Been a long haul trying to get this car done and I'm finally almost ready to start final assembling. The other year I built a 383, made 470hp and just under 500tq. Last year I tackled the paint and body and this year, trans, 8.8 rear, ls1 brakes on all 4, torque arm and mount, pan bar and lcas. Learned a lot and messed up a lot but I'm proud to say that I built it.
What's left is exhaust, one last gfx to fix, sand through, and I can final assemble the exterior. Then interior. Hoping to have it road ready in a couple months. Enjoy the pics. Feel free to ask questions.



Torque arm, gets tight but plenty of room and adjustment.

Hope the rear settles as i start putting weight back in otherwise ill have to get different springs. Currently eibach pro, tpis custom struts and shocks, kenny brown sfc.

Stock ds works but definitely getting one made. Who knows, maybe ill make that too and just have it balanced. 🤪 Del sphere joint from shohn. Reused energy bushings from old pan bar.

1.250 dom tubing. .120 wall.


Waiting for a order from umi for some spacers for rod ends.


Brake lines, brackets are all custom.

Modified ls1 parking brake bracket so it aligns with parking brake lever. These are hawks. Wish they were longer and also had springs on them. Ill have to come up with something.

Dude, looks like a lot of nice work.

Well done.

Good looking stuff!

Thanks guys!! Appreciate it.

One thing I noticed that I screwed up on, that I'm just going to have to deal with is the tran crossmember. It's going to make it more difficult running exhaust. These headman headers 68460, fit horrible. Had to do some serious denting to get them to fit. Pass side was horrible. A arm mount. Drivers needed some and spark plug clearance also. Issue I foresee is if these headers crack, to where I need to get a new set, will my custom exhaust bolt up or will I need to do more fabricating. Other option is to just run shorties, but my engine makes plenty power down low so long tube will compliment engine better. Decisions decisions.

Funny how that is. I've got the same headers and fitment was fine. Not sure if your Dart heads have a raised exhaust port. That would throw things off for sure. The only change I made to the headers was to cut off the ball/socket connection and weld on a traditional 3-bolt collector flange. Also cleaned up inside the collector. Then of course the requisite home made y-pipe to the 3" Flowmaster cat back (but no cats). All plugs are well spaced from the tubes and room for 90 degree boots. And all are reachable although I use an offset box end wrench for most. There certainly isn't room for a plug socket on several of them.

I'm definitely going to have to cut these ball n sockets off not only to change the direction of collector, but I'm v banding the crap out of this. Want it to be functional for repairs and or should I say services. Hopefully no repairs. Lol. Was looking at a cat back system but man, I dont wanna shell out any money's i dont need to. I scored a bunch of 3" stainless at a job site. Lots of bends and straight pieces. Prob 40 to 50' worth. Dumpster was full. I shoulda grabbed more and Loaded up the boses trailer but I already stopped on the way out and filled it with camaro parts. Lol.

Ice cream place in Wisconsin. The flanges they use use a o ring. So unfortunately all these flanges wont work.

Nice score!

Food grade stainless, sweet. What is the diameter and wall thickness on that ?

3". .063 wall. Thanks!

304 stainless will eventually turn brown from exhaust heat. Might look bad after a few years but it will never rot out like mild steel.

Why cant you use 4th gen parking brake cables and brackets? i have some if you need - off southern cars too
you do nice fab work!

thank you!
I believe the end up under the tunnel is different. I did modify the bracket as 4th gen rears are wider so the angle wasnt quite right.

I had a complete donor car and swapped in the 4th gen parking brake cable bracket in the trans tunnel. Hawks has cables that work on 4th gen rears with the original 3rd gen bracket in the trans tunnel.

Yes sir they do. They are on car now. A tad short as I'd prefer running over axle, and I'd also prefer a spring on the end like 4th gens have to insure it pulls it off. May make something.

Thanks

Just use the 4th gen springs. I just did the parking brake on my 99 truck and it seems to be the same style and components. Those springs should not be difficult to find. Yeah man, total bummer going under the axle. From looking at your pics I guess I avoided that with the 4th gen bracket.

I believe that's 403 ss that browns from what I've been reading. 304 is a really good ss. However if it browns, not a big deal.

What bracket? If I swapped out the pb lever, and everything I could have used 4th gen cables. Not sure if they are longer or what.
I have the bracket that bolts to the lca mount. If u look closely, you can see it. I had to cut a inch off it, and drill another hole so the cable angle lines up with the pb lever on the back of the caliper.

Thabks for the comment.

FWIW, the Vibrant T304 stainless bends I purchased for my Y-pipe started out like this....



And eventually looked like this...



Not that it matters.

For the other end of the cables. This is in the trans tunnel on the very top where as the 3rd gen has 2 seperate brackets mounted lower. Photo is from a 4th gen.

Gotcha. Little slow 2day.

I stand corrected!! Must be from the heat eh?
Very nice looking exhaust man.

Steel changes color with heat. 304 stainless is more rust resistant that any 400 series because it has way more nickel in the constriction but it is still prone to color change when heated.

Looking good nice fab work

very nice work!!

I've always had admiration for the fabricators. Got to be cool as heck to be able to make exactly what you want!

was able to put a few miles on before winter hit. Few bugs to work out but overall very happy.

Thank you sir!
This winter I've gotta make a change to the y pipe. Silly me goofed. The suspension hadn't settled yet so now it's much closer to the ground than I prefer. So unfortunately I've gotta cut it apart and make some changes or, I could put a 6" lift kit in the car.... oh gosh.. lol

Thanks for the compliment!! I've spent a lot of time on this thing. Just about every part I could make I made. Lots of learning I'll tell ya that. But totally worth it.

Dan