67 Butternut Build

[sjaroslo]

It's been a while since the last update, so we're probably due. EBMC has been cranking on the car pretty frequently, considering how many cars they have in the shop, so I've been grateful. A lot of time has gone into working on the exhaust, as it turns out that the pipes from the headers to the mufflers were pretty beat up, plus they've been working on getting the tailpipes cleanly up-and-over the g-link. The oval tubing that was purchased was not quite up to snuff out of the box, so unfortunately EBMC has had to burn a few hours making it right so that the total package is going to look and perform appropriately. As previously chronicled, they purchased a Viper-to-T56 scattershield, which has just a skosh more room in it, plus a 1/4" spacer to pull the input shaft back a little bit and allow the clutch disks to ride the splines and not jam against their shoulder. An OEM-style throwout was also procured.
Attachment 110628



Interesting note about the Viper scattershield--it appears that they have made a running production change and are now clocking the transmission a few degrees off from straight up-and-down. So this looks kind of funky from underneath, so the guys fabbed up a little shield that hides the angle from the eye and makes it look more pleasing--even though most people will never see this view. I really like that.Attachment 110626Attachment 110627

Several months ago, I was able to purchase a brand new CTS-V clutch & flywheel at a reasonable price from a member of this board who just happened to live a few blocks away from me; my thinking was that I would squirrel it away for the inevitable rainy day, but when I realized how much trans stuff was going on to fix this issue, I decided that I'd have EBMC install the nice new shiny parts on the car, and I will put the "unused" but still new, lightly surface-rusted stuff up for sale (along with the "unused" new original scattershield) and hopefully re-coup a bit of the money that is going out.

Other chores that I've tasked Steve and the crew with (or that they've discovered):
rear end was 1/4" off-center
notched the scattershield for improved header clearance (more on that later)
verify the starter gear depth and alignment (I wasn't able to do that with the engine and trans together initially)
new clutch bleeder line (more on that later)
V-Band clamps and associated welding
Fill trans with fluid
Fill brakes with fluid and bleed
tunnel clearanced for trans
driveline angles were established & Driveshaft has been ordered and installed!
Shifter opening has been cleaned up a ton and a screw-in cover plate fabricated, which will have just as small a hole where the shifter needs to poke through--can't express how happy I am with this improvement!
Attachment 110629Attachment 110630

With regard to the header clearance, I approved Steve's suggestion that we modify the header angle in addition to notching the scattershield. The headers just were not aligning well with the cutouts in the Morrison subframe, and we really didn't want to be having to wrangle things into position under tension in order to get it to fit nicely. Frank touted these headers as custom units that he had commissioned from Stainless Works that would work with a variety of aftermarket sub-frames, but whether that is true or not, I couldn't say. Either way, they just weren't quite cutting it so they went under the knife. I hate having to pay for things that I've already paid for! They are adding V-Band clamps at the headers and the back of the mufflers, so future re-assembly should be a heck of a lot easier.

With regard to the clutch bleeder line, they were planning on re-using the AP Racing M/C that was already there and just running a new line to the slave, but realized late in the game that the line attached to the M/C was a captive line--you couldn't remove the line that was there and replace it with something of a different length, etc., so we'll be replacing the entire clutch M/C and line with something new, possibly from Wilwood. In a perfect world, I am hoping that EBMC might be able to weld in the bracket to the firewall and give me a fighting chance of being watertight! But I think that will be tough with a finished firewall already there. At least with a completely new mechanical set up, I'll be able to rely on them to check the clutch geometry and install a clutch pedal stop, if deemed necessary, etc.

I believe that more work is scheduled for this week, so I am going to be anxiously looking forward to new updates and the next opportunity to pay the shop a visit. Thanks for taking the time to follow along.