Project WidowMaker - The Chevelle Build Thread

[The WidowMaker]

i have a few days off this week and ballistic fab sent me the end links, so i decided to get the sway bar done. i ran into a little snag though. at full lock and slightly before full compression there is a bind between the steering arm and end link. i cant ever think of a scenario where this would be possible, but either way i want it gone.

the issue starts with the fact that i got the rod ends with studs installed. i did this since it eliminated the number of parts required, but it positions the rod end further from the mounting hole. although the clearance required between the outside of the studded rod end and mounting hole, and the head of a bolt on a non studded rod end and the mounting hole are the same, thats not where the arms are coming into contact. i need to remove the studs tomorrow and install with bolts. this will get rid of the bind.

here are a couple of pics at full lock. i dont see how i would ever have this much compession at this point, even going over a speed bump or a driveway approach.

this is ride height with the spindle straight forward



still straight but you can see the space the stud offsets the joint.



and bind. you cant see it, but the contact is at the base of the joints head. i can lengthen it even more if necessary. a bolt wouldnt contact, and it would give me over 1/4" more clearance.



i also need to finalize the lowers point once i get the upper situated. ive already moved it a few times as you can see from all the tacks.

more to come tomorrow.

[The WidowMaker]

not much to update. i had to make a couple more bends in the arm, but it clears to full bump and lock. it doesnt look as good as i had hoped, but it works, and thats what should matter most. i now have to make the other side match.

i also took advantage of the bing.com 10% discount and bought the wilwood pedals, 3 mc's and an ididit steering column from summit. the parts showed up yesterday, so that will be the next project to come as soon as the damn sway bar is finished.

Tim

[Nessumsar]

Gadzooks! Looking pretty sweet Tim. Where in HB are you, I work at Bolsa and Edinger.

[41565 chevelle]

Tim,
I was overhead the other day and you were doing some welding out on the driveway.... Glad to see you are getting time to do some work. I want to come and check out the Willwood parts and hold em'. Thats what I want to do on mine....

[Ratty 46]

Super job so far ..... I'm impressed!

The center frame work mirrors what I've drawn up for my '46. Not sure yet ... but the big rollers in the back have inspired me to CUT more trunk space .....

Again - great direction & follow through.

Ratty 46

[73lt4]

How does the 10% discount through Bing.com work?

[The WidowMaker]

Where in HB are you, I work at Bolsa and Edinger.

right at magnolia and garfield. do you ever head down to the donut shop?

I want to come and check out the Willwood parts and hold em'. Thats what I want to do on mine....

any time...... they are a little different in size than i had anticipated, so it might be a good idea.

How does the 10% discount through Bing.com work?

do a search on "bing ebay cashback" and start reading. there are a lot of little details that must be followed, but if you do everything correct they will pay you in 60 days. ive saved a little over $500 so far. last year at this time it was 35% and right now its actually 15%. it went up since i bought my stuff. if it goes up some more i'll be getting some more stuff.

Tim

[The WidowMaker]

here are some new pics of the sway bar. i had to add a couple of bends, but i clear through full travel at full lock. i still need to final weld the lower mount, but its pretty much done. next time i'll just spend the $800 on the dse bar.

[The WidowMaker]

here are some pics of the brake and clutch setup. 7/8 and 1" for the brakes and 3/4" for the hydraulic t/o bearing. im running the c6 z06 setup from tobin at kore3 and will running without a booster. i have never had manual brakes, but thats how this is going to be set up.

[WS6]

Tim, how often does the Bing thing change? I just checked out the gauges I want and they are at 8% cash back on ebay. Does it fluctuate based on what you purchase or where you buy? Just trying to decide if I should press my luck and wait for it to go up. Also to understand why you have it at 15% and I'm only seeing 8%. I'm poor and cheap so saving money rocks.

So for the detour from the thread but this is the first I've heard of this.

[The WidowMaker]

Just trying to decide if I should press my luck and wait for it to go up. Also to understand why you have it at 15% and I'm only seeing 8%. I'm poor and cheap so saving money rocks.

i actually have more pics to post, but when i searched a couple of hours ago it was now up to 20%. i just spent over 600 bucks through summit on various 304 stainless bends and the mufflers to complete the exhaust. over $120 saved and microsoft is footing the bill.

go to "cashbackr.com" and move your mouse over the scroll down menu on the top right side that says "bing.com ebay cashback". it has a few options; cashback trend, etc, but the one you want is cashback keywords. this site searchs those words and gives you up to date percentages. i usually use "wii" or "cheap wii". it just so happens that tonite the first is at 15% and the second is at 20%. once you click on the link and go to ebay, you can search for whatever you want, meaning you dont have to buy a wii and you dont have to search for what you want through bing. they just want the searches to promote their new search engine.

REMEMBER!!!!! you can only use it on buy it now items within 60 minutes of searching bing, you HAVE to use paypal and you can only make one purchase at a time. if you need 2 of something, you can change the quantity to 2 or 4 etc..... and it still works because it counts as 1 purchase. you just cant buy a muffler then go buy set of tires without closing out ebay, re searching "wii" through bing and relinking to ebay. again, they want the searches for bings numbers.

all of my cashback has taken 60 days, but mine has all worked. there are a lot of people that have had problems, so dont come kill me if you are one of the unlucky ones. getting ahold of bing customer service is a nightmare, so my advice is to purchase what you can already afford, and if they credit you the % its an added bonus.



********make sure to read all terms on ebays site before using**********
http://pages.ebay.com/cashbackoffer/terms.html
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[The WidowMaker]

here are the pics of the column. i did a lot of research before buying this column, so i hope it works as planned. since im running the isis system, i dont plan on having a key for the ignition, but rather the key fob and a start button. therefore, i wanted a smooth floor shift column in bare steel that i will spray later. the 70 chevelles use a 32x2, but the part number is a retrofit column with the key. so i found two others that would fit;

1120320010
1120680010

those two only differ by about 30 bucks in price but the second is made to fit the earlier chevelles and 68 camaro. it comes with a piece welded on that the factory mount bolts to. im just hoping that mine is the same.

the other dilema was that ididit just released a collapsible column. it has inner bearings, and when struck from the top or bottom, it will collapse up to 2.5". thats a pretty big deal. although my chevelle will have a collapsible intermediate shaft, there is nothing that absorbs the impact of my chest in an accident. so, this sounded like a great idea. i called them and got the pricing; 427 for the column, 79 for the dash mount and 30 for the firewall mount. shipped out the door i was looking at a little less than a $200 difference. that small amount seemed well worth it to me, and my wife was actually pushing me towards it. but what pushed me away was that i didnt feel that there was any real testing done by them. they said that the testing was done in house and that it was designed by the owner. through the information i gathered, it uses a friction style mount that will start to slide at ~550lbs +/- 100 which was the same as the factory column. what i wasnt able to ascertain was whether the force required to continue to accelerate the column increased, decreased or stayed constant and how that compared to the factory spec.

i guess all im saying is that if they had some outside lab show that this column was equal or superior to the factory column, it would have been a no brainer. but since it required a lot more fab work, and i was left with questions unaswered, you can see my non collapsible column below.

[The WidowMaker]

here are some of the pics of the exhaust parts. i went with the 304 stainless bends made by pypes and available from summit. 4-30* and 2-90* in 3" for the x pipe and 4 combo bends in 2.5" for the tailpipes. i would have been better off getting individual bends for the 2.5" stuff, but i thought the combo bends would provide a little more, or at least the same amount of material to work with, but i was wrong. the individual bends are 24" and the combos are 36", and the combo is the same price as 2 individual bends. go figure.

i also went with the stainless flowmaster 50 series deltas. i ran the 40 deltas previously on the car, and im running a single 50 delta on my silverado with a 5.3 and love/d both. my wife wanted slightly quiter than the 40's, so the 50's were the next choice. i looked into magnaflow and dynomax, but i cant say that i like that sound. i couldnt find one clip where i thought that they sounded good. im not a fan of the original 40 series either, but i love the mellower sound of the deltas.

i still need to puchase the straight pipe, but at 10 bucks a foot im going to hold off a little more until i know what i need.

[The WidowMaker]

here are some pics of the stock collapsible column dash mounts for my 70. i have now verified that all cars sold after jan 1, 1968 had to have a collapsible column, not just a collapsible intermediate shaft. ididit is currently working on redesigning all of their columns to meet this standard.

[The WidowMaker]

deleted

[WS6]

I believe that technically, the collapsible columns where the ones where the steering shaft that actually goes through the unit is two pieces and the one piece slides into the other upon impact. I'm almost positive on this as c2 vettes have a straight shaft going from the steering wheel to the box and C3 have it in two pieces like I mentioned and I'm not referring to the telescoping option

[The WidowMaker]

see post #74

[gearbanger]

My 67 pontiac has a collapsible column. The shaft is telescopic and is frozen in position by hard plastic that is injected into special cavities that lock it in position unless an impact breaks the plastic loose. The outer shell is collapsible because a portion of the tube is made of wire mesh basically that would collapse in the event of an impact.

[gearheads78]

67 was the first year for collapsible on all GM A-bodies. Sounds like Ididit needs to educate the phones guys better.

[The WidowMaker]

i called ididit today and they are working on something. not sure if its going to be the new collapsible version of the chevelle retrofit column, or if they are just going to make something up for me. they sounded like they wanted to make it an option for all. i told them i would be fine with the universal collapsible, but they said that the columns appear different and he would me rather have the correct column.

Tim