Now that Ron and Rob both have their cars home and plan on doing nothing to them in the near future, I guess I will post where I am at.
Like all builds this thing has really hit some bumps lately, and add some personal drama to the fold and this stuff can really drag ya down sometimes. We all go through it so no need to elaborate.
Biggest bummer for me was determining we cannot use the Hendrick Motorsports billet oil pan that was my favorite piece on this motor (aesthetically anyway). They are made for a 3-1/4 stroke Honda rod Nascar motor and not for my big bulky 4" stroker apparently. After a couple hours of work by Watson on clearancing, the decision was made to stop and just resell it and order a custom pan for my deal. There was a lot of work left to be done and no guarantee it would fit. Here are the dividers taken out.
A call to Dan Olson Oil Pans was made and in 3 weeks or so I will have my pan. Here is a big block version of what they make and mine should look similar to this except with a front shelf to clear the rack and sub Xmember.
Not much left for me to do on my end with the engine. Mike ordered some springs and retainers last week to finish up the heads. Everything should be there and ready to assemble by next week minus oil pan. Once that arrives in 3 weeks or so it should be a matter of bolting that on and getting ready for dyno. So I am hoping for end of April dyno session.
A few shots of my bits
Gotta love the old school hand written flow sheet
On to the car... Have everything for suspension minus axles that are coming soon. Hopefully get all rear parts mocked up soon. Rich's other Camaro project in the shop has drug on longer than planned for a variety of reasons (as with every build) so just waiting for that at this point. The front is completely mocked up at this point. Once the rear is mocked up and we can verify some measurements/clearances that will allow us to work on fuel cell and oil tank location. That is going to be tight I can tell already.
Got my C&R radiator in yesterday and it's a really nice piece. Excited to clean up a lot of the packaging with the built in oil cooler and PS cooler. Paul @ C&R was great to work with in putting this together and told me the funny story how he originally convinced (after some considerable effort) Kyle @ DSE to convert to his water to oil setup. Kyle came in after his road course session and said the oil temp gauge was broken since the oil temps were so much lower. The gauge was working fine. Could be just a marketing story but I enjoyed it.
And finally since Mr Fab53 Brett Campbell was up in Norcal kickin ass in Street Machine at GG AutoX he stopped by and we assessed the flare situation (that is Brett's part of this project to manage and execute). After much discussion and measuring, he pulled out his trusty magic marker, some tape, and a metal rod that was laying on the ground and got all technical on us for some template marks. Once I get my wheels ordered soon he will come back up and make cuts and it's no turning back then. The pics tell the story.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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