Fireball

iTrader: (21)

I've felt inspired to start fabricating again after going to the OCMD car cruise LOL.

So I've stared at it this morning and played around with some ideas. Not saying it can't be done, but I can't reasonably figure out how to plumb two turbos correctly while retaining a 4th gen AC system. The compressor and the little expansion cylinder are just in seriously inconvenient areas

So the revised plan is to retain Power steering and work with that. Will retain the heater though.

Kinda sucks, but such is life

1fast bird

iTrader: (22)

Just wear your cooling vest you had for racing.....don't need no stinkin' a/c

WheelsUp84z

iTrader: (14)

No way to put the turbos around where the battery tray areas are on either side? Maybe put box the frame rails and put some CM tubing in its place, run the hot pipes up and the down pipes on the outside of the kmember area?

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

that's where they are. Sneaking a 3" downpipe by the engine with a compressor and drier installed is the problem...

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

Relocate the drier behind/under the dash. You'll just need to come up with two custom hoses right?

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

condenses too much moisture.

1bdbrd

iTrader: (12)

GMHTP did a 3rd gen Firebird with a Vintage Air unit all under the dash. I am not sure what it took for under hood space but its a much more compact unit than the stock 3rd and 4th gen setups. Maybe something to look into if you really want to keep AC..

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...s/viewall.html

JAX04

iTrader: (17)

Glad to hear your back at it Brian!


Stick the downpipes out the fender.... Straight out. Face the inlets inward and down pipes straight out

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

No. Downpipes are going all the way to the rear.

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

AC isn't a requirement. it was more of a can I do it kind of thing. The compressor was giving me bigger fits than anything. Besides, the compressor was awfully close to the steering setup, that alone might have caused issues.

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

Didn't get a whole heck of alot done yesterday, but every little bit is a step closer to completion

-Removed the driver door thats rusted out on the bottom.
-Wire wheeled the hinge areas and hit the surface rust with some rust converter
-Cut out some cancer in the driver side toe-kick area, need to get some metal to patch it back together.
-Welded the driver side "stress" crack on the roof.
-Cut the driver side fender support area to fit the AirRaid Turbo filter
-Figured out how I think I want to plumb everything
-Ordered a bunch or stainless mandrel bends to build the headers, intermediate pipes, and the beginnings of the downpipes.

hmmm...what about Viper Red? I shot my race car with the summit racing paint and it came out pretty decent

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

Got a little bit done yesterday.

Pulled off the wiper arms that haven't moved in 15 years. Driver side came off with some persuasion, passenger side popped the block out of the arm and it is still stuck on the spindle. Hit it with some penetrating oil to see if I can yank it off tonight. I also ended up cracking the windshield doing this....no biggie though since I planned on having fresh glass installed after paint.

Removed the cowl to assess for cancer in that area. No rust, but something built a wicked nest in the cowl using the Jute padding from under the dash Need to figure out a way to replace the screen in the cowl cover...

Hoping to get the hot side fabricated in the next month or so, figure out where to put some add-ons (radiator overflow, remote oil filter, etc) so I can get the engine bay fully disassembled. I think I'm going to buy myself a decent Eastwood soda blaster so I can fully strip the engine bay to bare metal. I know the DIY blasters take longer, but I have all the time in the world. Besides, I'm all for buying myself new tools

My current goal is to get the entire car into paint by the fall so I can focus on all the laborious tasks like rewiring, plumbing, etc over the winter.

1fast bird

iTrader: (22)

It's good to see you back at it Brian. Are you still planning to buy a pipe bender to do cages?

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

Yes...JD model 3. Need one bent for the truck?

1fast bird

iTrader: (22)

Eventually yes. Not a priority at this time but really want to do my own. Gotta get some use out of my little Miller tig. Just need to find out how to do a cage in a full framed vehicle since it's not 6"x6" steel plates welded to the floor.....

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

cut floor, weld to frame, patch floor.

Local place I used in the past to buy moly has closed shop. I may look into a S&W moly cage and see how it fits before opting for a bender. Bonus is that S&W is local to us

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

Check out MWC's pre-bent cages. I'm not sure how they compare in price to S&W though.

1fast bird

iTrader: (22)

How much tubing is needed to bend a main hoop? There is a place I found online that sells chromoly tubing pretty cheap but they won't ship anything over 8 feet.....

My bird had an S&W cage....the chassis builder that did mine said they don't fit great. He had to tweek a few things and made his own door bars to fit the door panels

1fast bird

iTrader: (22)

That sounds easy but my question is more about the main hoop. It would end up being wider than the frame rails so it's not that cut and dry.....

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

I seem to remember that it required to be closer to 10-ft for the hoop.

apparently they fit pretty well on the 3rd gens from what I saw on TGO. I'm debating on just doing a MS cage since its more ductile that 4130, which would be good for a street car. Would still TIG it in of course.