Sometimes my OCD knows no bounds. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned it, but I absolutely HATE how the engine bay bars were done on this car. I have hated them since day 1, like 10 years ago. Well after talking with Jordan, he said I would be kind of stuck with them because of where they cut the towers to land the bars. I damn near pulled the trigger on doing a full front half right there. But I have a plan, and I don't have the money to do that yet anyway. So I basically was disappointed but accepted my fate. Until I remembered I had another f-body in my garage and plenty of ways to cut it up [img alt=""]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7[/img]



The plan was to hack the towers out of the purple car before I junk it, but then someone reached out and said they could get me some strut towers and also buy the car from me saving the hassle and the trip to the junk yard. So after about a week of dicking around, we finally got it handled yesterday morning.







The guy who cut these off actually missed the seam on the driver side.





VS





So they lobbed another strut tower off another car LOL





Depending on how Jordan does the front end, the one still on the clip will probably be OK, but if not we have a backup.



I need to get this all out to him sometime this week. Then he can get them cleaned up and put in the car before the body goes back on the chassis. This is completely unnecessary of course since the plan is to front half the car at some point. I just couldn't deal with those bars though!

 

Looks like I am a bit behind over here! Lets get you guys all caught back up.

When I dropped of the strut towers I grabbed some pics of parts around the car.

Driveshaft tunnel and trans mount


Wishbone, 4-link bars, and trimmed up midplate


Quick overall shot of the chassis and body


After that they started final trimming and grafting in the new strut towers




With that done they got the body back onto the chassis







Last up, some pics of the new and improved engine bay bars

I think my car may start moving along again, so hopefully I will have more pics soon. In the meantime I am starting to get some parts for the car. The brakes came in yesterday, so lets check em out



Fronts





Rear





I got bored, so I kind of assembled the hats and rotors













And just because, here are some details



























I wanted to assemble these, but you need to set them on the car to get the spacing right.



I also ordered up the center section and axles. Hopefully those come in pretty soon, I think they said 1-2 weeks. Once that stuff comes in I will be making a trip out there to drop it all off and see the car again, so stay tuned!

 

Couple new pics sent over last night!









I am curious how much everything ended up moving. I may not have to completely redo the turbo kit which would be nice. He also said the rear end parts should be back from powder next week so they can start getting them installed.

 

This is an epic build man! It looks like the one down bar will interfere with your front speaker on the driver's side. How are you going to deal with that??

 

Thanks!

That is a concern for sure! I will have to talk to the chassis shop and see what can be done from their end. If nothing, I may have to build custom speaker pods on the carbon door panels.

 

Well it took longer than expected, but I was able to pick up the parts needed for the rear end today!







The 40 spline Pro Race axles





Lightweight flanges and gun drilled





And the HD Pro aluminum center section





Billet pinion support





Chromoly Yoke









40 Spline lightweight spool







That was the last of what I was waiting on, so now I can get this all out to him next week. I talked with him today and as long as the tubs come in next week, we are on schedule for the car to be done mid-September. I hear the pedals are in, and some of the front floor tin work is done. Of course when I get back out there to drop off the rear end parts and the brakes I will get a bunch of pics.

 

How come you didn't go with a floater ?

 

Money. That would be the reason that everything isn't nicer than what I did LOL I tried to spend in areas that make sense to do now vs. areas that are easy to change later. For example, I did not NEED to go to a 4 link, I already had a good stock style suspension. I could have just maybe changed to a whishbone and a better ARB or something. I ended up going 4 link though because I knew eventually I would want to, and the whole chassis is basically built different for each setup. Yes you CAN change it later, but it was a significant amount of money down the drain to do so. The flip side of that, I left the stock front suspension because going to a strut front end is not a big deal down the road. I know he did some things knowing that we would do that later, but really to stub the front end you are not having to un-do a ton of work to make that happen like you do in the rear.

 

Good news, and bad news. Lets get into pics



















No more wing





Driver floor and pedals





Rear end is looking SEXY









As we all know, I was there to drop off the rear end parts.





I dropped it all off, hung out for a bit and then headed back home. Just before I got to IL I get a call. Apparently the axles are the wrong length, because that is just my luck. I am still not entirely sure what happened, but it seems like Strange dropped the ball for the second time on this order. I wasn't able to get a resolution before they closed today, so I am hoping to get this fixed Monday.

Anyway, car is looking good. He is waiting on the tubs still, but they are moving on the front section in the meantime.

 

Rear end is together!

 

A little late to the party but sick *** firebird, interested to see all the other work that's gonna be done with this car 👍

 

Better late than never! You are just showing up for the good part, everything coming together

 

Got a few updated pics yesterday

 

Beautiful! I want that wing and carbon roof too.

 

Did you mention what shop is doing the work?

 

They are both from Kostick composites, as well as the dashboard. The tubs are from Larry Jeffers race cars, the seat is from Tim McAmis, and I am not sure where he gets the sheet from.

I probably have, but never hurts to shout them out again. Its at J&E Chassisworks in Clarksville MI.

 

Well I guess I may as well update a bit. I wasn't sure if I wanted to post updates, or just wait until I pick it up so we have a little catching up to do.



This was the start for fitting the tubs. Yes, they are MASSIVE! 46", which is the same size they are putting on mullet for anyone following Cleetus's build.





Starting on closing in the firewall. I know this was a pain in the *** to do.

















You can also spy the dash back there













Dash is trimmed and installed





Wishbone and 4-link bars are back from powder. The stuff to the right is for another car.





They are moving pretty quick now that were are in the home stretch. Its getting pretty exciting!!

 

More updates!



ARB getting welded up









Rear is back in the car





DAT FITMENT!









All hands on deck!

 

This thing's gonna tear *** when it's finished damn.

 

I sure hope so!