Project WidowMaker - The Chevelle Build Thread

[jake72ss]

The mount issue has always confused me about the Ididit columns, as if they are not expensive enough and then you have to buy a kit to install it.
Thanks

[jake72ss]

Also I forgot to ask, what part number will that column be?
Thanks

[The WidowMaker]

just a couple updates. the trunk floor is now finished and only needs some paint and dynamat to be complete. the floor was raised a total of 3 3/4" and gives me a ton more ground clearance. i still need to attach the rear bumper and work out the fill tube, but i made sure not to raise it high enough to cause an issue.

this is the before pic



the after pic



this shows the amount of room between the tank and the watts. if you are running the fays2 kit, you will have plenty of room with this tank. although i raised it, i didnt move the tank back any. it would sit in the same spot if i had the stock floor. hector is making some new straps that are a little longer for my mounts.



this shows how the trunk floor was done. almost all the seams are full welded. the only ones that didnt get a solid bead were the filler panels on the sides. the bottom will be ground smooth before getting a bed liner product, but the top will be covered with upholstery





this is how i mounted the battery. the sheetmetal is reinforced so the bolts dont pull it up. the top bar was just a piece of aluminum and i routed the edges so they are now rounded over. once the bolts are tightened (i dont have them tightened here), the battery doesnt move at all.

[The WidowMaker]

i mocked up the tires for the last time today and got my measurements to send off to jon. i spent a lot of time making sure the tire was square and centered, and double checked my measurements with a little device i made up. he originally just wanted to know the measurement to the tightest spot and that would have been simple with the old ride height and set of tires since it was just in the middle of the quarter lip. but with the new ride height, and because tires dont have square edges between the sidewall and tread, and the tighest spots were at this radius, it was much easier to just mock the tire up.

so with all that said, i plan to give him the exact spot i want the outside of the tire, and im confident he can take that and figure out where that would place the wheel.

here is a pic of how it will sit



now i just need to decide what i want to do about a style. they will either be the livewires or rated x's, and they will have a dark satin grey center and brushed outer. ive also narrowed the car down to either the prowler orange (with a little more red tint added) with the same dark satin gray stripe, or the whole car in dark gray with a black satin stripe.

more to come later.

Tim

[MCMLXIX]

Looks great Tim... I want to raise my trunk floor too... Is there floor pan bracing weleded to the the underside? Do you have any pics looking up from underneath without the tank??? I would like to see how everything fits together...

[The WidowMaker]

Also I forgot to ask, what part number will that column be?

ill have to check. the upper portion of my column does not appear stock (because i didnt want it to), so that was something they were still working on. they should have a number by now though.

The mount issue has always confused me about the Ididit columns, as if they are not expensive enough and then you have to buy a kit to install it.

thats the best part about installing this column; you only need a lower firewall mount, and they want you to use the one that works with the collapsible column. its something like 30 bucks. the upper mount is just your stock mount, and they will have the tabs welded on in the correct place so you dont have to use an adapter like on the flaming river stuff.

ill have pics of the lower mount next week when i get around to welding it in.

[The WidowMaker]

Is there floor pan bracing weleded to the the underside? Do you have any pics looking up from underneath without the tank??? I would like to see how everything fits together...

one page back, post 118 has all the good stuff that i think youre looking for. let me know if you need any more specific pics.

[MCMLXIX]

The only thing I dont get/see is how the frame fits next to the trunk floor and drop offs....

[Roadbuster]

Looks great Tim! I really like that tire mock up shot. This car is going to have a great stance! Keep up the good work!
Jon

[CruizinKev]

nice work! looking good!

[clu269]

What size are the rear tires?

[The WidowMaker]

right now they are nitto 555r 305/35/20's, but im looking to sell these new tires and get a set of the nt05 315's if i decide to go with 20x11's.

[The WidowMaker]

The only thing I dont get/see is how the frame fits next to the trunk floor and drop offs....

these are the only pics i have right now that kind of explain it. if you look at the very right side of the first pic, youll see a piece of the old floor brace. this is the brace that the frame sits on, and was the old height of the floor.



the second pic kind of shows the same thing, but right side up. you can see how the floor was raised right next to the floor brace that sits on the frame. when looking from under the car, the raised portion almost exactally follows the frame.




i'll see if i can get some better pics when i get home tomorrow.

[WS6]

Very nice. How will you fill the gas tank?

[The WidowMaker]

How will you fill the gas tank?

same as stock. the filler neck has a pretty good bend and it extends up about 5-6" above the tank. since i raised it almost 4, the bottom of the opening is still 1-2" above the top of the tank. i just need to make the opening and a new filler neck. i plan to mock the bumper up and get that done in the next couple weeks.

[Motown 454]

Nice work it looks great, a lot more clearance.

[1971CHEVELLE]

Wow awesome project

[The WidowMaker]

well the inside of the trunk has been coated, and i have the trunk lid aligned and gapped. btwn adding and subtracting a little metal, i have a straight 3/16 gap. now the plan is to make the bumper fit the rear.

here are a couple of pics i threw up on the paint and body forum





as you can see, its a long way from being "tucked" in nicely. it is acutally hitting the body in the middle (if the car is looked at from the rear), so the sides cant move any further forward. you can kind of see from the second pic that it doesnt follow the contour of the rear sheet metal very well. again its flush in the middle of the deck lid, but sticks out towards the quarters.

it also does the same thing on the vertical gaps as well. the middle of the deck lid contacts the top of the bumper when closed, but the outsides are sitting about 1/2" below the quarters.

so the plan is to start working it from the middle. i'll make some relief cuts that allow the ends to go in and up and see where that gets me. then the plan is to narrow, shave and move the brackets to the proper locations. if i need to add metal to the quarters, that will be done as well.

i have a feeling that this is going to take a while though. the plan is to send the bumper out to be stripped, then get working on it. hopefully i will have it done in a few weeks.

[diesel1114]

any updated pictures? the car is comming along very nicely and i love the attention to detail very nice and should really be one bad ass chevelle

[The WidowMaker]

any updated pictures? the car is comming along very nicely and i love the attention to detail very nice and should really be one bad ass chevelle

actually i do have a small update. i paid the final balance on the wheels and tires. i still havent selected the style, but they will be 19x9.5 and 20x10.5 3 piece rushforths. ive added the wildsides back in to the choices, so its between the livewire, rated x and the wildside. i know most people hate the 7 spoke 5 lug combo, but the rendering looks sick and jason being the designer and the guy behind the wheels wouldnt steer me wrong.

the tires will be nitto nt05 275/30/19's up front and 315/35/20's in the rear. i sold my 305/35's since i really wanted a 200 treadwear tire for the autocross stuff. im sure they will change that rule before my car is done though.

i also did a spray out of colors. i shot one red and 6 greys all in the new water based stuff. after all the color comparisons, the red will be mercedes mars red and the grey will be off of a range rover. i brought the samples into the guys at work, and every one of them tossed the range rover grey out in the first round. obviously their vision isnt the same as mine, especially since i hate blue greys. i was going to shoot a few more, but im sticking to my decision for now.

lastly, i got a little work done on the rear bumper. its a real pain in the ass, but progress is being made. i first sliced it in the middle to get the angles corrrect. originally, it was too high and too tight right in the middle, but by slicing it, it took care of this. the issue im having now is the bend right at the last outer foot. it starts to curve about 2" too early and its keeping the bumper from flowing nicely into the quarters.

today, i cut the bumper again in the middle and took out 3/4". this sucked the sides in nicely, but opened up a whole bunch of new problems. so by the time i'm done, its going to look sick, but probably wont be able to be chromed with the amount of work that im needing to do.

here are some pics

bumper and trunk lid flowing nicely


you can see here how the bumper curves a little early. it also makes it difficult since the tail light is right below this, meaning that an easy correction would place a bend where the light is. you can also see how the corner of the quarter and the corner of the bumper flow nicely. they no longer do this with the bumper moved in 3/8" per side. although the side flows perfect, this corner is an area thats going to need some serious surgery.


bumper sticking out before narrowing


bumper moved in 3/8". i need to get one at the same angle as the above pic for a better comparison. it really made a HUGE improvement.