DHodge15

Do you have anymore pictures or information about your wagon?

John McGraw

Here are a few pics:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/339303/2107017

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/339303/2104059

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/339303/2106365


I have just started on the car last month, so there is not that much progress yet. I have mocked up the drivetrain, and fabricated the mounts. The engine is going to be a warmed-over L76 and 6L80E that has less then 1500 miles on them.
The car has been stripped to the bare shell and mounted on the rotisserie for metal work. The upper rear window channels were rusted pretty bad, as are most wagons. I fabricated new channels and shaved the drip rails from the car at the same time. I have pulled out the passenger side quarter, but after all that work, I have decided to replace the quarter and outer wheelhouse.

I am planning on having airbags on all 4 corners, and that is why I raised the tunnel the entire length of the car. I would like to have the car done in time for the Hot Rod Power Tour next summer, but It is going to be a stretch to get it done by then. The car is getting all the modern conveniences, as it is going to be my highway cruiser. I am not going to get carried away with building horsepower, as the car needs to be super reliable. If the car will dip into the 12's, I will be tickled!

As soon as the weather cools down enough that I can spend several hours under the blast hood, I will get the chassis blasted and painted. I am hoping to have the body clean and primed by Thanksgiving, and hopefully, back on the frame by Christmas.

I would like to think that it will be no problem having it finished by June, but I have been down this road too many times to think that. It always takes twice as long and cost twice as much as you originally think!


Regards, John McGraw

jfg455

iTrader: (5)

My Grand dad always said 3 times as long and cost twice as much! Hey nice looking build and a nice looking vette you have in there. Cheers!

At6texan

iTrader: (1)

awesome build

bonecrrusher

iTrader: (1)

Been awhile... any updates?

john 67

need more info , are we driving yet?

poorhousenext

John,

If your wanting update on my 66 corvette project here it is.


Since you have a chevelle project and John McGraw is using a 6L80E trans too, I thought you might be looking for updates on his chevelle project. Noticed he hadn't updated his project in a while also. I'd been wondering how his project was coming along myself.

I'm still wanting on shop to finish assembling the 66 vette, so I can take it and finish up, things like exhaust, A/C, hoses, etc.

They want even give me 16 hr and install the steering column, steering wheel, and button up dash so I can take the car.

To busy to do that, doing their 32 roadster builds. I only get time when they have nothing else to do, including street rods, brought in over 3 years my car has been there.

It's all my fault, I'm holding them up....LOL

64 vette coupe LS3 with 4l80E based transmission project stared 2 years after the 66 is being re-assembled now.

Ordered 3.0" oval exhaust pipe pieces last week. By end of this month we/shop hope to have it ready to send to upholster to have interior done.

64 Lower Front Vent picture.
Paint is impossible for me to shoot, as it has multiple dark to light color changes dependent on light source, cloudy or bright sunny day, time of day on either,etc.

Saw it take on a greenish gunmetal color the other day, and when cloudy, go to a light flat gray. Sometimes it looks like it has metalflakes in it, other times it looks just plain flat, but then under right lighting conditions it lights up like a Christmas tree...LOL

The one thing it always does is show all the body lines from any angle with it's shading changes, and that is what I was hoping it would do when I chose it.



Body in primer used as advertisement display at corvette/muscle car show.

john 67

Jere, car looks great, it sucks being at the mercy of someone else but it looks like it will be worth the wait .I am curious to see the progress of John McGraw's car as well . I was on the power tour with my car and did not recall seeing his wagon there ,( could have easily missed it ) Now that my 67 is mechanically completed I am looking forward to my 70 chevelle and what drivetrain combo to go with . ls3 ? ls7? ls9??? with a 6l80? John

poorhousenext

If you go with LS7 or LS9, I'd use 6L90E instead of 6L80E, especially if your going to beat on it.

I went with 4L80E based transmission for the 64 because it's my Pro Touring car and that means auto crossing and road track time and the 4L80 has gear splits better suited for that. Also capable of handling more HP and TQ than either the 6l80 or 90. It's really over kill for only 480 HP at crank, but gives me lot of growing room to add more power down the road.

It will be paddled shift equipped and full manual mode when using them.

bonecrrusher

iTrader: (1)

Poorhouse - you have a build thread on that 64 on pro-touring.com?

poorhousenext

Bonecrrusher,

You've lost it again...LOL

Remembered this old thread here and tied me to it on Pro Touring, then after 30 days you forgot about my 64 thread on Pro Touring when reading this one...LOL

Are you a Corvette owner??? Maybe a G8 owner??? Lot of old fart with slow minds seem to drive them....LOL

Yes. I will be updating it later today with some pictures of engine compartment shots and shots of interior where I'm having Shop do another Scope Creep Project that gives car more covered storage and also provides more flat storage area above that for luggage, etc at last minute.

If you are anyone else is interested in what, why and how body was modified to be able to get 10" rims on back with 4 inches of exposed wheel hoop, more rear qtr panel exposed tire coverage than a stock body midyear corvette has with stock tires and sill have room to run 11.6" wide rear tires in place of 295/45/18 nitto's mounted on 10" rims (There is 2.0" of space between them and frame...LOL) an on fronts that will allow 1.0" wider tires than 245/45/17s on front as we went back and modifed the inner fender wells to allow for that. Most people wouldn't even realize/notice that change unless they've spent a lot of time looking or working inside a midyear corvette engine compartment.

The link below is better as progress was posted weekly as we went rather than trying to do a cumlative thread on Pro Touring Forum. Just better step by step thread IMO. Note: Below threads is being updated. I had stop posting updates to it just before car was painted.

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...d.php?t=130528

poorhousenext

Well, you can see it's been a long time since I did an updated of status on my 66 restomod.

It's taken the shop doing the work over a year and half since car was painted to get body re-assemble, so I could take it and finish up exhaust and engine compartment.

The car saw sunlight for the first time in 33 months today and finally saw the road, even if it was on the back of a Rollback as I moved it to friends shop...LOL

It will then be waiting to be worked into schedule of another shop to get custom out the back exhaust fabbed up, and then to another shop to get new soft top installed.

Here are a few pictures I took waiting on rollback to come pick it up.

If your wondering where the seats are, the milkman was late getting milk crates with back on them made up...LOL Truth is upholstery shop is on it's third attempt upholtering a set of C6 buckets cut down to resemble 67 stock seats, with head rest. They had done this with C5 seat with vinyl with great success, but are having a hard time doing the C6 ones in leather. Leather has to be cut perfect are it wrinkles bad due to seatback side bolsters.

bonecrrusher

iTrader: (1)

Damnnn.....

I just saw your reply above from June... LOL - no I'm not an old fart driving my c6/g8 - your many Vette projects interlapped in my head... hahaha. At least thats my BS story that I'm sticking with, hehe!

rsz288

Looking very nice! It'll be worth the wait when done!

eyecell007

Would love to see an update on this project. What tips/warnings would you give for somebody considering a similar engine/trans swap?

poorhousenext

I'd love to give you and update on project if I had one. The only thing that has changed since last August is the car was transported to Shop in Knoxville to finish up exhaust, A/C, wiring, hoses, etc, this past Saturday after sitting in Garage for a year. With any luck may be able to get it on the road sometime this year.

Best advice I can give you is, if you don't plan on doing swap yourself, make sure you pick a shop that is reliable and agree on a reasonable completion date and keeps to it.

Second best piece of advice, do your home work how much HP & TQ you plan on bolting in front of either 6L80 or 6L90 A6 and if car is to be more of just a driver rather than one that you plan on drag racing more than just once in a while.

My Car will be just a driver for me as car is a novelty build only at this time. Don't plan on using car in any type of competition until aftermarket re-builders figure out how to make 6Ls last under heavy abuse and tuners learn how 6L transmissions work, an what it takes to tune them when used in competition.

Here are some updates pictures of A6 build based off older GM A4 transmission for competition and other fun uses. It's one reason the 6L car will just be my grocery getter. Hope to have this one finished up between 1st of Sept and last of Oct of this year.

John McGraw

Jere,

You are right about the tuning of the trans! It took several attempts at tuning the shift parameters on my Chevelle wagon before I was happy with the shifting. When my tuner first finished my tuning, the car had some really annoying shifting habits. The worst was when you nailed it, the tires of course, go up in smoke, but it then shifts up and about that time the tires start to hook up and the revs drop and the trans dropped back down a gear. This was really annoying, but he finally got it tuned so it would not happen. The trans works beautifully in the manual mode, with shifts being sharp and crisp. but it does tend to break the tires loose on shifts. The 1st gear is almost useless in normal driving, as it is usually out of 1st gear within a second or two after you start moving under light throttle, but it sure fun under full throttle!


Regards, John McGraw

rsz288

Looking nice Jere. Very nice. FYI the A6's are now pretty well sorted. Chris Martin has over 250 back to back high 9, low 10s runs on his Corvette A6 now.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...post1577758447

And he is very consistent. A6 contributing to runs that are 0.004 variation.

Cheers

poorhousenext

Ian,

Seems to be for Century rebuilt transmissions, but are there other builders that can do the same thing.

Problem is most people doing these swaps are on a tight budget. Break the 6L they just installed, and most are up the creek if they don't have a backup car for a while. Haven't seen the cost of beefing a 6L up, and most scream at rebuild cost of a 4L60-70 and I'm guessing cost is higher, but it may not be if it's mostly soft parts required to do it. Part of homework for a 6L swap should be accessing the cost of having a Builder like Century to rebuild it an if that cost is within your budget now or even later on.

Finding the right tunner within 150 mile radius of where I live and thats about the middle of 4 major southern cities I see as a problem. Hope preloaded tune matches up to engine's with only minor adjustments since ECM and TCM programs came from same source. Maybe I'll know the answer to that sooner rather than later...

With the Coupe's A6 trans, I hope to have limited problems with tuning it, and get cosistant results with it. At least if it breaks, it has a life time warrenty and only takes about 4 1/2 hrs of driving to get it to mfg...

Cheers

eyecell007

Thanks for the tips and I'm sorry this has been such a painful process for you. Luckily my goal would be to do as much of the work myself as possible. Hopefully they aren't charging you an arm and a leg since they are taking so long...