Thanks guys!

Sean

 

amazing build, killing it man!

 

Car does look sick!

 

Thanks for the comments guys! I cannot wait to get the car all back together! Even this last weekend Sean and myself were staring at it, and were amazed we built all this stuff. We have come so far from the beginning of this thread and our first attempts!

Thanks, Chris

 

Another weekend has come and gone, and looking back I feel like it seems we didn't get much done! I think we need to step it up for next weekend! Anyway, that is for next weekend and we are here to talk about THIS weekend! So this weekend Troy came out and finished up the last couple of welds, and also added the last pieces to the car for the travel limiters. I am going to wait until I machine the last pieces, and we actually finish making them before I post pics. It really isn't because I forgot to take any, I swear.... OK, maybe I didn't get any pics of anything he did this weekend, but I DID get some shots of underneath the car once we got it up in the air.





Moving on Chris as I got started on doing the mini tubs. While Troy was welding away we got busy putting the car in the air and pulling out everything that would be in our way. After that Chris and I assembled the Wolfe mini tubs. If anyone has ever done this then you know how much fun that project is Having done a set for my car though, it really wasn't bad at all just tedious. It is also not very pic worthy so noting to see here! After they were assembled Chris crawled through the cage and started cutting away!

Here is the start of the cutting


Busting out the ole angle grinder


And even pulling out the big guns!


Further along


Chris did most of the cutting with a sawzall, but it did not agree with us. He had bought a second battery for it during the week in preparation for this weekends festivities. Well after hitting it hard the saw started smoking, but that did not stop us! Then the new battery decided it had enough of the constant use (I was swapping batteries while Chris was cutting) and the saw just stopped. When we pulled the battery out I got burned by the melted plastic. So now we were forced to wait for the one remaining battery to cool down and the charge. That took a long time, and by then the snow was pretty bad. So we called it a day so we could both get home. We got the passenger side almost fully cut, I just didnt take a pic before we left.

Chris has ordered up a corded saw for next weekend so we don't have this same problem on the driver side. The plan is to finish trimming the passenger side so I can start welding in the reinforcement plate while Chris start chopping up the driver side. We hope to have both tubs in (or mostly in) next weekend. Thanks again for following along!


Sean

 

that is nice wish I had the cash to go turbo.

 

Need to get a air powered saw. They are loud but they cut great.

 

Its only money!

Yeah, that is on the short list for tools to buy. Between the two of us we have a pretty good collection going, but there is always room for more


Sean

 

It's update time! I skipped updating last weekend because it looked pretty much the same as it did on the last update. I feel like it was more of the same this weekend, but we did get one tub done so here I am! Ill just dive into some pics from last weekend to get us all up to speed.

We finished cutting the passenger side almost the whole way. I say almost because we did end up trimming it more this weekend, but just a very little.






Then I spent some time fitting in the reinforcement panel before welding it in. Its been a while since I have welded, but its in there.



You may have also notice that the lower part of the rail had some red still showing. That is because, at some point in time the car was in some kind of accident that knocked around the rear end. Without boring everyone with details, I don't think the body was damaged (or if it was they repaired it VERY well) but the floor around the tunnel has some wrinkles that we saw years ago. What we never saw before was that the entire panhard bar mount had been replaced. Before I go to far, the car is 100% straight, and always has been as long as Chris has owned it. The welds on the panhard bar mount left something to be desired though, so I fixed that up while I was in there. While I was grinding and welding, Chris started cutting out the driver side tub. That is about where we left it for the weekend.


This weekend, we were still being lazy so not a whole lot got done. We started out by finishing up some of the welds on the passenger side, while Chris hacked away on the driver side. We did more fitting on the passenger side tub so it just fell right into place. Then I put Chris to work with the welder for a change





And here is the finished product! Yes we cut back a little too far, I will fix that soon.







Here is a couple of quick pics of the cutting progress on the driver side before we move on.






Next up we decided to test fit the AEI-CNC motor plate and alternator mount. As expected it all went together without a hitch! The alternator bracket is going to be remade now that we have put it all together and Bob had a chance to see it on the motor. We were also using a larger alternator than last year which was of course an even tighter fit, and the oil pan is wider than the stock one, but after some fine finagling it all works








That is about all for now. Next weekend I am going to be in Memphis for a race, but the following weekend we will be back at it. Plan is to finish the driver side tub, and maybe get started on the new front end support. Next time we should also have some shiny new parts to show off as well. Until then, thanks for following along!


Sean

 

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

 

How much was the oil pan? Do you have a part number by chance? After re-reading about the engine I just abut buile what you guys have except Wiseco pistons.

Got any numbers on power yet?

 

Its a custom pan that will fit with Mwc's k member. It was the 2nd pan stef's built for the ls next, so I don't think they had a part number. I don't have any power numbers yet. I will probably put the car on a chassis dyno, but I doubt we will be able to max the car out on one. All out tunning will be done at the track.

Thanks Chris

 

I figured it was custom. I will be needing just about the same thing. I also have the whole MWC front suspension aswell. I am ordering my Dart LS Next 427 shortblock today aswell. I will have a S594 on mine.

How long till this car is back out racing again? Do you have a goal in mind as far as times?

 

sub'd

 

The car should be running /getting tuned in a month or two, and will be making passes this summer. I have everything to put it back together, just trying to make the time. I am getting married in Oct which takes up a lot of free time, Sean is working on buying a house. I also bought a house, but the car is still by my parents, so I only do work on the weekend's. I hung a heater in my garage, but need to run gas, put in a sub panel, and wire for the welders/air compressor and then move all the tools. Then I would be able work a little bit during the week.

The car should go bottom 8's without a problem. If everything works right the turbo has been into the 7's. My limiting factors will be the fuel pump, and a2a intercooler. As always, we will keep everyone updated. Thanks, Chris

 

Awesome. That is my goals aswell. I am pretty sure I have the same limiting factors. Just not in the budget right now to go to a A2W as much as I woud like to.

I look forward to some updates.

 

I really don't know what to say I started at #1 post earlier today and went thru every page man this is like a novel in a good way I don't usually read that much without skipping page's but I gotta say you guy's keep it very intresting I just love what you guy's have done and I picked up a lot of wicked idea's for my build .

I'm speechless and what you guy's have done is priceless.

I hope you achieve your goal's to run low 8's in my mind your already there best of luck at the track

Mike

 

Thanks. Awesome we could be inspiration for you and others. Sean and myself have come so far and learned so much building the car. We have fun 99% of the time just hanging out talking in the garage. Every once in a while we actually get some work done. It wouldn't be the same working on it without him! Thanks

 

Well it has been a while but progress has been made! Just a quick run down of some things that have happened since the last update.

We moved the car to Chris's house, so MUCH closer
Shiny parts arrived (I may not actually have pics of them)
The driver side tub is FINALLY installed
Other various small things are completed

Now that the tubs are finally done, we cant procrastinate anymore. We both had pretty much zero motivation to finish that last tub for some reason, but between last weekend and this weekend its now done! We started to look at the front end to get some idea of what we need to do up there. More than likely though we will start patching in everything inside the car first.

The plan is to start in the back of the car and close up any holes working our way forward, then seam seal and paint. Then Chris will start on wiring, and I will move on to the fab work on the front end. We should be able to have the inside all closed up this weekend coming up, then the fab work should hopefully only be one or two weekends. Then probably just one more weekend of putting everything back together and ready for the Dyno/Track!


On to the pics!

Here is the driver tub fitted and clamped in.

You can see we cut the reinforcement plate, since we don't use the panhard brace we figured it was a bit much. Plus is was a pain in the ***, so we will patch it in with 16ga later.

Fitted from the inside







And all welded in (well mostly)





HOLY ****, they are both in!!!



Chris got sick of looking at the rusty brake hats


So he painted them with some high temp flat black (different corner)


He also painted the new bay bars



And since I never took any pics of the shiny new parts, I'll just steal them from Chris

New wiring board from Leash electronics, should make things a bit neater and more compact


You can also see the transverse shock mounts for.....THE NEW MENCER MOTORSPORT COILOVERS!!!

Yep, they are the new black out series too



Well, that is more or less it for now. Thanks as always for following along!

Sean

 

Nice progress!

Seems like I saw your smyth photography logo somewhere else the other day. I didn't think anything of it at the time but looking at these pictures it stood out.

Now I've looked at all the sites I frequent and I haven't seen it.

Were you at Outlaw Street Car Reunion?