Front Suspension, Engine is next....

This weekend I spent attaching all of the front suspension minus the drivers lower control arm which is on back order (till the end of September).  I was also able to finish detailing the previous disc brake conversion parts from SSBC.  Just a little more work on the rotors and that will be complete as well.

 

 

I'm going to drop the engine off to get the machine work started so that I can assemble it later this month.  I need to purchase a new harmonic balancer and flywheel since I'm converting it to a manual.  It shouldn't need much since it only had about 2k miles on it before I started the project. 

Fuel Line, Brake Lines, Steering & Motor Mounts....

This weekend I was able to complete several small tasks on the frame by attaching the brake lines and fuel line (both stainless) as well as adding the steering gearbox and motor mounts.

The front brake line was proably the closest to being bent correctly, the other lines all needed some additional work to look half way decent.

The rear portion of the lines turned out quite nice and are run in the correct location from what I can tell based on the pictures I found on-line.  I still need to find the bracket to attach the brass "T" to the rearend.

Here's a nice picture showing the new quick ratio steering gearbox, motor mounts and brake lines.  It's starting to look really nice, next up are some a-arms, springs and steering components.  The good thing is that the previous owner already completed a disc brake conversion on the front so I have nearly all new SSBC components.   I also ordered the brake lines so there is a dual master and proportioning valve.

Frame is painted!

After having the POR-15 paint on the frame and seeing the results I decided to refinish to address some flaws in the paint as well as the frame.   I spent a few nights sanding the frame after the POR-15 and primer to get much better finish on the frame.   Below you can see the pictures after the primer and sanding was complete which provided a smoother surface.

Here's the final painted frame covered in a satin like single stage black epoxy paint.  Overall a much better finish for the frame.  The next step is to start assembling the frame and replacing everything and for this project that will require just about everything to be new.  The front and rear suspension upper/lower control arms, springs, steering, etc.

Frame blasted and painted...

I sent the frame off to get sandblasted last week and it turned out pretty good.  There were 2 small pin holes on the rear spring/shock mount area and then one small hole about 3/4" in diameter that was rusted near the front passenger body side rail to front frame joint.   I took the frame home and did a bit more clean-up and also fixed the holes.

Then I dropped it off to get sprayed with POR-15 (http://www.por15.com/) gray paint which is supposed to be the next step down from powder coating.   I wanted something different than the typical black frame paint and I think it also helps to show off some of the welds for the good and bad. At any rate I think the color is good for now, you can put this paint on with a bruck and it's definately made to last.   The picture below gives a better view of the actual gray color.

Frame and Body welding completed!

After returning from a recent business trip I took a few days vacation and with a long weekend was able to complete the remaining work to finish the frame welding and the body as well!   I ended up having to make two recess areas in the body to accomodate the added tube on the frame but I think overall everything turned out quite well.

Here's are a few pictures body shell of the car everything that is primered with the black paint is new.  So as you can tell the only thing that's left of the original car is the inner structure, about 1/2 of the firewall and the roof.  Otherwise everything else has been replaced over the course of the last 4 years!   I really didn't understand, in retrospect, the amount of time and steel that would be replaced when I started by "fixing the floor" of the car.   What I initially thought would be a project that would maybe take 1-2 years has really unfolded into an entire reconstruction of the car.  In hindsite it would have been better to start with a $2-3K car instead of the one I purchased.

However, once it's done I'm sure it will be something I can enjoy for years to come and will be able to say I rebuilt it from the ground up.  But there's at least another 12-18 months before I will get there.

Here's a picture from the bottom showing the finished welding.  The rottisserie was the best investment and I had no problems rotating the car and it spent a while at the 45 degree angle so I could work on the wheel wells which was a perfect height.

Here you can see the areas where I had to recess the floor to allow enough room for the tube to pass without touching.  This has added about 3/4" of gap which should be plenty of room.

 Here's a shot from the inside of the car and you can see the recess/bump in the floor pan.  Once I put the sound deadener on the floor and the carpet it won't be that noticeable.  I really don't think there will be anyone in the back seat anyway unless it's a younger kid given the placement of the roll bar.

This is the area of the frame where I had to do the most work due to the previous wrek the car was in.  I first had to shorten the frame from the Oldsmobile to the Chevrolet length then fix the height since it was off about 1" (lower) than the drivers side.

To transport the frame I used the engine hoist which works out quite nice especially given the weight of the frame now.  I would guess it's probably 400-450 lbs now with the additional tube and structure.  But it's absolutely worth it, just need more power to move the weight!  You can stand on any of the 4 corners and the entire front/rear of the frame comes up.  With the addition of the roll bar that should enable the entire front of the car to launch at the same time.

Up next is to....

• Get the frame sandblasted and painted
• Get the rearend rebuilt
• Assemble the frame and suspension
• Rebuild the engine
• Order the Muncie 4-speed and bell housing
• Order the new driveshaft
• Add the headers and exhaust

The goal this summer is to have a complete rolling chassis and fire the engine 



Reinforcing the frame

This past weekend I spent working on the frame to complete the previous work to box the frame and then added some additional structural support.  As the say there is a cost for everything and for the additional support it's probably about 100lbs of additional weight.  However, it's really MUCH stronger now.  Before any of the work the frame would twist very easily and now it's truly structurally sound.  You can step on the front passenger frame and the entire frame lifts from the rear, not just the drivers rear.

So now the big challenge is moving the frame :)  I had to use my engine lift to be able to maneuver it around the garage so that I could do the clean-up.   The pattern I followed can be found on-line in several pictures but it essentially entails boxing the frame and then adding parallel supports along the frame rails.  I still need to add some brackets for the transmission mount but aside from that the center section is complete.

Here's a shot of the reinforcement in the rear.  For the SS model there is a bracket (1/8" flat steel) that goes from the upper to lower mounts.  Instead of that I've added 1 5/8" DOM tube that ties directly to the cross tube and subsequently to the front of the car.  This should eliminate any flex in the frame during launches.

As you can see from the photo above and the one below the drive shaft hoop is centered while the rearend is not.  I'm going to cut one side and move it 1" to the passenger side to account for this and then everything should be fine.

One additional place I need to add some support is on the upper mounts behind the rear spring to reduce the flex from left-right. 



One step forward two back, as you can see from the bottom of the car where the grey paint is the new frame supports touch the bottom of the floor and the center cross-brace. Had it been another 1/2" it would have been fine however it's too close.

Here's a close-up of the area impacted and it's really not that bad, probably 2-3 hours of work to fix it with a minor change to give 1/2" to 3/4" of clearance to be safe.  The main issue is that the rear floor is about 2" lower than the front and it just makes it too close.  I took the other pictures on-line as de-facto "it shouldn't touch" and I should have measured or better done the mock-up with the body on the frame to be sure.  Oh well, live and learn.

Up next ...

- Re-weld the front frame horns with the new welder (better to be safe) and add some additional support

- Fix the rear-frame where I shortened it and also fix the passenger rear frame which is lower (3/4") due to being in an accident at one point

- Fill the un-used holes in the frame and re-weld the factory welds, some are pretty nasty

- Fix the floor due to the new frame supports

- Finish welding the underside of the body

Sport Welding Complete Inside, Outside Spot Welding & Frame Next

I was able to finish the last remaining spot welds inside the interior and trunk area this weekend.  The next step was to take the body off the frame and then begin working underneath the body and adding more structure to the frame.  Below you can see the body on the rotisserie again and outside.

I spent a little time working with the car in the same position this weekend grinding and welding and it's much nicer than working on your back. I probably need about 2-3 days to finish the griding and welding on the body shell and then it will be ready for soda blasting.

The next several pictures just show the close-ups of floor and you can see the number of spot welds required to secure the support brackets to the floor pan.  Since I started the project they now sell the floor with the braces already welded to the floor.  That would have saved A LOT of time!

The next project is to add some steel to the frame to box the channels running front to rear and also some tube to help provide a much stronger frame. The first step was to set the frame up on some stands and then add a bunch of weight to hold it in place while welding.  Fortunately I was able to borrow some sand bags from my plow truck now that we don't have snow to hold it in place.

I was able to get the steel cut today and tacked into place to box the frame rails. The next step is to add the structure to the rear and then some tubes. Below is an example of what the end result should look like, I don't remember where I found the picture but the additional tubes should add a lot more strength to the frame and that combined with the roll bar should keep things in place when launching!