Widebody LT1 Project- Plus Story.
12-17-11, 03:15 AM
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Widebody LT1 Project- Plus Story.
Let me start of with one thing for all the anti V8 guys on here- If you hate the whole V8 swap thing, thats fine with me. Just look past it and enjoy all of the other work being done to the car! And this is a bit drawn out, but I feel like there might be some good information to be had from my experiences and pictures!
Preview of the last car
Also, excuse the lack of pictures from alot of the prior progress/other cars... they are on my laptop (which isn't here), so If I get a chance to get them off I will try to come back and add them.
My whole RX7 journey began in 2004. I had been looking for a project, and always liked the look of the FB RX7's. I wanted to do a V8 powered car. A friend of mine had an 85, which he had just finished rebuilding a fresh 12A in. He had over $1100 in receipts from Mazdatrix and other rebuild stuff. He was leaving for the Air Force, and needed it gone, so I went to check it out. He didn't have a title for it. After checking it out, there was NO RUST at all, but the paint was dead and it still wouldn't start, which he couldn't figure out. So $350 later, I had my first of 5(6 if you count my FC) RX7's along this project......
Later that day I get it home, and after about 30 min of tinkering with it (honestly knew little about cars at this point) we got it to fire. Turns out, he had not hooked up a few Vac lines, and the fuel pump was dead. We ran it only a few times by pouring gas in the carb. Later that night, we had the engine out, and most of the car was stripped. Looking back, I wish I had been able to get a clean title for this car and would have just got it running, but at the time, it seemed like a great plan. So I end up selling that motor to a RX7 Club Forum member for $350 to recoup my cost in the car (he got a steal IMO)
Next few weeks is tearing the car down to a bare shell, minus the suspension/glass. Plan was to get it painted, then start the V8 swap. I was trying to get a title for it for the next few months, but never had any luck because of how many owners the car had gone thru before I got it, so after it sat in my basement for like 9 months, I scrapped the shell (realllllly sucked, but couldn't find anyone in time who wanted a shell sans title) Kept all the parts around though.
Over the next few years, I was busy at Virginia Tech and other stuff, so the RX7 idea kinda fell away. I did buy another FB, but sold it after a few weeks.
So finally, I get to where Im gonna have time to work on it again, and fall into another super clean car. It's an 84 GSL, Black/Red leather. Bad Motor, but good paint and interior (I never liked the red, but I had every part of the black from the 85 to go in) So got this car for $250. It was 100% complete sans engine was taken out and was in a few boxes.
Started swapping interior, then finally get a clean title for this one (gotta love buying cars from rednecks with no titles, haha) so actual work began. I bought an 88 Chevrolet Scottsdale Pickup, with a 305 TBI V8 for $300 literally like 10 houses up the street from where I found the GSL. Drove it home (it was about rusted in half, but ran well) I also picked up a T-5 World Class, and buy a Grannys Speed Shop swap kit.
Took a while to get motivated to pull the motor from the truck since 4WD burnouts against trees and jumping it was really fun, but snow hit, and I finally got to work.
Skip ahead to summer, and I have a running 305 powered 84 FB. Suspension sucks, wheels/tires suck, etc... I start looking for a GSL-SE suspension.......
It was very dirty under the hood. Super crappy.
Cleaned it up a bit at some point.
And then I strike pay dirt in the same town as the last two cars came from again. A guy tells me he has two old RX7's he will sell me for $1200. I go look, one is a 79 (spraypainted blue, rusted apart, sitting in weeds taller than the car) and the other is an 85 GSL-SE, 100% stock, 79k. Has a blown Pinion Gear, but runs/everything works. I joke and tell the guy $300 for the silver one. He literally says "Hell, thats the gooder of the twos. How about $600 for both?" but after a bit more talking, finally agrees on $300 for the "gooder" car. So I take it home (clean title this time!) but it had a bit of rust and ended up rolling into a tree at my house (long story, but funny) By the end of the summer, the GSL is sitting on GSL-SE suspension. Here is the GSL-SE after I swapped my suspension on it. Shell gets Scrapped after I cant get a buyer (hell, I make the $$$ back on all the cars just in scrap metal, haha)
Got a bit lazy pulling the gas tank/suspension/gas lines.... hehehe
At this point I decide I want to run Autocross with it instead of my Miata/subaru/other cars I have along this timeline (I go thru alot of cars, I own 6 right now as I write this, lol)
Got some wheels/tires. Still on GSL-SE springs/shocks (cut springs, super ghetto)
End up looking like this- not pretty. Had to chop up a set of the very first cars fenders so I wouldn't rub. Also, had no hood because car was overheating, and no front splitter because I was lazy...
Finally getting somewhere!
Preview of the last car
Also, excuse the lack of pictures from alot of the prior progress/other cars... they are on my laptop (which isn't here), so If I get a chance to get them off I will try to come back and add them.
My whole RX7 journey began in 2004. I had been looking for a project, and always liked the look of the FB RX7's. I wanted to do a V8 powered car. A friend of mine had an 85, which he had just finished rebuilding a fresh 12A in. He had over $1100 in receipts from Mazdatrix and other rebuild stuff. He was leaving for the Air Force, and needed it gone, so I went to check it out. He didn't have a title for it. After checking it out, there was NO RUST at all, but the paint was dead and it still wouldn't start, which he couldn't figure out. So $350 later, I had my first of 5(6 if you count my FC) RX7's along this project......
Later that day I get it home, and after about 30 min of tinkering with it (honestly knew little about cars at this point) we got it to fire. Turns out, he had not hooked up a few Vac lines, and the fuel pump was dead. We ran it only a few times by pouring gas in the carb. Later that night, we had the engine out, and most of the car was stripped. Looking back, I wish I had been able to get a clean title for this car and would have just got it running, but at the time, it seemed like a great plan. So I end up selling that motor to a RX7 Club Forum member for $350 to recoup my cost in the car (he got a steal IMO)
Next few weeks is tearing the car down to a bare shell, minus the suspension/glass. Plan was to get it painted, then start the V8 swap. I was trying to get a title for it for the next few months, but never had any luck because of how many owners the car had gone thru before I got it, so after it sat in my basement for like 9 months, I scrapped the shell (realllllly sucked, but couldn't find anyone in time who wanted a shell sans title) Kept all the parts around though.
Over the next few years, I was busy at Virginia Tech and other stuff, so the RX7 idea kinda fell away. I did buy another FB, but sold it after a few weeks.
So finally, I get to where Im gonna have time to work on it again, and fall into another super clean car. It's an 84 GSL, Black/Red leather. Bad Motor, but good paint and interior (I never liked the red, but I had every part of the black from the 85 to go in) So got this car for $250. It was 100% complete sans engine was taken out and was in a few boxes.
Started swapping interior, then finally get a clean title for this one (gotta love buying cars from rednecks with no titles, haha) so actual work began. I bought an 88 Chevrolet Scottsdale Pickup, with a 305 TBI V8 for $300 literally like 10 houses up the street from where I found the GSL. Drove it home (it was about rusted in half, but ran well) I also picked up a T-5 World Class, and buy a Grannys Speed Shop swap kit.
Took a while to get motivated to pull the motor from the truck since 4WD burnouts against trees and jumping it was really fun, but snow hit, and I finally got to work.
Skip ahead to summer, and I have a running 305 powered 84 FB. Suspension sucks, wheels/tires suck, etc... I start looking for a GSL-SE suspension.......
It was very dirty under the hood. Super crappy.
Cleaned it up a bit at some point.
And then I strike pay dirt in the same town as the last two cars came from again. A guy tells me he has two old RX7's he will sell me for $1200. I go look, one is a 79 (spraypainted blue, rusted apart, sitting in weeds taller than the car) and the other is an 85 GSL-SE, 100% stock, 79k. Has a blown Pinion Gear, but runs/everything works. I joke and tell the guy $300 for the silver one. He literally says "Hell, thats the gooder of the twos. How about $600 for both?" but after a bit more talking, finally agrees on $300 for the "gooder" car. So I take it home (clean title this time!) but it had a bit of rust and ended up rolling into a tree at my house (long story, but funny) By the end of the summer, the GSL is sitting on GSL-SE suspension. Here is the GSL-SE after I swapped my suspension on it. Shell gets Scrapped after I cant get a buyer (hell, I make the $$$ back on all the cars just in scrap metal, haha)
Got a bit lazy pulling the gas tank/suspension/gas lines.... hehehe
At this point I decide I want to run Autocross with it instead of my Miata/subaru/other cars I have along this timeline (I go thru alot of cars, I own 6 right now as I write this, lol)
Got some wheels/tires. Still on GSL-SE springs/shocks (cut springs, super ghetto)
End up looking like this- not pretty. Had to chop up a set of the very first cars fenders so I wouldn't rub. Also, had no hood because car was overheating, and no front splitter because I was lazy...
Finally getting somewhere!
12-17-11, 03:15 AM
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Next I get Re-Speed Race Coilovers, full Energy Bushing kit, and a few other small things. Now I can fit my stock fenders on again!
After all this, the 305 was starting to feel slow (it only makes somewhere in the 170hp range) so I look into a 350. I end up finding a 94 Camaro with an LT1. I get the Motor, ECU, wiring and other bits from the car for $400. Sweet.
(at this point, its January 2010, lol)
This is about the point where I actually start giving a crap about how the car looks under the hood =)
so out with the 305.
I also clean up the wiring in the car/delete alot of unnecessary parts/wires
From pic 1 to Pic 2.
The LT1 when I pulled it from the Camaro
I pulled everything from it, and started cleaning. I also deleted all the emissions, pulleys, AC, PS, and unnecessary stuff...
I have to make a few "adjustments" to things to make the LT1 fit in the car, and under the stock hood... And as you can see, the only thing driven off the crank is the Alternator, so no pulleys/tensioner needed with the slotted Alt bracket!
After all this, the 305 was starting to feel slow (it only makes somewhere in the 170hp range) so I look into a 350. I end up finding a 94 Camaro with an LT1. I get the Motor, ECU, wiring and other bits from the car for $400. Sweet.
(at this point, its January 2010, lol)
This is about the point where I actually start giving a crap about how the car looks under the hood =)
so out with the 305.
I also clean up the wiring in the car/delete alot of unnecessary parts/wires
From pic 1 to Pic 2.
The LT1 when I pulled it from the Camaro
I pulled everything from it, and started cleaning. I also deleted all the emissions, pulleys, AC, PS, and unnecessary stuff...
I have to make a few "adjustments" to things to make the LT1 fit in the car, and under the stock hood... And as you can see, the only thing driven off the crank is the Alternator, so no pulleys/tensioner needed with the slotted Alt bracket!
12-17-11, 03:16 AM
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Getting towards the end of the 84 GSL's story 
I relocated the Battery to the rear storage bins.
Here is the LT1 in the engine bay, still a bit un-tidy, but basically how it looked till the day this car was wrecked...
And what the car was looking like around this point.
Now this was after most of the Autocross season had ended since I took a while betweet work/girlfriend etc to build it... But the car was decently set up for autocross with the full Poly Kit, Coilovers, freshly rebuilt GSL LSD, harnesses, Hankook RS2's (although a 225 was not nearly enough tire for the LT1 power) etc...
So I basically just drove it around town, to work, to the bar, etc for the rest of the year till the next autocross season.
But then not two weeks before the first autocross of the season, I was driving thru town with a friend, him driving a 99 C5 Vette. I'm Going thru a 3 way stoplight, which I had a green light, a lady in a new Hyundai Sonata decides to turn left in front of me like she had a green arrow, and like she has somewhere to be. No blinker on, she never hit he brakes, and shes going around 30mph and cuts across directly in front of me- in broad daylight with my headlights up/on! She was cutting it so close that I didn't have any room to swerve, or time to get the brakes on before she runs directly into my front psgr side of the car.
My car Drives home from this, and I'm not seriously hurt, but the frame of my RX7 is bent, there is a hole in my $500 Ron Davis Racing radiator, my tire is rubbing the fender, and some other damage... Not to mention I end up getting a "Street Racing" ticket as well as my buddy because some guy on the sidewalk said we were driving fast, and the cop thinks we must have been hauling *** for this lady not to judge the distance correctly. I was going 26.2 MPH in a 25 According to my GPS tracking on my Droid, but when I show the cop that, he said because I was going 26 I was speeding and waive my right of way... ******* *******. She gets no ticket, and she even told the officers it was her fault and we were doing nothing. So we are both at fault? WTF!
Needless to say, the Racing tickets get dropped WAY before court, but it did cause a bit of a hassle with insurance payments. At first, my insurance (liability only) obviously wasn't going to pay for my car, nor was hers. But after the ticket was dropped (2 months later!), her insurance says the are sending a claims guy to my house to appraise the car. At that point, I had stripped the shell and was about to scrap it, but I let him come anyways since I figured he would laugh and give me maybe $200. Seriously, car had no parts left on it other than the windshield, doors, and side glass. Period. I was sitting on cinder blocks in my basement garage. Well, the Geico rep comes, and I tell him what happened and show him the car. He's a car guy, and after talking for a bit he writes me a check for $4100.00... Apparently, in stock forum, an 84 GSL in Mint condition is worth over $5000 to geico, since he gave me a check for just under the limit of totaling the car, meaning I get to keep the car/parts/etc without having to buy it back! This car just literally paid for itself 100%
So a few months later, I pick up a Widebody 83 on this forum to replace the wreck. I had always wanted to do a Widebody, but never had the $$$ or time to do the fab work. Just kind of worked out that it popped up around the right time for me looking for one.
I relocated the Battery to the rear storage bins.
Here is the LT1 in the engine bay, still a bit un-tidy, but basically how it looked till the day this car was wrecked...
And what the car was looking like around this point.
Now this was after most of the Autocross season had ended since I took a while betweet work/girlfriend etc to build it... But the car was decently set up for autocross with the full Poly Kit, Coilovers, freshly rebuilt GSL LSD, harnesses, Hankook RS2's (although a 225 was not nearly enough tire for the LT1 power) etc...
So I basically just drove it around town, to work, to the bar, etc for the rest of the year till the next autocross season.
But then not two weeks before the first autocross of the season, I was driving thru town with a friend, him driving a 99 C5 Vette. I'm Going thru a 3 way stoplight, which I had a green light, a lady in a new Hyundai Sonata decides to turn left in front of me like she had a green arrow, and like she has somewhere to be. No blinker on, she never hit he brakes, and shes going around 30mph and cuts across directly in front of me- in broad daylight with my headlights up/on! She was cutting it so close that I didn't have any room to swerve, or time to get the brakes on before she runs directly into my front psgr side of the car.
My car Drives home from this, and I'm not seriously hurt, but the frame of my RX7 is bent, there is a hole in my $500 Ron Davis Racing radiator, my tire is rubbing the fender, and some other damage... Not to mention I end up getting a "Street Racing" ticket as well as my buddy because some guy on the sidewalk said we were driving fast, and the cop thinks we must have been hauling *** for this lady not to judge the distance correctly. I was going 26.2 MPH in a 25 According to my GPS tracking on my Droid, but when I show the cop that, he said because I was going 26 I was speeding and waive my right of way... ******* *******. She gets no ticket, and she even told the officers it was her fault and we were doing nothing. So we are both at fault? WTF!
Needless to say, the Racing tickets get dropped WAY before court, but it did cause a bit of a hassle with insurance payments. At first, my insurance (liability only) obviously wasn't going to pay for my car, nor was hers. But after the ticket was dropped (2 months later!), her insurance says the are sending a claims guy to my house to appraise the car. At that point, I had stripped the shell and was about to scrap it, but I let him come anyways since I figured he would laugh and give me maybe $200. Seriously, car had no parts left on it other than the windshield, doors, and side glass. Period. I was sitting on cinder blocks in my basement garage. Well, the Geico rep comes, and I tell him what happened and show him the car. He's a car guy, and after talking for a bit he writes me a check for $4100.00... Apparently, in stock forum, an 84 GSL in Mint condition is worth over $5000 to geico, since he gave me a check for just under the limit of totaling the car, meaning I get to keep the car/parts/etc without having to buy it back! This car just literally paid for itself 100%
So a few months later, I pick up a Widebody 83 on this forum to replace the wreck. I had always wanted to do a Widebody, but never had the $$$ or time to do the fab work. Just kind of worked out that it popped up around the right time for me looking for one.
12-17-11, 03:16 AM
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Here are some pics of the 83 Widebody from the seller.
The new car already has a 5 lug Chrysler 8.75 rear end, TurboII Front Brakes, Stainless Lines, a Cage, and some other good stuff.
I get the car back to my place, and haul *** working on swapping over the entire suspension from my 84 GSL onto this car so I can take it to the dragstrip by the end of the week (started working on tuesday) reason to swap is because the Pinion on the 8.75 is broken and wont have to to fix it, so swapping the full 4 lug suspension was the only choice for the time frame. Plus, I didn't have a driveshaft that would work with the 8.75 rear end.
By Wed I have the entire front/rear suspension installed, have new power window regulators, all new door moldings/rubbers, seats, dash, etc... all thats missing is the engine/trans/exhaust, radiator, and hooking up the wiring. Cake. Should be done by Thursday night easily, and have time to shake it down a bit.
Nope.
I never noticed that the PO had cut one of the transmission mounts out of the car to clear his Transmission- Not his fault at all, he may have mentioned it at some point, but either way I had no friends able to weld me in a new mount in time. Honestly that was more of a blessing than anything, because it lead me to where I am today.
So here we are, months down the road, and between going back to school, Spinning a rod in my WRX and rebuilding it, having my Miata blow up, having a friend wreck my Legacy and dealing with that, not to mention helping run the Car Club at Virginia Tech and other things, I just let it sit in the garage, waiting till I had enough time to really make the car right.
Here are some pictures of the work done yesterday.
And now that we are all caught up to the current day, lets get some actual project stuff!
If you have read this far and have any questions/comments/suggestions, please feel free to post up!
The new car already has a 5 lug Chrysler 8.75 rear end, TurboII Front Brakes, Stainless Lines, a Cage, and some other good stuff.
I get the car back to my place, and haul *** working on swapping over the entire suspension from my 84 GSL onto this car so I can take it to the dragstrip by the end of the week (started working on tuesday) reason to swap is because the Pinion on the 8.75 is broken and wont have to to fix it, so swapping the full 4 lug suspension was the only choice for the time frame. Plus, I didn't have a driveshaft that would work with the 8.75 rear end.
By Wed I have the entire front/rear suspension installed, have new power window regulators, all new door moldings/rubbers, seats, dash, etc... all thats missing is the engine/trans/exhaust, radiator, and hooking up the wiring. Cake. Should be done by Thursday night easily, and have time to shake it down a bit.
Nope.
I never noticed that the PO had cut one of the transmission mounts out of the car to clear his Transmission- Not his fault at all, he may have mentioned it at some point, but either way I had no friends able to weld me in a new mount in time. Honestly that was more of a blessing than anything, because it lead me to where I am today.
So here we are, months down the road, and between going back to school, Spinning a rod in my WRX and rebuilding it, having my Miata blow up, having a friend wreck my Legacy and dealing with that, not to mention helping run the Car Club at Virginia Tech and other things, I just let it sit in the garage, waiting till I had enough time to really make the car right.
Here are some pictures of the work done yesterday.
And now that we are all caught up to the current day, lets get some actual project stuff!
If you have read this far and have any questions/comments/suggestions, please feel free to post up!
12-17-11, 03:17 AM
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To start off, it will have all the basic necessities to be driven with Antique Vehicle plates, but there wont be much. Working Signals, brake lights, headlights, horn, wipers, windows... thats about all. Might put a radio in since I have a few extras laying around, and driving long distance will suck w/o tunes!
First on my list is to finish the Engine Bay. I will be doing a wire tuck, and will be filling all the extra holes. Keeping it as basic as possible, but clean. I've completely stripped the engine bay already. Just need to test fit a few parts with the motor/trans in place before I start welding.
The other part I am working on currently is fitting the engine/transmission. Obviously, I could weld a mount in the stock tranny mount location, bolt it all in, and be good to go... But why not go ahead and improve on things?
Here is the engine sitting in the "stock" location, as it was in the previous car, and as they are installed in all FB's with the Granny's kit. Notice how close the Crank Balancer is to the sway bar, and the two middle exhaust ports are in line with the strut mount.
Because I am using an LT1, which has an Optispark instead of a traditional distributor, I am able to shift the engine around 2" farther back. This should net somewhere in the range on a 2%-3% shift in the weight balance of the car towards the rear, not to mention the battery being in the rear, and the complete lack of other components up front. Here is the first test fitment of the engine moved rearward.
This is basically where the car sits as of tonight. I've got a friend coming over next week with a welder to fill the useless holes/make a tranny mounting solution. Over the next few weeks, I will be doing the re-wire of the entire car (there is not ONE SINGLE WIRE in the chassis currently) I will also be doing the body work in the engine bay to smooth out the new welds and prep it for paint. Progress will slow down near Christmas, and I will be in New Orleans from the 29th till the 5th for New Years/VT playing in the Sugar Bowl.
I also wanted to post a link over to cshaw07's Wire tuck thread, where you can see some awesome progress and hopefully an Idea of where my engine bay will be in the next few weeks. https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/wire-tuck-970956/
First on my list is to finish the Engine Bay. I will be doing a wire tuck, and will be filling all the extra holes. Keeping it as basic as possible, but clean. I've completely stripped the engine bay already. Just need to test fit a few parts with the motor/trans in place before I start welding.
The other part I am working on currently is fitting the engine/transmission. Obviously, I could weld a mount in the stock tranny mount location, bolt it all in, and be good to go... But why not go ahead and improve on things?
Here is the engine sitting in the "stock" location, as it was in the previous car, and as they are installed in all FB's with the Granny's kit. Notice how close the Crank Balancer is to the sway bar, and the two middle exhaust ports are in line with the strut mount.
Because I am using an LT1, which has an Optispark instead of a traditional distributor, I am able to shift the engine around 2" farther back. This should net somewhere in the range on a 2%-3% shift in the weight balance of the car towards the rear, not to mention the battery being in the rear, and the complete lack of other components up front. Here is the first test fitment of the engine moved rearward.
This is basically where the car sits as of tonight. I've got a friend coming over next week with a welder to fill the useless holes/make a tranny mounting solution. Over the next few weeks, I will be doing the re-wire of the entire car (there is not ONE SINGLE WIRE in the chassis currently) I will also be doing the body work in the engine bay to smooth out the new welds and prep it for paint. Progress will slow down near Christmas, and I will be in New Orleans from the 29th till the 5th for New Years/VT playing in the Sugar Bowl.
I also wanted to post a link over to cshaw07's Wire tuck thread, where you can see some awesome progress and hopefully an Idea of where my engine bay will be in the next few weeks. https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/wire-tuck-970956/
12-17-11, 09:50 AM
#7
IMPRESSIVE POST. Detailed and with Pictures. Big 
I remember seeing that widebody for sale previously. It has the Uber-Rare
Pacific Avatar style widebody (My personal favorite).
I would LOVE to have that kit on my car, if only they were still
available somehow.
Good luck with the car, and keep us posted.
I remember seeing that widebody for sale previously. It has the Uber-Rare
Pacific Avatar style widebody (My personal favorite).
I would LOVE to have that kit on my car, if only they were still
available somehow.
Good luck with the car, and keep us posted.
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12-17-11, 09:57 AM
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Same size all around, 225/45/15 Hankook RS2's. Wheels were 15x8+0 All around as well. It def needed WAY more tire in the rear, but it was still decent. With the Short Transmission ratio of the T-5 and my GSL 3.9 rear gears, you couldn't really use first gear. Just by letting the clutch out (not slow at all) the car would easily pull off. You could do a burnout from a stop in 4th gear if you tried.
12-17-11, 04:39 PM
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Me and my Girlfriend went and worked on it for a bit today- started sanding the engine bay. Found a small bit of surface rust under the black primer up in the drivers side under the headlight, but nothing major, so just hit it with a bit of Naval Jelly and primed.
Gonna work on it a bit more after dinner, we ran out of sandpaper for the orbital, so gotta run to Lowes.
Gonna work on it a bit more after dinner, we ran out of sandpaper for the orbital, so gotta run to Lowes.
12-18-11, 12:30 AM
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Thanks man! We are going to work on it a bunch more tomorrow- ended up going out to a nice dinner and didn't feel like car work afterwards... hehe
Also, I have access to a free SE S4 crossmember/rack/Column/all the parts needed to do the FC Subframe swap, but I'm not sure if the engine will clear with the V8- Does anyone have some detailed measurements of an FC subframe swap? Obviously, its a decently common enough swap for FB owners, but I've never seen one with a V8. I am going to guess that since you can fit a V8 in an FC, and since the frame is similar, it should fit, but no clue.......... I also talked with Billy at ReSpeed a while back about doing his Rack conversion with a V8, but I really don't have the $$$ to do that, and since all the stock FC stuff will be free, the FC swap should only cost me time and welding wire... =)
Ideas?
Also, I have access to a free SE S4 crossmember/rack/Column/all the parts needed to do the FC Subframe swap, but I'm not sure if the engine will clear with the V8- Does anyone have some detailed measurements of an FC subframe swap? Obviously, its a decently common enough swap for FB owners, but I've never seen one with a V8. I am going to guess that since you can fit a V8 in an FC, and since the frame is similar, it should fit, but no clue.......... I also talked with Billy at ReSpeed a while back about doing his Rack conversion with a V8, but I really don't have the $$$ to do that, and since all the stock FC stuff will be free, the FC swap should only cost me time and welding wire... =)
Ideas?
12-18-11, 06:15 PM
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Today I got the psgr front sanded down/primed. I also cut off lots of little bolts and brackets that will no longer be used. Such as the relar bracket on the drivers side. cut it a bit long so I cold bent it over to match the other side. looks great!
And some sanding
Here is a pic of my workspace from behind one work bench- If only I cleaned it up a bit, I have lots of room! haha
And looking back from that spot, you can see some of my RX7/subaru/miata extras, and other crap.. lol Anyone interested in a full Black interior form an 84 GSL-SE? Dash, door pannels, everything, all sitting there. I'm also gonna have the GSL-SE suspension/brakes out of the car soon, so if anyone is interested in those, LMK! (I do not want to ship a rear diff tho honestly, pick it up here in Blacksburg VA!)
And some sanding
Here is a pic of my workspace from behind one work bench- If only I cleaned it up a bit, I have lots of room! haha
And looking back from that spot, you can see some of my RX7/subaru/miata extras, and other crap.. lol Anyone interested in a full Black interior form an 84 GSL-SE? Dash, door pannels, everything, all sitting there. I'm also gonna have the GSL-SE suspension/brakes out of the car soon, so if anyone is interested in those, LMK! (I do not want to ship a rear diff tho honestly, pick it up here in Blacksburg VA!)
12-18-11, 08:45 PM
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Great thread!
Seeing builds like this almost make me want to quit the Formula SAE team I'm on and my FB rally car project finished. And those photos of your workspace make me envious!
Seeing builds like this almost make me want to quit the Formula SAE team I'm on and my FB rally car project finished. And those photos of your workspace make me envious!
12-18-11, 10:03 PM
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^lol, yeah. It really sucks how it happened, as I would have been able to have raced it all last season had it not been hit, but looks like its gonna end up being for the better. I never would have done the full wire tuck/seam welding/cage/widebody/etc to the other car. All I was going to do was ZG fender flares, some wider rear wheels, and race slicks.
But now its going to be a bit more serious.
And back to one of my above posts, does anyone have a good set of measurements/diagrams/etc of the difference between the FB and FC crossmembers? Like how much higher/lower the FC crossmember sits in an FB? Have you ever heard of anyone trying to use one with a V8 in an FB? Any failed or successful attempts? I think I'm going for it either way since the steering on our FB's is very dated- Have you guys ever done 120mph in one? I have, and I can tell you its SCARY having the steering wheel do very little without decent input... that was with both my GSL box and a GSL-SE quicker ratio box- its just the nature of our steering setup...
But now its going to be a bit more serious.
And back to one of my above posts, does anyone have a good set of measurements/diagrams/etc of the difference between the FB and FC crossmembers? Like how much higher/lower the FC crossmember sits in an FB? Have you ever heard of anyone trying to use one with a V8 in an FB? Any failed or successful attempts? I think I'm going for it either way since the steering on our FB's is very dated- Have you guys ever done 120mph in one? I have, and I can tell you its SCARY having the steering wheel do very little without decent input... that was with both my GSL box and a GSL-SE quicker ratio box- its just the nature of our steering setup...
looking good man!
12-20-11, 11:46 AM
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lol, thx Steve. And yea, ran the LT1 on 7 CYL for a while because I never noticed the frayed plug wire that was shorting against the block... Best plug wire HP Gain ever!
12-20-11, 09:25 PM
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Got some more done today- finished priming the drivers side, and most of the psgr side, as well as the lower half (below the lip) of the firewall. (forgot to take a pic of it done before I left)
Also removed the entire front suspension/crossmember- wont be needing those anytime hopefully if the FC swap works out.
Tomorrow I'm gonna finish the firewall, finish the psgr side, do the frame rails, and maybe get to the front. Plenty of work left, but nothing serious yet- Welding to come soon----- I got every bit of seam sealer out today from all the joints..... time for stitch welding...
12-21-11, 01:52 AM
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Finally read through all of it. The beginning was cool cause I didn't know that part fully haha.
What trans was in the chevy k10? Th350? Thats wild, lol if I get a Miata or legacy wagon we will have had like 4 or 5 of the same cars at some point.
Btw where are you getting an FC subframe free lol? I'm gonna make you pull that pos yourself cause you helped me for like 12 seconds at the end of me pulling my 13b.
P.S. My car will be faster
What trans was in the chevy k10? Th350? Thats wild, lol if I get a Miata or legacy wagon we will have had like 4 or 5 of the same cars at some point.
Btw where are you getting an FC subframe free lol? I'm gonna make you pull that pos yourself cause you helped me for like 12 seconds at the end of me pulling my 13b.
P.S. My car will be faster
12-21-11, 01:54 PM
#22
you should of waited to prime it until after the body filler. Body filler sticks better to bare metal than it does to primer (I've noticed, especially when trying to feather it perfect). And here is a tip I wish i would of know before i started:
When you have a spot that doesn't need filled so much but leveled out ( old screw holes on the firewall/other flat spots) dont use bondo on them. Weld them shut, grind them down, and then use dolphin glaze (or similar). It is much, much easier to work with than bondo. Also, what i did with the AC and heater core holes in the firewall was weld panels behind them and then fill them with bondo. That way the bondo is only the thickness of the metal used on the firewall. For the bigger holes like the old wire harness hole and the one by the pass side headlight motor I cut panels and welded them in flush. There is hardly any filler used there at all.
Ill be following this. Looking good.
When you have a spot that doesn't need filled so much but leveled out ( old screw holes on the firewall/other flat spots) dont use bondo on them. Weld them shut, grind them down, and then use dolphin glaze (or similar). It is much, much easier to work with than bondo. Also, what i did with the AC and heater core holes in the firewall was weld panels behind them and then fill them with bondo. That way the bondo is only the thickness of the metal used on the firewall. For the bigger holes like the old wire harness hole and the one by the pass side headlight motor I cut panels and welded them in flush. There is hardly any filler used there at all.
Ill be following this. Looking good.
12-21-11, 11:35 PM
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All primer!!! yay progress!
And yeah, I know I probably should have waited to prime it, but I didn't have a welder handy and its pretty humid in the basement so I didnt want to waste all my time sanding just to have surface rust on everything. And with a wire wheel it should be easy enough to clean up the seams to weld them.
Thanks for the advice on the Dolphin glaze- I'll go pick some up tomorrow if I get a chance... Also, hopefully my friend is bringing his welder tomorrow to start on the smoothing!!!
12-22-11, 06:27 AM
#25
what primer are you using? not from personal experience, but from reading hours of online reviews... duplicolor brand self etching primer is the best to use on bare metal (as far as rattle cans go anyway). Dont just use regular primer over bare metal. (damn, i wish i knew me when I was doing mine! 
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