A note to my brutha from anotha mutha
 

Garage Dog,

I've been lurking on lateral-g for a while now...........about the only thing that I'm looking at on a continuous basis is your pages on your project.

We're doing similar projects..........I have a 1973 TVR 2500M (british handbuilt car, tube frame, fiberglass body, 1 pc tilt front end) that is getting a 21st century update. About the only stock TVR thing on mine is the fiberglass body. I'm building a new frame for it and am using C4 front/rear suspension and an LT1/T56.

I'm also running into similar issues with putting a modern/wide track suspension into a car design that is 30 to 40 years old. I'm doing it a little differently.....I narrowed the suspension as much as possible and still retain stock geometries (narrowed 2.5" per side in the rear, and 7" up front), and hopefully that will just let me flare the fenders slightly. Slightly in this case is 4 to 5" in the rear, and 3" max up front.

I did think of going the route you did and widening the body, but didn't want to have to deal with custom front/rear glass, and the front end is kinda curvy -- a 8" wide section in the middle of the car would look out of balance. Kinda hard to explain, but should be easy to see when I post up pics of my progress later this coming weekend.

At this point in my project, the frame is about 70% complete, welded to the chassis table at the right ride height/rake, and I'm putting in the mounts for the front and rear suspension. Your project and mine share a distant heritage -- I'm using steel VW floorpans in place of the fiberglass floor that was in place originally. Something about having my arse 5" off the ground with just fiberglass supporting and protecting me didn't sit well.............. :eek:

Looking good -- keep the updates coming!! Good to see someone else who thinks that PT isn't something that's exclusive to muscle cars :yes:

-jeff d, aka "orphancars"
Fort Worth, TX
1986 Fiero GT/V8
1973 TVR 2500M/V8

Yo Bro !!
 

Hi Jeff !!

Sounds like a very cool project and I can't wait to see the pics of your progress and solutions. There are some great minds here at Lat-G with some awesome skill sets and build experiences. When we get into trouble - there's plenty of help available. Check the site for other C5/6 stuff as many people are using it and can provide additional solutions when asked.

Yell if I can provide any support - Best of luck and stay in touch.

Jim

Waiting on Parts ...
 

Got the Torque Tube back today shortened it 21 inches from stock.

Need to get the prop shaft shortened - so if anyone knows who can shorten an Alum Metal Matrix Composite vette drive shaft - please let me know as I'm having a tough time sourcing someone. Attached pics of the prop shaft for those that have never seen the internals of a vette torque tube. The rubber donut in the middle is to control whipping of the shaft due to harmonic distortions.

Ordered a new Camaro oil pan last week. Hope to have it for the weekend so I can put everything back together and do the final body and chassis measurements.

Wrestling with the type of frame to do now. A 2 x 4 box perimeter with tube backbone was my first design, now I'm thinking a complete tube frame.... To put a square box frame in a car that doesn't have a flat surface has me wondering if the full tube better matches the style/era of the vehicle. Plus Porsche always used tubes in their race cars. But the 2 x 4 would be easier to fab, less expensive and maybe lighter. Thoughts anyone ?? Jim

It takes some time but they come around . I was the first guy to put flames on a Porsche.. it got some me some strange looks with up turned noses but all the people in that world who to me counted loved it.. and I dig what Jim is doing! My secretary has a 356 Conv D and I have two 935's and a 962 in the vintage stable.. so I am a guy who likes a littel power with my Porsche's . Keep us posted on your project I think it is cool as can be . Here's is my boat rocker


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../th_1272ss.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../th_front1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...%20R/th_RA.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../th_guages.jpg

This may help...........
 

GarageDog,

It's for this reason that I keep all my old magazines. The Kit Car July '03 issue had some good info on just this sort of thing.

They were running a series on one guy that was building a Ferrari 250 GTO replica from the ground up using a tube frame and C5 running gear/driveline. I can scan the article if you need it, but the important thing is this:

http://driveline-service.com/
Drive Line Services
Concord, CA
925-682-3340
"Russ"

Hope this helps!

-jeff d

ps -- pics and an intro coming soon..promise!!

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the info dude ! I had also been following the Last Chance Garage articles and Joel Heinke's GTO buildup - I thought it was a great idea and buildup details. I called Driveline Service a couple weeks back and the person that did the AMMC driveshafts passed away and the current owner doesn't want to do those anymore. So I'm still fishing....

Joel also belongs to the North Cal Kit Car Club (and owns a wicked cobra) so if your interested in his GTO build - you can get additional detailed info and pics at their club web site @

http://www.nckcc.com/january2004news.pdf

They only show links for their 2005 - 2007 newsletters - so if you type in the month and year you'd like to see into the browser line - those are still on their server in the background. (example: nckcc.com/march2003news.pdf)

I noticed that they just started his project back up in KitCar again last month.

Very cool that you jumped in there to help me out! That's what's great about Lat-G and it's always much appreciated.

YES, I want to see those pics SOON !

:lol:

Hi ChevyThunder !

Thanks for the support and the kind words of encouragement. I can only hope my Porsche brethren can appreciate my project. I have been a member of the 356 Registery for over 15 years and really dig the 356/911 cars and all the history of the Porsche racing and engineering. I love the efficiency of the German design and how the car performs and handles with only 100 hp. I can totally understand the heritage and a persons wanting to do a spot-on restoration of these cars because they are soo cool. I guess I'll just have to get over it if they can't accept it.... because I wanted to do something different while still showing what a great design the car was/is.

I grew up with 340 6 pack darts, a 440 mag 69 dart, 351c Fairlane, 67 vette, - etc, good old america HP and I felt it would be fun (driving and engineering) a hybrid. If I'm wrong - it will still be a fun car for me.

Now you sir have way too many cool cars and are having far to much fun with them !!! And I really dig the purple flames - well done ! Let's drop an LS7 in that baby and really rock the boat !

Jim, Another very jealous boat rocker.

Here's how I got my 356 Outlaw idea. Add to my passion for the 356 - my passion for bloomington gold, topflight or survivor C2 vettes and C5/6 technology - with the following site, and you'll understand why I'm twisted like I am.

http://www.partsobsolete.com


Check the Outlaw and Workshop links.

Lou Giglioti was selling a carbon fiber shaft for the C5. He might be able to make a shorter one.
LGmotorsports.com

I totally agreee....
 

GD,

I totally agree with this:

"guess I'll just have to get over it if they can't accept it.... because I wanted to do something different while still showing what a great design the car was/is."

I get a little bit of that from the TVR crowd. Caught a little bit of flak when I did an article for the TVR newsletter. My personal experience is that there is ALWAYS a contingent out there for any marque that wants to preserve/restore at any cost. I usually counter those type of folks by saying the car is not factory original once the factory air is let out of the tires!

My TVR was so far gone that either to restore or restify would take the same amount of effort or cubic dollars to do. Same thing with the Fiero -- it had survived a front end impact, had the electrical system cut up, had parts missing/others bolted on.....didn't feel bad making it what I wanted it to be. Besides it's a Fiero!!! There are enough other folks out there that bought those cars and squirrelled them away as investments.....wonder how that is working out for them :)

PS -- sorry that info didn't work out for the DS :rolleyes: But iddn't that part of the joy of doing stuff like this -- to do something that someone hasn't done before?


-jeff d

PS -- This weekend I have a wife sponsored "wife-free-saturday" -- lots of work to be done on the TVR, lots of pics.............and a few of the Fiero thrown in as well.....more later!