Thanks! Use to work at a car audio shop back in the day when fiberglassing contoured shaped speaker enclosures became popular. Owe all my composite knowledge to that time. Here's a better shot from the opposite side.
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Thanks! Use to work at a car audio shop back in the day when fiberglassing contoured shaped speaker enclosures became popular. Owe all my composite knowledge to that time. Here's a better shot from the opposite side.
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Just a few catchup items. My local car Audio shop said this stuff works very well under the headliner. Its nice and thick but lightweight and is layered with acoustic foam, foil material, and that sticky butyl rubber. With no AC and the planned satin black color I'm going to need all the help I can get.
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Installing the Quick Ratio 12.7:1 box was a royal pain. I know these old headers have seen better days but they fit OK before. Cant understand after all this time why no one makes a set of headers that fit perfect for these cars. I had to cut and add a new section to go around the new steering gear. No need trying to source new headers anyway when an engine change is a future possibility. Was a fair bit of work just for about 3/8" of clearance but did not want to do the ball peen hammer thing.
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Just gotta take it back out now and finish the welds. I know it looks like the cylinder#3 pipe hits the box but it clears by 1/4". Just a funky picture angle.
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You ever have those few body panel areas that are just gapped weird and makes you twitch when you look at them? Good old aftermarket sheet metal. Waiting on parts soooo........
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Nice Job! you can't even tell it was touched.
Great work fabbing up that new dash pad! What size primaries are on those headers, my headers have 3/4" clearance with my Delphi 600 box, Flowtech's
In for more update's
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Nice work you're doing! Dash pad looks like it came out really nice.
Thanks. They're 1-3/4" primaries. I see now that the 600 series boxes are smaller which would of helped. I also saw that the Flowtechs are popular for their better clearances as well. Next time!
The motor is how I want it for now so time for a little more fiberglass work:
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3/4" scrap cut to the shape of the electric fan:
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Partial box together dimensioned as the radiator:
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Covered with tape .................
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....... three coats of wax to serve as the release agent:
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Polyester Fleece stretched tight, stapled and ready for resin:
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Fleece is thick so apply heavily:
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Remove carefully when fully cured:
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Start test fitting after some light sanding and trimming:
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Little filler, sand smooth, and prime for paint:
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Fun project and I think looks and may even perform better than the flat aluminum setups. We shall see.
Mentioned earlier that the upper hardware that comes with the Speedtech Chicane mount kit was undesirable. I'm sure its plenty strong but was able to find what I was wanting. If interested the part number is MS21250-38 and can be sourced at most aviation hardware companies. It's a 180 KSI, 200,000 PSI tensile strength bolt. Overkill? Well....yea. :razz:
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So I had removed the torsion rods awhile back and this is my sad trunk prop rod. Either they were worn out or this aftermarket trunk lid is just too heavy for them. Is it me or are these trunk lids way heavier than they need to be?
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With the battery now in the trunk this just wont do anymore so time to get some functional bling. :)
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Installation was pretty simple but did need to make some shims to get the trunk lid height back to where it should be. Figure I'd use slices of carbon sheet to not add anymore weight to this heavy trunk lid.
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Problem is you just cant put those in the back and leave these up front.
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Problem solved but phew $$$$$$. :)
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The hood literally flies all the way open when unlatched! Wondering if the struts are just a bit too strong for this aftermarket steel cowl hood. It wont stay in any position once opened but all the way up. The back could definitely use something stronger like these. May see if I can swap those all out but I'm happy overall. Solid open and close with no wiggle now.
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Again, seems once you add a little bling it just grows from there. LOL. Had to splurge on these as well.
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Wheels are Boze ProTour wheels with 18X8 up front wrapped in 225/40 Pilot Sports (I saw that this is what most folks use), and 18X11 out back with 315/30s. Zak at Boze spent a while with me on the phone making sure the measurements were perfect. Good experience and learned a lot. Small body issues to clean up with exhaust fixes then rolling.
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When you say "I'll just fix this one area", it just exposes more and more spots that need attention. Fixing that trunk lid gap grew into an entire blocking of the body. It did need it though but nothing more than skin coats here and there:
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So here we have it with what I call "stage 1" complete and a coat of hot rod black primer (for now). Take a stock 69 Base Camaro and install: mini-tubs, 4-link, coil-overs all the way around, big sway bar, tubular control arms (Improved caster/negative camber gain), fast ratio steering gear, Disc brakes with hydroboost, sub-frame connectors with solid body mounts, and finally wheels with soft rubber................ and what I got was a dramatically different and extremely fun driving vehicle. I'm sold. Nothing terrible to bolt-on with just a little welding. Time to enjoy this for the rest of the warm season and contemplate what "stage 2" will look like. Cheers!
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Awesome! I enjoyed the ride along... Went through it from the start again. Great way to enjoy my afternoon coffee break. I got glimpses of my future too!
Great job.
Glad to see your progress coming along nicely! Now that the car is rolling on new wheels n rubber it's gotta make you feel that all that hard work is staring to pay off and show. Keep on rockin in the free world.