I am starting this thread if for nothing else, to have an easy place to go back and keep track of what I have done this time.

I originally spent a little over 5 years building the car the first time. I completely gutted the engine compartement, filled in some holes, painted it, then only put back what was required to make the car run. I also replaced then entire driveline.

Well about 2 months ago I pulled the car into the shop where I work planning on just redoing the exhaust. This led to new valve covers, installing a kinda hidden PCV setup, redoing some wiring and fuel lines to clean things up, installing line lock and redoing the front brake lines again, completely new exhaust including new headers, new subframe connectors, a T56 swap, and a custom torque arm setup. I havent gotten all this stuff done yet, but all will be done before the car leaves. So what started as just new exhaust from the headers back (but not including headers) has resulted in the 2nd build up of the car.

So far I have rebuilt the trans, built the custom crossmember for the trans, put the valve covers and PCV valve system on, redo the wiring and fuel lines, started putting the line lock on, and got the clutch pedal installed. I still need to do the rest. Here are some before and after pics of what I have done so far.

Here is the engine compartment before.



And here it is now. Still not completely done but still nicer looking I think.



Here is what the underside of the car looked like before. It was ugly. The exhaust was the one place that I skimped on a lot on the original build. It is all getting replaced by Dougs ceramic coated longtubes, true dual with an X pipe into Magnaflow stainless round mufflers. If the sound isnt as quite as I want, I will run it over the axle, but for now it will stop at the axle. And yes, it will be tucked up in the car. The trans will actually be the lowest part of the car.



The after pics are hopefully comming soon. I damaged the pilot bushing so the trans is not in yet.

I also put on solid motor mounts. Main reason for this was the exhaust is going to be extremely close to things and I didnt want the motor moving around at all. Here is what it looks like underneath with the solid mounts. And yes I know there is only 1 spring on. Like I said, I'm still in the middle of everything and most of the car is torn apart right now.



I think thats it for now. As I tear old stuff out and put new stuff in I'll update the page.

 

Sweet camaro!
Engine bay looks killer, not even cluttered at all, good work. I will eventually do a t56 swap, I don't know how long my t5 will hold up to my motor, which is a 357 just like yours, heh.

Got any sound clips with that true duel bullet exhaust? Im lookin for ideas.

 

Thanks for the compliment. I dont have any clips of the old exhaust because I hated it. It didnt sound good at all. There was a lot of just noise for a lack of a better term. My brothers car sounds damn good though. His motor is close to stock though. Just a carbed 350 with a mild cam. My motor is very far from stock and his car sounded way better. I made him a true dual setup as well with the Magnaflow mufflers I'm going to run and a X-Pipe. This setup on his makes his car sound like 450 horsepower although its probably pushing less than 350.

 

were you going to do some metal fab in the engine bay or just leave it the way it is?

 

Whenever I paint the car the motor is getting yanked so the engine compartment can get painted the same color. I plan on removing the aluminum panel and actually filling it in and smoothening that out. I also plan on filling in all the little holes on the wheel wells and on the frame that dont get used anymore. I'm also going to fill in the area on the drivers side where the charcoal canister normally is. The area that is the mirror opposite of the battery tray. Also the hole for the horns is getting filled in and the horns relocated. The reason is becuase I had to cut out the old battery tray due to rust. So now that is just smooth metal on the bottom and the side. I just want the other side to look the same.

The only other fabbing I'm going to do in there is to make a polished aluminim upper radiator mount to replace the steel one I made. And I may use aluminum sheet metal to make new ducts in front of the radiator to make sure the air comming in from the front grill goes through the radiator and not over it. You can see the entire front of my radiator with the hood popped and I'm not sure if any air is going over the radiator and hitting the underside of the hood getting passed over the core support.

 

are you saying your going to have the air run thru your radiator before going thru the engine wont that make it warm air. i thought cold air was better?https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/images/smilies/huh.gif

 

I had a feeling what I said was confusing. I even confused myself typing it From the factory there are plastic pieces that go in the front bumper that go from the openings in the grill to the top of the radiator. I took all that out but I'm not sure if that hurts anything or not. I started looking at things and realized that if the air dam is pushing air up it may push the air right over the radiator before it gets to it at high speed. The air would come in from the bottom of the car and the front and then get pushed right up over the core support inbetween the support and the hood. Not sure if this makes any more sense though

 

Finally got the trans in today. It was a pain becuase I guess I messed the front of the pilot bushing up a little when putting it in. I had a bur that was less than .010" but was enough to not let the trans go in. But after some creativity I got the bur fixed without pulling the bellhousing out and got the trans in. Now I just need to make a piece to move the shifter handle up and over some and redo the wiring for the clutch switch, reverse lights, speedometer, and reverse lockout. Then shorten the driveshaft and the trans swap is completely done. I'm also hoping to order my new headers this week. I'm getting desperate so I'm going to take my vacation check from work and just put it in the car to get my new headers. I'm so tired of looking at these nasty rusted things. Here are some pics of the trans installed.

 

I got my new headers today! I have waited 7 years to get nice headers. They are Dougs headers. I am going to have to make the offset of the passenger side extension greater to get it closer to the trans. The drivers side I think is perfect. Overall I am so happy that I got these now. My old exhaust all together looked so horrible I could barrely stand it. Total time to take out all the old stuff and put the new in was about an hour. That includes taking out all 4 passenger side plugs and the starter and unbolting the valve covers to take the wire looms off and then put all this back in.

First, the old and new. No need to tell you which is which.



Now a left and right side shot. Never mind the alternator and the wierd looking brake line. Just projects I'm in the middle of and not finished with.





And an underside shot. Now I need a better looking oil pan

 

Really coming together, Is that the ford T56?

What are you doing with your old headers?

 

Yeah the T56 is out of an 03 Cobra. The old headers can go to the first person to come to my house with $15 or 20 bucks. I may even take $10

 

Wow your in florida, too. lol

Orlando is a bit far, though.

Keep the updates coming.

 

 

Well I got some done today but I dont know if you would consider it progress or not since I started tearing everything apart so I can drop the motor and trans. I decided to drop the motor/trans so I can do some body work in the engine compartment and then paint it. I am going to get rid of the aluminum panel for where the AC use to be. I'm going to weld steel in to fill the holes. I am also going to cut out the area that looks like the battery box on the drivers side and fill in the hole that allows access to the horns. I am doing this because this is how the the passenger side already looks so I want the drivers side to match. I am going to put the horns in the front bumper. I am also going to put the aluminum overflow tank I have for the radiator infront of the radiator so that it is not in the engine compartment just to help both sides of the engine comparment look the same. If you havent figured it out yet, I am extremely picky when it comes to things being equal. It annoys me when the left and right side look different.

I am also polishing some stuff. I need to sand and repolish the valve covers because I scratched the drivers side one pretty bad. I am also polishing the Jegs aluminum throttle cable bracket I have and I am polishing the Summit alternator bracket. I will probably paint the insert area of this bracket becuase honestly it will be easier than trying to get the clearcoat off of it. I'll have some before and after pics soon. I'm doinging the polishing tomorrow.

All thats left to do before dropping it is to unbolt the top of the stuts and take the springs out, take off the powersteering lines, and take off the shifter handle. After that its ready to drop out.

 

Well I decided not to paint the engine compartment. I have had this car torn apart for almost 3 months now. Its time to wrap it up and drive the darn thing. I am cleaning up a few things though. I started cutting out the battery tray on the drivers side so that it will match the passenger side. I also repainted the upper radiator support and moved the overflow tank. I think this made a major improvement. I am going to run stainless braided line with AN fittings for the overflow tank as well to replace the rubber hose and brass fittings I had before. I also started polishing some of the aluminum pieces. I hopefully will finish some of it up tomorrow night.

I am going to make this



look like this



Here is the radiator area with the overflow tank relocated. I should have put it here from the beginning.



Here is a pic of the polishing. The one that is partly polished is my throttle cable bracket. I am polishing that and my alternator bracket which is the stuff in the other pic. I have started polishing it but don't have a picture of it yet.

 

Sweet!

I have been thinking about running an overflow bottle in that location, I am tired oif looking at my old crappy looking one. Once you modify the battery tray, are you just going to rattle can it? I rattle canned some of mine and it doesnt look bad.

 

Yea, just spray paint for now. The radiator support and several spots throught the engine compartment are just spray painted right now. I found that the gloss black at Auto Zone matches perfectly with POR-15. I thought about it and its not technically the battery tray actually. The one that is all smooth is my where my old battery tray was. It was rusted out so I had to cut it out and fill it in. The drivers side that I'm doing now is where the charcoal canister was I think (its been a LONG time since the engine compartment was stock). I'm just cutting it out so that it matches the passenger side.

 

Whether or not it was the battery tray was dictated by what motor it had, they're both "Battery trays", your right, thats where the canister WAS.

Anyway, keep on keepin' on.

 

Got some work done on the exhaust today. The metal for the torque arm mount is here now so Monday I am going to pick that up and get started on that. I also got the alternator bracket fully polished, the water neck re-polished, the hose ran for the overflow tank, and some wiring done. Here are some pics of the exhaust. I'll have pics of the bracket and hose later on. The exhaust do slightly touch the drivers side of the trans crossmember, but I'm going to weld on a hanger that will bolt to the crossmember that will hold it so its not touching anymore.

 

Here are some more pics. I forgot to take a pic of the alternator bracket before I put it on, but you can still see how much better it looks now. I also took pictures of how I connected the radiator to the overflow tank. Also a pic of the ground clearance with the new exhaust. The collectors are low. They are about 3 inches off the ground. That is estimated as I still dont have a torque arm so I dont have the rear springs in which means I cant put the car completely on the ground. I did however lower the lift untill the car looked like what I think it will with the Sportline springs on. The rest of the exhaust though is a good bit off the ground. Defiently will not have a problem with the rest of the exhaust hitting anything.

 

Lookin nice, I like the exhaust setup so far. What are your plans for the rest of the exhaust? Gotta say I think thats the first time I have seen braided hose on an overflow, lol.

 

The rest of the exhaust will be the two pipes going down the outside of the trans tunnel on each side into two Magnaflow straight threw mufflers. I am going to end it at the rear axle for now. If its too loud, then i will run it over the axle, but I think it may be ok. My brothers car that I did the exhaust for is true dual with an X pipe and the same mufflers. His ends at the axle too and is not too loud. The only difference is that his motor is fairly stock, he has shorty headers, and the exhaust follows the stock route on his car which means a lot more tubing than what is on my car.

Before I can finish the rest of the exhaust though, I have to get the torque arm mount made, the torque arm mounted, and the driveshaft cut down and installed. The mufflers will be about 1/8" from the driveshaft and the torque arm.

As for the braided line, its one of those things that annoyed me before. All the other lines on the car are braided. When I had the auto in the trans cooler lines were braided too. I had rubber hose for the overflow before with ugly brass fittings. I just wanted to do this so it matched the fule lines and the coolant lines on the intake. I'm very picky on this stuff

 

Sometimes, you have to be picky to make it look the way you want to. Are you making your own torque arm mount? What kind of torque arm are you getting?

 

Yea I'm making the mount. There was no other way. I went over every option and the Jegster was the only one that may have worked, but there was just something I didnt like about it. The mount will be made out of 3" X 1.5" 3/16 wall rectangle tubing. It will be a little heavy, but considering the forces put on I would rather it be over built than under built. For the torque arm, I am going to reuse my Spohn one. I am going to have to shorten it by about 9" or so. I'll know for sure once I get the mount made. I'm also going to have to cut up the Spohn trans crossmember I had for my TH350. I was hoping to sell it, but I guess I wont. I need the torque arm mount bushing off of it. Heres a quick drawing of what I'm thinking about. Basically have the mount go between the subframe connector, the frame rail, then back to the subframe just to make sure it wont flex. There will be just a 4" or so nub sticking out right into the middle of the X.

 

Yeah that mount design looks like it will be hella strong, haha. But, your right, rather it be too strong, than not strong enough. Since your driveshaft and torque arm are going to have to be shortened, does that mean the shifter will be further back than, say, a T5 transmision? I would assume not, just wondering. Oh, and whats that sensor on the drivers side of the block, right above the oil pan?

 

The shifter actually sits a little farther foward than a T5, I think. Someone at work gave me a Steeda shifter off a mustang. I couldnt use the base of the shifter, but I did use the handle. It is the Z shaped handle and puts the shifter **** (I bought a white Hurst 6 speed logo ****) right where I want it. The Cobra T56 shifter pad is a little farther foward than the GM T56. I dont know if the shifter in my car is in the same place as the T5 or a GM T56, but I like right where it is. I'll get pics of the inside of the car on Monday.

The sensor on the block is for a Perma-Cool fan control unit I'm putting in too. I have always had the fan hooked to a switch. I am still keeping the switch, but I am using this as the primary way the fan will be turned on and off. The module is adjustable too. I have had it happen twice that I forgot to turn the switch on and luckly noticed before the motor got too hot. This will be insurance that that doesnt happen again. Plus it was given to me for free

 

Hmm, wouldnt have thought the shifter was actually more forward, but its cool that it worked out that way. I used to have my fan to a switch as well, and I forgot a couple times, but always caught mysef. I, too installed an aftermarked fan controller so I dont have to worry about it any more, and I like it better that way, makes the car more "driveable".

 

Alright, got some progress made on the torque arm mount. I wound up having to cut the exhaust up a little to move it around. When I posted the last pics of the exhaust, I said it was slightly touching. This was because the X wasnt perfectly centered. It wasnt a huge deal untill I found out that the torque arm mount would not fit up between the trans tunnel and the X. So I had to cut the tack welds and break the X off and then break the welds on the pipe going into the X on the drivers side so I could move the X closer to the passenger side. Overall only took me bout a half hour to fix, but I still hated having to do that. Although part of me was happy because I am OCD about things being equal and the X sitting more towards the drivers side was kinda driving me crazy.

Anyways, here are some pics of what I got done. The mount is touching the X all the way around right now. I'm not worried about it though as I have plenty I can grind off to get my clearance's. I am also going to have to take a 2X4 and a hammer and "convince" the trans tunnel it wants to clear the links going up for the torque arm mount. All I need is 3/16" or so, not much. The torque arm will also clear the exhaust perfectly just like I had hoped. In the pics I have the rear axle almost all the way up to where it would hit the bump stops. I have the torque arm against the under side of the mount on the axle. I'm guessing this is close to where it would be with the rear at full droop. I could lower the axle side of the torque arm another 2 inches or so and still not hit the exhaust so I'm almost positive I will be ok there. Pay no attention to the exhaust pipe hitting the torque arm. I just threw the pipe in real quick and the torque arm bracket isnt sitting perfect and the arm wasnt even bolted to the mount. The bolt was just slid threw.

The mount I am making now will be bolted to the subframe connectors and to the frame rail. It will acutally bolt to the subframe connectors in two spots. I have to make it this way becuase the mount has to be removed to get the trans out should I have to pull it. I also wanted it this way becuase 1. I dont like making things like this permanent. I like being able to remove them. 2. These are not the subframe connectors that I really want. These were already on the car. Eventually I am going to get the BMR ones.

Also, for those who dont think the cut off piece is going to be strong enough where it gets welded to the rectangle at (I know someone is going to say this), I am going to brace that area like crazy. The C channel piece will be fully welded around and then 3/16" flat plate will be welded to the underside to fill in the C channel and it will go all the way to the end of the rectangle. I will also put a piece of flat plate up top too to give a lot more weld area.

Forgot to mention that I also replaced the brake booster. I always thought the booster was not holding vacuum but my brakes worked decent enough (I could lock up all 4 wheels). Although when you pushed on the brakes, it would get to this one spot and would not go farther. The pedal was not to the floor yet though. I finally did a vacuum test on the booster and it would not hold any vacuum. So I got a used 4th gen booster for $23 and it holds vacuum perfectly. I am excited now to see how my brakes work. I really need bigger front brakes though. I have to have my Wilwoods out backed turned down far so my fronts get a chance to do something. Bigger fronts would let me up the pressure on the rears and still keep everthing in balance. Oh well, thats for later I guess.

 

Worked on the car for a while today. I decided to change the torque arm mount completely. Rather than have it all on the drivers side like I was going to before, I decided to make it a bar going all the way across the car. It does break for the X but there is a bar that goes over the X to keep the two sides together. I like this design for a few reasons. It spreads the weight evenly over both sides of the car rather than put the weight just under the drivers seat. I also feel better about it being strong. I think now the rectangle tubing I'm using is a little overkill, but I'm ok with that. I dont want this thing to break on me. It also makes it easier to mount a driveshaft safety loop too. As I said before, I am extremely picky about things being equal and having the bar go acros looks better to me than having everything on one side.

I have almost 1/4" clearance between the mount and the X so there is no problem there. To mount it to the subframe connectors, I think I am going to make a box with the bottom open and weld those to the subframe connectors. Then drill two holes on each side of the box and drill holes going through the mount. I can then slide two 4.5" bolts through the holes and mount it that way. If it doesnt make sense, I'll be making this early next week so I'll let the pics explain it.

Also, if the pipes coming out of the X look crooked, its because they are. They are just sitting there so I could see what its going to look like and to make sure everything works. They are not in their final postition.

 

Pretty interesting design you have going there. With all of that metal holding the torque arm in place, it seems that it would also stiffen the chassis up a bit, too. Can't beat that. I still need to see more pics to know what the exact plan of action is, but I like it.

 

Thanks for the compliments. Atleast I'm not just talking to myself in here

Basically what you see now is everything minus the mufflers. I did brace the mount today and weld up most of it. The way the mufflers are going to be mounted is exactly like my brothers car. Obviously his exhaust starts out differently than mine, but once it starts going straight back its the same as mine. You can also see the ground clearance he has. His car is on Eibach Pro-kit springs with a standard height tire.







The only other thing is how the mount will bolt to the car. I know how I'm going to do it but explaining it is kinda difficult. Sometime during the week I'll start on it and post pics. Basically a box welded to the subframe connector with no bottom. The mount will sit in the box going in from the open bottom. There will be two bolts on each side going in perpindicular to the mount (from the front of the car to the back of the car). And it should brace the car up some. It wasnt the reason I made it like this, but hey it works. I know the thing is way overbuilt now but I had already bought the rectangle tubing before I decided to make it this way. I couldnt return it and wasnt going to let $40 worth of metal go to waste so I just used it. I know it wont break now

 

Haha, yeah, shouldnt have much of a chassis-flex problem now. Are you going to run turndowns on your exhaust? I think that would be better so it wont blow directly on the differential. Hard to picture the mount, I guess I will have to wait for the pics, lol. I have (obviously) following your build, so your not talking to yourself, lol. I show interest because I plan on building up a T/A similar to this "style", eventually.

 

You should defiently build a car one day. Its a lot of fun. Sure there are days where you just want to sell the car to the first person that will give you $20, but overall its a ton of fun. Its nice knowing that nobody has exactly the same car as you and that a lot of the parts had to be handmade by you.

As for the exhaust, there will be turndowns on it. I'll probably point them at 45 degree angles towards the ground and the rear tires. I had them pointing straight at the ground on my last exhaust and driving through a parking lot means a cloud of dust behind you. If it is louder than I want it to be I will even run it over the axle with turndowns tucked up as high as I can get them at the bumper. I dont want any tips or anything like that.

 

I've gotten a little bit more done over the last week or so. I got my cooling fan completely rewired with the fan controler wired in. I also got my line lock solenoid wired in. Other than that I got the brackets for the torque arm crossmember made and the bolt holes drilled. I also got the brackets tacked on to the subframe connectors today. I also did one of the hardest things I've had to do. I cut my Spohn torque arm into 3 pieces. I had to take exactly 8" out of the arm. I still need to get my driveshaft cut down so I can measure my pinion angle more exactly so I know wether I need to cut the upper and lower bar on the torque arm apart to change the angle. I know that the front of the mount is sitting higher than it did when I had the Spohn trans crossmember.







This is how I am joing the torque arm back together. The inside diameter of the torque arm tubing is 1.010". The bar I am using inside is exactly 1". This makes for a nice tight fit. I actually had to lightly tap it in so I was glad about that. Its actually 1" solid bar. The whole on the side is there to allow for more welding room. I drilled a 1/2" hole on each side. I actually drilled one side and just let the bit continue through. The bar goes in one side 2" and about 1.75" on the other side.

 

Oh, I am building a car right now. Not too far into "the good stuff" yet, but it will be a slow build until I get some $$. Check it out if you want to: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/conv...nvertible.html

I am going with a 93-97 T56 when I can find one, that ford one is ALOT of work to make work properly, and your doing a hell of a job modding your car for it.

I dont think I could bring myself to cut up such a nice torque arm, but I am pretty sure you couldn't cut/mod a stock piece, its just stamped steel.

More updates!! lol

 

Well I found some bad news yesterday. While the torque arm crossmember I made is plenty strong and stiff enough, my crappy subframe connectors are flexing and twisting like crazy. I can grab the torque arm and push it up and pull it down over half an inch. I've put a magnetic level on the are I cut out for the X and the crossmember isnt flexing. However if you sit a pry bar between the bracket and the floarboard while moving it, you can watch the pry bar move. I had planned on replacing the subframe connectors later on because whoever put these on did the worst job at welding I have ever seen. I also wanted ones that tie the frame rails to the subframe connectors. So, rather than buying them, I'm going to make them. Compared to everything else they should be fairly simple to do.

 

Well, its better that you found out that those top-of-the-line subframe connectors arent going to hold up now, rather than finding out the hard way.

Since you said something about them, I looked through the pics, and your right, they really arent the best design that I've seen as far as structural support. I am sure they do SOMETHING, but certainly not ENOUGH.

 

Not an exciting update but I have gotten some of the small stuff done. I got all my plugs put back in and the plug wires back on. Got the 4th gen brake booster put on and both masters on. I got the clutch switch wired and the reverse lights rewired. I also plugged the distributor in. I know that sounds dumb, but I forgot that I didnt plug it back in yet. I would have been pissed to get everything done and then it not start becuase of that I'm going to try to get the reverse lockout solenoid wired today and then hopefully on Saturday I'll get the front brake lines redone which means I can finally put the front wheels back on. Then once I hook my foglights up to the factory fog light switch, I can put the inside of the car back together.

After that all I can do is relocate the fuel filter to make room for the exhaust, once I get that far. I am basically out of money right now so I'm just trying to get all the little stuff done. I think soon the car is going to get pushed outside untill I can get more money. Hopefully I can get some side jobs soon as I need money for other things in life right now as well.

Edit: Forgot that I also welded up the exhaust from the headers to the X.

 

Got a little bit more done between yesterday and today. I got the reverse lockout solenoid wired in. Its hooked to the brake pedal. I also found out that one of the two electrical connectors that go to the factory emissions pump I think it is on a TBI motor is the same as the lockout solenoid. I decided to raid my girl friends Camaro since its just sitting not getting used and was happy to find that out. I was also able to test all the electrical stuff I did. Clutch switch works, reverse lights work, fan works but obviously cant see if they will turn themselves on untill I get it running, and the line lock solenoid works. I'm actually anxious to drive it to see what the speedometer is like. Before I had one of the sending units on my TH350 that allows you to use an elctrical speedometer on a mechanical tailshaft. My speedometer would bounce around sometimes. Now that I have an actuall sending unit in the trans, I'm hoping this doesnt happen anymore. I also got the passenger side front brake line made. I'll do the drivers side sometime next week. I also dropped the driveshaft off at the shop to get shortened. I'll pick it up Monday. Then Tuesday I'll get the driveshaft safety loop tacked on and bring the torque arm crossmember I made home for the last time to finish welding everything and to paint it. Once I put that back on and finish with the front brakes, I can drive the car outside and park it. I did put the rear springs in and bolted the front wheels on just to see how the car sits. Its low. I wasnt sure what these Sportline springs were going to be like. My header collectors are only 3 inches off the ground. All I need now is the back half of the exhaust and new subframe connectors.

 

Almost done. I got the torque arm fully welded up today. I just need to paint it tomorrow. I also got started on bracing the torque arm crossmember I made. I just need to add a piece going from the support arm over the bolt holes for the trans crossmember. I still fully plan on driving it saturday.

 

Sweet! Gunna be a hell of a ride saturday, huh? lol

What are you doing with the little tabs that you weded to your Tq arm mount? The ones that almost butt against the tranny x-member?

 

I can't wait till Saturday As long as nothing major happens, it will be done.

The little tabs are to prevent the arm from flexing upwards. It was also to even the gap between the frame rail and the trans crossmember. I'm going to weld a plate on the tab and it is going to go over the trans crossmember. I'm going to drill two holes in each plate so that it bolts on top of the trans crossmember. I tested it a little today and even though the arms are just tacked together, it doesnt flex upwards barely any anymore. So I was glad about that. Once bolted to the frame, it should flex down at all. I feel comfortable with this now.

 

Got the torque arm crossmember done today. I still need to finish welding it (which I'm actually doing right now) and then paint it. I'll have to finish the welding tomorrow because I have some cutting to do and its too late now.

The support arms I made work perfectly so far. I use to be able to grab the torque arm and push it up and pull it down about 1/2" total. I cant move it at all now. I also cut the driveshaft safety loop off my old Spohn crossmember and modified it to work on this.

Edit: All the welding is done except for the caps on the end of all the rectangle tubing. On a side note, I recently ran out of wire on my MIG welder. When I went to get more wire they had the .025" wire I was using and they had .030" wire. I decided to try the .030" since I almost never weld real thin stuff. All I can is WOW! What a difference. My MIG welds now have a perfect stack of dimes look that I cant even get with my TIG welder. The welds are also much hotter now. I can get the weld to come out the back of 1/8" steel so I now feel comfortable welding 3/16" with it. I can slow the wire speed way down with the thicker wire so I can weld much more slowly now which makes it weld deeper into the metal. It even welds exhaust much nicer. I'll never go back to .025" wire unless I was going to weld VERY thin sheet metal, which I would probably do with my TIG anyways.

 

Everything is about to go back on the car. Literally just sitting around waiting for paint to dry right now Hopefully by the end of tonight I will have the crossmember, torque arm, driveshaft, and exhaust back in the car for the final time.




These are my old mufflers on there for now. They are Moroso Spiral Flow's. I didnt have the money to finish the exhaust the way I wanted to and was way to anxious to wait. The one is crooked because I welded the pipe where I want it to be for when I complete the exhaust for real. I then did whatever just to get the old muffler on. Hopefully soon I'll get to cut them off and finish it.

 

Nothing more fun than waiting for paint to dry!

Gotta get some re-assembled pics.

 

I started reasembling it tonight, but it was getting late and I was tired so I'll finish that first thing tomorrow. The torque arm is a pain to get into place now. The safety loop gives almost no room. The arms on the crossmember I made also shifted some from welding so now lineing the holes up with the trans crossmember is difficult. I'm actually considering welding the arms to the trans crossmember tomorrow and just make it all one big piece. I'm still not sure on that though because I am also thinking about rebuilding the torque arm crossmember later on when I redo the subframe connectors to make it lighter. With the way its designed now, I dont need as thick of metal as I have, and that thing is not light.

I dont know why my exhaust looks white in the picture. Its painted aluminum color.

 

Didnt get to drive it One little tiny brake line adapter for my line lock solenoid was wrong so I couldnt attach the drivers front wheel to the solenoid so I couldnt bleed the brakes. But I did get everything else done. I also ran the car on the lift. I went into all 7 gears perfectly. No grinding or anything. This made me real happy as it was the fist manual trans I've rebuilt. I had it up to about 3000 rpms in 6th gear and there was some vibration but that was with the rear axle hanging all the way down so it could have been a driveshaft angle issue.

The exhaust sound pretty good. Still not perfect, but the mufflers that are on now are temporary so when I finish the exhaust for real it should sound better. Atleast now I can hear the lope of the cam. I couldnt before.

I only ran it for 10 to 15 minutes at a time becuase of the new headers and the paint of the exhaust which need heat cycles.









This shows the ground clearance with the exhaust. The car is still slightly on the lift in the pictures so the car will still drop another 1.5" or so. The piece of rectangle tubing is standing 3" tall. At the X there is probably 6 or 7" of ground clearance.

 

Thats some real good ground clearance for long tubes. Sucks that one little fitting is all that held you back from driving it, go figure.

I was about to say, wow, 7 gears?! But, than I realized reverse. lol.

Great work man, get that fitting!

 

Lol, yeah when I've told people I wanted to test for all 7 they all look at wierd for a second. The good ground clearance is because of the trans crossmember I made. The collectors are still only about 3" off the ground but other than raising the car up, theres nothing I can do about that. Oh well, the cars on Sportlines now so I figured it was going to be low. I think I'm going to remake some of the parts of the coil-over kit I have and put that back on so I can raise the front about .5" or so over where it is now.

I'm defiently getting the fitting Monday on my lunch break. So Monday night I WILL drive this thing I'll also try to get a short vid of the exhaust. I got one tonight but there was so much background noise, it was hard to hear the car.

 

Well I actually drove the car out of the shop yesterday. Doesnt mean everything went perfect though The brake pedal is hard as a rock. The only things I've changed since last time is the brake booster (which was a used one) and I put line lock on. I have good vacuum and the booster doesnt leak. I'm almost leaning towards the line lock solenoid being almost stuck closed. I had the solenoid working a few days ago and now it doesnt. In another day or two I'll bypass the solenoid all together and see what happens. I also have one brake line leaking at a flare I did so I'll have to try to fix that or just replace the line. The only other thing is a did hear a slight clanking noise near the bellhousing area. I have so much stuff that is so close I'm not worrying about it untill I run the car on a lift and get under there to see what it is. I also am going to need to get the block plate that goes between the motor and trans. My clutch disengages withing the first 2 inches or pushing the clutch in. I'd like to get it more of in the middle of the pedal travel.

The thing shifts so smooth though. That was my favorite part of driving it in the parking lot yesterday.