Project Slo-Touring "Get Bent"

[Mike Norris]

Hey All,

Myself and John Parsons took a ride out to check on a potential project and though not realy a PT car, should be a pretty neat little project.

It is a 1948 Bentley Mark VI Saloon and we will be installing a 2008 Pontiac G8 6.0 and A6 paddle shift trans along with updating a few other items along the way. The suicide doors and right hand drive will make things fun.

The attched pictures are not of the actual car as I forgot my camera, but it is pretty much an identical twin. A very nice condition car, but definitely a driver. To me in the pics the car looks huge, but in reality it is less then 16 feet long and narrower then a late model Vette.

There will be the typical install fab work to be done and all the client wants is that it look stock on the outside and drive like a new car. One of the hurdles we need to address is making the 12 volt positive ground car work in conjunction with the 12 volt negative ground engine. I think we have it thought out and Frank from prodogy also had some input for sure.

After the car arrives I can post up pics of the progress is folks are interested.

Have a great weekend all.

Mike Norris

[spider97]

sounds like an awesome find im interested in the build

[parsonsj]

It's wild. A 61 year old car, completely unmolested. It's an Arizona car, bought new by a doctor, and sold by his son to the present owner.

It's never gonna see the track, but it will be different!

jp

[Part Time]

It's wild. A 61 year old car, completely unmolested. It's an Arizona car, bought new by a doctor, and sold by his son to the present owner.

It's never gonna see the track, but it will be different!

jp

Now it's a completely wild molested Florida car!

Going to be cool for sure!

[MrQuick]

gotta mini tub that.......tub.

gonna be interested to say the least.

[WS6]

This is going to be cool. Do me a favor though, have someone already at a Bentley type show with a camera recording everything. I want to see people's faces when they see this thing pull up with an American V8 under the hood.

[Code Red]

i dont know I'm not a purist guy but I do think if a car is in very good original condition it should be restored BUT if its a non numbers car then have at it

sucks someone already totalled a G8 so you could have the drivetrain

[1Michel]

Would this be a good candidate for a Duramax engine with an Alison auto trans?
tons of torque to move such an heavy car.

[Mike Norris]

And the transformation begins. The engine and trans should be out over the weekend and then we need to re-engineer the steering to make some room for the V8. Surprisingly all of the fasteners are coming apart well, even the exhaust.

As far as weight goes, it is only supposed to be in the 3600lb area and with the LS engine in there it may lose 200 pounds or so.

Mike Norris

[Jim Nilsen]

That will be so very cool. You have your work cut out for you on a few things for sure.

I had the thought that 2 Braille batteries and 2 seperate systems just might be the easiest and with the batteries being only 21 lb. ea. and the car weighing that much it sure wouldn't make that much of a difference and could really help in the long run if you ever needed a jump to get started.

You guys are going to make him one happy owner in the end.

Very cool car !!!!

[parsonsj]

You have your work cut out for you on a few things for sure.

For sure, indeed! The steering will be the difficult part: not getting the dots connected, but doing it safely so that the suspension geometry isn't compromised. Oh, and it's right hand steer. So that complicates it even more.

At least we don't have to engineer it for Road Atlanta, lol.

jp

[Motown 454]

Nice project . It will shock alot of people for sure.

[Kenova]

I'm guessing the electrical system is 6 volt, positive ground?
Any plans for a brake upgrade?

Ken

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

dont let Frieburger see you do that... ahahah!

[Mike Norris]

Hey All,

Well its back to winter here and getting things going on ole "Get Bent" Here are a couple answers to the previous questions.

It is not a very clean car, though still all stock, and has a lot of previously fixed rust and to fix the original engine alone would be in the $25-30K area according to Bentley. He is still planning, at least for now, on keeping the original suspension and brakes. I told him that this powertrain has quite the capability to outperform the chassis and brakes and he understands that. He just wants a nice dependable cruiser.

Here are a few pics of the engine and trans installed as well as some of the new steering setup. I was lucky enough to find a hot rod "push rack" from Unisteer that allowed for the proper turning direction when the steering wheel was turned. it is quite tight and took quite a bit of wiggling around to get it all working correctly.

John Parsons shortened up the original steering shaft for me as well as machined me a firewall closeout for the shaft from my fine "blueprints" I sent him

To seal the closeout I actually am using a rubber pipe flashing for a roof vent and it is nice an thick, but still flexible enough to send the shaft through and seal nicely.

The rack fits nicely among the starter, frame rail and exhaust so far and I combined the supplied link from Unisteer to the factory Bentley drag link with a little cutting, splicing and welding. The steering shaft is only about a foot long and to squeeze in 3 joints (1 double and 1 single) along with a support was tight, but after a lot of moving and adjusting works well.

I am also combining the rear 15% or so of the factory Bentley driveshaft with the front 85% of the G8 driveshaft. It looks like alignment and angles will work out well.

The fuel system is in up to the firewall and I am using my tried and true C5 Corvette fuel filter & regulator along with an in-line Walbro pump. For now I am going to try and use the factory Bentley tak supply via gravity and see if she does okay. If not I will need to get into the tank and do a little work there.

So now it is time for the engine harness to get modified and ready to get her running. I also need to build a nice trans cooler package to work with the factory Bentley radiator. And I need to figure out an alternator solution while trying to keept the stock L76 water pump and pulley setup. I may try and mount the alternator "backwards" and need to verify if it will charge in reverse rotation. And of course a little exhaust work is needed along with coating the headers.

It is a lot of fun and quite interesting to say the least. Here are a few pics for y'all. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and winds down 2010 on a high note.

Mike Norris

[parsonsj]

Mike, it's nice to see you getting that old car close to running again. I still find the owner's exhortation to preserve the original brakes and suspension somewhat astonishing! But he's paying the bills. Let's all hope he doesn't do any high-speed hijinks in that car.

Anyway, the one photo seems to have a shock tower instead of an alternator. Am I seeing that right? How are you going to work that out?

jp

[CruizinKev]

omg wow!!!!!

[Mike Norris]

Here is my initial thought and quick positioning install. With the narrow frame rails and wanting to keep from going to a full on aftermarket accessory drive, mounting the alternator backwards would be a good solution.

I am thinking the single threaded rod install may be a bit flimsy, so I am going to have someone I know that can read my mind and crappy hand written blueprints make me a nice aluminum bracket. I will also make a support bracket from the water pump bolts to the back of the alternator.

Hopefully it will work as slick as I think it will. Fingers are crossed for sure.

Mike Norris

[parsonsj]

On a serious note... I am noticing the motor mounts. Where did you get them?

[parsonsj]

Nah. That's a 3/8" threaded rod, right? I'm sure it will be up to the job.