Finally.. some REAL progress on Penny..
 

It's funny.. I'm so busy with cars for work that I have little time for my own car. Now that she is a "story" I can justify some wrench time :)

Went to Best In Show today and worked with Dale to build the front subframe. Took all of three hours with stops for pictures.. Everything went together great. We had to modify the shocks to fit (easy) and we were a bit stumped on the splined sway bar arrangement, but came up with a solution.

The subframe is very nice and so far seems well done. The project should move pretty quick now.. On Thursday we will bolt on the subframe and start plumbing the brakes.

Lookin good Steve :thumbsup:

You have the sway bar arms on the wrong sides. Flip them left to right and they will clear the tie rods. It looks like you cut into them I hope that is just an elusion form the picture

I still have those pictures of the sub frame connectors, pm me your email and I will send them to you tomorrow

:pat:

We didn't cut into them in that pic.. They clear the tie rods fine how we have them. What we didn't have was bolts long enough for the "S" shaped deal with the spacers and such. We ended up modifying the arms to delete the spacers all together and still have the heim joints straight up and down. I will call ya tomorrow to discuss. Most likely our having them backwards caused the distance to be larger than it normally is (which is why the arms didn't work right.)

The pics we had showed the arms bent in but not where they attach to the sway bar so we didn't realize they were upside down. I think our modification will work fine, but I will call ya tomorrow to make sure :)

The subframe is sweet.. people in the shop kept coming by and commenting on how nice the welds were, how it seemed well engineered, etc..

Email them subframe pics to [email protected] .. and thanks!

Look super Steve. Doing a great job.

Jody

I think it looks like junk. I think you should just sell it too me cheap :unibrow:

No that looks awesome. I can't wait to see that car finished.

I can't wait to see it all together with all the new paint work and parts! What color did you paint the close out panel?

Nothing yet.. gonna be either a flat/satin black or a flat/satin charcoal grey (to match the wheels)

The Wilwood calipers in red look very nice, much better than black. I love how the small details make a nice difference on an already awesome frame. Don't forget to post pics of the anodized pulleys! :captain:

Very nice Steve. Looks like it is coming together. Glad you found a solution to your sway bar problem. Sweet.

Looks good ....Nice work! :thumbsup:


-Paul

I am having brake envy
 

Like the brakes. so do I need to mail you the spacers and/or get measurements or did you come up with something else?

A pic would be nice.. thanks!

There was no real "problem" with the sway bar.. we just think we came up with a better idea.. whats the fun if you don't modify stuff?? lol

i like that setup
wish i had something like that for my 80 camaro

Very cool Steve...Looks Great! :thumbsup: :yes:

Looking good :) .

David

Do you know any where I can get an entire front clip like that for $15.00 ?

Just asking.

Pics from today.. it's a REAL car now with four tires on the ground!!

http://www.lifeinwidescreen.com/siihp/shop3.jpg

http://www.lifeinwidescreen.com/siihp/shop4.jpg

Went in easy and we squared it all up. Installed the Wilwood master and figured out the location of the proportioning valve and clutch master (couldn't get myself to mount it to the fire wall). The brakes really fill up the wheels nice.

Also figured out a sweet way to do the steering column so that it looks super clean from the engine bay. Next we have to bend up so stainless brake lines when the materials get here. In a week or so I will drop in the LS2/T56.. progress.. woot!

Nice. Going to be cool.

Looking good steve.....Are you going to put the same hood on it with the new motor?

-Paul

No.. tall cowls should only be ran when you HAVE to run them.. I will be going with a standard cowl hood :)

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: SWEET! that will look killer! Nice work.

-Paul

Hi Steve who makes those wheels and what size are they? Looks awsome :hail: :hail:

Forgelines.. 18x9 and 18x11

Damn Steve, it all looks very nice. Penny has come a long way. :thumbsup:

The car is coming along nicely Steve.
W.

Your car looks great. Your gonna be driving that thing before long :thumbsup:

Really? I always thought those were 12s on the back...they are 335s, right??

They are 335's.. with room for 355s if I wanted..

Thats just what the invoice says on the wheels.. I am going to measure them once the tires are dismounted.

good job
 

It looks really good! Glad you have the time to work on it and do my little errands as well.

You may need to move the clutch res to the other side of the the MC I think the header tube on #5 makes a loop about right there. It was close on my booster, but may not be on yours since you are running manual brakes.

Yea, I can't see the header coming that close to the Master Cylinder.. manual brakes for the win! lol

I just couldn't get myself to punch more holes in the firewall. If I have to I will move it and just make another bracket.

How much room between the back of your heads and your firewall? Could you send me a pic of that and of your sway bar links? I am working out where to mount my coil packs.

Looks good I have the same setup on the way to me minus the brakes and am using a 423 ci ls1/t56.

Did you modify the tranny tunnel for the t-56 ?

Yea, we welded on the pieces supplied by 21st Century. It ends up raising the trans tunnel about 1.75 inches.

Thanks I can't wait to get mine here so I can put it togther it looks great.

Marc

another thing....
 

I have not gotten you photos yet of the swaybar set-up. The distance of the motor to the firewall is the same distance as stock. If you are going to relocate the coils, it will have to be a tricky bracket on each fender well...knowing you are not going to drill that sweet firewall.

Here is another heads up. You will not be able to get to the bleeder on the throw out.

choices:

1. drill a hole in the side of the tunnel and then use a removable plug.

2. before you put the engine and transmission together remove the bleeder and make one that extends from the throw out with a braided line and use a bleeder valve at the end (russel and aeroquip both have one of these). A & A corvette makes one but it has a bend at the throw out that will not work with an f-body style bell housing. They may make you one with a straight end on it

3. bleed the throw out with the master attached before you put the engine in the car. Solves all of your problems unless you need to bleed it later.

I went to the shop today and saw this.. what the hell are they doing to my car!!! :willy:

http://www.lifeinwidescreen.com/siihp/penny1.jpg

What were they doing?

-Paul

looks like they are installing a lateral dynamics 3 link, which is gonna be killer, steve does the car have narrowed frame rails?? if so wil the rear crossmember be modified?

jake

Yes it does.. instead of going at an angle back these go straight back. Mark cut the crossmember down a bit and voila! it fit like a champ.. Nice to know the system is this flexable.. this is a good test of the product since little in the back of my Camaro is factory..

We pulled out all the old stuff today. Cleaned up all the old weld marks (from the old 4-link) and welded in the modified crossmember. Tomorrow we will put in the front support and weld in the cover parts. finish up on Sunday. It's easier than I thought. Of course my opinion could change tomorrow.. lol

Looking good man! cant wait to see it done! :)