Looks like a very productive weekend! Great job.

Tunnel Work Continued
 

Well it was a two “Negro” Monday evening. I moved everything outside and it was a great evening so I left the garage open. Nice to finally have Fall here!

https://i.imgur.com/FMD1iFEl.jpg

Here are a couple of side views showing the 1.5-inch raise. I just quickly tacked the 1.5-inch strips in temporarily to see how it looks. Sides are going to be easy obviously. The bell at the front is going to take some time, as is the transition back down at the rear. Need to avoid cutting into the seat belt doublers at the rear, so that will take a little planning.

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

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


This looks like about the right height increase but I do still need to raise the transmission 1 degree. Headers are on the way and should have them mid-week. I will Probably mock up the header fit by Friday. The Mast pan is delayed a bit so it will miss the weekend with that, but I think the headers are the most important.

Looking outside the old 427 looks like a fish out of water.

https://i.imgur.com/rrK2Bd5l.jpg

I had a lot of fun with that engine in the car. Bitter-sweet to be replacing it with the modern LS, but that is going to get me back on the road and really enjoying the car again. I am looking forward to really putting some miles on the car when this is all done.

Nice work there!
 

Things are looking great! QUESTION: I see you tacked the sub connectors up top and then fully welded them on the bottom.... any reason for welding the bottom?

I am right behind you and thought I'd ask ... keep at her!

Michael

I just move around a little too much sometimes. I actually finished welding the bottom because I was having burn-through troubles on top. The idea was to finish the bottom on the rotisserie and then finish weld the top. I still haven't welded the top as you noticed, or skip welding around the 4-link pockets yet. I did notice where I got good penetration from the bottom there really isn't much need to weld the top (it would work that way not matter where you start if you are good). But, I put a little too much heat in due to inexperience in some spots. I think a small weld on each side is probably the best. Start with the side you are best at and then you won't get any small burn-throughs when you move to the other side. I am not good welding thin to thick, so I probably didn't do it that well. It would be great to watch someone who knows !! I used to agonize over doing it right and then I just decided I have to try things and learn. That was hard at first but I am getting the hang of it finally.

Alot of great work here, your posts have given me insight on how to tackle my project!!

Thanks glad I could help out. I think that is the best way to tackle things by learning what other people do, copy those ideas you can and modify those that you can't !


Scott

Hey thanks for the insight .... I think I'll just weld top and seam seal the bottom. I just got out from under the car spraying epoxy, what APITA! I have real tight gaps so I should be alright, we'll see.

Keep up the good work.

I think that is a great plan, weld one side full penetration and seal the other. Congrats on getting the bottom primed.

First Header Fit Checkout
 

Summit is great. I ordered the Headers Sunday evening and they showed up today ! I went out in the garage and did a first quick fit check, fingers crossed the whole time. Both sides seem to go in fine with decent clearance. The right goes in easily from the top. It is close to the upper A-arm shaft but I was goofing around with camber settings using old hex nuts as spacers so it doesn’t seem bad if I cut the camber back to normal. I guess I should check it first !

https://i.imgur.com/8fADOddl.jpg

The left side clears the steering box but it is pretty close. If I can’t do better than this I will probably make a heat shield to keep the box happy. I am going to run a power steering cooler so that will help.

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

Overall the fit is pretty good and I like the way they sweep back really cleanly. Some of the headers look like a mass of spaghetti. The quality is fair. You can see some mandrel bend marks on the tubes and the collector is wire welded by a machine. Not the prettiest but not the worst either. They do clear Tru Turn by a mile which is great. The only weak spot so far is they hang down a little lower than I am willing to accept for normal driving.

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

I did adjust the engine angle to 3 degrees to make sure they were pointed in the final direction.

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

Overall it looks like if I raised the engine a little it will solve pretty much all the close fits and raise up the collector. I need to think about that because I want to keep the engine C.G. as low as possible, and make room for manifold-to-hood clearance. Going to take some measurements and make sure I have the right frame stands by looking on Pozzi’s site. Also make sure I don’t have the rubber mount upside-down on the adapter plates. That seems like a common problem. Even though a big block came out this was an SS 350 car and I didn’t see any evidence the frame stands were changed, but I will check for that anyway. Pretty good easy night, didn’t even get dirty, but still have some things to work out !

Mostly Clean-up this weeend
 

I spent most of the afternoon Saturday at a cruise and someone came over Sunday and we looked over the wounded 427 to see if we could agree on a price to sell it. So, I didn’t really work on the car but did get it mounted back up on the body cart and got the garage cleaned. It was fun seeing it on the tires, but it is just too hard moving it around. The car slides sideways on the cart which makes life easier. The tires are also back in storage to keep them fresh.
As I was wrapping up I snapped this photo. Still cool seeing the 325s on the rear. It is going to look good going down the road.

https://i.imgur.com/QAghl2El.jpg

Next weekend is Bakersfield so I won’t get anything done for a couple of weeks. Hopefully by then I will have the headers worked out and the oil pan will come in. Can’t say much more on the headers until the pan is in place and I see the whole story. Probably a 50% chance I will change to a mid-length design to free up ground clearance. I talked to a few people and there are so many choices. The Ultimate headers keep coming up as a mid-length, low clearance option. I really like the design and construction.

https://i.imgur.com/N73lzaTh.jpg

I also like their ball style coupling. I was already going to use V-band couplings but this type looks really good at the header connection to allow a little misalignment.

https://i.imgur.com/AU4BOdbm.jpg

Lots to think about !!