When I hit Winslow AZ the highway was shut down because of 60 mph winds blowing across it and low visibility from all the dust. I was excited to see the town of Winslow because it's mentioned in the route 66 song. Unfortunately outside of a small downtown main street stretch, the town is run down and looks somewhat vacant. Too bad, I bet at one time it was a thriving little stop along the way. Well our option was to wait out the wind as many people chose to do, lined up parked along side both sides of the road. Another option was a detour south, go through the national park, and then back north to Flagstaff. I was already behind schedule so I chose the detour. I filled up on gas just in case and headed out. Fighting a 60 mph headwind wasn't fun, and I just watched my gas gauge drop as I rolled along at about 40 mph. Finally after what seemed an eternity I was headed up into the mountains and above the wind. Then it was a good long uphill climb. I started getting nervous on the way back down the other side as I got lower and lower on gas and not knowing how much further I had to go. I literally was on the bottom side of E when I got back to civilization and found a gas station. Glad I followed my gut feeling to fill up before I left on the detour. Once I hit Flagstaff it was a pretty smooth sail on through Vegas and up into St. George Utah.

All things into account, I'm glad to say my car served me well. I ran between 70 and 80 mph most of the trip. It never ran hot, had plenty of power to haul the load, braked fine even with about 3500 lbs behind me, and handled the drive fantastic. After about a 2100 mile trip twice within about 6 months plus daily driving in between, I say not bad for a car that was thrown together in 2 months of spare time from the point of an empty shell barely put back on the frame.

I used to really like daily driving my drag prepped Nova, but the pro-touring build philosophy is so much better, my Nova wouldn't have gotten far before I needed gas again and again, and it would've run a little hot along the way. No wonder the plans for that car are now my second pro-tour build... clickey for Trogdor build thread

Great story!!!


Now I'll have to go back and start at the beginning.


:thumbsup:

A lot of activity with the car, so I'll be posting regular updates soon. for now a quick teaser...

Great story man, Im in for updates in the future!!

Thanks a bunch!

So much has happened since then, I just gotta find the time to post it all! Lol!

Ben, you have to get us up to speed, been missing you here and on g body.

Any updates Ben?

Man. so much has happened since I last updated the thread. After 17 years and 100K + of faithful service getting abused in 3 different cars of mine, That 406 grenaded drag racing a year ago this past November. My 11 sec street strip Nova donated it's fresh 406 for Pumkinator and I've since slowly been in the middle of the serious motor swap, weight reduction and interior and exterior upgrade. here's a rendering I did to give you an idea of where it's headed. I'll get around to posting updates and pics at some point...

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...psx2m9dj9d.jpg

:cheers:

Absolutely love it Ben!!!! Check out my mirrors I made with the turn signal when you get a chance!

Since my son's Coppertop '78 Cutlass wagon got wasted by a negligent driver who crashed into him, we've decided to yank Pumkinator's complete chassis and slide it under his car to replace his bent frame. I'm picking up a spare frame this weekend and will start a fresh build for Pumk. Part of the plan is I have some ideas for new frame bracing designs and I will do a little more tweaking to the frame to tuck 315s all around on the car. All coming soon...

WOW what an awesome rendering! A little nod to the 80's yes?

Back in the early 90s someone did a salt flat Syclone that has a similar paint design. I've always wanted to do that to a car but it never really fit. I think it works on this one.

The body color wheel hoops and blah blah all over the car leans a bit towards the drifter crowd. I'm a marketing guy so I aim to build a car that appeals to all car crowds. well, maybe the old street rod guys might not like it too much but I think most others will.

I also like overcoming big challenges and going places most haven't so since I had planned on using a burnt orange metallic vinyl wrap for the top half I get to show it can be done by cutting it on a plotter. :D

I finally had a few minutes over the weekend to try the new 315-30-18 sneakers on Pumkinator, man I'm stoked to have that much rubber on the ground. Pictured ride stance is a little high, I've been shooting to lighten it up 250 lbs and once I get the new frame in the car the tires should barely tuck at the fender lips. Traction for days! Yeah! This new set up is the first of lots of changes coming up.

https://i.imgur.com/wA4H7Lt.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WGGVz2B.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/D76euIe.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pewqY8K.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DSuiOGj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4lsCQdj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/49Fzv45.jpg

That's two G bodys now with 315s... That thing is gonna stick...

That's the plan! My new frame will have a few new ideas too so hopefully it'll perform noticeably better than before.

I'm not so sure a G-body can really compete with say an F-body with an aftermarket subframe and full suspension but you (Lance) and a small handful of others have been really pushing the limits and have set a pace for G-bodies to become well respected in the pro touring/ autoX world. I hope my unique wagon will add to that reputation too and lead the way for more G-body folks to get involved in the community. :thumbsup:

Nice, Ben! Wish I could say I have 315s on all four corners.

Between my full time day job, doing project renderings on the side, writing a book and making time for family I find I'm so busy sleep is now getting neglected and I'm averaging about 4-5 hours per night lately. Sound familiar to anyone? lol!

Well with all that going on Pumkinator project time has slacked off, or rather has been somewhat non existent for a while. I did get a few minutes with it this last weekend and snapped a few photos. Updates shown here are the new engine in place as well as the 315 tires. Still have to wire all the electronics and then plumb the fuel system. Pictured here is my "street" carb, a 750 vac Summit carb. This one's nice because you take the whole top off to change jets and tuning will go a little easier. I also bought a quick change spring kit for the secondaries. This carb also has the jets in the bottom of the float bowl which may be better for autoX. For drag racing I have an 850 double pumper to swap on. On the firewall next to the 6AL is my MSD timing control which will allow me to adjust it on the fly. I won't drive it daily anymore but a couple times a week to work is in order, and with 12.5:1 compression this control along with a water/meth kit will help make running on pump gas a little more realistic. More coming soon...

https://i.imgur.com/38hFTRX.jpg

Very nice

Thanks Adam!

Dang Ben this is an awesome project.

Thanks Marty!

It's slowly coming together again but I keep running into that "well I'm this far into it I just as well get this other part too..." disease and the car is getting more and more aggressive, the wallet is getting more and more drained and the build time more and more stretched out. Soon...

On a side note I'm building another Cutlass wagon for my daily, 5.3/4L60E powered and will be posting more on that as I really ramp it up over the next couple months too.

I just went through every page, I didn't realize until the end it was "Ben at Speedtech" lol

great car and story!