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I figured I'd do a little update. I haven't gotten a lot done but more planning at this point.
The engine bay is completely cleared out of everything but my block now. I'm contemplating pulling the engine just to make it easier to paint the rest of the engine bay and I'm either going to cut my cowl back a little bit or have Midwest Chassis do the cowl delete. At this point it would be cake to pull the motor. Then I could finish reassembly on the stand also.
I started cutting off the fender supports but didn't realize I was out of cutoff wheels. This should be pretty easy.
I got the Mangaflow fuel pump mounted also. I need to secure it better but I'm just mocking everything up now until my rear end from Midwest Chassis is done. I wanted the pump to be a little lower than the outlet of the tank but they are at about the same level. I may change it but I think it will be ok because the gas tank itself is sloped quite a bit to help gravity fee the pump.
I ordered my wiring harness and roll cage switch panel from Racewire Solutions. Brian is an awesome guy. Answered tons of questions and even sent me a few pics of his ride. Which is just ridiculous. Crazy fast and crazy light. Expensive but definitely worth the money. It will truly be plug and play when I get it. I had a separate switch panel made for the flip up headlights and power windows for now. Those will probably go eventually so then I don't have to change my roll cage switch panel. He said it will take about 2 months but I have plenty of work to do still.
I'm also thinking of doing Midwest Chassis upper and lower a arms and spindle combo. It sounds like it will hook up nicely to my strange brakes but only allows for about 5" of travel. Not really intended for the street but most stuff isn't anyway. This is going to mainly a drag car but my work is real close to home so I might cruise it there occasionally in the summer. Just until I get my street car going. Hopefully next year for that. I have most of the parts just need the time for that one.
Deleting the cowl is a wet dream of mine. Hate that thing
Originally Posted by 5_litre_eater
Your making really good progress-- That engine bay is going to look awesome once your done!
And I agree, getting rid of the cowl would be awesome. I cussed at mine a lot this weekend....
That switch panel looks bad ***!
Lol. Yeah it would be awesome to not have the cowl. If I do the MWC cowl delete I will need to do Lexan for the front windshield also. A few guys on here have done a cowl modification leaving the full windshield and then reinforcing with metal. I bought the extended hood so it will need to be cut to fit so I'd rather just do the full cowl but we'll see.
I bought some ceramic paint from Eastwood for the engine bay. I did the front portion before but couldn't reach everything. I'm also going to do some cutting around for intercooler piping clearance and build a couple brackets for my Trans cooler and intercooler so I want to get everything done and then use some metal filler to smooth it out and paint it. Should look good when I'm done.
The switch panel is going to be awesome. It will have everything I need and should be easy to install.
Damn, this thing is coming along nicely! Excellent work!
Thanks! I haven't had as much time for the car, crazy busy at work. Hopefully, I can pull the engine and Trans after work tomorrow. Then I'll be able to do any cutting a lot easier and fill any holes and paint. I bought some Eastwood 2k ceramic engine paint. It's a 2 stage paint that lays on real nicely. And some All-Metal filler that my buddy used to fill holes in his engine compartment and looks nice.
I was waiting on my Griffin radiator from Summit that came today also. They have an old thread in Forced Induction on here about standing the radiator up straight. I just needed the radiator so I can properly cut and install it. I'll get some pics as I get it done. The radiator was really cheap though. Almost makes me nervous it won't cool as well but a lot of guys use it and works nicely. So we'll see how it goes.
Well, it's still completely amazing how much you've accomplished in 2 months. I couldn't get all that done even if I had an endless supply of adderall.
Well, it's still completely amazing how much you've accomplished in 2 months. I couldn't get all that done even if I had an endless supply of adderall.
Got some car time in this weekend. Friday I got my cutoff blades in. I ended up using the sawzall for quite a bit too. I bought these Milwaukee Torch blades. They are awesome. I decided to cut back the cowl before I pulled the engine. I wanted to see if it would be any easier. It wasn't too bad coming out of the top. I dropped the k member anyway to paint but I might sell it and buy a chromoly one already set up for no power steering. I also got the outer fenders cut back.
Another picture of the cowl cut back. It's nice how much more room.
Some of the junk that I cut out of the cowl and fenders.
Got the transmission pulled I just need to lift the car more to get it out from underneath. This transmission jack was under $200 and it awesome. It tilts each way and has arms that hold the trans during removal.
So much easier to work on like this
Couple shots of the empty car
Here's the Coan Torque converter. I still need to order my torque converter for the TH400
So I left the garage a little messier than usual but I'll get out there and straighten up. Now that the car is completely apart I can work on painting and dressing everything up. I need to bend all new brake lines and I might move my fuel pressure regulator so I want to do all that and have it set before I put the motor back. So much easier that way.
Keep the pics coming! This is going to be a bad ****
Thanks!
Yeah definitely lol. Even more room later on when I cut the cowl all the way back
I'm definitely excited to have the engine and trans out. I can actually get some pics to sell the trans and my wipe patterns and pushrod length on the engine should be easy now
I want to measure oil pan pickup tube clearances and windage tray clearances now that the engine's out too. I was reading Tony likes to make sure those clearances are perfect. I need some modeling clay and .100 shims to imitate compressed gasket thickness for the pickup tube. Then I need to do some research on what those measurements need to be and how to measure windage tray clearance. Always some reading to do lol. I'm using this engine to learn as much as I possibly can too. Some of this is overkill for sure but I like learning and have plenty of time to work on it with the 8 degree weather. Hopefully comes back together in the next couple months.
Awesome work & pics man. Can't wait to see the finished product.
Thanks!
Originally Posted by 5_litre_eater
Good call on the transmission jack. My floor Jack and wood blocks were not the greatest idea I've ever had...
I've changed quite a few like that too. I used to have some pieces of wood notched out to fit the bottom of the trans perfectly. I bought this jack a couple years ago now and have used it quite a few times. It's so easy to line everything up saves a lot of time. And my dad uses it and one of my friends borrows it a lot so it was definitely worth it.
Slow progress right now. I've just been going through the front of the car and engine compartment and taking out any metal that is no longer needed. Like the brackets for the hood struts and front hood stops and the metal mounts for the heat shields, tabs for the pcm... Also cut the area bigger on both sides for the intercooler tubing. That way I can use tubing with less bends and angles and probably less pieces overall. I ordered all my intercooler tubing in aluminum this time. I'm going to redo it all a little more streamline but that will be when the car is much more together.
Here are some pics of the progress. Probably not much change but baby steps are ok
Here's the K-member and lower a-arms. I'll be posting this up soon for sale. I decided to pull the trigger on Midwest Chassis race front end. Forgot to mention that up above Chromoly k-member, MWC upper and lower a-arms and lightweight spindles, Strange drag brake setup, Afco coil over shocks and I'm going to use the Racecraft steering column and BMR manual rack I already have. It's going to be real nice.
Cometic gaskets are here. 0.036 is what I ended up with for thickness.
Griffin radiator for standing the radiator up straight
Few pics of all the cutting and grinding
MWC front bumper support for the intercooler. I need to figure out how I'm going to do this. I'm thinking of buying a Treadstone intercooler where the outlet is at the top. They are better overall I just need to see how I would run it. I'm sure I'll have clearance but I almost need to have it to make sure. It's shorter than my intercooler which would help too.
Looks great! I look forward to seeing how this turns out.
Thanks!
Originally Posted by Darth_V8r
With that K-member are you able to pull the oil pan fairly easily or do you still need to drop the K to get the pan out?
I pulled the pan before with the k member on but you have to drop the pickup tube also in order to get the pan out. It's not too bad. At least it's possible. I don't think it's even possible with the stock one on there. There's a ton more room under the car in general with the aftermarket one.
So I've been working on removing metal that is not needed on the car and prepping for painting still. It's tedious but I got a spot weld remover which is helping. Then I need to patch a couple holes in various spots and install the hvac plate.
I ordered my Midwest Chassis hood rails and fasteners today. It's an inexpensive kit compared to the hassle it will save me to mount the new hood. They said they have quite a few on order so hopefully it's not too long of a wait but I'm not in a rush. If need be I could take the car to the tuner without a hood. Shouldn't matter too much. I've still got a little wait on the Fab 9 and Race front end with a few other goodies from them as well and a little longer on the trans from RPM and the wiring harness from Racewire Solutions so it should be like Christmas again here shortly lol
I have all the parts for the motor back now. Just got back the last of my stuff my Mamo Motorsports. I got the ported oil pumps for this motor and my motor for the other car along with my lifters for the other motor as well and my rocker arms shims for both. The lifters all in the crockpot now cooking lol. Tony said about 20 minutes at 175-200 degrees. So I should have the engine all assembled pretty soon here and degree the cam, double check wipe pattern and get the pushrod length. Thanks to all the good posts on Tech that should be pretty easy.
Treadstone top outlet intercooler
Kooks exhaust came in last week too. It's gonna be loud. I don't even think I will need cutouts on this. I'm curious enough to maybe add them and see the hp difference at the tuner but I don't think it's probably worth it with how free flowing this exhaust will be.
Kooks exhaust came in last week too. It's gonna be loud. I don't even think I will need cutouts on this. I'm curious enough to maybe add them and see the hp difference at the tuner but I don't think it's probably worth it with how free flowing this exhaust will be.
Dont bother with cut-outs....if it was worth 3 RWHP I would fall over.....its going to sound like you have them open all the time anyway.....LOL
01-10-2016, 09:50 PM
