Well your doing a great job!

I think this car is going to be one of those that people just can't stay away from and instantly fall in Love with . Its like someone took a time capsule from the 1970's automotive world with everything cool in it and wrapped it around a space ship . I know I can't wait to see video of it hurtling around tracks and just generally being awesome . It was a real find and the fact that your taking it to a modern level of performance while preserving the original coolness factor is pretty awesome .

Gosh, thanks guys! We hope everyone likes it, I'm sure some won't as not everyone grew up in or even remembers cars like this from the 70's. Heck, I'm sure there's a lot that grew up in the 70's and don't really remember anything :D

Like the Chevelle, it will be a build that happens in stages. Now is the modern drivetrain, then hopefully after we have some fun, upgrade the suspension beyond what we've done already. Really looking forward to driving it...I mean she is :underchair:

Congrats Aaron on bringing this beast back to life! Looking forward to seeing it in action!

Awesome work Aaron, Jill is gonna be the talk of the track in that thing. I love the new school power and tech cloaked by the early 70's custom....

Thanks Herb!

Thanks Ryan, can't wait to see your 67!

Love the car. The history and reunion with the original builder is just too cool.

Your billet bits are top notch. Quit with the ambiguity and tell us what your "one more big piece to machine" is. Your coil brackets and tranny mount are both quite nice.

You do good work. Keep it up.

cool, i wouldn't touch the exterior at all, like the look.

Haha, well all I have to show is a CAD image at this point:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psht3ocvv5.jpg

That's the plan! I'm too cheap to spend that much on a paint job! :lol:

Trick custom billet air box?

Vent canister?

It's a satchell!!

Can I change my answer to flask? I'm thirsty...

I am thinking the billet fanny pack is next....

Probably a billet fanny pack...

I know all my fanny packs are custom cut billet.

Indiana Jones had one!

That made me lol.

Winner!

Nope, see winner above :)

LOL, you mean man purse :disgusted:

Always thirsty! and... no

I'm sure with some (A LOT) of time, one could be cut from billet..if I was totally out of other useful/cool/different/problem solvers/just plain awesome parts to make.

Geez, I guess he really did didn't he.





Yes, it's a direct throttle body to air cleaner (from a C6 Vette) adapter. There is a clamp ring that will go over the small tapered end of the filter and clamp the lower lip of it to the billet adapter. The small hole is for the IAT sensor.

Hope to get on it soon.

I know a lot of you guys like seeing billet parts, well me too...here is something I am working on right now. Not for any of my cars, they are Hilborn stacks for a 572 BBC. This is just the lower, I'm working on the uppers now.
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8snksgmz.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psfo2xm98r.jpg

Aaron, can I please get something billet that is beer related please? You're probably holding out and just haven't shown it yet..... :popcorn2:

Well Dave, I haven't actually machined any trick aluminum parts thst are beer related, but I did fab up a 12 tap tower out of brushed stainless steel for the brew club. Oh, and my brewing stand is made from extruded aluminum that I reclaimed from some industrial guarding. :)

Aaron - Those Hilborn stacks are sexy...

Thanks Ryan, here's a few pics of the tops finished. Just have to finish the screens now.
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psaoywp9zu.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psgtiezne8.jpg

You F***in Showoff..... :trophy-1302: Seriously, those are stunning.

Those are sweet!!!

Thanks guys. Just spreadin' the love Ryan :D

Ok, another major milestone! Not without a few issues...but hey, the car ran and drove under its own power tonight WOOT. Half way thru one of my now traditional test drives in the front lawn, I lost the dash completely. So I need to work that out.
Still left to do: fix dash, exhaust, seat mounts, harness bar. Oh and machine a air filter adapter.

Quick video walk around after a short spin. Note, those are not oil puddles under the car, the exhaust manifolds point straight down and it blew the rocks away when I snapped the throttle lol.

Awesome. It's always great to get her moving under her own power. Love this car.

Sounds terrible, looks dated, dash doesn't work. You should save yourself a lot of headaches Aaron, and sell that car. To... I don't know, Well I'd do you a favor and take it off your hands.

You know I'm just jealous.... :innocent:

Thanks David!

Like I said Ron, you'd have to get thru the wife first...trust me, that's not gonna happen :catfight:

Haha, thanks Ryan.

FINALLY, got the dash problem figured out with the help from the great people at Dakota Digital! I called and explained my issue after performing what seemed like 100's of checks, and they asked me to try one thing. Well, turns out, you can't have an ECU and a dash on the same ignition hot circuit. There is some "stray" voltage that doesn't seem to go away on key off. So the dash stayed on and the engine continued to run (Holley ECU saw voltage and kept motor running). So long story short, I got it working good now with a relay to fire the ignition signal to the Dakota Digital.

So now its off to B&B for the final items: connect leg-burners, seat mounts, and a harness bar. Two weeks from today is the Midwest Musclecar Challenge :confused59:

The orange Vette is another customer's '72 that was in for a TKO600 swap. It's a pretty nice car with a 406 SBC with FAST EFI.
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psbuvhzbgt.jpg

OK, time for some more billet pics...who here likes pics? :y0!:

On Saturday, I got the inside of the air cleaner adapter made:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psuzojqoxm.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psjyypqlj1.jpg

And today, I machined the outside of the adapter base:
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pstkatfgio.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psispmthpi.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psjr95fnpv.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psdlec4yfn.jpg

I have to order some stock to machine the retainer ring. Hope to get to that this week...running out of time!!!

Good stuff.

That's Sweet!

Very nice. Love the progress pics and cant wait to see her in all her glory before the dance!!

Funny thing about the dash and ECU, the amount of variables anymore with all the do-dads on our cars should drive us insane. And we love to drive!!

Good luck on the final thrash...looking forward to it, Mike

Thanks guys!

Mike, I'm sure things will look like it has two left feet at the first dance :) With little to no time to do any sort of shake down runs, we'll be crossing our fingers. I'm a bit leery about the roadcoarse, not so much on the autox.

Well last evening we went out on a little shakedown drive. Everything feels and works great so far. Had a little issue with the aftermarket coil harnesses that I bought. The ps was not powering the coils at all. It was funny, engine started right up, ran and idled. A little more lopey than I remembered in the Chevelle though. And the throttle response was horrible :) I was trying to let it come up to temperature to make sure the fan would kick on before we took off on the road. The ds manifold started turning purple and the ps didn't change...
Yeah it was totally running on 4. Got the wires sorted out and wow, it ran great. Poorly crimped terminals were the culprit.
Few things to do still, the harness bar may be the biggest challenge left. Hope to get something that is safe figured out.

A few pics
Air filter finished and installed
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3eksamrp.jpg

Recaro seat mounts, super low and all the way back..these cars are small inside!
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psci20u4rp.jpg
Billy showing off a little with the welder
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psxxljqefw.jpg
getting ready for the test drive
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4qmikpaf.jpg

Its so much fun to drive. The sound is awesome, loud enough but not obnoxious. It feels so light!
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pst9qbugaf.jpg

Hope your speedo is lying..... LOL



What a bad ass project! Glad it's coming along so nicely.

:_paranoid Uh, ummm, well we were testing the Bonneville gearing :lol:
160mph at 2000rpm, not bad huh


Thanks, Greg I appreciate the compliment!

I hear you on the harness bar. I've not been able to find anyone around Nashville to bend one up for me. The race shops were interested, not a big
enough project (?), so I'll likely show up at MMC sans the bar.

Looks great!!

Kerry

Funny how nice aluminum gives me wood. !