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I made the trim ring for the connector this week.....
Today I finished fitting all the pieces for the cowl/tower brace and got it all welded up..... Then I cut apart one of the factory outer tower braces so I can make it fit around the struts.....
Here are the brackets welded to the tower and a couple of the brace itself all welded together.....
Here it is installed on the car.....
Here is the outer tower brace before and after cutting it apart.....
Sunday I started to work on the outer tower brace, but the more I look at them the more I don't think they are really necessary for my set up(I may revisit them later)..... Right know I think it is more important to get some form of a monty carlo bar made to provide support across the towers..... So I started by bending a piece of 1"od x .120" wall tubing which I actually ended up bending too much..... I started out with one idea, but once I got it in place I devised a much better approach for mounting it..... I need to get another piece of tubing but I will post some pic's giving a rough idea of what it will look like.....
Here is what I did with the outer tower brace on the driver side so far.....
Here the monte carlo bar of sorts propped in place..... The new one will have the same appearance but will have less bend and be a similar height, and will be mounted closer to the top of the aprons.....
Well it's been about 6 weeks sine I made any progress on this thing..... I did manage to lower and install a bedliner in my new truck, did some work on my fathers car and took a vacation..... But it's finally time to get back to this project.....
Today I made and welded in some reinforcement brackets on the front aprons just in front of the towers at the top..... This will provide a good place to mount the monte carlo type bar I am going to make..... I also made the outboard mounting brackets for the bar itself.....
Here are the reinforcement brackets and getting them welded in.....
Here are the monte carlo bar end brackets bolted in place.....
Made the Monte Carlo bar, welded it to the mounting plates and got it bolted in the car today..... I was trying to decide if I need to put more support on it, but I do not think it is necessary with the stout rear support from the firewall to towers.....
I removed the driveshaft loop from the front of my car, it was in position for a C4 trans and needs to be moved forward for the shorter glide to be track legal..... In the process of doing that I screwed up my carpet..... I had o pull up a section of the carpet which I had glued down and the damn nylon loop pile stuck to the glue better then the backing, so it pulled the loop right through the backing(bullshiz for sure)..... I forgot my phone today so no pic's of this mess.....
I also found a mark on the inside skirting of the lower cushion on the pass side seat base..... Apparently rubbed through on the retainer clasp for the chute release cable when someone sits in that seat..... Luckily I have plenty of extra material, I have to get it over to the upholstery guy so he can fix it..... It's not a big deal to move that bracket closer to the shifter.....
Seams like the more work I do the more I have to do.....
I removed the interior/carpet today, and cleaned the floor up..... Then I drilled new holes for the driveshaft loop and got it bolted in, I was able to move it forward 2.5" which will make it legal..... I also cleaned the old mount position to bare metal and panel bonded a couple 16 gauge aluminum squares to permanently plug the holes up.....
I took a couple pic's of where the carpet was pulling apart, the first shows what the top looked like and the second shows the bottom.....
Here the interior and carpet have been removed again.....
Here you can see the drive loop position moved forward and the panel bonded plugs.....
Today I got the repairs from moving the drive shaft loop cleaned up and touched up the area with Lizard Skin.... Then I got the entire front suspension removed.....
Here is the touched up area around the drive shaft loop, it will blend right in once it dries completely.....
Here the front suspension is removed(at least have the interior removed gives me a place to store the struts/rack and stuff while I clean up and paint the front end)....
Today I removed the bushings and ball joints from the front control arms..... Then I removed the rest of the old powder coat from the control arms and k-member..... I also added tie down tabs to the k-member..... Then I took everything to work and started getting it all bead blasted.....
Here are the tie down tabs I added to the k-member.....
Awesome work!! Just spent the time to look through the whole thread, your fabrication work is impressive to say the least. I look forward to seeing the end result, and you are nearing the end!
Subscribed. Like the attention to detail and the pace you are moving along. Threads like this keep me motivated.
Thanks, Glad you like it.....
Originally Posted by speedtigger
Damn Frank. You have a ton of work in this thing. It will be too pretty to race when it is done.
Never!!!!!
Originally Posted by ryeguy2006a
Awesome work!! Just spent the time to look through the whole thread, your fabrication work is impressive to say the least. I look forward to seeing the end result, and you are nearing the end!
Thanks..... Most of the fab work is done, just need to get things painted and start putting it back together..... It's got a ways to go.....
Got all the suspension and bumper bracket stuff bead blasted and over to the powder coater, the called and told me it was done Friday afternoon..... I will go and pick it all up Monday and drop all the hot side stuff off for ceramic coating at the same time(I got everything but the headers cleaned and blasted today, tomorrow I will get the headers done too).....
I also worked on the front of the car today..... Got bulkhead holes for fuel and trans cooler lines drilled and bulkhead nuts welded in place..... I also plugged all the holes for the factor outer tower covers and ground them smooth..... The I went over the entire engine compartment and out wheel well areas with some 40 grit to try and get the rest of the loose stuff off in preparation for paint.....
Today I got the entire front and bottoms of the front torque boxes sanded and washed thoroughly..... Then I coated the insides of the frame rails with Eastwood internal frame paint and seam sealed a couple areas that were necessary..... I will be able to mask it up and paint it nest weekend, I didn't bother to take any pic's because it really don't look any different.....
After that I went to work so I could bead blast and wash my headers..... I will take the hot side stuff and drop it off for coating tomorrow, I will pick up the powder coated stuff tomorrow.....
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