Installed the Shiftworks 4 speed kit with new dent and cover:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...mission038.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...mission036.jpg

Really fits with my "stock" / "sleeper" theme. Can now at least put the trans in all gears now properly.

Also ordered a Mark Williams 3" Chromoly drive-shaft. Actually received it, but it seems that the Bowler trans has a heavy duty output shaft. The OD of the spines is the same as the shaft OD rather than being raised.

What this meant that the Trans yoke wouldn't fit all the way in and prevented me from installing the driveshaft. After talking with Travis at Mark Williams we were able to figure out what was going on.
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...utShaft001.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...utShaft003.jpg

And they were kind enough to offer to counter-bore the yoke about 5/8" and rebalance to get it to fit. So waiting on the return of the driveshaft to install it.

Installed my sub-frame connectors. Really needed them in so I could continue with fuel line routing:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...nectors004.jpg

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...nectors005.jpg

Ended up TiG welding in the rears completely but on the fronts, I drilled the holes to bolt them up but then tacking them on the bottom and top on each side (4 tacks per sub-frame connector side).
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...nectors003.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...nectors008.jpg

Should be pretty solid, but if I ever need to pull the front sub-frame should be able to, just have to grind down a few welds.

Looks like the exhaust has some fitment problems as well. Need to trim the passenger sides' collector reducer about 1" so that the exhaust runs straight along the centerline of the car. Also going to need to trim the X-Pipes about 9" so that I can properly fit the mufflers in.

Mocking up the rear brake lines and tabs, just need to weld those in now.

Finished mocking up the fuel line and cooler lines for the oil cooler and trans cooler. Bought all my AN fittings (damn they were expensive). Going to run a combination of hardlines and flexline. Hoping to run hardline where ever I can and then use the flexline to allow components to move around when they need to or to allow disassembly as needed (to change fuel filters for example or to isolate the fuel pump).

Bought all the hardlines and flex line, benders, flaring and cutting tools. Now it is just a matter of going to town and getting it done. Bending the hardlines to actually where it seems to be the biggest challenge for me. Was practicing flaring tubing and that seems straight forward enough, its just getting the hardline bends correct, the seamless annealed stainless especially in 5/8 isn't cheap or easy to bend.


Mocked up my Ron Davis radiator:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Install069.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Install070.jpg

Also have the March Performance v-belt pulley system with a long water pump. Always heard some people had trouble with this. There is a nub on the fan motors on the Driver's side fan it has next to no clearance with the power steering pulley nut. I just need about 1/8 to 1/4 more clearance. I used well nuts to mount the radiator on the driver's side. Thinking of replacing those with some really thin rubber washers. Also I might be able to get a bit more clearance by loosening the fan shroud and pushing it in a bit further. Also a different nut on the power steering.

Also it might be possible to rotate the fan or the fan motor 180* to get this nub out of the way. W/o the nub there is a good 1/2 clearance.


I wonder if I should rename my project to "Nothing Fits", lol.

Next steps get the driveshaft back and in, get the exhaust and radiator to fit. Then going to fab up some brackets to hold the trans and oil coolers in front of the radiator.

Update: Been busy trying to get everything to fit. Got the drive shaft back from Mark Williams fits like a glove now.

I then started on mocking up and bending all the hardline tubing for my fuel system. I am using a Ricks stainless notched, baffled, sumped tank. I used -10 AN fittings coming out of the tank (was a pain routing them straight up for the nice clean look) and going to an Aeromotive 100 micron filter with a shutoff valve. This goes into their Street Rod pump and down to -8. The pump and filter are held by a some custom brackets so that they can move but isolated from the body by rubber grommits (need to take a better pic). This is then routed via 1/2 hardline to the lower rocker panel near the front of the passenger's side into a -10 BG plate and fin type cooler. This goes into a -10 Aeromotive 10 micron filter and into a Drainback valve then to -8 Earl's braided hose up to the regulator. The regulator then splits into 2 -6 hoses each feeding a side of the Carb. The return is plumbed similar. -8 Braided hose from the regulator to the framerail, then 1/2 hardline all the way back to the tank where it opens up to 5/8 hardline for the bends to make it around and back into the tank. Here are some pics:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem004.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem024.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem018.jpg

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem009.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem017.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem010.jpg

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem025.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem026.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...lSystem029.jpg

All the hard and flex line are held in place by coated Adel clamps so that nothing will chaff. The areas where the hoses or hardlines could run are covered by Tiagon tubing. Had to fabricate a number of custom brackets. Used a bunch of stainless button head allens for a nice look. Made a custom screen over the fuel cooler to keep debris from impacting it.

Installed heater and radiator hoses. Went up one size in air filter as well (measured had an extra 1" of space so it just fits). Still have a bit of work to do in trimming and gotta do something about the brass fittings :D Engine Bay now:

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Install074.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Install075.jpg


Oil Cooler Lines made from 5/8 stainless annealed seamless tubing (all the hardlines of various sizes). They were a real pain getting 5/8 line to fit and bent around the kickout in my pan. Even still I have to run an external oil filter because I cannot take the oil filter off with the oil cooler lines the filter runs into either the lines, the kickout in the pan or the headers.

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem001.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem002.jpg

Trans cooler lines are even more of a pain especially the upper one. No way to actually tighten down the fitting can only barely get a finger in there. Also very little space between the header and the lines so put some of the Earl's spark plug wire silicon covers.

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem004.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem003.jpg

Installed a belly pan
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Install080.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...stall081-1.jpg

Now trying to figure out the plumbing for the oil thermostat and the trans/oil coolers. I gotta say this would be a lot simplier if I didn't have an RS:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem005.jpg

A word on the hardline and flex line. I found that the Rigid flaring tool to be a great tool for doing the 37* flares needed for the AN fittings.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA210_.jpg

Imperial Eastman benders worked well for me, the 5/8 bender is kind of scary, leaning so much weight on it to bend the 5/8 tubing.

I cut all the hardline with a rotary tubing cutter. Then filled down the end smooth, countersunk the end, then used a deburring tool with 80 grit to smooth the inside and outside of the tubing, followed up with some 400 grit emery cloth to get everything really smooth. If it was rough to the touch I made it smooth. I found if I did that everytime I rarely had an cracks in my flares.

I used all Jegs black AN fittings which seem to be of good quality but considerably cheaper than say Earl's. I did use the expensive stainless flexible lines (Perform-o-flex). Also the Summit hose cutters worked really well. Koul tools really helped for the smaller lines (-6 and -4 for the radiator overflow).

http://www.frontlinegraphics.com/kou.../KoulTools.jpg
http://www.koultools.com/

I just don't have the patience to get all the wires in for the smaller hoses. With Koul tools it was super easy to start them.

Realy nice project! Just love those rims to your blue collor!

Thanks, yeah I thought the smoked titanium really goes well with the blue.

Making custom brackets and stuff is fun. Very time consuming but fun. What is about making a custom bracket that no one will probably ever see but you still have to make it look good?

Case in point I needed to make a bracket to hold my trans and oil coolers in place. It needed to go across the front of the radiator across the support. I took some aluminum channel 1-1/2 wide by about 32" long:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem007.jpg

After mocking it up, drilling the mounting holes in it I drilled some vent holes in it so it wouldn't block too much air coming across the radiator and the coolers. Then powder coated it black (sorry forgot to take a pic of it not mounted):
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem011.jpg

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem009.jpg

Talk about just barely fitting. Between the center latch support and the RS doors and the cooler fittings I was just barely able to get everything to clear when the RS doors are all the way open (you non-RS folks have it easy :D )

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem012.jpg

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem015.jpg

The trans cooler isn't positioned perfectly (some of the radiator support blocks it) but it was as close to the center support as possible and far enough from the RS door as it could be. I found if I positioned the cooler just right I could get the back side of the door to give me a bit more clearance for the fittings. Hopefully with the top and bottom sealed up I should get some pretty good air flow through the coolers and radiator.

I have one of those panels that closes out the space between the radiator support and the front valance so after it is buttoned up no one will be able to see all this:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem014.jpg

But it was still very fun making that bracket, I can however peek through the grill from time to time:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...gSystem017.jpg