LSA Powered 69 Camaro -"Lou's Change"

[214Chevy]

Great pics!! Everything looks great. A couple of questions:
1) What update did you do to the engine.
2) What is the custom grill made of...fiberglass, metal, carbon fiber, etc.? (can't tell by the pics)

[Lous69]

Engine upgrades include Cam, valve springs, injectors, pulleys, solid coupling, damper and matching tune by Dave Mikels who works very closely with Brian at Thomson Automotive.

Dave and Brian are great to work with too. They sent the parts overnight delivery just to make sure we could get them installed in time to avoid any delays in body and paint. I especially appreciated their willingness to help us out because their main business is selling complete engines not selling parts.

Dave helped us figure out how to do a lot more with the ECM than just tune it for the performance mods. He also helped us enable things like reverse lock out using vehicle speed sensing, PWM fan control and AC compressor pressure sensing for cooling fan control.

The first grille prototype was printed in ABS plastic.

[Rick D]

Originally Posted by Lous69

Engine upgrades include Cam, valve springs, injectors, pulleys, solid coupling, damper and matching tune by Dave Mikels who works closely with Brian at Thomson Automotive.

The first grille prototype was printed in ABS plastic.

Looks great Lou! Can you explain what you mean by "PRINTED" in ABS plastic??

[FETorino]

Originally Posted by Rick D

Looks great Lou! Can you explain what you mean by "PRINTED" in ABS plastic??

I remember a while back on Jay Lenos car garage show he had an episode on this stuff. Awesome technology.

[Ron in SoCal]

One of the first of these companies I was exposed to was 3D Systems back in 1986. Back then it was used primarily as product prototyping, and still is. Amazing technology and the indusrty has come a long way very quickly. Today there are forums and downloads for design files. You can make anything from a microscopic piano, to a fully functioning semi-auto.

Lou, your son made a fabulous grill. Can't wait to see it mounted!

[Lous69]

Originally Posted by Rick D

Looks great Lou! Can you explain what you mean by "PRINTED" in ABS plastic??

The video does a nice job of explaining what 3D printing is overall.

To actually print our grille, Dan used a machine that uses a little different technology.
Instead of a powder bed as shown in the video, the machine Dan uses feeds the plastic of his choice, in the form of a monfilament line, into a heated nozzle that melts it and deposits it in very small droplets, one layer at a time.

It literally "builds" the 3 Dimensional part, one very thin layer at a time. Think of it as a lazor printer that deposits solid plastic instead of colored ink. It just keeps deposting one layer at a time as instructed by the design he puts into it.

To create the design itself, he first scanned a stock 69 Camaro grille with a
hand held, 3D scanner similar to the one in the video above. That gave him a computer model of the stock grille.

Next he replaced portions of the stock design with his own design ideas. His new design is then converted to a CAD file that can provide instructions to the 3D printer.

The grille in the picture is what came out of the 3D printer. It is an actual ABS plastic part that will be finished and used on the car.

Fascinating stuff. We plan to post a video of the entire process from start to finish with the grille in the car.

[Richio1]

My son Dan assembled the grille he designed and printed in Renntech's 3D printer. He is also a perfectionist when it comes to his craft so he wants to make some final tweaks but it looks like it's going to turn out exactly like he wanted it to. Here's a picture he sent me from his cell phone. We'll post more on that as things progress.


[/QUOTE]


Love the grille Lou. Looks fantastic. Classic yet modern at the same time. Would love to know more about the process. I imagine its all CAD and laser...

I wanted to do the same with mine. Custom one off but not too out there. We made mine out of metal which was very time consuming with several tries to get right. Looking back CAD would have been way easier and faster. We just didn't have that option.

The joy of modern technology

Keep up the great work. Car is already bad a$$ and can't wait to see color on it. Kevin and the team are doing amazing work.

[Rick D]

Holy crap!!! I've heard the term 3D printing but never really new what it was. That is so f-in cool!!

[syborg tt]

you better sell these when your done. !!!!!!!

[Lous69]

Here are some update pics

Since I'm a clean freak and plan to keep the bottom of the car looking nice we decided to paint the bottom with semi gloss IMRON vs. a bedliner or other rougher texture coating.

I realize I may be giving up some sound deadening quality of other coatings but that is a trade off I'm willing to make for a very sanitary bottom that I can periodically make look like new again.

Of course, that decision required some pretty intense preparation of the bottom.







Once all the basic prep and seam sealing was done inside and out, Nathan laid down a coat of epoxy primer on everything. Having the tub on the auto twirler made it a heck of a lot easier for him to get to every single nook and cranny.













After the epoxy primer was applied, Nathan then sprayed Imron to the inside, bottom of the floor and the firewall.

Next the painted motor and trans were assembled back into the subframe so it could be put back into the car along with the rear end.

The exposed aluminum portions of the engine and the transmission were painted with a high temperature nano ceramic coating so they will look new and fresh for years to come.

V8TV puts the drivetrain back in before doing the final bodywork so all the gaps and body lines will be perfect and not shifted due to the weight of the driveline.









The subframe and drivetrain are wrapped to protect them during the upcoming bodywork and paint phase.