65 Porsche w C5 Drive

[Garage Dog 65]

Thanks for the kind words and guidance Anthony ! I plan to put in all the roll bar reinforcements while I'm doing the body so I can put the cage in. I'd like to do both interriors - 1 stock and 1 GT Porsche style with some type of racing seats. Guess it's about time to make that choice...

You're right about aviation and your dad. It's one thing to work on a car, drive it and then pull over when you forgot to tighten or fill something. Try custom building an aircraft - then strap yourself (or paying passengers or your family) into it and tool around a 10,000 feet. You only get a couple power-off dead-stick landings in a corn field before your luck will run out. It's one of the few things left in our industry we're still very proud of ! Thank your Dad for his guidance too - sounds like it may have rubbed off on you - and thats a good thing !

I spent the morning building a template pattern of the roof before I cut into it. There is no structure to these - it's actually just a stamped piece of metal with formed edges F and R - with a U channel at the windshield surround and door drip channel. My concern was that when I cut into that - it would attempt to return to it's previous flat state - so I built patterns to make a wooden support buck for later.

For the process - see Ron Fornier's site and checkout the Making Patterns and Bucks tape. Basic old school coachbuilding and race car stuff. (If you know Ron's history - he's one of those behind the scene hero guys !)

Grided off the top. Made paper templates to those grids. Then you can transfer that to plywood or MDF - and put it all back together and you have the original profile of the structure. Did the same for the Nose and the Tail.

Anyway, thought the new guys might find it interesting.

I know, Go Cut That Thing ....

[Garage Dog 65]

Well that was fun.

Cut the roof, cut the floor - then split the cross tube in the back - and jacked it 8 inches apart to get a C5 torque tube down the middle. Everything stayed in alignment and slid so easy I could have moved it by hand.

Glad I made a profile template - the roof is now flat with no curve. I'm going to put in some support channels when I stitch it back up.

Next, install cross bracing - then mockup the rear suspension, set the trans/diff in and put the torque tube in to see if I widened it enough. Plans are to add a wedge cut into the rear fenders (back all the way up to the door latch) to widen the back of the wheel well 2 inches on each side.

Beer:30

Jim

[Garage Dog 65]

Centered and aligned the body to the jig. Set the wheel base center lines. Dropped in the rear suspension jig and put on the right side gear. Installed the transaxle and torque tube and centered for a mockup. With the car 9 inches wide - the drive line sets right in there as planned with room available for the chassis backbone around it. I might put in the drivers seat and slides tomorrow to make sure theres enough room. Will need to move the rear wheels in few inches and get shortened half shafts. Next is to cut out the front wheel wells and firewall, drop in the front suspension jig and see where the engine falls.

[Garage Dog 65]

Removed the front wheel wells, footwells and the trunk floor all the way up to the firewall bottom. Also removed the battery tray and vent in the nose section. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the front suspension cradle installed and get the front suspension and steering rack in. (I set the cradle in tonight and the end brackets hit the jig leg -have to modify the front ones tomorrow too.... Picked up some 1 3/4 and 1 inch tubing today to mock up the center backbone. Want to make sure I can get a set of 2.5 exhaust in there at the current width - or go another inch wider.

[Garage Dog 65]

Getting close.

[Garage Dog 65]

Slow today. Had to modify the front susp cradle to fit over the front jig legs. Couldn't get much room that way - so I repositioned the entire car to compensate. It works - just had to redo all the adjustments again.

Installed the front suspension and rack. Front suspension will need to be pulled inward like the rear to clear the fender lines.

Started measuring the engine for install. Gonna be tight. Need to start looking at headers. If anyone has a suggestion let me know. LS1 and I'm looking for 400 hp. A cam, intake and headers look like that should get me close.

Jim

[ironworks]

Wow looks good. Your almost done, just a little welding and wiring.

Rodger

[Garage Dog 65]

Snowed in today - so, I installed the motor. Set the engine .5 inch off the back of the rack and centered. Looks like a 3 inch inset replacement firewall will do it. The footwells are looking like a cobra deal though, very tight. Now I can take measurements for shortening the torque tube. Wish I'd done this kinda work years ago - it's a blast !! (but I'm really tired of the rust and green primer)

[CHAZMO1986]

Wow, That Little Car Is Going To Be Sooooo Sweet, Awesome Work.

[Garage Dog 65]

The Hooker LS1 Block Huggers worked just right - they look tiny though compared to the monsters you guys run. Just one more compromise in this journey. The pipes should route fine.

Need to replace the batwing pan with a camaro pan so I can run a 2.5 exhaust into the backbone.

The torque tube is out to be shortened at a local IND shop. Shortening it 21 inches total.

This weekend I remove everything - rebuild the suspension jigs so they can be moved inward - and then put it all back together again for the final measurements.