70 GTO.....part 2

[SDMAN]

Finally managed to get time to snatch the car from the chassis shop and haul it to the shop where it will all come together.

This last vist at the chassis shop saw a lot done. We finished the mods to the Art Morrison Max-G frame. The inner frame rails were modded to allow for placing the mufflers as far back as possible. All 4 of the frame openings for the exhaust pipe were made oval so my exhaust system will now fit. To make the NHRA happy, we put an 8.50 moly cage in it using the Alston parts that allow for removal of the door bars and rear cross bar. Removing those pieces makes for much more enjoyable street use. The floor got a pair of X braces as well. When you remove the floor and big chunk of firewall the NHRA has quite a few safety requirements. All of those were addressed. There is a full X in the roof hoop. Turned out nice.
Also added a drag race style torsion bar behind the rearend. Bolts to a pair of frame mounted spherical bearings and attaches to the rear suspension. This easily bolts off, as its not a street piece. Straight line only.
And finally, the headers. 2.250" primary tubes, nice thick (.375") flanges with 4 bolts per (we will mod the heads), plenty of room to tighten them, change plugs, no interference with anything else (starter, etc) and nothing hangs below the frame. The guys at Spintech fabbed us a pair of 28 degree bend/transitions that we incorporated into the header. These really turned out nice.

Let the final assembly begin!

[1971CHEVELLE]

Chassis looks good

[SDMAN]

A few more. This is an early prototype 2X4 intake base for the CV-1 Pontiac cylinder heads. This base can be configured with spacers and different tops for any size cubic inch, or dual carb setup (4150, 4500). Additionally, there is a flat top available and plenty of room to mount a throttle body on the front of it. Thats what I am going to do. Plumb it for injectors and use it as an EFI intake.
Since the real parts are not yet available, Jim was nice enough to loan me this prototype piece to do some real world height checking. As the pics show, it really does not extend much past the hood line at all. With a spacer, flat top and the throttle body on the front, the final setup might be 3" taller than whats shown in the pics. More than acceptable.

[SDMAN]

Well, its been 5 months since I last posted. Wish I had major progress to report, but Ive just been swamped at work. Im a consultant, and my average week so far this year is right at 60 hours. Doesnt leave a lot of time for working on the car. Mostly got a ton of little things done and out of the way.

But its not all doom and gloom. The motor is about complete. The CNC work on the cylinder heads and intake just took forever. But it was definitely worth the wait. At my valve lift (.700" net) we got 430 cfm on the intake, and with a 2.250" tube, just over 300 cfm on the exhaust. Based on these numbers, we expect the motor to be over 600HP unboosted! Tomorrow I will order a custom cell from Fuelsafe. We got the size/shape all worked out this past weekend. Will be right at 28 gallons. Im putting a Magnafuel 4303 pump inside the tank, so it should run cool and quiet. Magnafuel says that pump works just fine inside the tank.

Likely wont get a lot done for another 6 weeks or so. July and August in the Sonoran desert are best spent indoors or in the pool, and Im still crazy busy at work. Good news is, we hired me some help. In a month or so, when he gets up to speed, Ill have more time for working on the car. But I will be ordering parts so Im ready for a big push later this fall.