending offsets and hoops (and I remember why I hated math class), using my new bender, and notching tubing while staying in-phase with the other end. This is much harder then the chassis guys on this site make it look.....

Tacked some stuff together and built the upper set of tubes. Had to cut away all the shifter brackets and wire clamps - so I stuck it in with plastic ties to help locate the upper tube. Put the exhaust back in to check clearance there. Seat clearance is 18 inches now. I'll have to cut 2 inches outta my stock touring seats - and also get some other race/street seats.

Question: should I run the upper tubes as high as possible - or does it matter ? The dual perimeter tubes will be 4 - 5 inches apart. Would it be best to match that distance with the backbone's upper and lower tube too ?

Thx for any feedback, comments, concerns, ideas.... :thumbsup:

Hope to start getting suspension tabs next week....

All in all - it was a fun week and made some progress, Jim

cool project! :thumbsup:

If you need water jet parts I can do that for ya. My guy takes about 2 hours after I email him the design. Let me know. See this summer DAD. the project looks great and that shorty torque tubes look hilarious.

Thanks TJ ! I have been constantly watching your project and the progress you and your Dad make. I'm amazed at how fast you guys are and the creativity and craftsmanship is awesome ! That will be one wicked machine !

Jim

Nice work! Must be tough working in such cramped confines! :lol: I feel your pain, I've been waiting on the waterjet guy now for 3 weeks! Waiting on the tabs and brackets for the suspension pickups just like you! Hopefully I'll have some stuff to post on the "Beach Cruiser" after this weekend. Nice job! :cheers:

If you guys send me the measurements with your patterns I can take care of it quicker then that. Ask Jim I was the lowest bidder and about 3 weeks early. We do that stuff daily so it is no big deal.

Rodger

Yup, e-mailed him one day with the measurements - and had the parts the next week across country. He even called the day he shipped with the info and final billing.

Fast and courteous too ! :thumbsup:

HAHA you said courteous, lets not tell lies now Jim.

Worked up some ideas for the trans mount. This one still isn't quite right (a little too square or flat or something...) but I did a mock up to see how it would look. Hope to drop it off at the machine shop Monday.

The bushings are from Pete and Jakes. It's their 4 bar link bushing. Got the part number from Alan Johnson - it's what they used on the G-Force 'Cuda.

Need to adjust the rear instant center this weekend so I can finalize the rear suspension tabs. Read the Adams book on how to measure and set that - thanks Rodger for pointing it out ! Unfortunitly I don't have a clue where the center of gravity is now - so I'll have to give it a wag...

Then it's back on the upper section of the backbone and more notching. Plenty of work to do....

Design Options
 

Other options for the mount.

I took a design cue from TJ's dads challenger mount and adjusted the top so it's not flat and tucks up under the Diff. Then I dropped the bottom at the center point so it's not flat. (Kinda looks like a Batman shield now ..)

#1 is the same concept as the above post - with adjusted top and bottom.
#2 is with a lower bar added to #1.
#3 is from a design cue off the Diff cover (2 arrows pointing in)
#4 is with a center bar to #3.

Like any of those ??

My vote is for #4

if I have to choose one from a catalog I'd go for #3.
If you are to make it from scratch why not machine 356 or the Porsche logo to it??
just an idea

Sat
 

More cutting ....

Clearanced out for the perimeter frame rails. On a Porsche they have a trailing arm rear suspension design with a torsion bar running across the car. I need to remove all that so I can run a dual 1.5 perimeter frame rail around the passenger area and connect to the backbone. There is also a heater inlet tube running right under the torsion bar tube. Hot air comes off the engine - through the tube - through the longitudinals - and into the car. All that needed to be removed.

I was amazed again at how much sand was in the frame.

This view shows how the perimeter frame rails will tuck up and under the door recess - turn the corner at the rear tire - and cross over to connect up with the trans hoop. I cut out the jack spur and the rocker supports. The rocker supports will go back in later and be removable. I'm making the frame removable from the body - so there will be body mounts at the front and rear of the door through the door sill. There is a sill plate that will cover it up so it will look stock.

Tiger, I thought about doing the #4 design - and leave an area in the middle where I could drop in a Porsche shield. Thanks for the comment and also thanks for the info on your Porsche brake calipers, much appreciated !

Jim

Revised the Diff mount. Took the one that used the 2 pointing in arrows from the diff cover. Studs will mount in this mount at the top and will go up through the Diff mount holes and receive 12 point nuts there. Dropped it off at the machine shop today.

Picked up the front suspension lower A-arm mounts. 1/4 inch 4130 cut on a water jet. They mount straight up as shown to get the wheels in as close to the engine as possible. Everything on this little car is unreal tight....

Next is the rear lower susp mounts.

diff mount should turn out great :thumbsup:

Hay jim if your gonna change to poly bushings mock them up now they are wider then the stock rubber ones. I learned the hard way. The are pretty cheap and allow you to rebuild the used arms. The balljoints are easy to push out also to powder coat the arms. Or anodize.....

Rodger

WOW!!!! Lot's of progress! Looking good Jim!

John

Great info - Thanks ! I'll get them on order today before I weld up a mistake...

The uppers are more important then the lowers.

wow, after doing some research about types of bushings here - Vette Forum - and over on chevelles.com ..... I think I have brain stem swelling. Oh my aching brain pot.

Any other ideas folks ?

Energy Suspension

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...0&autoview=sku
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...0&autoview=sku

Pfadt

http://www.pfadtracing.com/products/...&search=&page=

Vette Brakes

http://www.vbandp.com/detail.aspx?ID=770

Doesn't look like Global West makes stuff for the C5 system.

Exhaust hangar grommets came in today.

5$ per 4 grommets pack purchased from Street Rods by Michael.

The energy suspension ones do not come with inner sleeves and the stock ones are a pain to get out and the wrong size. Buy the others not the energy suspension ones.

What the ?
 

Looks like I'm going with the stock rubber bushings....

After 2 days of reading, there doesn't seem to be any consensus on any bushing type. A lot of discussions even had mixed types - Poly in upper and rubber in lower, etc.... cold flow, squeaking, binding, deflecting, deteriorating, grease – no grease, graphite – no graphite, too harsh -not harsh.

I guess I'll go with GM's research dollars and stay with the stock material. If it doesn’t work – I can spend the dollars later.

If I had gone poly - I would have chosen these:

http://www.pfadtracing.com/products/...&search=&page=

Maybe the problem is I read too much. Just do it !

Fly By Wire
 

More parts coming in. This is from Ebay. Vette pedal assy.

I went to a car show this weekend here in IND and GM had a LS3 crate on display.... I can see how people get away from their budget. That is one awesome little package with a show price of 5K. That's very tempting.... Focus man - focus !

Jim

Explain these for me, or a couple of pictures...

Mick

Hi Mick,

They are mount isolators. A pipe/muffler mounting tab is attached inside the isolator 'clip' - and it's then bolted to the frame or another strap mount from the frame/body. The pipe then hangs from a rubber isolated hangar.

http://www.streetrodcatalog.com/prod...essories.shtml

That is a good price, I paid $3.47 EACH from Stainless Works!

Darren

Jim
Thanks for the link and pictures. You know I like pictures.

I was thinking about using the rod and donut hangers like the new cars do, but these might be a great substitute.

Can you send me a link to the tubing bender you bought?

Thanks
Mick

Are we meeting for Columbus?

I'd like to use the donut style - but this little car has zero room left over - so I'm going with the smallest packaging I can get. The donut style have a ton more flex and isolation and would be a good solution with available space.

Columbus is a go ! I plan to stay for several days this time and leave late Sunday night to drive back to IND (4 hrs).

If you mean the car in Columbus - maybe 09.....

Jim

We should start looking for rooms in Columbus. Someplace fun. I ready to get out of town and see some old friends...

Call me.
PM for phone or ask Rodger.

Mick

Spoke to the tech support line at Pfadt. Their bushings have grooves like the Global West design that allows the lube to move. They also use polished alum inserts to reduce friction, binding and the squeaking. You can also easily remove the alum inserts to re-lube if needed. The diameter and widths are stock GM rubber measurements. They have their poly bushings on several C5 and C6 vettes that are daily drivers with lots of miles - no squeaks or other problems. I'll order those.

Geez, who woulda thought bushings would be a tough choice ....

http://www.pfadtracing.com/products/...&search=&page=

Motor Mounts installed. Went with the Morrision versions - very nice product and tucks up close to the block and gives me the max room.

Transmission mount should be done tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm going to go over and watch them CNC those outta billet - so that should be fun. The shop told me it took 40 thousand lines of code to do one side - then they flip it in the jig - and do it all over again. Design looked really cool on the autocad screen. I'll try to get a screen print while I'm there too.

I'd like to see that. :thumbsup:

Well,

It took a few days of reading here and there, but I read it all. Very cool project. I love the attention to detail. That's going to be an impressive ride from every angle, even beneath from the looks of it. :unibrow:

Do you have an english wheel to make the curved panels for stiching the body back together? I guess that car is steel body panels right?