STREETDEMON

looks like you got good penetration! coming along nicely!

no green

I like how you ran the hoop and front bars. You putting in a dash bar & tying into the shock towers, too?

I guess I missed it, who's cage kit?

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

S&W. i will be running a dash bar, still undecided on the strut tower bars.

Wolfster14

looks great Matt.
I have heard pros and cons to tying in the strut towers.Matt what are your thoughts?

zz17iroc

iTrader: (4)

My cage and mini tube is next in line, LOL. Looking good Matt!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

from what i can see, pro's are that it ties everything together and takes chassis stiffness to the next level. cons would be that they are an absolute booger bear to install cleanly on these cars.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

bring it up, lol!

no green

I like how Dennis is doing his:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

if i had a bender, i'd do mine like that no questions. i may hold off this season and revisit it next winter.

Wolfster14

Matt, with your skills I think you would make short work of adding the tower bars.

I did not have to mess with it in my 3rd gen, ( it was one of the few things I did not have change.lol)
I added them to my 71 though, and like you said, it was a night and day difference in the way it launched.


I would just hate to see you go through all the trouble of setting up the suspension, dialing it all in, and then going through it again after you add the bars.
Just food for thought.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

well this week was more of the same. work work work. the a-pillar bars did not show up this week/weekend like i was hoping, so i'm really starting to stress about making the cert date next friday. pressing on where i can, i've managed to get a good bit knocked out.

something that seems to be overlooked, the crotch strap was just bolted to the floor before. i welded a 4"x4"x1/8" plate to the floor for reinforcement.



also got the exterior portion of the wheel tubs all sealed. still need to paint/undercoat them.



got the diagonals knocked out. they turned out pretty good in my opinion



put the springs in and put a wheel on to see what we're working with. ran the springs all the way up. this is probably not as low as it would actually sit since i have so much stripped off the car right now (hatch, doors, etc).





spring installed. nice and straight in that pocket



i noticed some creasing and cracking in the floor. i want to try to spread the load of the drivetrain over the entire car, so i added more bars underneath. those looped bars going to the back are from an old halo bar i had laying around from my very first car. we had intended to do a 10 point in that car, but never came to fruition. i've used the left over tubes here and there. i'm actually sentimentally happy i got to use those here, lol!



here's where those bars hook up. plated that area with 1/8" plate too.



those 4 bars added 14lbs. i'm constantly on the look out where to take out weight to offset the added structure. found 5lbs here



side profile of the cage. that halo and a-pillar bar is basically undetectable. i'm very pleased.



lastly, got the tabs welded on for the harness and seat back brace.



that's all for now. hoping to make progress this week once the new bars get here.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

just found out my bars won't be here till friday at the earliest. i am going to miss the cert day. i'm feeling pretty deflated at this point considering how much work i've put in over the last 2 weeks.

STREETDEMON

late shipping can definitely deflate your sails!

keep your head up man, you're doing some great quality work!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i'm beyond bummed. this is literally holding up the rest of the progress. i guess i'll start doing the t-top well delete sometime this week.

skinny z

We've had certification done at our (old) shop many times. Perhaps you can contact the local inspector and have him drop by your place.

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

going all the way with it. have you looked at fiberglass doors?

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

no. i want to keep my steel doors and functional power windows. this is, afterall, a "street" car still

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

street car..with tabs and insurance..or just in name only all glass power window is nice..with arm rest..?

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

all glass, power windows, it's insured. tags are expired, but that's a DMV visit away (mainly just haven't had the time, didn't want to spend those dollars there until it's ready to go anyway). no arm rests. i have cage door bars to rest my arms on "street" car doesn't mean i am willing to lug a bunch of heavy equipment around in the car

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

I have found another event for next weekend that offers chassis inspection certification. Tubes showed up yesterday afternoon, so i will get back to work

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

As soon as I get mine back together...ill get it set up for the street...tabs and what not... I wish I had half your motivation.. Only thing it seems I can do is shop for parts.. I've upgraded so many times I can build two cars with the parts of the layn around...... I've got half the money scrape together for the 632 cubic inch big block.. and I still have my 427sbc sitting. on the engine stand.....

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i wish i had your resources one day. i'm still fairly young and have lots of years left to make my riches.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

all welded up!















next order of business is to get the steering column back in get the car ready to go onto the trailer for the certification process. i will get a window net coming this week too.

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

stopped buying class 3 firearms. for a few years till I get the car done.
did get the wife a SBR(sig552) and 2 new hand guns walther P99&P22 in the last year.(xmas).. but no suppressers or big money items..till the cars running...lol

the wifes SBR

fits in her overnite bag...lol

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

another mid week update. i'm getting way excited about this weekend since the certification inspection is going down saturday a few things to share. had a buddy send me these....aluminum bolts...which got me to thinking. i'm going to probably make a order for everything that isn't structural, but i have to figure out how to inventory that



also, this guy showed up. it's from www.nitrousdaves.com . Truthfully, i wanted the street/strip board from Leash Electronics, but they have suspended production while they make some changes to their controller line. This does look like a nice piece and i'm pretty excited about it.



and lastly, i finally got some undercoating on the wheel tubs

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

set the car on the ground last night and turned it around. this thing has so much dang attitude even sitting here mostly disassembled. i don't know if it'll stay this low, but it looks amazing this way.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

got up at 5:30 this morning and got ready. looked outside and it's raining...i was already loaded from the night before, but had tucked the car on the trailer into the garage, just closed the garage door as far as i could get it with the trailer sticking out, lol. i knew it might rain, but i was hoping it would hold off for me. i hopped in the truck and got up the road about 10 miles and decided to pull off and check facebook to see if there was going to be any issues at the track. they had decided to cancel today's event. quickly i asked if the cert day was still on and had an answer within a few minutes; "yes" so i trucked on. when i got the the track i was not a happy camper as the car was completely soaked (not that i thought it wouldn't be, i was just that much more annoyed, lol).



however, my diligence was rewarded



i was first in line and i headed back home to get the car cleaned, dried, and tucked back into the garage. i was able to soapy water wash the entire car inside and out before i got it off the trailer, then spent some time with a scotchbrite pad and wire wheel and the car looked better than it did when i left this morning

another common scene this winter...this car is beating me up this go 'round, lol



last thing i got done today was the window net mount. it turned out exactly as i thought it should

Wolfster14

Congrats on the certification Matt.
I think we all would have been surprised if it didn't pass. lol
Hope you get her out soon.

skinny z

Is that your new forced induction sitting on the stack of tires?

EDIT: I be remiss if I didn't say congrats and getting your cage certification. Well done.

zz17iroc

iTrader: (4)

The car has come along way from where it started from, but I've always been impressed with your craftsmanship Matt. Now finish that puppy up and stop dragging your feet LOL. We need to see some 8 second passes.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

thanks craig! no 8 second passes this year, lol.

I have so many irons in the fire that I get to the end of my weekend and look at the car and I feel like I got nothing done. Then I look at the few pictures I grabbed of the car and I guess things are moving along, lol.

Sometime this week, I managed to get paint on the inside of the tubs, lol.


Then I built a box to better mount the shifter boot too. Pretty happy with this


Spent a few hours getting things like this sealed up on the floor. I really would like to have a sealed up racecar,lol


I needed a good solid grounding point, so I added one


Speed holes matter This is the upper panhard rod support. Lots of guys delete this altogether. It gives me warm fuzzies that it's still in the car, so I gave it some lightweight treatment.


Got the floor all painted up


I spent several hours masking the car off to paint the cage. I'm using the rustoleum hammer tone paint, which is very temperature sensitive, so I'm waiting for warmer weather to do that. Hope to have some mid-week updates this week. Additionally, I believe most of my wiring stuff will be here this week.

bluegrassz

iTrader: (3)

Looks real nice Matt. I am impressed with your progress, keep it up.

STREETDEMON

i like the hammertone paint, my experience is lay it on heavy. light coats don't wrinkle very well.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

I managed to get paint on the cage Monday afternoon. I took your advice and laid the hammertone on thick and am very happy with the results! I let the car sit without messing with anything all day yesterday to aid in paint cure time, and am hoping i can start wiring project maybe this evening.

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

looks good..i think the white with the dark looks good...

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

me too. it's almost a shame i'm going to cover the white up with black carpet, lol!

gauges and switches mocked up









will start wiring by the weekend I hope.

STREETDEMON

that looks nice and clean matt!

no green

why do i like that dash so much

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

well this weekend didn't go as planned at all i helped a friend move some lumber around saturday morning. i had every intention of getting right into the car when i got home. when i pulled up to the house i realized the yard looked terrible, so i spent a couple hours getting that straight, then had a "field emergency" for work that ate up the rest of my day...but i did end up getting the dash wired. i'm really trying to clean up all my skill sets, but this means it takes 3x as long as i break bad habits and force myself to learn new ones. anyway, this turned out OK.



while burning the midnight oil last night, i grabbed this artsy picture, lol!



set this stuff in place to get an idea how i need to package it. figuring how the fuel pump is going to lay out is probably going to drive me to drink, lol!



that's all for now

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

who knew that having a family, a house, and a real job would be so time consuming, lol! well this was a big elephant off my back. next is to get it into the car







new label maker is awesome. got a DYMO 4200 from amazon for under $50. highly recommend it if you're looking to take your builds to the next level!

skinny z

That's been my approach. Being a wireman (electrician) for 30+ years has it's advantages. The best part of the labeling is how it helps with troubleshooting. I had a spare wire buried in my harness for a couple of years and without the labels, I never would have found it when it came time to add the electric fuel pump for this years re-build.
Looking good.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

it's all tedious work at this point. it's coming along and i'm sure once the wiring is done, it'll go back together rather quickly.

i found these at work. i know they've been around a long time, but i've only recently discovered them. i think they're one of my favorite details so far



they're all looped big while i build the harness



i took a break from wiring thursday/friday and got the fuel cell mount figured out and placed the radiator. i will make some straps to mount the cell permanently.





found a lightweight cut-off switch too. less than half the weight of the big toggle i pulled off.





looks good too. i wanted something that was very obvious for visibility. smack the button and it kills everything. 1/4 turn and it spring loads back on.



no clean way to do this, lol. the only cleaner way i could think of would be to take measurements and build some sort of a jig outside of the car, and i don't have the space for that.



success!



a paying gig got dropped off too so my attention will be again, split.



more to come!

STREETDEMON

nice progress matt. you got a facebook picture plug from AGearHead4Life a few days ago. mr. burch had a picture of you pulling the front tires.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

yessir, lol! he asked me for the picture to make the meme. Mark and I are close internet friends.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

long hours in the evenings this week and then basically all day today. main harness is complete. this was a TON of work.



hatch latch delete is done too.



hoping to have fire in the pipes tomorrow

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

sometime mid morning my wife was taking a shower and yelled for me to let me know the water pressure was severely decreased all of a sudden. Looks like maybe the 2 year old well pump has gone bad. I spent most of the morning sending emails to the home warranty company (actually faster than making calls) so I didn't get quite as much done as I was hoping this weekend. However, i did manage to get the radiator/fuel cell support all finished up.



in the car


I also got the water pump, trans pump, fuel pump, and fan hooked up so now everything turns on. then, i slapped a basic tune in the new Daytona Sensors Smart Spark LS and did this:


ugh, you wanna talk about a good feeling?! i spent the rest of the day tying up loose ends. I need to readdress the 2-step triggering switch as when i was pushing the clutch pedal with my hand it was triggering it, but now that i do it with my foot, it does not trigger it. i think i'll tackle the dash pad after that and start reassembly. i still need to take the crash bars out of the doors, but i think that may be easier with them hung back on the car.

stay tuned!

STREETDEMON

nice to hear it running again!

gtpro700

Looking really good Matt! Can you give some more info on the hatch latch delete. What are those hold downs your using and maybe pics of where it's mounting to in the car side. Thanks and keep up the great work!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

they are quik-latches. very nice little button fasteners, and NHRA approved i'll get you some more detailed pictures soon.

wiring and dash are now complete





also put an oil catch can in the engine bay.



need to make the battery hold down bracket still, and then hang the doors and press on with reassembly.

gtpro700

Appreciate the info and can't wait to see the other pics of the install of them. Did you use the quik-latch minis or regular style hood latches? Thanks again and car is coming together great.