I'll find someone to do it for me, still checking. Probably a couple of weeks before I'm ready for a burnout launch, though.
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I'll find someone to do it for me, still checking. Probably a couple of weeks before I'm ready for a burnout launch, though.
Great info Denny. I'll be refering to this on my startup if it ever stops raining!Quote:
Originally Posted by DennyW
Well, for the most part I guess we're done. This thing was a major pain in the butt to fit a V8; not really my cup of tea but it was too nice and cheap to pass up. It's got a problem with cutting out under a load; not sure if it's carb or ignition. It kind of acts like a bad coil but it's a minor probem and it's time to take a break for a week or so. All is back together, it shifts good other than being really low geared. I looked it up and the stock Chevette rearend gear is a 4:11 for that year. Even with cutting out, it takes off like a scalded dog. I've got the exhaust installed back to the mufflers; tailpipes are on order. I put stock mufflers on so it's pretty quiet even without tailpipes. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I was going for the "what if GM built a stock V8 Chevette" look and I think it came pretty close. Sorry i couldn't find anyone to do a video for me, Brick. I'll keep looking, it'll be around for a few months before I put it up for sale. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions, you guys really keep me motivated.
Here's a few more; also a picture of the Firebird that followed my son home last week. he bought it for parts for his 'Bird but now wants to try and fix it because it's a t-top car, has a bigger motor and has 50K less miles than his. It never ends........
Ah Grasshoper you have put the heart of a lion into a butterfly. Must flap wings fast to keep bird from eating!:LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by falconvan
Falcon that does look good since you kept it stock looking . Takes off like a rubber band I bet engine to weight ratio :eek:.
Well hit the 60's here today and guess what some motivation hit me also . I got up hit the Peotone,IL swap this morning . Came home cleaned up a little in the garage and did a little wall art with some things I acquired over the long winter . Seeing cars pop up this Mustang will be plated this year He$$ or high water .
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The Chevette should make a great sleeper Falcon, very nice work inserting the small block!!! The 'bird looks plenty buildable, unless there's some twists and tweaks that don't show in the pics.
Been making a bit of progress out to the shop... The floor is tacked together and back out of the car for welding, the 'puter and wiring harness for the 'hemi is off to be modified and should come back in a couple weeks. This week I'll finish off the floor for the back of the car, finish fitting the front end, install the door latches and solenoids, and power window solenoids. Got the gauge panel and surround from Dakota Digital on Friday, it's gorgeous as they always are. I'll get a shot of it when it's mocked up. Anyway, here's some progress pics from the shop....
Dave that floor pan/tunnel looks sweet! With the rear fenders on it has a mean stance to it. Ought to make the owner real happy! How's your own camero coming along. It sounds like you have been busy in the work shop, probably limiting the personal shop time. I'm still waiting on motor mounts, but can't wait to get the engine in and fired up!:D
Haven't done a thing on my own stuff, Steve. Did manage to snag a 302 and AOD out of a Grand Marquis for my buddy Greg's Galaxy. Engine needs to be gone through, probably end up being a 347.... Other then that, nothing but shop stuff.....
Dave those door openings must be bigger then in the pics . I am taking a floor and tins class in May to help with doing my floors when I am ready . Should help with the design and be helpful with the tricks of installing one .
No trick to it. Just take a piece of 20ga. and whittle away everything that doesn't look like a floor......Quote:
Originally Posted by bluestang67
Falcon- that unibody structure looks pretty torn up to mess with, but if Dave says its good it must be good. Is the "bigger" engine a 3.8 to his old 3.4 or is the wrecked one a v8. If he has two v6's I would just do a T Top conversion on his driveable car and call it a day. Once making one cut to remove the roof skin the T Top structure is right there for you and you can use the wrecked T Top car for the roof panels, seals, trim pieces etc. These cars are waay too cheap now to bother fixing the wrecked one imo...
The unibody did get hit pretty hard but it didn't get the framerails. The only thing that looks like it got moved was the top of the stut tower. We got it running yesterday, drove it down the road and it feels like it drives straight. I got pretty close ties to a good local collision repair shop so I'm going to cut away all the obviously mangled parts, have them put it on a frame machine and see what it looks like. It's a shame, the car was really nice and well taken care of before it got hit. Thanks for the advice. I agree, I wouldn't fix it for myself but if he wants to put the labor into putting it back together and the shop can straighten it to where it'll align properly, I'll let him try it. It'll be a good learining experience for him even if it never hits the road again.
Got a new project as a father/son project. My son has moaned and groaned want an old car until I finally gave in. Now he get to experience stop light to stop light overheats.....suspension scrub.....body work the old fashion way.....and worrying about when the next gas station is coming up. :LOL::LOL:
I'm proud he wants to learn all of this. He has my sickness....all evolves around old cars.
Got him a 65 El Camino off Ebay. Fairly solid machine. Dropped conciderably with springs and dropped spindles. Disc brakes (GM Metric) all around. We got it home in one piece.....but...had a heck of a time with overheating. Did fine on the free way at 65 MPH (3200 RPM's). Really hated the stop lights here and there though. Got to 220 a couple of times.....and 230 the last mile before we got home. Did the emergency cold spring water straight to the radiator thing.....got temp back down.....fired it up to get the cool water back in the motor....shut down. Motor seems fine. Time for a different radiator and plan ditching the electric fan in favor of a good clutch fan with shroud. Question....I always "heard" that a crossflow cooled better than a comparitivley sized downflow radiator. Is this a left myth? I wouldnt think it would make any difference. The reason I ask is because most of the radiators I've found are anywhere between $700-1200....crossflow. I found a fella on Ebay that makes a downflow aluminum (3 row) with more fins per inch.....guaranteeing good to 850 hp or money back....for $220. I'm leary about bargain prices....what do you think? He seems to have a great rating on Ebay and making radiators is his specialty. His store is Classic radiators
There's a couple other things than need changed. Someone cut most of the frame out for the big tires. I'm kind of uncomfortable with that....going to set him up with some sort of a Xbrace (tubing) to help stiffen up the rear most portion of the frame. Here's a couple pics of the new project.
This project will most likely get finished before my own. We're going to get started on the interior once we get all of the driveablity bugs worked out.
Here's some pics of its present look....
Dave G
Looks like a nice starter! That engine looks new, and the body and interior are already nice. Nice gift!
I've always wanted one of those. Looks like a nice starter to me.
Tom
Update on the Elky. I think my cooling problems evolve around 3 things. Obviously the main reason is the type of motor.....large cam (high lift), compression verging the limits of super unleaded.....second I believe the radiator is slightly too small and dont care for the electric fan arangement.....third I had a huge ammount of vacuum on the gas cap on my first stop for a fill up (feel I may have been running lean the whole trip home).
We're just about to head out and dig in to the Elky to figure out what we have as far as small problems.
Dave G
Stove some friends run the down flow with extra fins with some big blocks and cooling is fine for parade duty . Lean burn will make it run hotter as we all know but they may have cut it back to save fuel:D engine looks like its ready to talk to a neighbor . Good luck I know you will get it and congrats to the son for following the family tradition . Clean looking Camino not much left to finish it . Good starter for him to get some hands on . Since he is young he may even get your truck done for you .
Teach him about the fuel line and engine heat . Give him the tubing bender for another lesson on safety and why its done in metal . Hate the line to wear out a hole and start leaking around the headers.
Great looking Camino, one of my favorite years. I love the big meats on the back.
Yeah....we've got a slew of saftey issues squared away already. Still need to do the fuel line......align the front end (some serious camber lean on passenger side front only).....and stiffen up the frame/install wheel tubs......and installing 3 point 2" saftey belts.
Today we did a slew of things.....fixed signal lights....headlights.....heater switch.....wiper motor....aligned the doors and hood.....repaired door pawl (wouldnt release).....adjusted end gate. And today my son did his first oil change. LOL's. :LOL: Proud to see him all greasy and rubbing his fingers cause he jumped right in on a hot motor. I told him the oil was still just a tad to hot. :LOL: For the first time we used Mobil 1 (took Dave's advise in an older thread). Always been a Castol man but that was normal engines....figured I'd give her a treat this time.
Shrunk out a few small dents and tried working the large one out with an off dolly and shrinker but not making much progress. May try the heat gun/compressed air tomorrow.
My son has this ......grin that just wont stop. Its got a healthy cam profile...lift and a mid centerline....with the Flowmasters it sound real good at the light. But I have to admit....those mufflers would have to go if they were my daily driver.....resonance at freeway speed for 2 hours started getting to me. I couldnt hear a thing once we got home. :eek:
Dave G
I have Flowmaster 50 Series on my '31 and while letting it run and moving it a couple of days ago, the drone almost made me pull them immediately - and probably will eventually and just run some turbos {or maybe even 22" Smithy's:D and really po the cop across the street}Quote:
Originally Posted by Stovebolter
IC2, you're my type of guy. I've been known to uncork the headers on the Mustang just to po a certain cop in the neighborhood. :LOL::LOL::LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by IC2
Bluestang.....I wish it was running lean....that would be a fairly easy fix....but instead its running like it should....and sputtering noxious fumes (I love that stuff) out the tail. They have this thing set up for 12 degrees advance....I still have to check for total time. I really have no idea what is in the motor. I'll be investigating soon. They said it had Dart iron heads but they look more like late model 350 heads.
Falconvan....I like the big and littles too....except for the mess they left me to clean up on bracing the frame. They cut a huge amount of the width of the frame (left 1/2") and boxed the remaining part....to stuff the big tires in the hole. And then drove it like this. I am really suprised the frame didnt colapse. Problem solved though.....I've been bracing and placing mitered pieces most of the weekend.
IC2/NTF2Day.....:LOL::LOL: We just watched "Lakeview Terrace". You guys are just itchin to strike a nerve....arent you. :LOL::LOL:
I got the saftey issue covered on the fuel line routing at the front.....hard line up to filter with section of hose stretched over tubing closest to headers....now several inches away from header. Thanks for the heads up!
Another thing that bothers me......with the aftermarket dropped spindles and aftermarket dropped springs......at the rear he has less than 2 inches of compression travel before it bottoms on the shock mount. Makes for an intersting ride over a chug hole. I'll probably add at lease a 1 inch steel coil spring spacer....or heaver lowered springs (cause he really like how low it is).
Man these things are a bugger trying to get the rear tires off when theyre this low. Takes me back to my 69 Pro street with the 33X21.50's. Have to jack the rear of body in the sky...placing jack stand under rear....all the while unhooking shock mount at top just to get barely enough clearance to remove the tires. Doable though.
Its all fun. And Dustin is getting a quick course in "Do it Yourself 101". I'm tickled with his interest.
Dave G
Neat project.... and there's a lot of worse things then an old Elky that a kid his age could show interest in.... Heck, he could end up really unique for his age group and actually have some common sense, mechanical skills, and problem solving ability!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stovebolter
I got the frame welded up on my little project last weekend and is lookin good so far. I will post more pics when I get the brackets all welded on and the suspension hung. (check my pics)
Yeah. I'm trying to get his mind off the girls! :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
I doubt it will work out....but so far he's ditched the girl thats caught his interest for the last 6 months.....in favor of a Jegs/Summit catalog. :LOL:
** No offense to the ladies **
Just trying to give him something to keep his interest in keeping his grades up. No grade.....no car.
Dave G
Keep going.....I'm proud your getting to do this. Looks like your using some of my old methods. 2X4 make for a good idea builder....Quote:
Originally Posted by 1940 tipster
Dave G
Was a warm Sunday pop the garage doors up and did something for a change . Skim coat the patch on bottom of fender . The reinforcement panel behind the headlight bucket needed a patch .I didn't finish it to well since its hidden just didn't want any rust there . The hood and the new door skin need a little work and that's all that is left ,the outside is finished and everything is ready for color . I'll shoot the floors and passenger compartment then the trunk area and get it all cut in . Had it 11 years and have about 2 1/2 of actually working on it in getting it this far . It has been a restore and not a cover up .
Have I ever mentioned I hate doing plastic work I am to slow and keep taking it off to put it on one more time LOL.
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Thanks man, I am trying to finish it before I go to school at the end of june, my fingers are crossed. I do have almost all the parts and brackets to finish up the frame. I still need some stuff like brake lines and fuel tank, but most of the hard work is going to get the body in driveable shape. LoL i tore the back seat out of a 96 ford conversion van, the one that lays into a bed. I want to use the frame from that seat along with the motor that moves it back and forth, so I have power seats but the driveshaft might hit :( . "only time will tell."Quote:
Originally Posted by Stovebolter
She started her life out as a ' Ford 2 door sedan in 1927 . But now she is my creation, she is going to be a true Ratrod, complete with some rust left on her! I built my own frame using a 26 Chevy front cross member, (just to make things differant from the norm)The body sets on it real nice and looks very cool!
Right now it's coming along pretty well, slowly but yet pretty good.. Got the front end all mounted 3 weeks ago, am runnning a suicide stle with a 5" dropped axle, still have to mount the shocks but that should be pretty easy.. I just finished the rear end last week, am running my own eliptic suspention on the rear. Sure was a lot more work that what I thought it would be, I thought it would be a very easy rear end to mount but, am very happy wth how it's turned out. The frame will ride at 5.5" of ground clearance when completed, that's as low as I wnted to go so hopefully I won't drag, to much! Got the motor mounts built for the 350 and got it all mounted in place, it's mounted kind of high, 6.5", wanted to make sure there was no whay to drag the oil pan (been there done that before!) Am going to run two 97's just for the sack of coolness. Am going to have to run a eletric fan on the radiator though, darn it! But I think I can hide it behind the Case tractor radiator shell.
Hopefully will get the body back on this weeklend so I can get the stearing colume mounted and the floors. in Really enjoying this build. ....Am planning on making her a mid 20's Chevy when it's all said and done, after all there are more Chevy parts than Ford on her and I am a true Chevy guy through and through!**)[HTML]
Just a bit of an update on the projects at the shop. The Plymouth is coming along quite well. I put the front suspension on for the mock up with the 2" drop spindles and it's a bit too low so I'll have to switch them out to the standard height spindles. Got the fuel tank and made a cradle for it to set on. The tank and battery will be in the rear of the car separated from the passenger compartment by a steel firewall. Sent the transmission out to have it checked over, Bill is almost done welding up the floor so it can be installed. The owner brought up the seats for the car, so I can start building the seat mounts. Ordered the pieces today to build the headers and exhaust system. Once completed we'll send them off to be ceramic coated. Going to have to do a bit of planning to get the booster and master cylinder installed, I don't want a hanging pedal, so going to have to get a bit "creative" to get the components installed...
The front suspension is on the subframe for the '69 Camaro. The body bushings are on back order, should ship on Wednesday so hopefully the subframe can be installed next weekend, then get the frame ties built and installed. For now, the engine is going to be a stock 454 with a few shiny's bolted on. Sorry Pat, the owner doesn't have the money for the real engine til probably next winter.
The '69 Mustang should make it to the paint booth this week, then the assembly begins. The car has a decent 351W in it now, the owner will go with it as is, then probably next winter go with a stroker kit and some good heads...
Waiting to come in for a total build is a '66 Chevy pickup and a '67 Camaro. Staying plenty busy for start up in a new shop!!!!
Looks like your busy Dave! Thats good to hear.
This week/weekend my son and I got the passenger side of the Elky mitered and boxed. One side is safe. May have to relocate the shocks for more suspension trave. Plan to drop the upper rear shock support an inch to gain an inch of height in the rear. He's already fussing but I told him he really needs that extra space. Just driving around the house I've bottomed out on the oil pan twice. Going to raise the front an inch also. They put this thing in the weeds and while it looks great....it just doesnt work in the rear world. :(
Found a couple more issues. A slow leak at the front of the oil pan....looks like we'll be pulling/raising the engine for a new pan gasket. Is it common to put in an 8 quart oil pan? I just put in 8 quarts of Mobile 1 to get the dip stick to register where is should. I hope its not overfilled with some odd off the wall dipstick. I've seen quite a few 6 and 7 quart pans....just not an 8 for a small block? Other problem is the way they ran the fuel line at the rear....up an over the rear crossmember. Looks like it might rub. Plan to hard line down the center of bed over to an inline fuel filter in the middle of vehicle. All in all....fun to drive. And that 3100 RPM module make him honest. :LOL::LOL:
Dave G
How about mounting the booster/mc further back and using a longer, stouter actuator rod?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
That's one option, though the height on the frame rails gets a bit tight... the floor footwell has an upslope at the front. Have to get the headers built and could possibly be room up there... Just going to have to get a few more things mocked up and figure which option would be the better choice....But I do have some very nice 1/2" OD moly tubing ready!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter
Looks really cool, Dave!
Sounds like Dave is having some fun there . It has to be deep in his blood .
cool stuff, looks like some fun projects.
Dave,
Are you sure it's too low? :LOL::3dSMILE: Looks great to me. How about moving the master way back and using a slave cylinder to actuate it?
Ken
Dave,
I had space issue as well with the 36. I went with just the braket assembly from Progressive Automotive.... http://www.progressiveautomotive.com/brake.htm
There should be quite a few options for smaller brake booster/master cylinder options. Its a push rod style like others have mentioned. Believe me....I was sweating the ammount of space I had to place it. I'll be making my own push rod.
I'm sure your aware of all the options....I'm just making sure.
I wish I wasnt on call this week. Makes it too hard to get started on something knowing I'll probably get a call. :LOL::LOL:
Dave G
Yeah, I was studying things a bit today, the brake will work just fine, just going to take a bit of linkage. No big deal. Got the rear floor cut and fit today, think the seats he's using are out of a Honda of some sort, they sure do fit nice!!!