With the top shock mounts made, i was ready to order a set of lowers from Speedway, but I was too cheap, so I made these from some 2x2 tubing today. Gotta stop at the hardware store, and get some 1/2" Grade 8 hardware, and get my shocks mounted.
Got the upper, and lower shock mounts installed. I think it turned out really well. I've got 5" of ride height adjustment on the lower mount, and 0-45 deg of laydown adjustment on the upper mount. Should be able to really dial in the ride. I also got the panhard bar welded in place. Aside from finishing up a few weld beads, the rear suspension is pretty much complete at this point. YAY!
Alright! It's a rolling chassis again! The new rear axle has a 5x5 bolt pattern, which meant my spoke wheels wouldnt fit anymore..... bummer. I ordered some WV smoothies from Summit, and they showed up today. Got the Firestones mounted, and bolted on just for mock up purposes. Still need to paint em black. Measurement inbetween the tires shows that I'll have just about an inch, and a half on each side between the body, and the tires. Perfect! I wish I could say I planned it that way, but it just worked out with the axle I bought. If I used wheel adapters, and kept the spokes, I'd have about 5 inches on each side body to tire. So now my dilemma is, do I keep the spokes up front, or buy another pair of smoothies to match the rears? I suppose I'll get em painted, and then put the body back on, before I make my decision. Still have to get the front frame rails boxed. Gonna try to get that done this week.
I finally scored a T5... $200 with the shifter, and driveshaft out of a Camaro. Since the seats will be pushed back, the rearward shifter position should work great. It's awful grungy, but I think it'll clean up just fine. Got the adapter on it's way from Speedway... This is the piece i needed so I can get my engine mocked up, and my mounts designed, and made, not to mention, I'll get to see just how much work I'll need to do to the firewall. Man I'm excited!
I feel like i'm slacking here. Still havn't gotten my front frame rails boxed . BUT, I did get that grungy T5 cleaned up a bit, got the adapter bolted up, and set the combo down into the frame rails... Just sitting on jack stands at the moment. I need to decide EXACTLY where the motor mounts need to be before I go much futher. The location front to back I'm not too worried about. Looks pretty cut, and dried, but the height... that's another story. If I leave it too low, I'll risk dragging the pavement, and If I raise it too high, I'll be taking up valuable footwell pedal space. Any advice is welcome!
So killer man, love the flathead!!! You really do nice work. Little sad the flames are gone. Can't wait to see the body back on the frame.
Thanks for the kind works Kensey. Yeah, obviously, the chop necessitates a complete paint job, so I rattle canned that door black, just to help me visualize what a blank canvas would look like, and where I want to take it. I'm with you... I CANNOT wait to get the body back on the frame, just to see how it's gonna sit. It of course will all have to come back apart, so I can paint everything, but I'm really hoping to have the body mocked up sometime next week. You know I'll take pictures!
Motor back out. Boxing plates in! 3/16 .... it was free from the drop bin at work! It's getting serious now... Now I have to make some very important decisions about where my motor mounts go. I suppose I'll just tack em in place, and see how everything fits. If you have advice about placement, NOW is the time to speak up. I'm all ears. Got my implements of destruction ready to hack the firewall. I'll be setting the body back down this weekend!
looking good man keep knocking stuff out and you'll be driving in no time and not having to sit in the cab with a beer making engine sounds pretending to drive like I do lol
Looks good. Like the idea on mounting the upper end of those coil overs. You going to swap out those tail lights?
Thanks man! What, you don't like my taillights?? LOL No offense to whoever put those on there, but they are the one Hideous part about the car. Absolutely horrible looking. Of course it's easy to say so AFTER they've been mounted. Before hand though I might have thought it was a cool idea too. Just didn't work out. So yeah, I'll be filling the holes, and going with something different. Not sure what yet.
I honestly think that whoever had the creative mind to go with those taillights single-handedly revolutionized traditional hot rodding as we know it today! Not to mention the added 75 horsepower per light! That's a lot of extra zip for the little banger that was in it. I for one would like to thank said BAD ASS for paving the way for the rest of us to do burnouts in the name of hot rods, koolness and FREEDOM! Thank you Sir!
Kensey, I think I'm starting to agree with you! That guy IS a Badass! From the looks of the holes he made for the lights, he cut them with his teeth! Just chomped right through the sheet metal. It was either that, or he cut em with a rusty spoon! LOL. Good Stuff!! Thanks for the laugh first thing in the morning.... The taillights are still getting 86'd though LOL!
Nothing is bolted down. The body, and engine, are just sitting in place while I take measurements, and decide what needs cut, and where, and how much. After an afternoon of deliberation, I've decided that the car needs channeled. A plan is in place. We'll see how it turns out in the next few days.
WTF....... get to work..... unless you want to trade for an s10...... purple with tunnel ram and the top cut off.......
Do we need to have a garage night to get you rolling again? We know you can do it! Watching and waiting...
Quick question, that rear ladder bar set up looks stiff as for articulation. Front mounts don't look like they can pivot. Did it cycle OK? Looks cool, like that your making all your own stuff but it needs to ride good or you will hate driving it. Just asking.
6" drop. Got sidetracked for a few months, but I'm back on it. Spent a few hours today just finishing up some welding that needed done. I also realize that since I'm channeling the body, my homeade ladder bars will need to be re designed. As it is, they would end up hitting me in the ass everytime I went over a bump.... gotta make em a little skinnier up towards the front.
Excuses, Excuses... Here in Ohio, the past couple weeks have been opressively hot. I just don't go out in the garage when it's 90. Last few days though, have been really nice. Didn't take too many pictures, but I did get some detail work done on the Chop... I did the pie cuts on the pillars so they all match up nice now. Also did some more welding on the frame boxing plates... man... talk about going through some wire! Also finally tore the headliner out... and 2 good sized mouse nests! And removed the firewall... man, what a pain in the ass. Lots of spot welds, and rivets! Think I'm gonna keep the original tank. It's in good shape, and I like living dangerously. Next up, I need to mount the engine, and fab, or buy a new firewall with a recess for the engine/tranny. Here's a couple pics from today... Mouse Houses! Firewall gone!
And here it is channeled! Still a lot of work to do, but this is how it's going to sit. The body is just even with the bottom of the rails. 6" off the pavement at the moment. Once the engine goes back in... it drops a little more. What do you guys think abou the stance? I"m diggin' it!
You do great fab work! The car looks good so far, but you'll need to both lower & section the grille shell to keep it below the cowl & beltline. Otherwise the car will look really awkward.