Progress. Sort of.

[LS1_78Bandit]

I suppose it depends on how you define progress. Seems like every step forward leads to 3 steps back.

In the beginning, there was a 78 T/A that looked pretty good, with constant complements and offers to buy. But since it was my first car and I made the decision to keep it "forever", I decided to have a full frame-off restoration done. The restoration shop stripped it and left it in their back parking lot, unprotected, in NE PA, for 7 years. :ripped: After that, it looked like this (sorry, I'd like to inline it, but the BB software doesn't recognize the link as an image):

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=912

Finally he got around to working on it, and then it looked like this (which I posted here when I first joined):

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1548

And at a glance it looked darned nice. It got shipped to me here in CA and the next phase of the project was to begin: conversion to LS1+T56 and replace some of the suspension & brakes. But after we pulled the engine we saw:

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1248

Which definitely was not worthy of housing the new LS1 and also a big disappointment after a supposed "full frame-off restoration". So first attempt was to power wash the engine bay:

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1324
http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1320

Definite improvement, but it made it clear that a lot more work needed to be done. Steering linkages need replaced, pretty much all of the suspension and brakes, etc. And the subframe, bumper, supports, LCA and sway bars should be blasted and powder-coated and the engine bay should be sanded and painted. Plus there's some rust holes in the floor pans, the fenders weren't quite lined up, the driver's door doesn't really shut and the trunk is misaligned. :ripped:

So ... last week the fenders and front came off. Monday the subframe came off. Now she looks like this:

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1500
http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1527

The subframe, etc were shipped off to the powder-coaters yesterday.

So ... lots of work being done, but now I'm further away from starting the LS1 conversion than ever. :crying:

Oh, and for what it's worth, I decided to suck it up and go with a Rick's HotRod tank for it (I started a thread on that a couple weeks ago). Just ordered that today.

And that's my project update for this week ....

BTW, for anyone that's truly bored, I have piles of pictures in my gallery. I haven't labeled/described them yet, but here they are.

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=898

I'm also going to do a full chronology and the parts that went into it, but I haven't had a chance to do that yet.

[LS1_78Bandit]

I managed to dig up some photos of what my car looked like when I bought it.

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1598

[TPI Monte SS]

Great project! Nothing like updating a classic-looking car with a modern powerplant. Any idea how you're gonna keep that shaker scoop?

[LS1_78Bandit]

For the shaker I figure I have 3 options:

1) Mount the shaker to the hood. Either find a way to just bolt it on, or run a couple supporting cables to hold it in place.

2) Make a mount/bracket that attaches it to the engine

3) Do 2) and make the shaker functional - i.e., open it up and run piping from the scoop to the intake for cold air intake.

Obviously 1) is the easiest solution. The downside there is it wouldn't actually shake and I've always liked the way it rumbles with the engine.

2) Would take a little bit of doing, but is certainly possible. I'd just have to figure out exactly where to mount the bracket and how to do it in such a way that it can be undone relatively easily for unfettered access to the engine.

As for the 3), I'm not convinced that it would actually be a benefit. There would be so many bends in the piping that I think it would restrict the flow sufficiently to offset the advantage of the cold air. Plus it would mean cutting open the shaker and finding uncut original shakers is getting increasingly difficult, so I'm reluctant to "destroy" another good shaker.

Anyway, given all the additional things I have to do now, I figure I have a bit of time to figure that out, and it's certainly one of the least of my worries. Beyond the issue of fixing all the mistakes that the idiot restorer made, which just takes time and money - one of my biggest concerns at this point is doing everything in such a way that I'll get passed by the CA smog referee. Yup - 78 is not exempt. :crying:

[formula]

hey man, you're my hero for taking the time to save another 78. Keep the faith, and don't get too frustrated!!

[LS1_78Bandit]

Well, it's not a huge update, but I'm excited because it's the first real step forward since I got the car back from the (idiot) restoration shop. Up until now it's been: take something apart, find that he screwed something else up, take more apart, find more wrong, lather, rinse repeat.

I sent a whole pile of parts off to be blasted and powdercoated. They just came back the other day. The parts look awesome. Practically like new, which is impressive considering what they looked like before.

Here's some shots of some of the parts before they were sent off:

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1453

And here's what they look like now. Sorry the pictures aren't great, I was in a real hurry.

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1618

The parts that were done were: subframe, lower control arms (I have new uppers), front/rear sway bars, spindles, bumper & supports, radiator frame, wheel wells, misc brackets.

Next week hopefully the subframe goes back on, along with all the new suspension, steering and brakes. I need it rollable so I can roll it over to the body shop to get the firewall stripped and painted.

And hopefully in the next week or so my new fuel tank from Rick's will be here.

Finally, some actual progress!

[JoshStratton]

Lookin real good! I cant wait to see what you decide with the shaker.

[colt zantop]

lookin good! that shaker idea will be interesting! keep us updated!

[LS1_78Bandit]

Long time no update. Various snags, etc slowed things down. But we just got the subframe, front suspension, steering and brakes put on. It's rollable again. Now that it's rollable, we can roll it over to the body shop to blast and paint the firewall. Here's a shot of it:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2006/06/DSCN3790_resizeJPG-1.jpg

And more images here:

http://www.ls1bandit.com/g2_embed/g2_bandit.php?g2_itemId=1701

And a bit more detail about the update here:

http://www.ls1bandit.com/ls1b/updates/index.php

My new rims also just showed up. They're Works VS-XX's. which were custom-built according to the measurements I took. I had to take all the measurements based on the old suspension, steering and brakes, so it was a bit of a gamble. The jury is still out on whether I got it right. On the front, I was worried that the wilwood hub would extend too far for the design of the rim. Measurements indicated it should *just* barely fit, but it was close enough that Works said they wouldn't guarantee the wheel. Fortunately
it turns out the measurements were right-on. It just fits.

The rim is pretty close to the steering
linkage since I couldn't get exactly the back-spacing I wanted (it ended up at 5.68" and I wanted 5.5"). I think it'll be OK, but I'd be curious if anyone has input. Here are a couple photos. I know they're not the best angles, but hopefully you get the idea.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2006/06/DSCN3799_resizeJPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2006/06/DSCN3800_resizeJPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2006/06/DSCN3805_resizeJPG-1.jpg

The more befuddling issue is the rear wheels. I'm not quite sure what happened since I took those measurements at least a half-dozen times in at least 3 different ways. The measurements came out basically the same as what other 2nd gen'ers are using. 5.75" backspacing on a 10.5" rim. However when I put the rim on, it extended beyond the fender a fair bit, so once the tire is on it's going to be really far out. I did the test-fit really quickly, so I might not have gotten it on right (though that's kinda hard to screw up ...). Also, this time the car was jacked up from the side, whereas when I did the initial measurements I had the jack under the differential. But I can't imagine that with a solid axle it should make much of a difference. I'm going to go back and do some more checks in a bit.

Anyhoo ... it should be going to the body shop next week for the firewall work. Once that's done we can finally get to the part that started this whole thing - putting the LS1+T56 in!

[RyanJ]

Test again with the jack under the diff. If its still off (check both sides) then get the rear narrowed or send the rims back. A bad set of wheels will ruin a car.

What's the plan with the shaker and are you doing traditional bird graphics?

[LS1_78Bandit]

Test again with the jack under the diff. If its still off (check both sides) then get the rear narrowed or send the rims back. A bad set of wheels will ruin a car. Well, I don't think sending the rims back is an option. They were custom built to my specs. I suppose it's possible they can "fix" them since they are 3 piece wheels. However that means shipping them all the way back to japan, having them fix them and then shipping them all the way back here. I can't imagine that'll be very cheap.

And since all of the body work and paint is done, it's not really easy to make changes to the fender and/or wheel-well.


What's the plan with the shaker
Scroll up. :) I listed the 3 options I'm considering. I haven't decided yet which of the 3.


and are you doing traditional bird graphics?
Yes. All the paint and graphics are already done. You can see what it looked like before we pulled it apart to do the engine change (which turned into dropping the subframe, powdercoating everything, replacing all the suspension, steering, brakes and fuel tank. :eek: ). I know it's bass-akwards, but the project changed drastically since it started. The original plan was to do a straight restoration. However the idiot restoration shop screwed things so badly that after he was done I realized I had to go in and do a whole pile of additional things. Here's basically what it'll look like after it's put back together except the wheels/tires will be different and the stance will be different.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2006/06/rightfront2_resize-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2006/06/left_side_resize-1.jpg