Ryan,
looks good. So this Speedway third member is for that QP diff? It’s hard to stay up to date sometimes , lol.

 

Both the QP rear housing and the Speedway third member are based on the Ford 9", so they are all interchangeable. I shopped around and the Speedway assembled unit was the best price around. I even shopped around buying the parts individually and assembling myself and it was still cheaper.

 

Ok. I just wanted to make sure I was remembering everything correctly. I’m interested to hear of how quiet the gears are. I’ve always heard great things about QP’s 9” rears.

thanks 🙏

 

I've heard mixed reviews with the 9" and how loud the gears are. I'm going to take it easy through the break-in procedure and hope for the best. Speedway has a good reputation for these third members so I'm pretty confident that they will work great.

 

We took advantage of the kids having off last week for spring break, and took a long weekend trip last weekend in Pigeon Forge. Was great to see the mountains and relax in a cool cabin. I kept seeing all these cool hot rods just parked on the strip and wondered why. Then I realized that this last weekend was the Rod Run there. Missed it by a week, but still got to see some really cool cars along the way.





Saw this really clean 1956 Belair, then noticed this really cool detail! I'm borrowing that for my car because I need to replace the filler panel as it's heavily rusted.





Back to work on the car. Once I got the tensioner figured out, I needed a new belt to match. This ended up being the length I needed. I also forgot to mention that with the Holley bracket, it also has provisions for Power Steering, but I'm not using that right now. But what will be nice is that all I'll need to do is add the pump and hoses when the time comes.



Next up was figuring out how I wanted to mount the flex fuel sensor. After a lot of thinking, I decided to build a bracket off of my booster. I remembered that the original brackets that I bought for the booster came with two of the same side, so Summit sent me the correct ones. I trimmed off the excess, bent it to a 45* angle, then tapped for the right hardware. Turned out great with minimal fabrication, WIN!





On every LS swap that I've done, I've used a roll of Nylon fuel lines and love how easy they are to work with. I've used the caulk gun method many times and is quite easy. For those that haven't seen it, you use a brake flare tool to hold the line, then a two post caulk gun and use it to press the fitting in. Make sure to measure the depth of the barbed side and then clamp down tight, but not all the way. It will distort if you clamp too hard.



Position it like this, and use steady pressure to get it started and ensure it's straight. Once you can tell it's going in straight, I just use a few quick presses until the line is flush with the end of the fitting.



Here you can see the fitting is flush with the line. I bought this piece of repair line from Autozone that had a 90* fitting and just pressed a straight fuel fitting that I had in place. You can also see the flex fuel sensor mounted in place and all my lines are now complete. I had to heat and bent the lines around to give some slack for motor movement and to avoid hitting the firewall. Really happy with how it turned out.



I came across this really cool harness from Current Performance Wiring that is a plug and play flex fuel along with a 2 pin alternator plug. What's cool about this harness is it has a PWM generator built in to give the two wire alternator the right signal to charge up to 14.5v. Now that I have the harness I just need to add the flex fuel to my tune and can test out a tank of e85!



My lower radiator hose worked the same, but needed to be trimmed a bit to avoid hitting the frame, but the upper hose was way different since it came out on the driver's side rather than the passenger. After playing around, I realized I just needed a hose that came out at an angle to avoid the air intake. I went back to Autozone to browse the different hoses and found one that worked. I couldn't find one that had the jog I needed, but was able to cut the water neck off of an old truck water pump and that curve worked just like I wanted.



I also ordered some grommets for the firewall to get things sealed up.



I need to install the speedometer grommet too and the wiper motor grommet is already installed. I also was looking at the firewall and everything is cleaning up really nicely and the wiper motor stuck out. I ended up spraying it in Satan black and it looks great. Not original, but disappears now on the firewall.



This project has certainly snowballed, but I'm getting closer to the end. I've been taking my time to clean up the wiring and loom it as I am going. Which means I've been having to re-route wiring and I also swapped out the battery cables I had with some that I acquired from a 2016 F150. The terminal clamps are really nice and the cables are high quality. I'm not done yet, but it's all starting to fall back into place. I have the coils off to clean up, then I'll reinstall. I'm debating on painting the valve covers a flat red, or even wrinkle red finish. Still up in the air, but I think it would give the engine bay a pop of color.



While the car is "down" and I'm in the wiring mindset, I'm also swapping to the Vaporworx module to control my fueling. I went back and forth on where to locate the module, and finally tried under the rear seat. I still have access to the set screw for adjusting the fuel pressure, but it's out of the way. I want to add a cover to it so that the pins cannot short out if a screwdriver or something fell down and shorted it. I started to run the main 8 gauge wires from the battery, and the MAP signal wires but haven't finished.



Once the wiring for the module is complete, I need to work on getting the fuel pump assembly modified to work with my fuel tank. I'll need to extend the wiring, extend the support rods and ordered a new longer corrugated hose. I also need the correct -6AN fittings to add the Fuel Pressure sensor from the fuel module. Swapping fuel pumps also means that unfortunately I'll need to drop my fuel tank which I believe is almost full. Although it will give me an opportunity to test the fuel sender as I think it may be going bad. More to come, but hopefully the car will be back on the ground soon.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

Great progress and excellent write-up!

Andrew

 

This will be sort of a scattered post since I have been working on multiple projects all at the same time. The Spring Carlisle swap meet is this weekend and I had been waiting until then to pickup some parts with one of them being a rust free original lower filler panel. To my surprise, my father in law shipped one to me that he bought on eBay! Thanks Bern! It's in fantastic shape and even has the factory undercoating, which is pretty amazing. It has a few dents in it which is expected given it's age, and since I don't want to do body work on it I have a plan.







It fits really nicely on the body.



Before I could do anything with that I wanted to continue working on my wiring and my new fuel pump setup. I decided to just use the fuel pump that came with the Vaporworx controller I bought a few weeks ago. I wanted to pull the assembly apart to make sure there wasn't any debris hiding. I was in a bit of a hurry and my caveman self used too much leverage and broke the venturi fitting on the fuel pump. It's not something that can be easily fixed, but after reaching out to Carl at Vaporworx and making some posts on forums and FB, I found a guy who had some leftover parts from upgrading a CTS-V pump and sold them to me for very cheap.



Thanks Bill from FB! Bonus is that he had an extra fuel bucket and support rods. I've been trying to think how I was going to extend the rods to raise the fuel pump assembly by about 4.5", and this solves that problem. I can cut the ones I have, as well as the ones he sold and then the factory clips will work as they should.





I also bought some "made in the USA" Moog inner and outer tie rods from a member of Tri-Five a few months ago and now I'm ready to swap them out. They were bare steel so I just sprayed some flat black paint on them. I bought some slick UMI adjusters a while back too that should make adjustments easier.



I pulled the steering column out so that I could install the firewall seal that I should have done from the beginning. While I had it out, I swapped out the stock ignition switch with an aftermarket unit because the lock cylinder kept falling out. I also fixed the dimmer switch for the gauges and tidied up some wiring while I was in there. I also need to shim the steering box so it is centered. All good things that need to be done, but aren't that exciting.



I also unboxed my Quick Performance 9" rear and started to prep it for welding on the tabs for brake hoses. I want to make sure that they aren't in the way of installing U-bolts, suspension or anything else. I'll tack weld the tabs then install it in car to make sure nothing will interfere.



Here's what I started with, and the backing plates after a little TLC.



I bought new boots from Dorman for the ebake lever as well. For those that are curious they are the stock brake assemblies off of all 98-02 Camaros and Firebirds which are often referred to as "LS1 Rear Brakes". Fantastic brake setup; 12" rotors, PBR Calipers, internal ebrake assembly, and use the standard GM backing plate bolt pattern used for decades. When I had QP build my rear I had them use the Moser GM Flush mount housing ends so that I could use these brakes specifically. I also have a pair of C5 brake calipers that are a direct replacement for the Camaro units, but these are supposed to have a better casting. I picked them up on eBay for super cheap and bonus was they came with Hawk brake pads that look barely used.





I also don't remember where I bought it, but I had a single brand new dust shield kicking around in my garage that I was able to use instead of the crusty one. The other side cleaned up pretty nicely so that will get reused too.



Back to the wiring, I added a 70 amp breaker to inline with my C7 fan for added protection.



After wrapping up a few other items, I was finally able to get my new filler panel painted fitted and installed. After that, I reinstalled the radiator filler panels, grill and front bumper. With all of the changes in the front end, I also had to re-align the hood which has never fit better! Very pleased with this when I step back now. Love it or hate it, it's very unique and I love it!



I also was able to step back and check out my new engine bay. It took a lot of time and energy to route all of the wiring and wrap it all up. I'm very happy with how it all turned out. I still need to power wash all of the pollen off everything and loom up the headlight and turn signal wiring, but after that I'm calling it done. At least until I buy some turbo parts...



Hoping to get tabs welded to the rear, paint and swap it out for the stock rear. I also need to wrap up the Vaporworx module install, modify fuel pump, and swap that out with the Gen 5 Camaro unit I have in there now. I'm really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and cannot wait to get back behind the wheel. Hopefully in the next few weeks.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

Looks like a lot of good progress.

 

It's been a little bit since I've had an update on this project. Between work, building a porch and life it has been hard to get anything done on the 55. I've done a few things here and there, but have enough for an update. Once I got the front end back together, I wanted to start on swapping out the tie rods since they were quite worn.



Once I had the complete assembly out it was time to break them down. Looks like someone removed the bushing with a torch then just reinstalled a new bushing. Not comfortable with that, so I ordered a new one from CPP.



I have new Moog bushings, but since the new drag link will have a new one already installed I'll just put a new Moog in the idler arm.



While that was all disassembled, I removed the steering column so that I could install the column firewall boot and seal. I could have cut it, but I decided it wouldn't take that long to pull the column and so it seals up better. Well that lead to me also shimming the steering shaft so that it came through straight and not off to one side. Before and after. I think it took 3/32 of shims to the lowest bolt to straighten out. Much happier.





I also cleaned up all the hardware for the LS1 rear brakes so they are all ready to install when the time comes.



Huge thanks to plasticman on the Trifive site for sending me this shock bar. Hoping to get that installed when I pull the stock rear to replace with the 9".



I've been trying to track down the 55 Nomad trim pretty much since I bought the car, and finally found someone who would sell me a set for a reasonable price. They are reproduction cast aluminum pieces that are uncoated. They fit really nicely too. He sold me both eyebrows and the door trim, so I still need to track down the fender trim but I'm stoked to find what I have. I couldn't wait and got the eyebrows test fit immediately. Can't wait to install them for good!





And wouldn't you know it, when it rains it pours. I hardly ever check Craigslist anymore, but happened to open it and a short listing popped up and mentioned Nomad parts. I clicked on it and saw among a pile of parts a pair of original eyebrows! I reached out and the lady and after communicating for about a week, we met up last weekend and I bought all of the parts from her. Ended up being probably a hundred parts with many Nomad parts, 55 Belair pieces and many NOS parts. It ended up being her father's entire collection of parts that she inherited when he passed away in 2016. They had been in dry storage all this time.





Borderline holy grail!





Really cool license plate boarder. Definitely running that!



Can someone help identify what these parts are? I've never seen anything like these before?



Then I recently welded the tabs on the rear for the rear disk brake hoses, and painted it. First etch primer, then some medium and heavy coats of Satan Black.







Hoping to get the new springs installed this weekend and the 9" test fit so that I can measure for a new driveshaft. I'm 99% sure that I'll need a new one and want to get that ordered so that I can get this car back on the road. I'm still debating on pulling the gas tank to install the CTS-V modified unit so that it's all ready for when I add the turbo. I'll probably do that anyway since I'll want to remove the fuel tank when I weld in the shock bar. Still up in the air though since I may just get the new rear installed and run it the rest of the year. I really want to drive the car again. I forget that I lowered the front end and installed a sway bar as well. It should be a completely different handling car once I have a proper alignment.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

I'd say take advantage of the good weather and drive it while you can. Unless you think the turbo install will be super quick.

 

Dude, that plastic hard line assembler 9000 tool is ingenious!

Nice use of a assault calking gun!

 

I'm really regretting tearing the car down earlier this year AND letting the project snowball a bit. But never the less, here we are. I'm trying to make a big push to get the car back together and on the road. Picking up where I left off, I needed to get the stock rear out of the way. I didn't want to disconnect the rear brake lines just yet, since I know the new rear will be in and out a few times test fitting so I removed a few brackets and slid it under the car still intact.





Once I removed the stock rear along with the leaf springs, I put the third member into the QP rear housing so that I could test fit everything. It looks great in there, but I still need to paint since it's raw cast iron.



Pretty big win was the driveshaft that is in there now will work with the new rear! That will be something that I can upgrade when I add boost, but for now is a nice cost savings! And yes, the rear has the full weight on it with me bouncing it a few times.



The bad news was that when I test fit with the new drop springs, the passenger side was contacting the spring hanger near the shackle just like it was with the old springs. I thought that it was because the old springs were flattened, but as I dug deeper and started measuring I found the culprit. Somewhere along the way the front spring hanger was bent up a good bit. So much that it even tore the hanger slightly!



After comparing to the driver's side and taking some measurements the outer hole was what moved. I was able to bent it back with many precision hits from my BFH. I kept measuring to have it match the driver's side. Once I got it back into place, I drilled the end of where it was torn, cranked my welder voltage up and laid several passes of hot weld. I'm confident that it will stay in place now. I test fit the new spring again under full weight and it had plenty of clearance around the shackle, just the same as the driver's side. Crisis averted.



While I had the new rear in place, I also took the opportunity to test fit the new shock bar. Thank you Plasticman!! It ended up being the shorter bar I think for the one piece frame. It ended up being half an inch short, so I put my thinking cap on and decided to make two 1/4" plates and weld those to the frame, then tap all the way through them for a really solid removable mount. Very happy I was able to make it work. Welds could have been better if I wasn't welding out of position under the car. I got solid penetration though so they won't come off, just not pretty.





I also forgot that you have to remove the rear end to get to the fuel tank and since I was having an issue with the fuel sender reading incorrectly and wanting to swap fuel pumps it was the right time to do it now. I pulled the tank and took some measurements so that I could first modify the CTS-V fuel pump assembly to fit into my modified fuel tank. That meant modifying the assembly to add about 6" of height. The guy that sold me the new venturi setup also had some other spare parts including two rods. That was perfect, because now all I had to do was trim a bit off one end and then weld them together. I determined the height I needed, then subtracted 1/2" so that it wasn't bottomed out when I compressed the assembly. Cleaned the ends with acetone and tig welded back together.







Once that was done, I swapped the fuel pumps to the new venturi assembly that I didn't break and added the extended fuel hose.



The pump I bought came with upgraded dual AEM 340 lph pumps. Will provide more than enough fuel under boost.



It was also not necessary, but I bought them a while ago so thought I'd swap them out. Most 90* fittings have a hard transition inside where they are drilled from both sides. I swapped that out for a full flow fitting that has a smooth transition inside. No idea what that does for performance if any, but makes me feel better there is less restriction I guess.



Then I extended the wiring and added a fitting to add the fuel pressure sensor for the Vaporworx module. Ready to test and install.



Last thing was to swap the sender out for a new piece I bought from Tanks Inc. The sender was an original piece so I assumed it was failing, but when I pulled the sender the float was full of gas! Must have a pin hole in it somewhere. Oh well, I opted to install the new one since I had it. Hurt a little to cut up a perfectly good sender, but I don't need the carb style pickup. I had to bend the sender over slightly and readjust the float arm so that it would clear the fuel pump assembly.



Lastly, I know the common deal is to seal using a cork gasket, but I used a liberal amount of Seal All everywhere when I installed this with the rubber gasket. I even put a dab on the screws, so I'm confident that it will seal like it did before. That also used a rubber gasket with the stock sender.



The plan now is to get the fuel pump installed and finish the Vaporworx installation so that I can verify fuel pressure and functionality. Assuming there are no leaks I also want to start the engine again with all the new mods. I changed a bunch of settings on the tune to add flex fuel, new 1K CC injectors, new intake manifold/Throttlebody and will lower the fuel pressure to 43 psi since I'll have a boost referenced pump now. With all that I'm expecting the tune to be way off. But my hope is that it can at least get the engine to idle. Then I'll feel confident that the fuel system is good to install for good. Then with the fuel tank installed I can start bolting everything back together. I'm very excited to get the new rear end installed and see what the stance is with the drop springs and cut front coils. Lots of exciting stuff hopefully with the next update!

Cheers,
Ryan

 

Continuing from where I left off, I put together the fuel pump wiring based on advice from Carl at Vaporworx. 8 GA wire from the battery, then about 6" from the pigtail, I split each into two 12 GA wires that feed the pumps. I got that all wired up and mocked up where the fuel pump will go. I had to enlarge the original hole I made for the larger diameter wiring plus the fuel pressure sensor wiring from the Vaporworx module.





I know some people may get upset, but given the level of difficulty to remove the fuel tank to service the fuel pump, I decide to cut an access hole for the fuel pump. I'll now be able to service the pump from the top side which will be significantly easier than pulling the rear end in order to drop the tank. I'm going to create a custom recessed panel that will cover the hole and seal it off from the exhaust. I need to paint the tank straps before the rear goes in. That's been bugging me.



The tank is now bolted down again and the new shock bar is installed as well. It makes for a nice piece to secure the fuel pump wiring and fuel line.



Next up is to finalize the rear brake lines on the new rear end. Everything is mocked up and looked great, so it was time to make the lines to connect from the Tee to each caliper. I used 3/16" NiCopp lines which is what I used for the rest of the car. I made this straightener a long time ago out of some screen door rollers and some angle iron. Works great to straighten a roll.



Always love to get an opportunity to use my Mastercool flare tool. Does a wonderful job on the NiCopp lines and the flares are very repeatable. Love having the right tool for the job.



Final results look pretty great to me.



After the rest of my wiring parts were delivered, I was able to finish up the installation of the fuel pump controller. Since the controller is under the rear seat, I wanted to add some protection to the terminals so that it didn't arc if something metal was pushed under the seat. I do have kids that ride in the car afterall, so I have to plan for everything. I found these on Amazon and they were perfect for this application.





Now that the tank is installed and the wiring is done, I was able to test the new fuel pump. Great news is that the fuel pump fired right up to 58 psi, but the bad news is that the upper fuel pump orings were slightly different for LS3 style injectors than the LS1 style rail that I'm running. Passenger side bank sealed, but the driver's side sprayed out of every injector. Fuel was everywhere... At the time I wasn't sure where it was coming from, so after many choice words, troubleshooting and smelling way too much raw fuel, I went inside for the night. After a little research, I determined that the upper fuel injector orings were the culprit. I had an old set of L92 fuel injectors that fit the LS3 injectors and had a larger diameter. That was the fix, and sealed everything up, but it took about 4 days to air out the garage fully.

I updated the tune file a few weeks ago for the new fuel injectors, flex fuel, and new fuel pump to give the engine the best shot at starting and idling. I finally started the engine again after many months and it was surprisingly pretty close because it ran and idled very similar to last year. It did run on the lean side, but once it hit 160*, it started to add more fuel to the table and hit my target AFR. I love Holley EFI!! It was great hearing the engine again, but I need to clean up the rest of the dash wiring and put the interior back together.

Since the engine is running now, that's a huge relief and now I can focus back on the driveline. While I love the look of the cast iron, the third member is raw and needed paint. Most guys tend to paint them the stock primer red that most 9" came from the factory. I decided to change it up a little and spray the Ford rear end with some Chevy Orange! Just because haha.





I love it!!



While I was in the painting mood, I also quickly painted the black calipers red to match the front. I also painted one of the axles since the flange is also raw, but didn't get a picture.



I didn't get a picture, but the third member is installed with a new LubeLocker gasket and torqued down. Only thing left before I install the rear housing is to paint the gas tank straps and tap the lip of the fuel tank down to clear the housing. Hopefully throughout this week I can get the bearings pressed on the axles, reinstall new drop springs and fully assemble the 9". I also ordered a new conversion 1350/S44(3R) Ujoint, CPP drag link and some new CPP tie rod adjusters which some have come in. Will make time to get those installed as well so that the front end can be completed. Very excited to drive the car after all the changes I've made.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

Where do you get your electrical crimp connectors? I've had some cheapie ones let me down recently, and I'm looking for a better quality source.

 

Hey Pat, it's a mix between Waytek, Crimpsupply (on eBay) and Mouser Electronics. I've also bought some middle of the road crimpers that are just as important as the terminals themselves. Not cheap upfront, but I've been using mine for years.

 

Since I don't have any prior experience with Ford 9" rear ends, I made a call to quick performance to ask them about the order for the spacers, bearings and locking rings. I called them to confirm since the LS1 rear brake setup is probably not as common as the Ford brakes. The guy I spoke with told me that with my LS1 rear brakes that I didn't need the spacer. Wonderful, because I want to make sure that my brake offset is right so I don't have to do it twice and have to remove the bearing since they are a real PITA to remove in one piece.





Quick comparison of a stock 17 spline 55-57 axle and an aftermarket 35 spline. Huge difference!



After bending the lip back on the gas tank, painting the straps, welding in the bump stop that I removed 2 years ago, welding a tab for the brake hose, fighting with a badly leaking caliper brake hoses... I was finally able to install the rear for good. The leaking brake hoses were 100% my fault. I had them oriented horizontally on the machined surface on the caliper, but the brake hose needed to be 90* our because it had a lip on the bottom that wouldn't allow the hose to sit flush. Once I figured out what I did wrong, I was able to get them to seal up. Very stressful in the moment when brake fluid is gushing out of both calipers!





Tons of clearance!



Now that the rear is installed, I can finally install the rear axles and get the brakes final installed and bled.



Stoked to have it finally installed, but as I found it very difficult to get the nuts installed and tightened down. Like there wasn't really enough room? I'm thinking that I may need a specialty tool or something. I was able to make it work with what I had and got everything fully torqued down and really happy with how it's all fitting together. I pulled the brand new rotors out of the box and immediately notice something's not right. The rotor can't fully seat against the axle flange. After troubleshooting, I determined that it couldn't go any further because it was being hung up by the inner parking brake.

Here's the part I missed...



I went in for the night and made a call to Quick Performance in the morning. After troubleshooting for several minutes the tech figured out that what happened is most people order a single bolt patter for the rear axles and with that style blank they require no spacer, but I ordered a dual pattern which does require the spacer. I was happy to learn what happened and now I know what my fix is, but no I need to do what I was trying to avoid and remove the brand new axle bearing. I have a bearing puller, and bought some long all thread to get the extra reach, but the puller kept slipping off. I was getting quite frustrated at this point. Then I thought one last ditch effort would be to attempt to use my press. By some miracle, I was able to get enough of the lip and pull the bearing off completely unharmed.



I installed the spacer, then pressed it all back together with the locking ring and was able to get it all installed correctly. You can see how much more space there is between the parking brake and flange now. Oh and the little missing spacer haha.





Then I moved onto the driver's side. I thought it was some surface rust or something on the axle, but after I pulled it out there were some gouges in the machined surface. I again called QP and they were extremely apologetic, and quickly sent me out a replacement axle and a swag bag to say sorry for the trouble I had. I'm extremely impressed with the customer service from Quick Performance. Stuff happens, and I will gladly purchase from them again.





I didn't take any pictures, but as soon as the axle came in, I painted the flange quick, pressed the new bearing on with a spacer and added the locking ring. Installed everything and it practically fell together.



I didn't get any installed pictures, but my Billet CPP adjusters came in and I installed the tie rods with new MOOG inners and outers. Now the steering is all back together, and can check that off of the list.



I also buttoned up and reinstalled all of the interior dash, steering column and reinstalled the shifter with linkage. I pulled the column so that I could install the seal and cover for the column without cutting it. Turned out pretty good. I need to trim the carpet back a little bit, but overall glad that's installed. That should significantly reduce the amount of engine heat coming into the cabin.



I also installed the little clip that allows the shifter indicator to work. It was very inaccurate, but I lined it up so that it worked with Drive so at least that is right.



The last thing was swapping out the ujoints so it would work with my 1350 yoke on the rear differential. Once everything was buttoned up, it was time to pull the car out of the garage again. The engine fired right up and ran very well considering I swapped the 36lb injectors for 95lb. There were some corrections that the ECU had to do, but once it learned the table around idle a bit, it smoothed right out. I backed the car out and just let it idle. I checked for leaks and was very happy when I didn't find any. I let the fans cycle and things were going great. I pulled it ahead because I was going to snap a picture with the new lowered stance. All of a sudden I heard a hissing sound and there was a fountain in the engine bay of fuel. Shut it off immediately and backed it into the parking spot outside.

After I cooled off, the next day I determined that when I made the mounts for the fuel rail on my bench, that the injectors weren't fully seated down into the intake. So the rear injector pushed down with the pressure from the fuel rail and it dropped enough for the upper oring to fall out of the seat and break the seal. It was a fairly quick fix. I determined that the new mounts needed to lower the rails by 1/8" and that's all it took. I made 4 new brackets, reinstalled and zero leaks. What a fiasco, but I'm glad it happened in the driveway rather than on the highway! After all of that, here's a picture of the new stance. I love it!!



The plan now is to find a shop that will give my car a proper front end alignment and then drive the dang thing!!

Cheers,
Ryan

 

You're making great updates to that old car! Excellent updates

Andrew

 

After calling around to different shops, I found a place fairly local that did alignments on older cars. Even the one restoration shop in town recommended them, so I made an appointment. They were able to get me in on Friday the 13th. Not sure if it's good or bad haha.





Car was in good company, so that made me happy.



One thing that has been terribly annoying ever since I swapped the intake and C6 Throttlebody is a loud whistling sound. I thought originally it may be a vacuum leak, but turns out after doing some research when the LS3 throttlebodies are turned upside down they can whistle badly. The solution is porting the hump that is normally on the top of the intake path. I carefully smoothed out the transition and it definitely helped, but the whistle is still there. I may need to do a full on port job to get rid of all the ridges.





I was working on the car a little bit on father's day and decided it was time to install the lower 1955 Nomad trim on the kick panels. Trouble was the trim studs that bend over were either rusted or missing. I made some new tabs and then turned my tig welder way down and was able to fix both sides.





I polished up the original waffle panels and then installed on my new kick panels. My father-in-law gave his light blue panels to me a few years ago and I used SEM vinyl dye to change them to black. Just haven't taken the time to fix and assemble them until now.



I need to clean and paint the original grills, but then they can be installed for good.



I also wanted to get the hole covered back up that I made to access the fuel pump. I bought a flange tool to create a lip, made a cover out of some thicker aluminum sheets I had, and then bent/trimmed it to fit in the recess. Came out nicely and I opted to attach it with seam sealer rather than bolting it together.









I didn't take a picture, but I also used my router and cut out the space above the fuel pump so it wasn't putting pressure on it. I want to put to glue the carpet down on the cargo floor and the rear seats so it will be much more complete. I also think I need to glue some of the carpet down in the passenger area since it slides around quite a bit.

I took the kids to summer camp today that was at the school and got a great picture of it. Love the new stance! I do think that the springs have settled a bit though since my alignment because it seems to be darty and has a fair amount of bump steer now. I'm going to put a few hundred miles on it and see if things get better/worse. Overall I'm stoked with all the upgrades from this winter and now she's getting some miles on her.



Next up is a new pair of front tires. I'm thinking that may have something to do with the steering feeling darty too.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

I've found that toe out has given me that darty feeling in the past. A simple tape measure check on the front and back of the front tires should tell the tale.

 

Agreed...neutral toe, or even toe in, will calm it down.