Project SCUD, '69 Dart

[wellis77]

Thanks Gant.

[bonecrrusher]

Looking badass - can't wait to see this car done.

[HWY Nova]

Will,

Do you have any updates for us?



--Eric

[wellis77]

Hey Eric,
Nothing new on this front unfortunately. I won't be back to work on it until December but am hoping to wrap the chassis up the next time so I can move on to bodywork. A bunch of fab to do. Have been able to pick up a few parts, flywheel, ECU, late model GTO back seat, speedway sway bars, some other tools, and stuff. Had to design a solution for my steering rack issue (engine wants to occupy the same space) and have a something pretty good for that. Just need to get some parts machined and purchase some stupid expensive sleeve bearings. I'm looking forward to getting back to work in a few months. A lot to do... Thanks for checking in.

[onelapduster]

Lookin forward to December. One of my favorite builds here.

[onelapduster]

How did December work out for this build?

[wellis77]

Sadly December did not work out at all for the project. I stayed in Switzerland through Christmas. Happily, I moved back to the U.S. a week ago and am about to begin thrashing on the car (Tuesday) while looking for work. Will be getting some updates posted this week, real stoked to get working on it again.

[onelapduster]

Good to hear about the progress, but bad news i guess about work. Hope the job hunt works out well.

[wellis77]

I've been back Stateside, permanently, for almost 3 weeks now. I haven't gotten a ton done despite the amount of work I've put in, but I have been productive...

I previously had a problem with steering rack location, it required the same space needed by the engine. In conjunction with multiple persons, I designed up a solution, got a bunch of parts machined, replaced the rack shaft in my rack, and voila, Lord willing it'll work... In conjunction with the rack/steering fix, I used the front sway bar tube as part of my mounting system for the rack. I designed and cut some mounts for the sway bar housing to make mounting einfacher, and it was. Two birds, one(ish) stone.



Just in front of the rack is the 2" sway bar housing with the custom brackets on each end. The sway bar is a custom piece from Speedway using roller bearings from Port City Racing rather than solid bushings.



After that I moved on to getting the new core support built. I bent it up from two pieces of 1-1/4" x .120 wall to almost identically mirror the stock core support. At the same time, I jigged up the fenders so I could locate the mounting holes for those.



Then made some brackets to capture the front fender mounts as well as brackets to bolt it up to the frame rail.



And there you have it.



Next up are forward tubes from the firewall to the core support, the final bar for the fender mounting holes plus custom brackets running from the forward tubes to the fender mounting bar stock. Then done and done up front, hope to have that stuff finished up next week, and moving on to the cockpit.

[Bryce]

looks sweet, love the rack.