Wayne, the cars transformed a ton. It seemed like I was taking steps back instead of forward, but I'm much happier with this setup and actually excited to get it done now.
It's great seeing someone with skills do the Vulcan car-meld. I just wish you'd done this a couple years ago . . .
It's funny how similar the C5 parts/chassis you're showing look to the C4 stuff I chopped the crud out of. In the beginning, it's like yeah, I can use this and this and this, but no. Chop, cut, change materials. Stock (Corvette) floors and firewall are so scary and cheap--talk to a firefighter/rescue person about this. It's the application of new sheetmetal that's a real blast, once you've got that frame in there. Yours will undoubtedly look far less like sight-impaired surgery training than mine.
Again, seeing your skills put to work at this is great. You'll undoubtedly like the Corvette car dynamics considerably more than the older-school stuff you removed. Additionally, the idea of replacement parts down the road becomes much simpler . . .
It's great seeing someone with skills do the Vulcan car-meld. I just wish you'd done this a couple years ago . . .
Again, seeing your skills put to work at this is great. You'll undoubtedly like the Corvette car dynamics considerably more than the older-school stuff you removed. Additionally, the idea of replacement parts down the road becomes much simpler . . .
Keep at it!
Thank you for the positive feedback. This was my original build intention, but when I started doing the research on it everyone says it's impossible and talked me out of it. Actually they still kinda do or they say I'll never get it done because it's more involved than anyone thinks. I also plan on keeping the fiberglass/balsa wood floors. The weight and strength win out for me. The firewall will for sure be metal and I already have a few ideas for it. I am intending a fire suppression system though, just in case.
As to the handling of the car, I've owned a few vettes and I've driven hundreds of them. So I should get exactly what I'm looking for, modern vette performance with the old school muscle car vibe. Like a wolf in sheep clothing lol.
I got some more cutting done this weekend and then tested the frame rails. I have a little more cutting to do in the trunk then I'm going to send the car out for soda blasting and epoxy while I weld the new frame rails to the vette frame. Any who, the frame rails fit exactly how I thought they would and are exactly the width I needed.
Thanks guys. I'm hoping to get the body finished up on the removal of stuff I don't need on it this week and start on the frame Saturday. I'm thinking about dropping off the body at the soda blaster to get it down to metal and shoot it with epoxy so that's one less thing to worry about.
I also have an engine plan in the works that I just kinda fell into. Not what I wanted, but it will workout just fine.
After trying to get one of these superchargers from work for months I finally was able to get ahold of one. I'm taking a more budget, although still expensive, friendly approach to my engine.
It lasted about 15 minutes before I had it torn down and started blue printing it for port work and ordered a solid coupler to fix the noise.
So far I have about 3 hours into porting it. I have one bank done and I'm about half done with the other bank. This is the main area that needs all the work. Lots of hogging out done so far.
Today I got a good start on the frame rails until I ran out of welding wire. The passenger side is in, fish plates from the backside then reformed the vette frame to better fit the new rails. Hopefully I'll be able to get the rear section finished in the next week or so.
I also dropped the car off at the soda blaster. It should be done in about 2 weeks.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Nice
Linear Mode
