ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

i've started welding everything up... i lack about 8 more hours of just welding just to finish the cage....

the pics are above are a few days old since then we added kickers off the main hoop and i have done quite a bit of welding....

the first motor will be a 481bbc with 2 nitrous kits on stock suspesion.... shooting for 5.5x in the 8th with the first motor in the car to get everything lined out.... we should be done in about 3 more weeks... we have to wire, plumb, align, and brace a few more things (TA cross member, build a tranny cross member...etc....) all the small **** takes forever...

Villain281H

iTrader: (5)

looking good!

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

the motor is only 1* leaned back in the car and we have a double cross bar nitrous plate on the intake and the carb sits under the cowl about 1/2".... it took lots of moving and cutting to get it to fit but i did....



the 65 chevelle headers fit like a F'in glove... all we did was notch the firewall just a tad and cut the driver side collector flange off so we could raise the *** of the motor up....

csjta2

iTrader: (43)

Looks good!

Fast_94_Z

iTrader: (12)

looks good so far.

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

Sportsman or 25.5 build?

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

for now we are doing a 25.5 minus the funnycar cage and under car bars.... we will finish it this winter... right now im ready to get the car back on the track..

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

i've put about 11hours of just welding into it the past 2 days.... i figure another 5hours tonight to have just the cage done.... we still have to bend up the shock tower bars and a parachute mount and bracing for the torqe arm crossmember and tranny crossmember... this **** just takes a long time....

oh yeah FYI.. me and my buddy are building this car.... hes the fitter/bender im the weldor/taker-aparter....lol

he was crew chief for a few promod teams a little while back and still does consulting...

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

I was looking at your car and see that you still have the stock firewall and floor, you don't even have to put that many bars under the car, I looked at my 25.5 booklet and I was surprised how little tubing you have to use compared to a 25.2

IMO I would knock out the under the floor bars now to just get that out of the way now.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

you'd be suprised how much more time those would take to make..... im not too worried about it so like i said ill look at it again this winter....

ill still have to do the kidney bar, diagnal over head bar, funny car cage, under car bars, and lots of other bull **** that would take another 20+hours of hard, busting *** work.... it will still be pretty far from 25.5...

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

I'm glad I cut my floor out now, after I tack in my stuff I can drop the cage out and weld it up, I can't imagine trying to weld all of that stuff with the roof still on what a friggin hassle.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

i was actually able to weld around everything.... we tacked up everything , popped the tacks off the flor and slid it forward then welded around the main hoop/rear bars and the top of the X bars... thats why we used the straight bar halo... in stead of actually bending a "square" for the halo...

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

I'm doing a similar thing, but mine will be welded to the rocker panels, so I will drill 4 holes into each rocker panel mounting plate, then after the cage is all tacked in, take out the 4 screws in each plate and drop the cage to the floor, which will give me an easy 12" plus more clearance which should make welding it all up a breeze and not have to cut the roof off.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

only thing is if you cut the floor out you have to have a 25.2 cert or replace it with thick aluminum or steel... some classes around here require stock floors also...

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

You can do it with .024" if you use steel. You'll have to add certain bars under the floor.It's in section V and VI of the 25.5 SFI Booklet.

"where the floor is not continuous across the car, it must be stitch welded to the inner frame rails and OEM or replacement .024" steel fire wall."

I decided just go go 25.2 after all since It's a stronger chassis and will be lighter than a 25.5 mild steel build.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

be prepared to spend about 300 hours of labor on that car to get it back on the road/track...

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

so far i've learned that i will never try and do one of these in the middle of race season.... its very slow going...

i've got about 17hours of just welding in the car now and probably lack another 5 for the really hard to reach places like under the rocker bar and the top of the "X" bar....

the welds arent the prettiest in some places but when lying on your side with a bar in your back and the floor and wall in your way.... i'd like to see someone do better...lol

now i see why people charge so much to do these damn cars...

a bench weldor and a chassis weldor are 2 different types of people...

kp

iTrader: (34)

No kidding, I can TIG very nice on the bench but after doing that 10pt in my car I'll pay someone else. As much as I hate letting anyone one else touch my car doing a 25.5 at home was just out the question for me.

Looks good though, but I agree and would just do the 25.5 now if you think you will need it.

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

I agree at home is pretty tuff to do a lot of stuff, but there is alot you can do by yourself that you don't need help and not having to pay someone A LOT of money to do it for you is a good thing.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

i only run at back woods 8th mile tracks... if i start running over 145 in the
8th ill go back and do the full 25.5...

right now im thinking about just doing the funnycar cage this winter with the diagnol over head...