Project - Ashes to ...?

[groovyjay]

Some more body work pictures. The crucial part about this kind of build is to get all the measurements to be 100% correct, so you don't end up with having few inches longer door on the other side or one corner high up in the air.





When the major body panels were glued on, it was time to start working on the doors. My original doors went up in flames and it was quite a task to get new doors. From where I bought the body kit I also got the outer door panels, which had separate top part for some reason. I couldn't find the door bodies anywhere other than Mongoose, who also manufactures GS replicas. I took the chance and ordered their door bodies and hoped that they would work.



After some massaging I was able to get the new door body to work. I used stock locking mechanisms, just left the locks and inside opening mechanisms out. I have no side windows, so I can just grab the outside handle for exit.



The front end was sticking out way too much, so more cutting was needed. Like everything else in this kind of build everything needs to be custom made...





After a lot of work the contour on the outer panel was mimicking the inner panel. YOu can see some of the cuts under there, a lot of work, dusty work.



Getting there, slowly but surely.





I wanted to keep the firewall as smooth as possible. Due to the low windscreen I won't be needing wipers and there for no wiper motor, I decided to use that space to house the ECU.

Thanks for tuning in, will update this shortly.

[groovyjay]

Getting the doors to fit was a real pain in the butt, but also one of the most rewarding.



Early mock ups.



Everything prepped for some resin and fiberclass.



Working with this stuff isn't always so tidy.



Good way to get the gaps just right is to bond the door panel to the body and the make the gaps just the way you like them.





Getting there...

[groovyjay]

The original Grand Sports had a trunk with no floor, but a spare tire carrier for the endurance races, which required a spare tire.

I'm not planning on using a spare, but I was planning on using all the spare room to make a usable trunk for this car. I think I managed to get pretty decent size space for some traveling essentials i.e. tooth brush and wallet.



The body kit came with some sort of pieces for this, but I only ended up using the bit which directs the air out from the rear air holes (that didn't sound right... )



The whole transmission tunnel was raised and widened for a T56 first and then I made this slot for the handbrake handle to live in.

[groovyjay]

Finally after all the dusty fiberglass work was done it was time to finally start the assembly. I blasted the frame again and had it powdercoated along with all the suspension stuff. I've done always black frames in my builds, but this time I wanted to do something different.



This is always the fun part, when you have a nice clean frame and tons of new parts that need to go on it. These cars are so simple to put together that you can get a lot done in a day.



Front end stuff going in. JMRP tubular A-arms, Home made rack n pinion, custom ordered sway bars and QA1 coil overs, I ended up using only the bare shells of the shock as everything inside was custom made to work better in this car. The guy who does all my shocks is responsible for a lot WRC cars shocks, so if they can jump 100ft in those cars and come down and keep pounding on through the stages, the shocks really need to work well. I plan to keep this car on the ground but still it has made a huge difference in my previous builds, just to tune the shocks.



T56 required the cross member to be modified.



Custom made gas tank, it was also relocated from the rear of the car to the center to get even better balance. Capacity is also almost doubled compared to stock tank.



More about the assembly later...

[Payton King]

Can't wait to see this one come together

[aggie91]

Wow, that's dedication to that car. I like the couch too!

[fleetus macmullitz]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Wow, that's dedication to that car.

X2...you might be more fanatical than some of those F-body owners that start with those roach coaches we see on here.

With this mid '60 Vette Jay...no problem bein' Groovy.

[groovyjay]

Thanks fellas for the

As seen above, the rear suspension is based on Dick Guldstrand/Bob Riley 5-link set up, which is a vast improvement over the stock trailing arm set up. I have also a custom 6 link in development for this, so I can substitute the half shafts as upper trailing arms. But first I want to drive it with the 5-link only.



http://www.guldstrand.com/scripts/pr...?idproduct=138

Custom ordered sway bar and custom tailored rear coil overs should also play a role in the cars handling.



Mid Year vettes have a removable rear exhaust panel, so when you want to remove the body off the frame, you just unbolt that piece and you can lift the body straight up. With the GS's that part is molded into the body and they had shorter tubular frames, so that wasn't a problem. But since I'm using stock frame and fixed rear panel I had to cut my frame and make a removable section for future body offs .



Rear suspension not done at this point, but you'll get the picture.

[Rick D]

Nice!!! Can't wait see the end of this.

[groovyjay]

Couple of you asked for more pics of the couch.





So that's the only part of the body that survived the fire...