66 Nova SS Project

[byndbad914]

... said by a man that is building one with more than 2X power thanks!

[bonecrrusher]

So is the engine from the Porsche?

I like the torque tube - I havent seen one hooked up to a SBC, or a porsche transaxle on the other end.

I am assuming thats from the P car as well.

I love the engineern and details behind this build!

[byndbad914]

Originally Posted by bonecrrusher

So is the engine from the Porsche?

I like the torque tube - I havent seen one hooked up to a SBC, or a porsche transaxle on the other end.

I am assuming thats from the P car as well.

I love the engineern and details behind this build!

Thanks! The engine and transaxle are indeed the ones I had in the Porsche. I got the new midmount in place with the front of the torque tube installed and as expected it all fit exactly as planned and I am seeing a lot more space for exhaust and so forth now which is good. I will not be using a torque tube to tie the engine and trans - I will let the frame and cage couple out all of the torque since they are all hard mounted - I am just using the ends to have ends to tie to and am going to simply tie the two ends together with a carbon fiber driveshaft. I am going CF due to the constant high rpm the shaft spins at since it always matches engine rpm in this configuration.

I beat the crap out of that destroked 400 over a 7 year period with zero need for refresh, so with that said, I am worried she may be on her way out and in need of a full rebuild. I ordered some 1-7/8" shorty headers for the build to make life easy for now and save on doing custom headers as I may just step up to a 377 (350 crank instead of 327) with a 15 deg head setup for the next build and sell off this engine.

More stuff from this last weekend, I cut the bulk of the remaining floor pan out of the way and kept the center tunnel to run the stock center console as noted in earlier posts. I will then build all new seat mounting to have a solid foundation, then will just skin with thin steel like a race car. The floors will then look less stock than I wanted but it is really the only way to go to make everything right - function over form. The Paul Walker tragedy over the weekend helps keep a guy focused on making sure it works right first, looks a specific way second. I think it will still have a wolf in sheep's clothing feel overall.

Fortunately I happened to pull the new vent/kick panels out and look at them while working on my pedal assy install - the vent is part of the panel and requires a good 4-5" of space outward to be able to install them! This means I have to be very careful of how close I get the clutch pedal and also be careful of how I intend to box the pedal assy in. For anyone that happens to notice that Jesse James still appears to have a limp on his left side - he was racing in the Late Model Series in SoCal when I lived there and was supporting some friends in their LM efforts (crewing, car work, so forth). I happened to miss the race the night he wrecked at Irwindale so I didn't see it, but heard it was pretty bad and it shattered his left foot and jacked his leg up pretty good. On the Porsche 7 years ago when I did the tube chassis build, I purchased some lower control arms from a company v. make them and they turned out to be crap and the left one broke on the track and shoved the left front tire back right up into the fenderwell just a few inches from my left foot.

So I will be boxing in the pedal assy with 2x2 tube and you guys can already see I have 2x3 in the frame there to do my best defense against losing a foot if something goes wrong and I wad up the left front corner. My initial plans had that tubing over in the corner, but I would never be able to install those kick panels, so I will be moving them inboard a bit. Not as optimal as I initially wanted but will be way better than a car would normally have for bracing so better than nothing. This will be clearer understood when I actually get it all welded into place and snap a pic.

[byndbad914]

Got the Sanderson headers and some other misc parts from Summit last week These 1-7/8" shorties are pretty bitchin' actually. I also modified some SBC to Model T engine mounts on the vertical mill and they look to be a great solution to having a two bolt engine removal at the block as I can access the bolt between the header pipes. I had some old tubes with heim ends left over from the Porsche 5-link that I can then weld into place (can't see in the pics very well unfortunately).

I was messing with putting the oil tank up in the front on the passenger side but the serious risk of that is having it burst open in a frontal impact and engulf the whole front of the car in an oil fire. It is sketchy enough having oil coolers let alone adding to it, so I am going to consider taking some more passenger foot well and mounting it there. If I get it low enough I shouldn't have too much issue getting the cap off from the engine compartment and putting oil in it.

Right side shots also show, if you look closely, the fitting for the fuel coming in to the pump - I pre-notched the upper A-arm mount and that fits right inside of it. Final shots show what remains of the floor pan, which is to say the center tunnel and the rear seat shelf.

If it wasn't single digit temps all weekend I might have gotten the pedals boxed in but even with a garage heater it gets a bit much to stay warm out there. Every piece of metal is pretty much freezing temp and working with gloves gets to be an exercise in futility. Once I have that all figured out I can match it to the passenger side and that should give me more room for the oil tank and an idea of what tubing will exist to attach the tank to.

[byndbad914]

I might be responsible for my local UPS man's salary this month Maybe I should ask for a cut.

Got a tubing bender Monday and picked up a bunch of 1-1/2" x .120 wall DOM last Saturday so it is about time to start teaching myself how to bend up a cage. I picked up my BBK at 3ZERO3 today and got home to find McLeod got my stuff out to me last week as well.

We will see how the "soda can turbo thing" works with brake packages. At minimum at least the Junior Nation has something to appreciate. The kit is the "extra big" BBK for late model Corvettes as I mentioned previously which puts the normal 355mm (14") front rotor on the rear then adds a 380mm (15") front rotor setup. I laid them across the front 295 width tires for some comparison but those may be a little dark to get a good idea. I really wish I had an old pad from my Porsche 930 Turbo brakes - the rear pads are probably twice the pad area those were.

The clutch assy is McLeod's 8" dual disk setup with alum "flywheel". It is really nice and light and the best thing about those setups are if you destroy the disk surface on the flywheel you just get a new steel insert v. a whole new flywheel or dinking with turning it. The TO bearing is supposed to be a direct bolt in for the C6 Vette so we will see how that all works out.

[Flash68]

Lookin good Tim.... very good... that clutch looks Billy Bad Ass.

[coolwelder62]

Originally Posted by Flash68

Lookin good Tim.... very good... that clutch looks Billy Bad Ass.

What this guy said.

[GregWeld]

Wow! Nice parts!

[preston]

Do you have any other examples of vehicles with rear mounted clutches ? I'd be very concerned about the harmonics etc. of a full length driveshaft spinning at engine speed. I believe there are some front engine race cars that have teh clutch in the back but I have never seen one and definitely never seen it done at the hobbyist/aftermarket level. I would be giving some serious thought on if you really want to be the engineer for this, doesn't seem like too much compromise putting the clutch up front does it ?

always curious to see what people think about the feel on those small clutches on a street driven vehicle, most end up not liking it but its awfully hard to ignore the advantages. I guess it will still be awhile before we get that feedback !

Enjoying your build, reminds me of when I was making many of the same types of decisions. Its all about the packaging !

[byndbad914]

thanks all

Preston - the clutch will be on the engine just like a Corvette. That said, there are some cars with the clutch in the rear tho'. I think some Alfas had it and/or some Porsches. As for driveshaft at engine speed, that is exactly what Corvettes have had since the C5 among other cars. I am using a carbon fiber driveshaft (ordered it last week, will probably be done around the first of the year) which has many benefits but most importantly its lightweight helps to reduce harmonics and its stiffness to weight ratio makes it good for over 10,000 rpm at the length I am going to run at with the 3.75" diameter they come in.

These race clutches historically haven't bother me. The key is you can't slip them, so I wouldn't take the car out into traffic like commuting on a daily basis. I will just take the car out for a car show here and there or to hit a burger joint on a car night. If I still lived in LA I would have to consider something else if I wanted to roll down Pac Coast Hwy on a Saturday afternoon