Brendon's '67 Firebird thread

[67zo6Camaro]

Nice work Brendon. I'll stop by soon to see the progress in person.

[Tuske427]

Thank you, Brett!

Well, the vacation is all over and I have to go back to work tomorrow. I was able to get a lot done during my break. In addition to Brett helping me locate the rear axle and place the engine in the car I mocked up some tubular bars for the engine mounts and built the revised trans tunnel.

Attached are a couple of pics of the tubular mounts. Now the challenge will be to get these built out of metal.

Once these are done then the two driver side header tubes and be rebuilt, preferably to the back of the mount so the header can possibly be removed without the engine coming out.

[Tuske427]

I spent my available time this past week building the recessed firewall. I decided against making it removable, and I made it intentionally asymmetrical to provide more room for the clutch hoses/ linkage.

I went through 2 sets of cardboard mock ups and ultimately warped the heck out of it by welding it too quickly. I need to be more patient. Lesson learned, I hope. I made a slice to help alleviate some of the warpage, but it'll need more finessing to make it presentable.

I still need to build a cap in the front, as there is a slight overhang of the firewall sheet metal on the top passenger side. I'll box that in.

[67zo6Camaro]

Looks good Brendon. Let me know if you want help finalizing the engine mounts and header adjustment.

Brett

[Tuske427]

Just a quick update- here are some pics of the reinforcing plates I'm making for the frame rails. These will be welded to the frame to help support the load. Following this I hope to work on making the tubes for the engine mounts. Progress will be slow these next few weeks. There's a lot of other family stuff happening.

I also made a panel today to help close off my recessed firewall.

[waynieZ]

It looks great, nice work.

[Tuske427]

Thank you!

I didn't think I was going to have any time this weekend to work on the car as there were family plans, but they fell through and I ended up having some time after all. I welded the cap for my recessed firewall on, and, on a whim, decided to see how my center console would fit in the interior. I discovered it didn't fit. Part of the issue is that the console will be moving back some, and, as many of you know, the shape of the console is tapered, so it created gaps along the sides. I had already spliced my console and raised it up a bit, then cut it down the middle to see if widening it would fix it. But then I realized how "hacked" it was looking so I decided to cut the whole thing out and build a new one.

Of course, a project like this would be much quicker and cleaner with a nice metal brake, which I don't have, so I improvised with my floor jack handle, some clamps, lots of groans and grunts.

I haven't finished it yet, but I have it roughly trimmed and starting to tack it in place. After it's in I will build a tapered area in the back to blend it down to the tunnel.

[Tuske427]

Still alive. Have been really busy with work, family, etc. Had a few hours this weekend (cancelled plans) so I worked on the trans tunnel more. I welded the rest of it in and added some patch panels up front. I also sliced open the rear part along the top to blend into my new tunnel and will need to make a pie shaped patch panel to fill it in. When I do, the tunnel should be level across the top. I took a pic from the side view, you can see the original area is just slightly lower than the new section- this should be corrected when I add the patch in. I hope.

[Tuske427]

This weekend I was able to build my trans tunnel patch and get the car up on my neighbor's rotisserie. It was quite fascinating to get the car up there and rotate it around. It's amazing how nice it is to be able to work on the underside of the car while not crawling around underneath it through the dolly with only inches of room to move around. It took the greater part of the afternoon to get it all set up. Earlier today I started grinding down some welds and making a couple of small patches that were still needed. I won't be able to work on it next weekend but after that I'll get back to

[KPC67]

Great job man