Ironworks to build Fairway Chevrolet crate engine test car - 1970 Chevelle ZL1

[Rick D]

Rodger that 57 has one of your chassis under it?? Sweet ride, did you guys build the car for him or just built the chassis?

[ironworks]

Originally Posted by Rick D

Rodger that 57 has one of your chassis under it?? Sweet ride, did you guys build the car for him or just built the chassis?

The car was built by Rods and Restos in Centre Alabama. Neil Lea the owner of Rods and Restos wanted to use one of our Tri-5 frames for his build. The owner of the 57 lives in Las Vegas Nevada and owns Fairway Chevrolet. Greg the owner of this car and the 57 joined us for the weekend in Pleasanton. he took delivery of the 57 last Wednesday and drove it the following day to Pleasanton. Then on Sunday morning drove it back home to Vegas. I gave rides in the car to potential customers and may have sold just as many crate engines as we did chassis's. This car is kick in the pants to drive.

When the customer got to drive this 57 this summer at Columbus from the Hotel to the event, upon arrival Greg asked about purchasing a chassis to put under his 1970 Chevelle. He was not happy with the way the car drove stock. So here we are building a chassis for a 1970 Chevelle.

[HEEP]

Any thoughts on offering the tubs for sell? As far as I have seen, no one offers these. I'm still debating on which way I'm going.

HEEP

[ironworks]

Originally Posted by HEEP

Any thoughts on offering the tubs for sell? As far as I have seen, no one offers these. I'm still debating on which way I'm going.

HEEP

I suppose we could but they would be more then if some one stamps out a set. I will be making parts to do 2 cars at on time. I don't have any idea on cost till we are done.

[strtcar]

Originally Posted by HEEP

Any thoughts on offering the tubs for sell? As far as I have seen, no one offers these. I'm still debating on which way I'm going.

HEEP

http://abcperformance.net/mini%20tub%20kit.html

is supposed to be coming out with 68-72 kit, not sure when.....

[ironworks]

Originally Posted by strtcar

http://abcperformance.net/mini%20tub%20kit.html

is supposed to be coming out with 68-72 kit, not sure when.....

I will keep that in mind for future projects but Broc is knee deep in making the tubs already.

[ironworks]

Things have been moving along pretty well on the Fairway Chevrolet 70 Chevelle project. We have had some issues with the scatter shield not being deep enough for the dual disc clutch, but we finally found one that works with our magnum Trans. We decided it would be easier to adapt the alternator and power steering bracket from the LS3 Corvette system into the LSA system to gain rack and pinion input clearance. Looks like it will work just fine.


We have been cutting up the wiring harness to get the best lay out for our application and get the harness ready to install a millspec connector.


We ordered a NewPort engineering wiper motor but had to reclock it to clear our master cylinder mod we did. It splined so that is easy. Drill and few new holes and reinstall.


We cut all the springs out of the stock seats to install some sheetmetal to have our interior guy build the seats from foam for that perfect feel and height. We also shortened the seat risers 1" to get down in the car a bit more.


The dash bezel was cut from the stock dash and sent to Bob to scan into Solidworks and set up for our desired gauges and switches. It should be cool. You can see the Ironworks Ron Francis fuse panel bracket and ironworks LS2 ECU bracket have been cut and trimmed to make mounting these parts much easier.


We bought the biggest heat exchanged we could to fit infront of the AutoRad core support and started making the brackets to mount it with the ZL1 intercooler pump that is on the way from the dealer.



Here is JPEG file for the 68-72 Chevelle chassis I have been working on. I'm pretty happy with it. It's now time to stuff the details in the chassis that will make it an Ironworks Chassis.



Thanks for check out the progress.

[ironworks]

Progress Update

You can see the use of our Hot Rod Fab parts brackets in under the dash of this car for the ECU and the fusepanel. We are working with Bob on the Billet gauge cluster design and should have some design directions going very soon.



The mini tub construction if coming along nicely.
We need to weld and metal finish these hand build tubs.





We got the Tilton reservoir mounted up on the firewall. We plan to paint the yellow top black to make it disappear but like the clear base design for ease of level checking. We also reclocked the wiper motor, it just looks better on the firewall this way and gives up master cylinder and valve cover clearance.




The engine and trans assembly to begin wiring harness mock up.


More to come.