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Bummer man! But good to see you're moving on! Just curious, what caused the fire, if you don't mind me asking? Might be of help for someone else.
the workshop in question had three bays in it and one of the other bays was being used for a restoration project on a 53 Chevy. The person working on that car was doing some welding and sparked a fire on one of the seats in the car. He thought he put it out, took a short break and the fire rekindled. Teaching points on this one I guess make sure you have a good fire extinguisher handy because that would have made a world of difference in this case. My car was one of three destroyed. Another one was a fully restored 1941 Chevrolet suburban, one of perhaps four or five left in the world still running.
Dang.... I've always loved this car. I'm curious if it's restoreable why don't you take the insurance money and have it fixed? Or do you just want to move on.
I may clean it up, spray paint it (or shoot clear over the patina) and run it as is. I have a 87 Porsche 924s that is arriving this weekend, 16k miles on body, engine removed and car left in a barn 25 years ago. I got it very cheap, rust free, good paint and nice interior. I could do a LS conversion on that, or sell it for a slight profit and put the LS3/T56 into this car, which i already own (got it free, bad engine, no interior)
...and sell the trans am rolling chassis
I also put money down on a totalled 2010 Z06 (cracked frame), which will be an organ donor for a c6 track chassis a friend has. Once i sell off the extra parts, ill probably be 18k into the combo.
I vote (not that it means anything) that you clear over the patina and run it! Obviously after you have done a total check on everything mechanical and electrical, but if it runs and drives as is I'd say it's a really good sign. I mean what a story! People pay big bucks to make their cars look like they were on fire and yours really was in a fire! How awesome would it be too to pass C6's with it afterwards!
"New" car project officially started.
This one will have a LS3 and 6L80e Trans. I'm debating various approaches to the suspension. I could go stock, but I also have a 2008 C6 donor chassis. The problem? I have a real hard time thinking about cutting sheet metal on a solid, rust free early 2nd gen and would rather avoid that if possible.
Sorry to hear about the fire destroying your other car! Hopefully you got some insurance payout.
If you are serious about building a competitive track car you would cut out the floor on that Trans Am and put the donor C6 chassis under it. Or..... you could buy one of the kits available to adapt C5/C6 suspension/cradles to a box frame...with a rear mounted transaxle. http://www.dobbertinperformance.com/ there are a few others that offer this as well.
Building a serious track car without double A-arm suspension and IRS out back is already at a disadvantage. I would use as many factory GM parts as much possible including Z06 C6/7 brakes for best bang for the buck. If its more street car that you track for fun.... then don't go crazy . A 6L80e is not a suitable transmission for hard core road course duty.... that would be more ProTouring with an ice chest in the trunk and snacks. While they make paddle shifters for them.... they are super lazy compared to a real DCT transmission.
The front suspension is already double a-arm... It's just a lot heavier than what the C6 suspension weighs. I am trying to figure out how to modify a stock subframe to add on the C6 engine cradle and UCA attachment points. I have an extra subframe laying around.
The rear... Hmmm, I have been eyeballing the dobbertin kit for a bit. Do you know if it will mount to the existing frame rails or will I need to the 2x3" box rails Rick D suggests?
01-23-2019, 08:00 PM
. A 6L80e is not a suitable transmission for hard core road course duty.... that would be more ProTouring with an ice chest in the trunk and snacks. While they make paddle shifters for them.... they are super lazy compared to a real DCT transmission. 