Enter your username:
Do you want to login or register?
  • Forgot your password?

    Login / Register



    Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4 LastLast
    Results 1 to 20 of 64
    1. #1
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States

      GRM Challenge spirit (pro-touring on the cheap?)

      well, this is more of a street rat, commuter rod, low budget baby PT, something like that. what we have is a 1980 AMC spirit, bought and paid for with a 100 dollar bill, and driven home. its fugly. but we'll try to make that some better. first and foremost, though, is doing the GRM 2008 challenge. for those not familiar with it, that is a competition that you have to build a car to compete in the autocross, drag, and show for under 2008 bucks. i guarentee we wont win, but were not trying to. were trying to build a daily driver for insanely cheap that will be able to compete in it, and be driven to florida and back to do it.

      most of the money is being spent on realiability, safety, and suspension. the brakes are adaquate for what the car is, but may still need to be upgraded for open track events.

      the suspension is now rebuilt with ADDCO 1 inch frontr sway bar. 3/4 rear (biggest offered), Prothate bushings, KYB shocks, Cut front coils, Dearched and stiffened rear leaves, refurbished stock brakes, different alignment, and all done for 600.

      the engine had all the smog stuff stripped off of it, a hybrid carter 2BBL built, recurved distributor, 2 1/2 inch exhaust, electric fan, AC delete, etc. trying to get it as simple and efficient as possible for next to nothing. total on the motor: 200.

      interior is next. we are using a pair of spare corvette sport seats mounted to the factory tracks, and turning the car into a two seater. the rear will be finished with a flat bed, and the rear set will be made into storage pockets and a sub enclosure. teh whole interior is also getting turned black.

      as far as paint and body go, i have no ideas. were looking for ideas here, but the front bumper was stripped, the rear bumper in going to get narrowd and reinstalled, the wheels are 15X7 (6 dollars a piece), done in black with chrome lug nuts. were putting driving lights in the lower valance opening, and using the sides for brake cooling ducts.

      hope y'all dig it, and feel free to offer suggestions and advice to make the car better at daily driving or handling.

      Michael
      mostly before





      mostly after





      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Jul 2005
      Location
      Mountain View, CA
      Posts
      9,583
      Country Flag: United States
      I'd suggest in the name of driveability and a bit of power that you look into transplanting the EFI, manifold and cyl head from a 4.0L Jeep (something like a mid- 90's XJ Cherokee) onto that block. It's a pretty easy swap. A buddy and I did it in his old CJ5 in about 7hrs.

      As for the rest of the project:
      Not that bizzare an idea.




      AMXs at Nürburgring
      In October 1979, the B.F. Goodrich tire company sponsored two-car team of AMXs in the twenty-four hour Group One endurance race at Germany's legendary Nürburgring race track.[1] Not only were these American Motors AMXs the first American entries in this historic race, but they also finished #1 and #2 in their class out of a 120-car field in this grueling 14.1 mile (22.7 km), 176 turn road race.[2] They were the fastest cars on street rubber, BFG T/A radials.
      Amos Johnson and partner Dennis Shaw were the team principals and drivers in the North Carolina based "Team Highball". The new 1979 304 in³ V8 powered AMX was already homologated to meet Group One production car based rules. Two street-stock cars (both with AMC 5.0 L V8 and four-speed transmission) were obtained by "Team Highball" less than three weeks before a transport ship would sail to Europe. With almost no prior time on the race course, the team qualified the cars in 20th and 21st overall. The track tested both the cars and their new street tires, but both finished the race with one car in 25th and the second in 43rd overall. Another unique aspect of these historic racecars is that they were among the few ever to have had a period documentary film ("The Ultimate Challenge") done about the racecar preparation and race experience.
      True T.

      Whats new with Project 1/2-Trak?


      Follow my wisecracks on Sports, Food, Politics and other BS on Twitter.

      My blog

      When they kick out your front door, How you gonna come?
      With your hands on your head, Or on the trigger of your gun?

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Rochester, NY
      Posts
      176
      Wow I bet a huge intercooler would fit in that big hole in the front real good. Maybe a turbo from a junked diesel pickup and a blow through carburetor... What does it have for a transmission?

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      it has a 4 speed. funky SR-4. kind of like a toploader/T-5 hybrid.
      i like the boost idea. im trying to figure out how to build a stroked, boosted, EFI 4.0 for 500 bucks. that would rock.
      oh well, maybe after the challenge we'll do it. assuming the 258 lasts that long.

      Michael
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Posts
      194
      Quote Originally Posted by Damn True


      AMXs at Nürburgring
      That's cool.

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Rochester, NY
      Posts
      176
      Look around the rust belt for a complete Cherokee or Wrangler with a 4.0 Jeeps seem to be particularly susceptible to rust, there are bunches of them around here that are rotten to the point of being totally unsafe at only 80000 miles or so. An EFI 4.0 is a really strong motor too. Just make sure you don't hook too hard (or maybe at all) with that SR-4. I could be wrong but I think those are the ones that Jeep guys toss before even seeing if they work.

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Ok, so ill link to the thread that I had been updating on the grm forum, as well as the original build thread from 07.

      Start of this thing:
      http://amccars.net/cgi/yabb2/YaBB.pl...86800979/10#10

      Where it all started to go wrong:
      https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/fo.../118042/page1/

      Ill pick up the start for this forum where I left off on the GRM forum, so if its somewhat funky, and seems like I copied and pasted from another forum, its because I did. Blatantly. It just makes it easier to cross post to the four forums I am posting on, so I can get the broadest amount of feedback from all areas of the hobby.

      Anyway, well start with budget.

      Car/parts $200
      Donor Lincoln town car: 410
      Engine crossmember: 120
      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10

      Current total: 720

      Ok, ill pick up where I last left off. We had bought a Lincoln, loaded it on the trailer, and sent it to dallas’ dads barn. This was last Tuesday night. August 30th. By the end of the next day, dallas’ dad had called me with a simple question: when the hell are you getting all your **** off of my property?

      Umm.....

      Well, guess that means we stop collecting and start working. At least try to consolidate the accidental junkyard we started under the lean to.

      So yesterday, we got 4/5 of the challenge team together for a work day. The two orders of business: gut the Lincoln for all its worth, and take inventory of parts/scrap. well start with the gutting of the Lincoln. We bought it for the transmission, wheels, tires, engine, battery, and scrap metal. Turned out that it still had 4 catalytic converters, the wheels and tires were scrap, but the engine and trans were MINT. 127k on the clock, and got a bill of sale for the titleless, keyless, had to be hot-wired Lincoln.

      We start with a little fun. Roof surfing through the field beside the barn after the first round of degreasing. This thing was dirtier than anything else ive ever bought. I'm pretty sure that the Exxon Valdez leaked less....



      Roof surfing, even at 5 mph through a grassy field, isn't the brightest when one of your teammates is an idiot. He did his best to toss me like a rag doll.

      Anyway, we pulled it on the lift, and took inventory of how this thing wanted to come out, and just what we bought. Found the water pump gasket leaking, as well as one of the throttle body heater hoses. Oil leaks from everything below the hood. But a great running, driving, shifting 5.0 and AOD trans for 410. We decided that we wanted to keep the serpentine, efi, fuel pump, engine, trans, drive shaft, and wiring harness. The rest was scrap. Except the trans crossmember. Sold that to a gentleman for a t5 swap in a Flathead pickup. So, 10 bucks back from that....







      We decided to gently remove all the linkages and wring harness from the firewall forward to retain all the EFI wiring and sensors. The rest of it was done with a sawzall.









      And a team picture. The bald guy is cousin garret. He is a dyed in the wool ford guy that likes cutting stuff. Dark haired guy is Dallas, and blonde guy is brother Dustin. There's no pictures of me, cause im so ugly id break the damn camera. Only guy missing from the work day is my dad, who also wants to be part of this. Hes working on getting his motor home ready to go to California in the next couple of weeks, and him and mom will be gone until thanksgiving.

      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      So, we accomplished goal number one.














      We then lost a lot of time to cleaning up the shop because Dallas dad came home a day early, and we had promised him a clean shop when he came home. But we got it done...




      The next goal was seeing what we had to start with. Apparently, when I bought the car, I bought the whole pile of crap surrounding it as well. This consisted of dry rotted tires, a couple of mobile home wheels, a cracked in half automatic transmission from a ford, and 4 of these wheels:



      We used the backhoe to pull the car out from under the lean-to, and hit it with the pressure washer. Lots of paint came off with the dirt. Crap.







      Then we got to digging through the car to see what all was in it. A bunch of junk. A bunch of useless, unidentifiable crap that would add weight to the scrapped hulk of a Lincoln, and some gold.


















      And now some pictures of the good stuff we found:

      Headliner with an almost salvageble backer board


      Radiator, shroud, and some 5 inch spotlights. The bulbs are burned out, but the glass is good!


      All sorts of dryer ducting
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Aluminum bumper, painted black, with decent end caps (for sale! Make offer!)



      Filthy, beat up batter box with a hold down and greasy unidentifiable electrical pieces in it (i think I spotted a kill switch, but wasn't about to reach in there yesterday due to the rats nest)



      Full lock cylender set



      Misc interior plastics, and pieces of miscellaneous crap. Choke cable, pcv valve, a fuel filter, pop rivets, some cotter keys, etc. I can bore you all with pictures, but look through the photobucket album for full documentation of your a challenge stickler. Did find two more drivehsafts, a trio of autometer gauges under the dash, rotted rear floors where the spring perches mount, some stainless headers that fit god knows what, plywood, and various other pieces of scrap.

      http://s54.photobucket.com/user/dusterbd13/library/amc

      So, when all was sorted, this was getting loaded in the crusher car.


      So, this is the challenge car I bought in all its hammered, forsaken, wrecked, and parted out glory.






      - - - Updated - - -

      Tailpipes for the 2.5 x-pipe exhaust will take a good bit of repair, and im not sure just what the hell is going on with the ISO-clamp delete. But a rear sway bar and poly bushings are still present, though the rear shocks look like absolute junk.






      Underside looks pretty bad. Very hackish rust repair. And dirt. And bailing wire. And rust. And undercoating. And....



      Up front, we have a seriously bent crossmember, apparently bent lower control arms, ford motor mounts scabbed onto the crossmember, a 1 inch-ish sway bar, more poly bushings, a worn out pitman arm, a leaking steering box, kyb shocks, and cut coils.







      We finished the day by beginning to sort the scrap metal. To get top dollar for wheels, we stripped the tires for disposal. The 4 mags, we decided to keep because they're cool. May or may not use them, as they are awfully small for modern slicks. Worst case, kick ass coffee tables.





      That's it for today. Next work day, we will try to change out the crossmember and mock up the 5.0 AOD.
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Challenge Budget:
      Car/parts $200
      Donor Lincoln town car: 410
      Engine crossmember: 120
      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10
      Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50
      Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89
      trans cooler: 2
      Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot
      Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)
      mustang 5.0 convertible engine mounts: 22
      1/4 thick, 10x24 chunk of plate steel 7.50 (.30 lb, 25lb)

      Current total: 712.50

      Ok, so....

      We scrapped the lincoln. Had to get it gone. Still have some cats left to scrap to hopefully all but zero it out. Got 89 for it, which sucks. But, its gone. We also sold the rear axle for 50 bucks. So thats nice.

      While researching those nifty mag wheels, found a guy that was looking for a set. We settled on 400 delivered. So I delivered them. I can only recoup 200, as that's what we paid for the car. So, the extra 200 had to be spent somewhere. Cant have extra money now, can we?

      So we did the only reasonable thing: found a guy that was changing directions on a mustang build. He decided he wanted our 5.0, and offered us a .30 over 302 with “a cam”, GT40p heads, edelbrock RPM intake, and “Holley carb, and Mallory ignition”. For an extra 22 bucks, he threw in the new plugs and 5.0 convertible motor mounts. Now, Dallas knows the guy pretty well. I've never met him. We have a 30 day warranty from date of install on this engine. All for 322!

      When I got to the barn the day Dallas picked it up, I was dismayed to say the least. He didn't get us an engine. He got us a freaking pile of engine parts. The heads and short-block looked fresh, and the heads still had reman badges on it. Since the barn is NOT a clean room, we put a hustle on to assemble the thing and get it sealed.






      So, no pictures happened of assembly. Or unloading the crap from the back of the plumbing van. We were in full on get **** done mode.

      At the end, we had this:




      I'm still not sure that we didn't get screwed. But the other guy hasn't picked up the 5.0 yet, and I wont let him till I hear this thing run. The “Holley carb” was an AED 750, and the “Mallory ignition” is some summit box/coil/distributor combo. The pistons are cast, the cam is a hydraulic of unknown origin, and the short-block as been run for an unknown amount of time. But we got a crank scraper! Worth at least 100 horse if we add the sticker. And we got an air cleaner of ford descent. I already plan to cut that up and turn it into a cowl plenum air cleaner feeding from where the wiper motor currently lives. We still need to find correct hardware for the timing chain cover and water pump, pray that they guy gave us all the pulleys and accessory brackets like he claimed, and paint it AMC blue before trying to fire it. Oh, and make the headers fit. They hit the block.

      We mocked up the engine mounts on the crossmember, and if the studs were in a different spot, they would make the ford engine a bolt in. We have a plan though, involving countersinking some bolts through 1/4 plate and using it as an adapter. I think I can make it easy and all but bolt in.

      Also, picture of the trans cooler. I was told that the key to beating the snot out of an AOD for extended periods is to keep it cool. This one is of unknown origin, with missing parts, but was 2 bucks. So, good enough.



      Feedback and criticism are welcome and encouraged. Im making most of this up as I go at this stage.
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Challenge Budget:
      Car/parts $200
      Donor Lincoln town car: 410
      Engine crossmember: 120
      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10
      Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50
      Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89
      trans cooler: 2
      Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot
      Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)
      mustang 5.0 convertible engine mounts: 22
      1/4 thick, 10x24 chunk of plate steel 7.50 (.30 lb, 25lb)
      Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit.

      Current total: 712.50

      Ok, little more wheeling and dealing this week. Found a guy selling a set of still brand new NASCAR wheels and slicks on craigslist for $200. Ad had been up a month. Nascar wheels and tires are 27.5x12x15. Freaking huge. I really didn't now if they'd fit. Called the guy, turned out he lived 20 miles from me. Told him that if he really wanted them gone, id show up in 30 minutes and give him $50 bucks. Shockingly enough, he took the offer. Said something about he got them for free where he used to work, and at least he could buy beer for the weekend.

      So, I bought them, praying they would fit. They did not. Not even close.



      So we traded them to dallas dad for the $50 bucks I spent, plus some really old drag slicks on weld wheels. I think the slicks still have a few passes left in them. We overfilled them full of air, and didnt see any major cracking, and my fingernail still went pretty deep. I know they've been in the top of the barn for at least 4 years, year round, flat. Anyone know enough about drag slicks to tell me what to check before they kill me?



      Up next is our first night of actual work on the car itself. Unbending it was step one. Probably should have done that before getting this far. Luckily, the car was far better, though far worse than we expected. We measured every which way we could think of, and the car was still square!!! That’s almost where the good news ends. The car as been the recipient of VERY piss poor rust repair and metal work. Like, the subframe on the drivers side isnt welded to the floor pan, sheet metal only tacked in on the rockers, etc. Scary crap, really, but the lack of structural integrity probably is what saved the car, allowing it to flex when it got wanked.

      To remove the crossmember, and the lower control arms from it, we had to chop it into pieces. But the LCAs straightened back out, and the strut rods weren't visibly bent. So, major win!!
      And now, for a dump of pictures from Friday night. Feel free to discuss anything you see, as ive never seen another one of these in person. Just this one.

















      Next up is moving the car from the barn, and down to my shop. And cleaning. And welding. And cleaning. And welding. And cleaning. And welding. and....
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Challenge Budget:
      Car/parts $200
      Donor Lincoln town car: 410
      Engine crossmember: 120
      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10
      Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50
      Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89
      trans cooler: 2
      Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot
      Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)
      mustang 5.0 convertible engine mounts: 22
      1/4 thick, 10x24 chunk of plate steel 7.50 (.30 lb, 25lb)
      Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit.

      Current total: 712.50

      Update: we went to the charotte autofair this weekend. We spent money, and came away with a hell of a plan.

      Before that, though, we were working on the tire package. After all, how are you expected to turn without grip? So far, we have tried nascar slicks (28x12x15) that didn't fit. We had previously run 235/60/15 cooper cobras on it. They fit. The 28x10.5 drag slicks mostly fit. So, I figured some 27x10x15 bias ply circle track slicks would fit. Local circle track racer gave us a set of 4 to try out, that still had a little life left in them.

      They do not. Well, they do not clear stock bodywork. They would fit if were were willing to radius the wheelwells. We are not. So we gave them back.

      What we finally settled on is a set of 25.5x8x15 bias ply slicks. On 15x7 mopar steel wheels from a diplomat that were given to us. We also tested out the color match industrial gloss paint. The tire in the picture is a 27x8x15. Is actually measures 28x10 when mounted and inflated. We have plenty of clearance with it in the back, but it hits the fender and wheel well in the front pretty bad. Its also not too pinched on the 7 inch wheel. This is a $5 used dirt track tire that we got t experiment. The wheel is done with a harbor freight spray gun as an experiment. Both served their purpose.




      Next is the crusty plated gold we scored at the autofair.

      $5 grant wheel and hub (smaller diameter wheel gives more feedback. Well see if it stays.


      BOOM TUBES!!!! ($25, with brackets)


      AFCO threaded body coilovers for the front end, $100. The fabricated center link was left by the trash can, so free.



      6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65



      Pair of aluminum seats, $40. Sheet of flame retardant high density foam $10



      Fire suppression system parts (not included in challenge budget. But ive had 2nd degree burns on the boys before, so were getting safety gear come hell or high water)


      Long tube headers for 66-67 mustang, and oil pan $15


      Solid steel lowering blocks, with the holes drilled to offset the rear axle rearwards. $5



      New challenge budget total: 977.50

      This coming week, were meeting a challenge competitor Tuesday night. Then, Thursday or Friday were towing the car to my shop and beginning the cleaning/welding/painting the underside thrash. We need to make subframe connectors while we are at it as well, if anyone has any good info for spirits.
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Oct 2007
      Location
      Georgetown/Austin, TX
      Posts
      307
      Country Flag: United States
      Very cool! I can't wait to see where this is headed. :-)

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Neither can i!!
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Challenge Budget:
      Car/parts $200

      Donor Lincoln town car: 410

      Engine crossmember: 120

      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10

      Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50

      Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89

      trans cooler: 2

      Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot

      Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)

      mustang 5.0 convertible engine mounts: 22

      2x2 angle iron, tractor supply 12.05

      Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to
      Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit.

      $5 grant wheel and hub (smaller diameter wheel gives more feedback. Well see if it stays.

      BOOM TUBES!!!! ($25, with brackets)

      AFCO threaded body coilovers for the front end, $100. The fabricated center link was left by the trash can, so free.

      6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65


      Pair of aluminum seats, $40. Sheet of flame retardant high density foam $10

      Fire suppression system parts (not included in challenge budget. But ive had 2nd degree burns on the boys before, so were getting safety gear come hell or high water)


      Long tube headers for 66-67 mustang 10
      Solid steel lowering blocks, with the holes drilled to offset the rear axle rearwards. $5

      New challenge budget total: 977.05

      Update time!!

      The challenge car is at the shop where we will be doing the majority of the building/finishing. It had a stuck right rear brake drum for no apparent reason, so we popped the drum off to make it roll easier. Pushed it onto the lift, and got all the **** cleaned out and organized on the shelves. Then, started on consolidating the pile of parts. First order of business was making the engine and trans fit. The goal, as it always should be, was to stuff it as far back and low in the chassis as physically possible, without having to re-engineer the firewall/steering/etc. That seems too much like work, so were avoiding it at all costs.

      Dustin, Dallas, and I got a start on it Friday night. We learned a few things in the process, such as an AOD is longer from engine to trans mount than a t5. So much so, that a new trans crossmember would have to be made. We also learned that the mustang convertible mounts make the engine almost a bolt in, but are HUGE when it comes time to get to the exhaust. But we used them for mock-up Friday night while we brew on the solution.

      After a few hours of eating, cursing, staring, and fiddling, this is where we wound up.














      The engine has about 1/4 inch at the closest point in the firewall. It is as low as we can go without the foxbody oil pan hitting things. The front spark plugs are even with the front most upper control arm bolts, and the crank center line is even with the spindle center line. It is STUFFED back into the engine bay. We will have to drill holes through the firewall to access the transmission bolts, as they are almost completely in the tunnel.

      Then, we closed up shop for the night. It was late, and Dallas had his kids the next day.

      So we got back on it Saturday evening. First, we had to make a run to tractor supply for more welding wire, a piece of angle iron, and some tarps. Plan for Saturday was to get the drivetrain firmly mounted, and undercoating cleaned off.

      Well, it only kind of happened. Building the new trans crossmember took far longer than I thought, between welder trouble, design revisions, etc. But we got it made. Still have to drill the trans mount holes and bolt it down, but I didn't have a single sharp drill bit. Part of the reason it took so long.
      But we got a lot done.

      Factory trans crossmember half ass installed. Would need a lot of work to fit properly, and heavy.


      And the one I made. About half the weight, strong, and simple.




      And where dallas got to on undercoating remocval. We are using the harbor freight oscillating tool with a scraper blade, and so far its worked great on the softer stuff. We havent tried on the really hard stuff yet. But it all has to come off. That way we can seam weld and paint. Dallas also began stripping everything underneath that wont be reused or needed. Parking brakes, evap lines, old brackets, speedo cable, etc. Everything under here is a greasy, nasty mess. And rusty. Just a miserable job at this point.




      This Friday ill start on the new slimmer motor mounts, as well as getting driveline angles and such set. The team has a busy weekend, so don't expect much. And that's only after I get over this stomach bug and get gas for the welder. The trans crossmember was made without any, and its UGLY.
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Challenge Budget: Car/parts $200
      Donor Lincoln town car: 410
      Engine crossmember: 120
      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10
      Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50
      Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89
      trans cooler: 2
      Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot
      Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)
      2x2 angle iron, tractor supply 12.05
      Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit.
      $5 grant wheel and hub (smaller diameter wheel gives more feedback. Well see if it stays.
      BOOM TUBES!!!! ($25, with brackets)
      AFCO threaded body coilovers for the front end, $100. The fabricated center link was left by the trash can, so free.
      6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
      Pair of aluminum seats, $40. Sheet of flame retardant high density foam $10
      Fire suppression system parts (not included in challenge budget. But ive had 2nd degree burns on the boys before, so were getting safety gear come hell or high water)
      Long tube headers for 66-67 mustang 10 Solid steel lowering blocks, with the holes drilled to offset the rear axle rearwards. $5
      Tractor supply bolts and washers: 3.06
      New challenge budget total: 958.11

      So, Saturday didn't exactly go as planned.

      I just wasn't happy with the hybrid mustang convertible mounts, so I pulled them out and chucked them in the scrap bin. I figured I could create sold mounts that did what I want them to do cheaper and better than making the rubber ones work. I also wanted to give a fair whack at making things fit better. So, consider these mounts version two. Please give feedback on them, as there's something I don't like and I cant figure out what.
      the constraints were simple: light, strong, removable, and as small as possible.
      So I used the motor mount brackets from the lincoln as the base. They fit the block, and had a bolt through design. Figured it was a good starting point. But I lost the damn bolts. So we went to tractor supply, where 3.06 netted us two proper length grade 5 bolts, and 4 fender washers. Put them in place on the block, leveled everything up into location, and drank a cup of coffee. Test fitted the mustang long tubes, and realized that the strut rod brackets would be in the way of them fitting, but they were close enough that it seemed worth a try.
      So I went to remove the strut rod brackets. The strut rods and brackets come close to 15lbs each side, and are horrible intrusive and introduce significant bind to the front suspension. Plans were previously laid to replace them with heim joints and swedged tubing, so the old ones could come out at any time. (fun fact: the car will not roll without them. Well it will, but the lower control arms cause so much flex that the steering angle changes while you're pushing from the front of the car, the car falls off the lift, and the tires become jammed into the fenders. That was fun....)
      So we went to pull the nuts and “captured studs” that hold the strut rod brackets in. My teammate began turning, and two studs on each strut rod bracket started spinning. After cutting the offending “studs” off, I learned that no, one fixed stud and two through bolts that my teammate had missed. Lots of time and cursing because of him not looking close enough under the dirt and undercoating....
      Anyway, the passengers side header fell right into place. Awfully close at the collector to the AOD, but workable with a rosebud tip and a cheater bar. The driver side is close, we will have to relocate one or two tubes slightly to clear the firewall and toe-board. But, early mustang headers fit a 302 powered AMC!!!

      So now it was off to build motor mounts. On the passengers side, I got all fancy. This mount will be loaded primarily in compression, so I wanted it to be strong in that plane. Used a few inches of scrap 16 gauge 1x1 square tube that I found out back in the scrap pile. Welded a 3/8 nut in one end, and made a rough guesstimate for height. Also, cut the top of the t short enough to leave room for two fender washers so the engine would stay locked in place on the bolt.

      Drivers side, I was much more concerned about tension. So I used again a few inches of the 16 gauge and fender washers, as well as the last little bit of the 2x2 angle iron from the trans crossmember.

      These were made all in the car so I knew they would fit. Not a comfortable welding position.

      While I was playing fabricator, Dallas was stripping the car. See, we have to get it all the way down to bare surfaces for seam welding, rust repair, hole filling, and painting. Teammate Dustin got us a gallon of PPG rusty metal primer, and a gallon of PPG industrial enamel in race car gray for 1 dollar each. This is not a BS price, it is what he sells the same mistint paint to his customers for. So, win!!




      Lastly, a picture of the scary seat brackets the car came with. They are well fabricated, but they are welded to very thin, very flexible parts of the floor pan. We actually found cracks around the floor on the drivers side from where they were flexing the sheet metal.

      Up next is working up the cage design with our newest teammate, building strut rods so the car can roll, and finishing gutting and cleaning and stripping. We will leave you with a Google image I found of what we want the car to look like at the challenge. Only copper, with steelies. And no front bumper. I have no idea whose car it is, but if you do, please help me contact them. I would LOVE to find out more about it. Its awesome!
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Challenge Budget: Car/parts $200
      Donor Lincoln town car: 410
      Engine crossmember: 120
      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10
      Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50
      Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89
      trans cooler: 2
      Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot
      Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)
      2x2 angle iron, tractor supply 12.05
      Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit.
      $5 grant wheel and hub (smaller diameter wheel gives more feedback. Well see if it stays. BOOM TUBES!!!! ($25, with brackets)
      AFCO threaded body coilovers for the front end, $100. The fabricated center link was left by the trash can, so free.
      6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
      Pair of aluminum seats, $40. Sheet of flame retardant high density foam $10
      Fire suppression system parts (not included in challenge budget. But ive had 2nd degree burns on the boys before, so were getting safety gear come hell or high water)
      Long tube headers for 66-67 mustang 10
      Solid steel lowering blocks, with the holes drilled to offset the rear axle rearwards. $5
      ¼ plate, scrap metal yard: 7.50
      Mustang convertible mounts 22
      Bending plate cost 25
      Swedged tubing, ebay: 31.90
      New challenge budget total: 1041.45
      So, we’ve been busy. And things have escalated quickly.
      First things first, we had to get the car rolling again, which meant I needed to fab strut rods. A fellow GRM member gave me some tabs for the strut rods, and I ordered 12 inch long swedged tubing. Using the ¼ plate I initially bought for engine mounts, and some cardboard aided design, I have some bolt on plates made for this. According to my research, the frame rails on this car were originally 3 layers of sheetmetal. With all the rust and damage, I figure were probably down to one. I didn’t want to trust my life to a layer of sheetmetal with a bracket welded on. So I traced the curve of the framerail onto a piece of cardboard, and trimmed until it fit both sides. Took my plate and piece of cardboard to j&w welding in Albemarle, where he cut it to size and bent it up for me in about 20 minutes while I waited. Only charged me $25. Took it down to the shop with my 12 inch long swedged tubing, marked and drilled the holes to use the factory strut rod mounting hardware and holes, and started figuring out how to set base caster measurements.

      I found that the fenders were in the way of any quality measurements I wanted, so I decided to get them out of my way. It escalated quickly to “strip everything that isn’t a racecar” phase pretty quickly.



      So, with plenty of access to everything, we could finally finish our assessment of the car. We found busted seams, rust, poor repairs, you name it. But nothing preventing us from building a race car. This thing could never be a restoration or street car candidate again though.


      So Steve Stafford (the aforementioned GRM member) brought me 4 tabs for my strut rods. And eyeballed the project. And joined the team. Sweet!!!
      Turned out that he has built a few roll cages, and had the equipment to do it again, along with the engineering background that this redneck doesn’t have. He’s always wanted to do the challenge, but couldn’t commit to being a one man team. So he’s joined us, and were fixing our structural and chassis rigidity issues with a cage. And seam welding. And rust repair. And….
      Anyway, we still needed this thing to roll again. There were three things that needed to happen to facilitate this:
      1. Strut rods. Not optional.
      2. Tires needed to hold air for more than 20 minutes.
      3. Engine needed raised for steering linkage and sway bar clearance (cause im a dumbass)

      So first, strut rods. I set the spindles at 0.0 caster at roughly intended ride height. Not much caster gain or loss in compression/rebound, so I was happy. Burned the tabs in on my plates, bolted it all together, and double checked my numbers. Dead nuts.



      Next was tires. See, we’ve been trying to figure out just what to do on this front. Tires are important for chassis. And rolling. And stance. And looks. And brakes, and….
      We needed something cheap, readily available, had lots of compound choices, and would fit the 15x7 wheels we painted. I found a spec Miata racer local, and decided to try a set of 205/50/15. He GAVE me 4 kumho R comp tires. Mounted them on the mopar 15x7, and bolted them down. Seemed very short. Still do.



      We then moved on to meddling with coilovers/shocks/ride height/etc for a little bit. When I come up with a solution, I will post it. Just haven’t found it yet….
      Did find the right stance in the front though!


      Last but not least was raising the engine and creating better mounts. I pulled the foxbody mustang convertible mounts out of the scrap pile, along with various other mounts I’ve tried. The convertible ones, a few chunks of 1x1 tube, and some 1/8 plate, little weld, and here we go!



      Essentially I made a bolt in spacer and plate to adapt the mustang mounts to the 6cyl k-frame mounts. Took a bit of head scratching, but im finally happy with this set.
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      I have been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

      we have ground, torched, scraped, welded, and repeated the process through an entire tank of shielding gas an 15lbs of wire. and were not done yet!!!







      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      so this has happened....

      (dark haired guy with goatee is dallas, fat bearded guy is me, intelligent looking guy is steve.











      we have the main hoop and halo fitted and notched, and after the holiday will get the main structure all welded up. exciting!!!
      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Location
      Albemarle, NC
      Posts
      1,149
      Country Flag: United States
      Challenge Budget: Car/parts $200
      Donor Lincoln town car: 410
      Engine crossmember: 120
      Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10 Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50 Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89
      trans cooler: 2
      Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot
      Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent)
      2x2 angle iron, tractor supply 12.05
      Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit.
      $5 grant wheel and hub (smaller diameter wheel gives more feedback. Well see if it stays.
      BOOM TUBES!!!! ($25, with brackets)
      6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
      Pair of aluminum seats, $40.
      Sheet of flame retardant high density foam $10
      Fire suppression system parts (not included in challenge budget. But ive had 2nd degree burns on the boys before, so were getting safety gear come hell or high water)
      Long tube headers for 66-67 mustang 10
      Solid steel lowering blocks, with the holes drilled to offset the rear axle rearwards. $5
      1/4 plate, scrap metal yard: 7.50
      Mustang convertible mounts 22
      Bending plate cost 25
      Swedged tubing, ebay: 31.90
      Threaded adjusters and 650lb springs, SRI performance: 65
      4 used nillstein shocks, pull-a-part: 28
      New challenge budget total: 1034.453

      Were back!!
      In my brief hiatus, I decided to take it easy. I brought an 01 miata back from the brink, built a mazda5 for my wife's Christmas present, and changed jobs. Oh, and gutted and rebuilt the laundry room.


      So, we pushed the car back in the shop Friday after work, soaked the water up off the floor pans, and proceeded to bust our butts for the rest of the year. We started with cleaning, organizing, and getting rust/dirt cleaned up.


      While doing this, I made the comment to Dallas that we needed to find a cheap source of sheet metal to use for patching holes, filling firewall, etc. He pointed to his shirt while saying “water heater.”

      He then went to the truck, and pulled out what he called a counter-top water heater that he had replaced earlier in the day and hadn't hauled off to the dump yet. We stripped all the sheet metal off it, and out it back on the truck. I think we got plenty. If we didn't, Dallas said he normally changes two a week, so more is readily available.

      So, whule I worked on pulling the motor and trans, as well as finishing seam welding the engine bay, Steve and dallas got to work on the cage. We started at five Friday, quit at midnight. Saturday was 8am to 2am, and ill let the pictures tell the story. (theres some missing in here, because we were too busy working)















      Michael Crawford

      1970 plymouth Duster back under construction:
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...uring-makeover

      1987 GMC S15 https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ct-drivabeater

    Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4 LastLast




    Advertise on Pro-Touring.com