Your build is awesome. I'll definitely be following along.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UsJdmtuner
wtf dude.. no updates yet.. im bored out of my mind here...lol...
I was seriously just about to update.
I've been learning a new skill lately. No, it has nothing to do with drifting. It's called flood control.
The whole floor was eventually covered.
It rained nearly non-stop from last Wednesday to Friday, which has exposed a slight flaw in the drainage system around the garage. I can imagine the conversation when the garage was being built: "Hey, why don't we build this garage at the bottom of this sloped driveway so all the rain water goes right towards the garage? Oh yes, that's a great idea. And to keep water from getting in the garage, we'll put this tiny drain right in front of the garage door. So when the drain gets clogged with leaves and other crap, the garage and backyard will become a lake. Awesome. Let's build."
I managed to get some important things off the ground before the water got to it (welder), but pretty much everything else is wet. Also, the roof started leaking again (landlord fixed it in the summer, but started leaking again). So water dripped on the new battery tray patch I made, which caused it to rust again. Sweeeeeeet. I took the rust off with a wire wheel and covered the right front with a garbage bag.
I got some welding done before the rain started. I patched up the lower part of the frame rail and the hole in the floor by the frame rail. Pretty pathetic progress for a few days.
Then, I went to Drift Nirvana with Mel on Saturday. Here are some of his pics:
Before.
After.
No explanation needed.
Mel's first time off-roading.
Got back to work the next day and finished welding the frame rail.
And finally did the rest of the left front wheel well.
Wow, that sucked, but feels good to have it done.
Also got some GM parts (GTO pan, gaskets, seals, etc.) and the tube bender delivered. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.
I've been learning a new skill lately. No, it has nothing to do with drifting. It's called flood control.
The whole floor was eventually covered.
It rained nearly non-stop from last Wednesday to Friday, which has exposed a slight flaw in the drainage system around the garage. I can imagine the conversation when the garage was being built: "Hey, why don't we build this garage at the bottom of this sloped driveway so all the rain water goes right towards the garage? Oh yes, that's a great idea. And to keep water from getting in the garage, we'll put this tiny drain right in front of the garage door. So when the drain gets clogged with leaves and other crap, the garage and backyard will become a lake. Awesome. Let's build."
I managed to get some important things off the ground before the water got to it (welder), but pretty much everything else is wet.
Wow, that sounds ENTIRELY too familiar (from when I lived in the NorthWest)... I learned a lot about drainage that year...
Quote:
Originally Posted by miro
Wow, that sucked, but feels good to have it done.
THIS is what it would look like, if Dr. Frankenstein had used a welder...
Seriously though, nice job man. You're making some good progress, whether it feels like it or not.
subscribed! wish i had the means to do this to my 240. stitch welding is supposed to really help out our inherent understeer problems. looks fantastic, though, and i'm looking forward to some more updates!!
subscribed! wish i had the means to do this to my 240. stitch welding is supposed to really help out our inherent understeer problems. looks fantastic, though, and i'm looking forward to some more updates!!
Yep, the cage and stitch welding should make the car feel less like a marshmallow.
I've cut out every bit of rust from the car. Woohoo. This took what? Three weeks longer than I anticipated? New Year's resolution: Stop making stupid unrealistic schedules for yourself.
Anyway, here's the progress so far.
Stitch welded the engine bay.
Cut out rust behind passenger seat.
Holes behind passenger seat patched up.
Apparently, my car was rear ended so hard at some point in its life that the transmission tunnel buckled towards the rear of the car. This is what it looked like.
I knocked it back out from underneath.
Welded some sheet metal on top of where it buckled for extra support.
Found some rust on the lower part of the radiator support.
No more rust.
Cut rust out of driver floor.
Cut rust out of right rocker panel.
I'm cutting off the lower parts of the rear quarter panels because they are rusted. Also, I like the look of the car with the rear high and the tires exposed from the back. (Maybe more efficient smoke generation also? Haha.) I'm not going to have a rear bumper but will make a "bumper cover" from sheet metal that will be flush with the tail lights.
Stitch welding never hurt anybody.
Tube bender parts. So close to roll cage time.
Another rust patch on the inner frame rail and more stitch welding.
Stitch welding passenger floor.
Yay. I have a complete rocker panel again. But will need 5 pounds of body filler to make it look straight. I guess the side skirts will cover it anyway.
And I have exceeded the max number of images for one post. So I will continue here...
Tuuuuuuuubing.
Hmm. This stuff seems heavy. Getting worried. Nope, that's 40ft of tubing on the scale. Comes out to 66 lbs. Will probably need 70ft for the super duper cage.
HUGE thanks to Slidewayz Motorsports for getting me the tubing (pretty difficult to pick it up when you leave for work at 7:30AM and get home at 7:30PM... ha). Awesome dudes. They'll be ordering all of the parts I need for my car, so if anyone's interested in doing the 240 LS1 conversion and is in the tristate area, they would be good people to contact.
I'm going to build a basic 6-pt cage with X bars in the back and awesome NASCAR door bars (3 horizontal, 3 vertical). This will protect me from death when my fiberglass doors explode in a side impact.
Just curious with all the fab work you're doing on the car why didn't you do the lowers yourself?
The kit is some kind of knockoff, possibly a Version Select knockoff. I'm not exactly an expert in aero stuff; all I know is the car needs to be damn low.
I probably could have done the control arms myself (except for the dimples), but bending the spindles myself would not be a good plan. MA-Motorsports has probably built a jig to get the steering arms in the right position every time they make these. (The arms where the tie rods attach are relocated so that the tie rods can pull the spindles further before it's maxed out.) It would take a lot of trial and error to get the steering arms in the right position and same on both sides.
The kit is some kind of knockoff, possibly a Version Select knockoff. I'm not exactly an expert in aero stuff; all I know is the car needs to be damn low.
I probably could have done the control arms myself (except for the dimples), but bending the spindles myself would not be a good plan. MA-Motorsports has probably built a jig to get the steering arms in the right position every time they make these. (The arms where the tie rods attach are relocated so that the tie rods can pull the spindles further before it's maxed out.) It would take a lot of trial and error to get the steering arms in the right position and same on both sides.
Yeah I was only talking about the control arms. I am sure the tie rod arms are cut and re welded. But MA does a real nice job compared to another company out there.
Yep. Have only heard good things about MA. Owner Brian Wilkerson seems like a cool guy. And it's reassuring that he uses this stuff on his own competition car.
Retired November 2008
