70 Formula 535

[Alponcho]

Installed the Pypes exhaust. It was tight in a few areas, and will need a little tweaking at final assembly, but it's close enough to where it needs to be to get headers made. I will say that install would have been a lot easier had the corners of the tank had been cut 2 or three inches deeper.

[jack67rs]

Nice work, look forward to see this around Scottsdale. Nice house too!

[Alponcho]

Thank you! Hopefully the car will be done this spring.

[Alponcho]

Installed new steering u-joints (two stainless singles, one of which is anti-vibration) and a big GM starter. The other side of the engine is pretty open...I just ran some lines in case I decide to use an external filter. So with this stuff done, and the exhaust in place, I'm about ready for a visit from the header guy. Am I forgetting anything?

It's also time to decide what material to use: stainless or mild steel with ceramic coating (jet hot or something similar)?

[ULTM8Z]

you're going to love that steering shaft. so much better than the old rag joint....

[badazz81z28]

Pic 5 with the tube on the panhard bar has me incredibly confused. Mine was like that too, but it’s lowered and wouldn’t even fit. Can Pypes really possibly done that purposely? I wonder why those pipes are not higher over the axle...I hit up Pypes and still waiting on a response.

[Alponcho]

That photo is kind of deceiving. Here's another that shows the amount of space between the pipes and the panhard bar. The closest I come to making contact with anything is with the strap for the tank on the passenger side--I have about .125 there, and between the bracket on which the panhard bar is attached on the passenger side and the tank in that same area--but even there I have about .25". I think with some relatively minor tweaks it's going to work on my car.



Having said this, there are improvements that Pypes could make. A lot of the issues could be resolved by going with 2.5" behind the mufflers...wouldn't lose one bit of power anywhere.

[Alponcho]

Needed to buy a car for my daughter this week, so did not have any time to work on the Formula. Wanted to put full weight on the suspension and roll the car around, but the shock isn't back from DSE, so couldn't have done much anyways.

Don't think I posted this before, but here are the two intakes I'm considering. The Northwind is over an inch shorter than a Victor and was designed to fit under a stock hood, but not sure it's going to work with the Formula hood--it's really tight. So I may need to use the inexpensive Shootout/Hurricane piece instead. Both were tested on a combo like I have planned and surprisingly the Shootout/Hurricane did not give up much to the Northwind. With a little more work, I'm told it can get even closer. My friend has an aluminum 505 in his 66 GTO topped with this intake and the EZ 2.0 and I was very impressed with how the engine performed...super snappy and pulled forever.

[Alponcho]

Will be pulling the trigger on wheels soon and need to finalize my choice.

I can't believe how many choices Forgeline has...the decision is killing me. I'm down to either GA3s or DE3Cs with either brushed or satin black hoops with satin gunmetal centers.

Black hoops would make it look like I have more tire, which I like on older cars, but don't know if the step on the GA3s would give me too much. Also, I live on a dirt road so the black might not be smart.

[Alponcho]

We thought it would be a good idea to install an oil pan to make sure there would be no clearance issues with the headers. To our surprise, it hit the rack.

Not sure I mentioned this before, but to line things up originally, we needed a .25" spacer between the passenger side DSE engine mount bracket and the engine mount. I thought it might be a problem with the cheap mounts I was using, so I switched them out for the poly ones that Butler sells. This changed nothing. But now that the oil pan is installed, it appears that we need .25" spacers on both sides for things to work. Wondering if anyone else has had to deal with something similar with these DSE engine mount brackets? It's easy enough to make .25" spacer plates to go between the brackets and the mounts, but I'm concerned that the additional height will cascade into other issues I'll have to deal with later.

[egoman]

Modify the oil pan? Not sure how Pontiacs work but it looks like an easy solution.

[Alponcho]

Wish it was that simple. The crank swings directly over the spot on the pan where I need to adjust it to clear the rack.

[egoman]

OK, it looked like it was in front of the block surface. Simple solutions are the hardest to come by.

[Alponcho]

Will be pulling the trigger on wheels soon and need to finalize my choice.

I can't believe how many choices Forgeline has...the decision is killing me. I'm down to either GA3s or DE3Cs with either brushed or satin black hoops with satin gunmetal centers.

Black hoops would make it look like I have more tire, which I like on older cars, but don't know if the step on the GA3s would give me too much. Also, I live on a dirt road so the black might not be smart.

I feel like I've looked at a million pics and still can't decide

I'm now thinking I may need to go with polished outers to tie in the chrome and polished stainless trim that I'm leaving on the car. Still thinking satin gunmetal centers, but the transparent smoke finish looks cool too. Also thinking I may go with GA3C which I like because the width of the polished lip will be minimized. My 14 year old son and all his buddies insist I should go with all black...I just think that would be too much contrast and wouldn't tie in well with the bright trim on the car...what do I know...

[67SSDan]

My 14 year old son and all his buddies insist I should go with all black...I just think that would be too much contrast and wouldn't tie in well with the bright trim on the car...what do I know...

Haha, never take style advice from a 14 year old kid. ;)

Seriously though, all these ideas sound good to me except the all black. I still for the life of me can't figure out why people like black wheels so much. That's a lot of money to just have it all disappear into what looks like a black hole in your wheel well. Let those dudes pop!

Dan

[carbuff]

Perhaps I'm biased, but I prefer the polished lip. That said, I debated hard about a 1-piece wheel from Forgeline rather than the 3-piece GA3 which I ended up with. If I ever change up the look of the car, I would change to a 1-piece from them...

Mine are a satin gunmetal finish. I'm not sure what color your car will be (didn't fully reread the thread), and that might influence the choice. But even with a 1-piece, I wouldn't do an all-black wheel. It just gets lost inside of the tire, especially in pictures.

[Smitty454]

Perhaps I'm biased, but I prefer the polished lip. That said, I debated hard about a 1-piece wheel from Forgeline rather than the 3-piece GA3 which I ended up with. If I ever change up the look of the car, I would change to a 1-piece from them...

Mine are a satin gunmetal finish. I'm not sure what color your car will be (didn't fully reread the thread), and that might influence the choice. But even with a 1-piece, I wouldn't do an all-black wheel. It just gets lost inside of the tire, especially in pictures.

Damn thats sexy...

[Alponcho]

Your car looks amazing, Bryan. I'd be thrilled if mine turned out as nice. My plan is to paint the car the original color, Carousel Red.

I'm curious, what is it about the 1 piece wheel that you prefer, and what changes to your car would you make to go along with the 1 piece?

[carbuff]

It's just an appearance thing. The 3-piece with the polished lip has a somewhat classic look to it, and you really can't go wrong with it. But something about the 1-piece feels a bit more modern to me, and it just appeals to me in that way.

A similar car which comes to mind is Brian Finch's 2nd gen Camaro. If you aren't familiar with it, Google it and you'll see pictures of his latest setup which is a 1-piece Forgeline design. I also like the GS1R and the GA1R and it's variants (including the centerlock design). But geesh the 1-piece designs get pricey fast!

[Alponcho]

It's just an appearance thing. The 3-piece with the polished lip has a somewhat classic look to it, and you really can't go wrong with it. But something about the 1-piece feels a bit more modern to me, and it just appeals to me in that way.

A similar car which comes to mind is Brian Finch's 2nd gen Camaro. If you aren't familiar with it, Google it and you'll see pictures of his latest setup which is a 1-piece Forgeline design. I also like the GS1R and the GA1R and it's variants (including the centerlock design). But geesh the 1-piece designs get pricey fast!

I hadn't considered 1-piece wheels before--I thought they're more for modern cars. But there's a black '69 Mustang with GA1Rs (in transparent smoke) that looks awesome. Now I'm really liking that wheel and also the variant with the open lug cap.

I would love to see some photos of a 2nd gen car with 1-piece wheels like the GA1R...I could only find photos of Brian Finch's car with GT3Cs.