M22 Trans is here!

The new transmission arrived today, WOW!  The packaging was great and it arrived safe and sound just as Bob had committed to.    The transmission looks great and is ready to install (minus fluids) so now I just need to have the rearend and engine which are due this week.

 

For those looking for great service and a great product at a good price give Bob at Four Gear Transmission (http://fourgeartrans.com/id4.html).

 

The transmission is a M22 Close Ratio with a 2.20 first gear with 26 spline input and 32 spline output.  It's also loaded with the latest from Auto Gear with the Main Case, Tail Housing and Side Cover and even comes with a 12 month warranty.

 

Here's all of the parts that went into the final product.  

 

 

Here's the final product which looks great!

 

 

Here's the other side of the transmission, you can also see the new Poly Graphite Transmission mount.

Front Suspension complete, Rear next.... Engine, Trans, Rearend coming this week

I finally received the missing drivers lower control arm this weekend and was able to get it installed along with the front sway bar.  In order to get the front sway bar installed I had to shorten the end-links by 3/8" in order to enable them to fit.  Leaving them in the stock length they were actually hitting the upper control arm ball joint.

 

 

Here you can see the rearend in the proper location with the new F41 rear suspension on the lowers and QA1 anti-hop bars and Lakewood upper adjustable control arms on the top.

 

 
Here's a closeup of the QA1 and Lakewood uppers.  The QA1's move the center of gravity and will help with the launch of the car.   I had to grind the QA1 anti-hop bars a bit to fit close and correctly on the rearend.
 

 

Here's a nice shot of the side of the car showing the rearend of the car and location of the new rearend.

 

 

Below you can see the rearend in the back of the truck, unfortunately the dump was closed this weekend so there's a ton of trash.  The rearend had to be straightened due to issues after the previous owner bent the rearend by almost 3/4".   Now that the rearend is fixed the tubes are also welded to the center-section so it should be even stronger.

 

 

 

 

 
 

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