I like those gauges and your test panel. Dash will look good with those in there...

 

I'm working on small parts of the dash layout as time permits. Found an AC control that would fit in the dash layout, but it is pretty small and so is the lettering (Of course my eyes are getting older too ). Anyway we sent the pieces off to a sweet lady named Kate Winchell who hand painted all the lettering. I really like details like that. If you need ANY type of art work done on a car please visit her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=v8%20kate

Thanks V8Kate!

Before


After

 

First look at the LS3 in the 37...

 

Yes, we are still watching. Just need to see more progress. You slacker...

 

Slacker.....not so much. Slow..........YEP bingo

 

Just kidding with you, your not slow either....Methodical is more like it

 

It was tough passing up going to Good Guys car show, but I did make some headway this weekend. What a relief ....the motor fits. Cylinder head is 1 1/2" from firewall and I have 1/2" between the fan and the water pump for a total of 2" of "CLARANCE"! The trans mount and wood blocks for the motor are temporary until a few more items are figured out.

 

I think the next major hurdle is the steering. I know Ken mentioned the steer wizard early in the build and I'm open to that. Any suggestions on column length and the best path from the column to the rack? I don't want headers, but is there a different exhaust manifold that would work better than the one I have? Any help appreciated.

 

You are probably going to end up with the same type headers that I used..........Great Job !!!!

 

Well, there's always next year for Goodguys, heck, you guys get two of them a year! At least you got something done on the car. As for the steering, I would use a shorty column , mount it at a comfortable angle and use a u joint to kick the steering shaft towards the left side of the firewall, get one of those swivle mounts to mount on the firewall then another u joint to kick it back towards the rack. Thats how I got around my manifolds and it works perfectly.

 

No clearance issues anywhere with the Vintage Air Frontrunner system.





Not much to report at the moment on the steering project . I decided I needed to finish the gauge cluster work on the dash and get the actual seats so I can mock up the column and get it located correctly. The seats wont ship for at least 3 weeks Me and the Mrs. (actually the Mrs.) decided on bucket seats and floor shift.

 

When I saw the picture I was thinking exactly what you typed - Pretty simple & effective.

 

There is not a bunch of choices for manifolds that would be a better fit than what you have. There are some headers out there that dump in the center, but you said no headers.

Look for some of the corvette LS7 factory manifolds like these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Exhaust-Mani...lXhCu2&vxp=mtr

...or the LS2/3 corvette ones like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-GM-Chevy...9X8FFy&vxp=mtr

 

how about these?

 

The outlet on those is just about in the same place as the ones he had already and may even be a bit further back making the problem worse.

 

Starting on some interior items that will ultimately lead me to figuring out where the steering needs to be located inside the car all the way down to the rack . First on the list - the gauge cluster. Here is the piece I will start with. I had some help (Thanks Scott!) making a die to press out the shape. The reason the picture dates are out of order is because this is one of the spares I had leftover.



The offset was cut from the sheet and placed upside down in this makeshift fixture so a trim ring could be added. The reason for this is that the cluster is flat, and NOTHING on this dash is flat. The cluster will be located in the dash so the driver has a perfect view of it. The factory dash curves away from the driver pretty good at the end near the door.



Took the wood insert out and used some bolts and washers to try to hold it flat during the welding. Thanks to the fab director for these handy fixtures!



Stayed pretty flat....



The first step in putting the trim ring in the dash was to take out the offset the factory put in the dash. The hard part to deal with was that the offset ran down around the radius at the bottom of the dash. Here is the first piece that got moved down. That is the die in the background the trim piece was stamped from.



Some layout work off a temporary straight edge since the dash doesn't offer any good reference points to measure from.

 

BEFORE



AFTER



It will be finished out later, but this gets me close enough for some mock up work. More soon.....

 

Thats very cool. Really nice work! Do you tack weld the trim ring in from the back side when attaching to the dash? Or how would you grind consistently the tack welds along the edge between the trim ring and dash?

Also, any shots of the die? How does that work?

 

Thanks ....as far as how to attach the trim ring to the dash I haven't figured that out at the moment, but I suspect that it will have a piece on the back that is welded (maybe get someone to Tig it) or maybe use some high powered panel bonding adhesive that I've seen body shops use. On the front maybe use some body filler to create a small radius ??? Also the dash will be covered in material so the steel work doesn't have to be laser straight. I just wanted to get the cluster in place for right now so I can install a seat, steering wheel, pedals, etc to get them located.

About the die....I'm not a tool and die guy, but here are the basics of this one. First step was to cut out the shape from some 1/8" steel. The inside part was plug welded to a backing plate. What is left from the cut on the outside is the other half or the female. The gap between the 2 and the thickness of the die depends on your radius, thickness of material, etc. - you just have to experiment here. On a previous post I showed a picture of a stack of these stampings that were scrap and that's why


Here is the part in the die after it has been pressed.



Here is the part just sitting on the male die after it has been pressed. Of course you have to keep both halves of the die aligned somehow. In this case we just used bolts, but pins would be more precise if needed.



Here are 2 lessons I learned from this. First start with whatever the final material will be. We started with galvanized steel for testing and when I changed to cold rolled for the final part everything changed so I had to make more modifications. Also the hole for the cluster had to be cut in the blanks before going into the press. When we tried solid sheets it just oil canned really bad. The challenge of this part was figuring out how much the pre cut hole was going to move when it was pressed so the cluster would still be a snug fit. Hope this makes sense and helps ...???

 

Great information! thanks a bunch. I love following your threads for the creative problem solving....
I think I get more here than Hot Rod Magazine or Street Rodder. And asking them questions during an article read is impossible

Doug