I like the taper up front... I looks more streamlined. It goes better with the angle of the front fender opening, as well as the rear being a better match for the more abrupt cut of the rear wheel opening. I wonder what it would look like if you brought the taper closer to the front wheel.... Here's a crude photoshop:
The photo shop does help a little. I planned to match the angle of the wheel opening, but I'm not really interested in remodifying the skirt to move the tapered section. I think I need to pull it outside and attach the rear section and take another picture to get the flow of how everything will look. I'll keep you posted, and thanks for your help Josh
I like the bottom picture especially with the wheel well taper. It kind of looks like the body of the car has sagged in the middle? I hate to say it, but notice how the gap between the doors looks much tighter at the top than the bottom? Maybe it's just the photo (I hope).
The rear of the side skirt tucks in nice. The front needs to be modified to sit flush with the rocker ( once you know that, your can see the lighting cast more on the front). I do need to adjust the rear ride height to get a better visual accuracy as 12lives Mentioned. I'll make that adjustment (or just Jack it up for pictures) and I'll post those pictures Josh
I'll have to measure that distance when i get the rear end ride height where I want it. So the short answer is that I'm not sure. I measured the skirts and they're 5.5 inches tall. The rear is currently 9 inches to the bottom of the rocker. If I raise the rear 1.5 inches, that'll put the bottom of the skirt at 5 inches. But it's only 8.5 inches to the bottom of the front of the rocker panel, so that'll be 3-3.5 inches of clearance there. Josh
I finally got around to pulling the wagon outside, jacking up the rearend and staging the ground effects. It's definitely lower in the front now, but I like the stance Josh
Then I replaced the front sway bar and bushings. The linkage to the struts was seized so I cut the ends off and ordered me ones. Josh
I cut the front dogleg off a spare fender and was messing around with the idea of rounding out the backs of the fender openings, but I didn't really see a plus to doing the rears and then having to do the fronts. So instead, i went ahead and cut the front of the skirts of to match the existing fender design. I'm liking it a lot more. Also while I had the car on the lift, I adjusted the rear coil overs, so that's the new stance now Josh
And since I raised the rear, I lost some clearance at the front. It's exactly 4 inches in the center Josh
hey Josh, I just found this thread, WOW, unbelievable. Looks like you are doing well. I guess you are still up in GA near your dad? Still with the misses? Tell her I said hi. Wished you lived close again so I could come by and check it out. Awesome! I thought you were crazy doing this built but I love the way you think! Fernando
Thanks for the kind words, Fernando. It's good to hear from you again. I'm still in Georgia, 7 miles north of the Atlanta motor speedway. No missus ( that ended in 2012). My dad is doing well. He lives with me, and he's the reason I have the shop in the first place. As for the wagon project, this is my third body swap. The other builds are a 1968 jeep wagoneer body on a 2006 Chevy trailblazer ss floor pan and chassis, and a 1958 Chevy panel truck body on a 2006 saab 97x (trailblazer) floor pan and chassis. Both builds have lq4 6.0l/ 4l70e drive trains and are very road worthy. I'm looking forward to seeing what the 6.0l/6l80 combo does in the wagon. A frustrating as the builds can be at times, I enjoy figuring out what doesn't work and making it work anyways. Next time I come back down to Florida, I'll hit you up and see if you're available to talk and catch up Josh
No real progress on the wagon. Been fixing other projects, and to be honest, I've been at a stand still about the wheels. So my overly obsessive brain started looking at c6 corvette wheels. My friend Josh has a set on a project, and I vaguely remember putting them on and then rubbing the inner fenders well. Mathematically they fit, so I borrowed a wheel and tried again. Turns out, there's a little bump by the strut that pokes out just enough to rub the inner sidewall. I checked the passenger side first because that's where the fuel filler neck pipe runs behind the wheel, so if that rubs, there's no point. But on the driver's side, I massaged that bump with a hammer and the tire clears. Plus it's got more backspacing which gives me another 1/2 inch from the outer fender lip, which is exactly what I wanted. The tires on these wheels are 285/35r19. I'm going to run 275/40r19, which gives me another 1/4 of clearance from what you see in the pictures. The first picture is the style of rim I'm looking at for sale locally, but the guy is out of town until the 19th. Well see what happens Josh
I hate how open the rear wheel well is behind the tire. I was playing around, thinking about making a side exit exhaust tip to fill in the space. I revisited the front fender idea, but I didn't like having the tear drop sweep on the front and not the back. Then I started measuring and cutting the front fender dogleg for the rear wheel well. The yellow fenders are trash, so I played around with them first. Then I transferred what I learned on to a pair of 66 front fenders I have. I painted them white for continuity and I think I just solved my dilemma. The next dilemma is finding a door skin I can use to cut up and finish the body line all the way to the rear bumper. I do have some rocker panels that might work. I'll keep you posted Josh
Looks like you're not the only one doing this crazy stuff - neat article in the Feb Hot Rod about a fella putting a 84 Monte on a newer Camaro ZL-1 chassis! https://www.motortrend.com/features/1984-monte-carlo-ss-combined-with-2023-zl1-camaro-freak/ Merry Christmas!
