Thanks Donnie, that's exactly what I was referring to. I met Mike Johnson at RTTH's this year and we talked about his classes. I also talked to Rich about it two weekends ago at Day at the Strip, and he said the same thing, well worth it.
Mike said they may be back at the Pontiac Silverdome parking lot this year, hopefully they will as it's only 45 mins for me.
I appreciate the heads up, IL would work if they don't come to MI.

:thankyou:

Just sat here and combed through this thread and I love the execution of the chevelle and it definitely gives me motivation for my 67 Lark! You sir have built a VERY nice "G-Velle". Congrats!!!

Thank you! Its been a lot of fun both putting it together and out there using it. I'm out in Vegas now at sema shopping for upgrades :unibrow: for next season.
Good luck on the 'Lark!

:) :whistling: :lol: :underchair:

:ohsnap:

Oh Tom, you already know what I got. I finally got my Christmas present from my wife.

We were on the fence when we picked out the fabric and colors, but now that they are here, couldn't be happier.
They are Recaro Expert S (iirc) with the micro-suede-like lighter tan outer, and the DOT bus tweed darker brown panels, lol. They are going to look great with the saddle interior and some new carpet. Probably go with a dark brown carpet, but it has to be custom fit since I raised the tunnel 2"+. They don't add any horsepower or traction, but I think I'll feel much more confident while strapped in.

Thanks to Billy and Bill at B&B Classics for the seats and the help with color swatches. If anybody is looking for Recaros, give B&B a call.

A few pictures, hope to get them installed soon.
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pslzsac0li.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pstnqlcyhh.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5t84pnuo.jpg

And I have, what I hope, is a fix to my fuel system issues that I had last summer with my original tank. Tom bailed me out for the rest of the season by loaning me a spare tank and pump assembly. Thanks again Tom!

I worked with CarlC at Vaporworks on a unique solution. Due to my relatively low horsepower (under 400 most likely), Carl thought a standard 5th Gen Camaro pump would be more than adequate. He offers both aluminum and stainless mounting rings that can be integrated into a tank. Since my tank had a large "porthole" in the top made of aluminum, we decided that an aluminum mounting ring could be welded to the cover plate after I machined a hole thru it. Since my tank is only 6.5" deep, we decided to mount the pump flush to the top and cut a hole in the trunk for both clearance and future access. The metal forming masters at B&B Classics will make a cover that can be removed easily. I'd like to thank Carl for all his help in emails and on the phone, great customer service!

OK, so some pics of the progress. Still need a small bit of -6 hose and the electrical connection. My plan is to us a PWM output on the Holley HP efi to control the pump, fingers crossed on that.
Here, you can see the porthole cover before I cut the hole in it.
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pssokvhzet.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pskbxvmywh.jpg

Bonus with the hole in the trunk: Much easier to put diff fluid in now :D
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pshormfwbg.jpg

That's it for now, more to come. Front wheels widened for 265's, hopefully a front ARB change, and possible new billet machined steering arms to allow some more alignment geometry and quicken the steering ratio a tad too.

Seats look great Aaron. Love the dark brown inserts.

Remind me to take the screwdriver out of my pocket the next time I get in your car.LOL Look great, hope that takes care of the fuel issues.

Not a lot to report, trying to knock down a punch list before Midwest Musclecar Challenge first weekend in May. I have been making/modifying a few items. Some of you have seen this stuff on fb already.

Made a few items for the interior. Crank knobs and lock knobs. Shifter ball is next :D
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psatqelgld.jpg

When I did my accessory drive last year, never had the time to go back and tweak it or finish it. So when I had it appart to change the PS pump, I was able to find some weight to remove and clean them up.
Before:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pslgxems3m.jpg
After:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3dv0wcxy.jpg
All painted up:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psgalgxarm.jpg

Kind of a lame update I know, but hope to have some more soon.

Nice job Aaron!

Never lame!

Very nice.The project just keep's getting better & better.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

What's hiding in the box in the back of the truck:unibrow:

I'm expecting a waaaaay better update from you, real soon :stirthepot:

Thanks Scott! See Chevelles are cool:bitchslap: finish your's please :thankyou:

What box :whistling:


Ohhhh, that Wilwood box? New stoppers for the wife's Vette.
Thanks Todd

Love the car! Watching in the background. ��

David

Thanks David!




Wow, where has the year gone? 5 months since I've updated this thread. Well mainly because I haven't really done much to the car but drive the snot of it :drive: Oh yeah and use all other free time on the "other car".

Been to quite a few events this year and have a few yet to come. We did Midwest Musclecar, Nashville Goodguys, USCA Daytona, USCA Road America, & Motorstate Challenge so far. Still to come is Ohio Musclecar Challenge, USCA at MIS. Not for sure, but maybe USCA Pittsburgh and LS Fest, we'll see.

This evening, I had to move the car to back my truck out. I parked it on some grass that I just cut and for some reason it looked so good I had to take a few pics :flashie: lol.

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psxbzou5ls.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psg7z3lc3m.jpg

As far as changes, well I did put a larger front ARB in last week. Also leveled the ride height out a bit by raising the front. Tweaked the coilovers side to side and reset the front and rear sway bar end links. I did add a little more camber too, now at 2 degrees static. Plans are to see how that helps out this weekend at the Ohio Musclecar Challenge at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Awesome event in the past that Bob Bertleson puts on there.

Initial road driving is very encouraging. The turn-in is way better, it reacts so much faster. Really looking forward to trying it out on course.

I really couldn't be more happier with how the car has turned out and held up to the abuse. It has been on the road now for a year with just under 4,000 miles. Most of those miles were at or near the rev limiter too. I feel very comfortable in it and feel connected with it from a handling standpoint. I think after a few more planned changes to the chassis, I'm ready for more power. After, I don't know how many, laps at Gingerman (open track session a couple of days before the challenge, and the day of the MS Challenge), I just could not get anymore straight speed. Every session it was 118 no matter what. My lap time kept dropping each session, which meant I was making it up everywhere but the straights, which was good. But for the road course, I think more power would be beneficial now. Autox, maybe not necessarily.

Anyway, not to bore anyone with my ramblings, I just felt like I needed to let everyone know that jackstands are overrated, lol :gitrdun:
It's way more fun to be out enjoying these things doing what we built them for.

Heck yeah Aaron! Looks great. I'm not up to 4,000 miles yet this year but I should get to well over 3,000 before I'm done.

Did you change anything on the rear suspension to go with your new front ARB?

Actually, this was to balance the car out more as the car was light on TRS, mainly the front (FLLD). I ran the last event with no rear bar and the car felt much more neutral, so I'm hoping this will allow me to run it now that the front is stiffer. There are some hard changes I need to make in the rear, but that will have to be in the off-season.

Pardon my ignorance but what is an "ARB , TRS and FLLD" ?

You need to read this:https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=42467
Then rear suspension and overall tuning. Lots of good info there from Ron.

ARB=anti roll bar, TRS=total roll stiffness, FLLD=front lateral load distribution.

Throwing a lot of money and parts at the car now I see.

Yep, one part and about $200. Other than tires, that's been it all year.

Show off.

:hello:

Lol, just in case Ron stops in he'll know I wasn't sleeping in class :lol:

Thanks for pointing me down the path of enlightenment Aaron :thankyou:

Absolutely!

Update after the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge (in Pennsylvania lol):
Link to Bob's pictures are: http://s1243.photobucket.com/user/or...allenge%202014

Well the front ARB totally changed the car, in a very good way. Body roll was substantially reduced and turn-in was amazing. The bar along with additional camber made the car really fun to drive.
On the roadcourse, I knocked 4 seconds off my time from last year, and picked up 6mph. The only changes since then: wider front tires, bigger front bar, oh and a year's worth of seat time :lol: . Probably the biggest contributor was the driving experience.

In the autox, the day started out raining. Pouring at times actually. After it let up, we got started. I've never autox'd in the rain before, an honestly, that was a lot of fun. What was really fun was run by run, the course was getting dried out and times were dropping fast. Like 2 seconds per run! Heck, I think I was in first place for a brief moment...lol until the next group. It was an awesome time. The wife also drove the car, so it was in both run groups, never shut it off for the whole autox segment. Car made 32 runs in 3 hours.
I ended up 8th, with one car on 100TW tires infront of me, so 7th I'd say. Real happy with that.

On to USCA MIS event this weekend! Whose else is in?

Well, back from another event...USCA at MIS! What a blast and to make it that much more fun, it was my birthday weekend.

As alot of you guys may have already seen in other places, I got the ultimate car guy birthday present from the best wife ever. Yeah, this happened! At MIS no less, in presence of lots of great friends, oh and taped for MAV TV! You all will most likely get to see my sensitive side...I wasn't the only one with dewy eyeballs though :rolleyes:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1l3xkwoh.jpg

That right there is a Mast Black Label 416 LS3 630HP! Pretty amazing gift from the wife that about two years ago really wasn't all that interested in the events at all. So happy she's come around :)

Oh yeah, the event...awesome as usual. Jimi Day and the crew at Optima put on a great show, tightly run, with tons of seat time.
Overall did pretty good. 15th overall in GT3K, 12th in design (!), 17th on the road course, 13th in autox, and 18th in speed stop.
My typical middle of the pack showing, and I'm totally OK with that.

To my total surprise, Bret and the guys at Ridetech awarded me with Ridetech Renegade Award, the guy that does the most with the least. That means a lot to me. Thanks Ridetech!
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psathvq4p1.jpg

wow very cool on both counts, buy what a great wife!

:king:

Aaron,

That indeed is a great surprise....even better that it came from your better half :bump:

You know, now that she has her OWN car, her plan may have been to give you a 630hp engine with the intent that now she gets a new 700hp 7.0 liter monster for her ride. Brilliant!!

R/
Jeff

Why yes, yes she is.
Behind every King is a Queen ;)
Oh I hope not Jeff. That would destroy the C2 drivetrain! I won't rule out a slight used LS1 with approximately 440 hp ending up in there someday.

Vegas Baby!
 

For those of you not on FB, here is my post from yesterday :cheers:

"Next stop, VEGAS! Been a long week waiting to see if I made it into the Ultimate Street Car Association Invitational in Las Vegas. I just missed being in the top 20 in points, but a few that were invited must have declined moving me up. I need to find out who to thank :)

It's been a fun year to say the least, Daytona still is the highlight of all the events I did this year. Not that we didn't have an absolute blast at all of the others, but being on the high banks, in your car, that you built, running 130+...epic. In the series, I also did Road America, Michigan International, and Pittsburgh International.
I've always been a middle-of-the-pack guy at these events, and I'm totally fine with that. Especially since my car is probably on of the most budget-oriented builds in my finishing positions. To win the RideTech Renegade award at MIS reinforces that too. I was very happy to get that. I have no misconceived notions that I'm going to go out and be a top 10 finisher in Vegas, haha, if I finished in the top 50, I'd be very satisfied. However, I do have every intention of putting it all out there and having as much fun with all of my car friends as possible!

Speaking of friends, this whole car hobby (it's still a hobby until I put big aero on the G-Velle, then is game on :D ), I must mention a few that I look forward to seeing, hanging out and competing with at the events: Tom, Debbie, & Sam Farrington, Dan and Mike Ballard, Billy and Bill Utley, Chris and Lynda Jacobs, Ken Edwards, Bryan Johnson, Tony, Kyle and Stacy Tucker, Bret Voelkel, Greg Schneider, Tim E Strange....many others too. Some of you I look forward to racing with you, others give me tips and suggestions to be faster and some give me a higher goal to shoot at.
A few other to thank of course the misses, Jill for going to most of the events and (I think) having a good time. Ron Sutton for the emails, products, services and the Sunday morning text messages asking how everything was going! You'll finally get to see my car in person! Also thank everyone at USCA, Optima Jim, Jimi Day, Saroja Raman, Wally Olczak. You guys ran a tight ship and put on a great event every time!

Now, to tear the car apart to fix a few things, maybe install a Tiger Cage, and address a few known items. Pretty excited to get this opportunity. Hope to see everyone out there! Wish me luck!"


To say I'm pretty stoked to go is an understatement. It goes to show you anyone can do it if you want to. I hope to get to meet some more of you West coast guys while we're out there, please stop by and say hi!

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pse7hfpjdp.jpg

Congrats on the invitation! That will be a great time. :beavis:

Congrats Aaron. I'll see you out there! :cheers:

Thanks!

Thanks Ron, stop and say hi please:thumbsup:

Congratts!

Happy belated birthday Aaron! Nice birthday gift.

Nice job man! :cheers:

Congrats Aaron, I'm sure it will be a great experience.