http://www.abodysite.com/frameentry.html Join this site and look in the Resto section, I started a thread there for you! These are mostly pontiac guys but know EVERYTHING about the 73-77 cars! You can Talk to Mark Burton about frame re-enforcements made of Cro-Molly. He happens to have a bunch of cro mo and can build anything you can imagine! 1-509-860-3370 After he is done my roll cage you can borrow his services for a few days but then its back to my car LOL.
Thats a badass motor,i allmost pulled my wallet out,for my suncoupe,but it is way too radical for a daily street caro No: Gear it low & thrash it:laugh:
I have a full metal working shop out back and the know how to use it- Im sure Im not in Marks league but I'm no hacker either- I'll check out "the other guys" site- Thanks Sean!- and see what they have to say. Thanks for all the interest!! Robert
the frame is 3 parts. the front is solid. the next 2, well lets say they could have a lot better. where 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 are welded together, they didnt weld them very well. 2 could have been thicker and the end of 3 could have been thicker. thats why i said a roll bar for t/tops would be a lot better. anyone wanna bet that when robert starts dragging this thing, he will be changing things...:laugh:
I'll check out the frame/welds- perhaps fire up the welder and add a few lbs of steel to it to it!!!!
Dang, I just found the build thread and jumped to this thread. I read the whole thing between late last night (really late) and early morning. Did this ever go any where? As a 455 man, I've been looking at cars but with 350's I'm not real enthused. This has "lit my fire" to maybe check out some 350 cars.
The car is in a local hotrod shop where,unfortunately, the owner/head mechanic blew out his knee last week. The car is currently up on a lift- all suspension getting done, engine/trans TH350 -2800 stall- and headers installed with ( quicktime cutouts and a digital o2 meter ready to go ) dual 3" exhaust with both dynaflows and resonators - shhh-quiet! and 4 wheel disc brakes to stop it all, and a full size 4 core alum radiator and trans cooler pan and cooler, and a rebuilt welded tube 10 bolt 3:73 posi. Progress is being made- just slowly, but the fella is doing it right and is fair on his prices. After this, he gets my 47k original 87 T-Type to give some TLC. Robert
Hi Folks; Been looking and commenting on other folks stuff, but kinda left mine by the wayside ( post-wise ) . The wheels ( new American mags and rubber ) are on the car and I saw it on the ground for the first time in over a year a few weeks ago- I thought I was gonna cry!! The build has taken longer and cost more ( Gee- never happens-Right!!? ) even though I had planned for both, between me adding constantly to the build ( Also never happens- Right?? ) and the owner of the shop back-burner-ing my car for day-to-day money jobs-not that I'm not paying, just the normal day jobs that show up on your doorstep needing work and gonna pay now, my car has just taken longer than any of us thought. The owner of the shop,Mario, realizes that he has had my car way too long and is comping me for it in the overall job. I've added a lot to the build as said before- hood tach, O2 sensor ( FI later? ) a used but perfect dash pad, and well, you get the picture. Everything is pretty much together now- new brake lines and CCP master cyl w/built in adjustable prop valve for the 4WDB, wiring is being finished up, and now we are down to cooling. I bought a nice 4 row aluminum radiator and have a Derale tubrulator pan on the TH350, and I was thinking to leave it at that- Mario had other thoughts. He wants to add a nice tranny cooler ( I'm thinking Derale forced fan for the trans and ignore the radiator coil ) and what do you guys think about adding an engine oil cooler ( again- Derale forced fan ) and a power steering cooler? For the PS cooler I was thinking of the Derale heat-sink type cooler mounted to the frame and plumbed into the return line. I realize this may be overkill but something Mario said to me when I was apologizing for adding yet another, well, while ya got it...And he said-look- its your car-your build, you do what you want. Hmmm... hadn't really looked at it like that before...So I'm looking at the Derale catalog ( neat stuff! ) and the PS cooler caught my eye. At this stage it'll be easy to do, since I'm having to have the lines replaced and reterminated with the OE fittings, and even though I have absolutely no intention of road racing, if I can keep it all cool, maybe it'll last another 30 years like Mother Buick made it the first time. I'm going for durability and reliability, and I KNOW each extra system I add is a potential failure,but if it's all done right, I should achieve my goal- a solid performing car that can hold its own and shrug off an occaisional thrashing if it was properly built to do so. This is why I don't post about my own stuff too often- I'm long-winded! When the car is finally done which for the most part, since they are never really "done" should be a month or so-Right now I'm having the AC totally gone thru- ( new evap/condenser/drier/blower/heater core/ *NEW* compressor-Mario scored that one- the whole works-and converted to 124. ) I'm gonna post the start-to-finish pics for your all's enjoyment. If anyone has suggestions ( open can of worms here ) about anything they think I forgot or should do-except the roll cage-Bring it on! And hey-Sean- did the book ever get born? I'd still like to see my car in it!!:TU: :TU: Robert
The book is still in the works, I look forward to your updates and have saved a spot for your car in the book!
Thanks Sean- as soon as I get it and its moving under its own power- I'll get you the low-down. In the mean time, another one of those "couldn't see this one comings"- Mario was mounting a new tire on a rim and it would not quite seat- on the 4th air blow- bead off- the bead caught and the tire exploded, came off the machine, popped him in the chest and put him into a wall. He spent the night in the ER and was back yesterday looking worse for wear. I told him to pack up his son ( 8 years old ) and go camping for a long weekend. One fella already died at this shop that was working on my car- I hope these aren't omens...:shock: Robert
Broke down and bought a hood tach from the parts place- cant imagine this is oe quality but not much choice- did not come with a gasket and only 2 bolts to mount it- cut a gasket to fit and am adding a 3rd bolt to the tail to anchor it properly. Coolers are going in- another summer gone but at least in Califonia we get "summer" up into october so I still have a chance to drive it this year. Cross your fingers for me!!:Comp: Robert
IT'S ALIVE!!!:beer Fired it up for the first time in the 3 years I've owned the motor and it sounded NASTY thru the open headers!!! The fella that owns the shop took me over to a section of his driveway that had twin tracks on it a couple of feet long ( posi works!):laugh: and asked me if I had a light foot- said he needed to move the car and just barely got on the gas & it broke loose!- Bad news- the engine builder who I wont name, but a pro- didn't cut the intake to match the heads, so the valley is leaking- parts on the way, but I AM STOKED!!! 3 years and the end is in site!! The list of things it needs done is now officially way shorter than the "done" list!- Hood Tach's on too- looks killer!! A few more weeks and I should have my car!!! And my Hagarty app is almost done ( keeps kicking me back to page 1 for some reason...) Root for me folks!!! ( and yes I do have a crappy cell phone video that I'll try to you tube!) Robert
Your PM box is full... It is a good idea to have a set of shorty headers made, I think they are the way to go really for street cars... I am using some SBC shorty headers with some Buick 350 flanges, and might make more if people want them... This project has been on the back burner though... http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-Chevell...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr I would take the above headers and modify the flange and then weld on a Buick 350 flange which you could get from Burton Machine... On the ones I am doing I kept most of the flange so that I had something to weld the new flange to...
