Wayne is still plugging along on the fender flare / rocker panel areas. He has trimmed the inner lip of the flare so that it is consistent all the way around (compare photo one to photo two). We will have to trim for clearance the very top of the flare once we install the wheels and suspension. We don't want the wheel to bottom out and hit the inside lip of the flare now do we. I am betting that we end up tapering the inside lip down to about 1/4" at the points closest to the wheel.
Also, we are going to keep the lines around the flare crisp, similar to the 03 flares. When finished the only difference between these flares and the 03 will be that the outside "flat" area will only be about 1" where it is about 2" on the 03.
Wayne has gone through great pains in order to maintain all the factory date stampings and spot welds on the bottom of the rockers. Details like this (even tough you will only see them from below) will help set this car apart from the crowd.
I am pretty much at a standstill until I receive the clutch and cooling modifications. Once I receive those, I will be able to install the drivetrain and get this sucker on its wheels for the first time (at least with the drivetrain totally installed). That is going to be a really exciting day for me. There are some issues that need to be resolved and we will only be able to address them once the drivetrain is installed with the car sitting on the suspension.
Well, with that said, it is time to get back to work.
We continue to patently await the clutch and cooling mod. In the meantime we continue with the trial fit of the components we can.
We have installed the new oil filter / lower coolant casting to the block (new gasket and bolts). I am going to have to do a little research into the lower connections on the casting. the one facing down is plugged, but the one facing forward is currently open. I have no idea what these connections are normally used for. Anyone out there have a clue???
We are going to have to make a few adjustments to the two lines that come off the front rack and connect to the hydraulic system. Remember that we moved the rack forward 7" so these lines will have to be modified accordingly.
Also, the sway bar is now 7" forward and it appears that we will have a minor interference issue with one of the radiator coolant tank support brackets. We will just have to remove this item and bend accordingly. We are going to wait on this one until the front end is installed and we can run the sway bar through it's full range of motion.
We have the revised steering linkage installed and ready to go. I think this is going to work just great.
On another note, one of the body men glued a rear emblem on the tail light panel as a reminder to Corvette owners worldwide that this is the only part of the car they are ever going to see. :-)
Well... We have the front assembly just about as far as we can take it at this point. All we have left to do is paint the sway bar and the lower control arms and we are done.
We should have the clutch and the cooling mod in house by Monday. At that time we will assemble the engine and trans. Then the rear-end and the entire front suspension, engine, trans, etc... assembly goes in and we can roll this beast around the shop on it's own wheels for a change.
The tension mounts. Will the components arrive on time? Will Wayne be able to finish the chassis detailing before Bob is ready for assembly?. Will they meet this incredibly tight deadline or crash and burn along with all their aspirations? Tune in next time to the REAL American HR and see true personnel conflicts as Bob fires everyone in sight and Wayne turns around and hires them all right back.
Catch ya'll l8r, it is just about time for me to fire someone.
The drama continues on this issue of American SN65 as Wayne gets the jump on Bob. While Bob is still frustrated by the delay of key components, Wayne surges ahead and gets the Wheel housings undercoated. Bob, frustrated by his brother’s progress, sabotages the entire build by putting a giant butt print in the newly applied Kent quick seal. Even though this meant Wayne had to rework the entire area, he still had the last laugh as Bob was rushed to the hospital for an emergency butt-ectomy.....
Anyway... I digress.
The Kent #P-13706 is a sprayable seam sealer. It is similar to the material applied to the factory wheel housing. The Kent material should be a bit better as far as mechanical properties (stone chips etc...). After the material completely sets, we will be painting it with satin black paint.
The rest of the materials I need for assembly should be in the shop on Monday. Next week is going to be great. I can't wait to get the suspension and drivetrain installed.
Yesterday, I took a drive to the south side of Chicago and picked up the LDC Chicago 4.6 cooling mod (I left at 6AM and returned to the office at 10AM). I just have to say that it looks very impressive. I will be installing it today. I will be posting photos and comments, but I am sure that it will work just fine. Also, they seem like a dedicated group of guys who have given a great deal of thought to the design and installation of this product.
You will notice that we now have the car up on a lift instead of the rotisserie. We are now ready to start another restoration if anyone is interested in rotisserie time.
Wayne and the crew installed the rear end after I left last night. When I rolled in this morning, at about 5:45AM, I fired up the lights and ran to get the camera. I was both very impressed and very happy to see how far they got after I left last night. Now I can install the fuel tank and the rest of the fuel system and chassis components.
All we need is the clutch from CenterForce (they assure me it is on the way) and get the lower front control arms painted, and we can install the front suspension and the rest of the drivetrain.
Wo Hoo!!!!
We are getting close now. So close that I can almost taste it.
Yesterday we installed the LDC Chicago cooling mod.
What a nice piece of work. I am VERY impressed with this well thought out engine modification. Where Apten just gives you $30 worth of parts (for $125) and leaves all the custom modifications to you, LDC Chicago actually put some thought into supplying a totally engineered product.
Also, yesterday I was working on installing the gas tank / fuel system. I ran into a bit of a hiccup when I realized we (Bob) broke the small check valve off the bottom of the filler neck. :-( We did install the carbon canister and finished the brake line, anti-lock break sensor hookups.
On the negative side, I made a slight miscalculation on the installation of the rear wheel impact lock system. These are the mechanical assemblies that impale the rear tires in the event of a heavy impact from the rear, stopping the car from rolling after the impact. I can install the device, but it would be tied to the rear frame rails and not the rear bumper reinforcement. Making this change will greatly alter their operation to the point where I am afraid they would become useless. That being the case, we are not going to install these devices. :-(
On the positive side...
The clutch has arrived, the clutch has arrived, the clutch has arrived!!! Yes the clutch has arrived and we can assemble the trans and the motor and bolt up the K member and install the power-plant at long last.
Well, I would love to tell you more, but I really have to get to work. Catch ya'll l8r.
I hope that 4" is enough ground clearance, because that is where we are at right now. Man does this car look low. Real low. Low, Low Low. How low, you ask??? Real freakin low!!!
Here is a photo of the car with Wayne as a height reference (Wayne is 6'-1" tall). We will publish the actual clearances after we have the car on all four wheels.
We have installed the gas tank and connected all the lines. We noticed that there is a connection on the top of the gas tank that is not connected to anything (see photo). The best we can determine is that it is a safety release valve. Anyone know for sure?
Also, I have included a shot of the modified drip rail areas. It is hard to tell in the photo, but the finished detail will be very similar to that found around the fastback "C" pillar vents.
Yesterday we got the trans modified with a new D&D 26 spline input shaft. We installed the new CenterForce flywheel, clutch, pressure plate and throughout bearing.
After a lot of fiddling about, we finally got everything bolted up and installed properly. Note to self. ALWAYS READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS AND ENCLOSED DOCUMENTS. Also, ALWAYS HAVE THE FACTORY SHOP MANUAL HANDY AND REVIEW IT PRIOR TO INSTALLATION. That is all I am going to say on the topic. You can't make me say any more.
Will the valve covers clear the frame rails? Will the steering linkage line up as designed? Will the repositioned front suspension cause any problems (the connections for the hydralic lines are now 7" farther forward than the factory design)? How far will the engine "stick up" through the hood? Did we make a mistake when we relocated the motor mounts? If the engine hits the firewall, I am going to shoot myself...
Tune in next week to "SN65 The Series" and find out. We will be busy going over all the mechanical and electrical assemblies this weekend. Monday I will be posting photos of the installed drivetrain. Until then, here is a little preview.
I was going to list the items we installed, but rather, I will list the items we have yet to finish. We need to attach the clutch cable. We need to finish aligning the MagnaFlow exhaust system. We need to install some rubber around the AC line to keep it from rubbing on the relocated shock tower. We need to finish "tweaking" the break lines. We have them in place, but we need to get the contours and alignment correct. We need to relocate the intercooler pump to clear the front wheel. We have to modify the horn bracket for tire clearance.
And the biggie is that we need to have a custom "oil filter relocation" fitting fabricated. The steering linkage fits as designed, but when we tried to install the oil filter relocation fitting, there was about 1/2" of interference. We examined the billet fitting and decided it should be easy to eliminate at least 1/2" from the design. We just have to find the right shop to do the work. I wonder if the people who manufactured the kit can help us out on this one?
Getting this engine to fit was not without it's issues. Clearance between the frame rails is very tight. And, once the engine is in place, there is very little room to work. We found that we would get so far before we would have to remove an item from the engine for clearance or install an item that would not fit when the engine was fully installed.
Getting the break lines reconfigured was a rather tedious process and we still have a ways to go. After messing with the lines for a while your hands just get to sore and tired to go on.
With all that said, the installation went pretty much as planned. I feel as if we made significant progress over the past few days. Now we have to knuckle down and keep pushing toward the finish. Today we will double check the installation and make sure we did not miss anything (loose bolts, fittings, electrical connections, etc...). After we are sure that everything is in order, I will move on to the dash / interior installation and Wayne will concentrate on the exterior bodywork.
The past two days have been spent reviewing the connections over and over again. I have been concentrating on the engine bay and the suspension. I am at the point where I have to start thinking about installing the dash and steering wheel.
I have attached photos of the rear wheel mechanisms I will not be installing, the car sitting on its wheels (I still have to fine tune the ride height, but that will have to be accomplished on the laser table, and the car from the front showing the engine height.
Today I will go over everything one more time and if satisfied I will start on the dash. I can't wait to get started on that rat’s nest of wiring and vacuum lines. I hope upon hope that I don't have any wiring issues when we go to fire this sucker up.
If there is a problem I will have to call in the big guns, because I will be totally lost... without a rudder... without a compass... in the dark... sad... alone...
Yesterday we installed the dash. Most of the issues were with the defroster ducts, but I think we have them figured out. Wayne was a madman with the pneumatic saws-all. He has things roughed in. He will be doing some fine tuning today while I continue with the interior.
Damn, am I sore today? Being bent up like a pretzel on the steel floor pans has really taken its toll. Also, my hands and arms are bruised and cut from all the contortions required to get the wiring installed under the dash. I really shouldn't complain. Wayne really has the tougher row-to-hoe. All of the filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling and sanding really takes its toll after a while.
I just need to find a quality interior shop in the Chicago area. There are a number of shops in the area, but I want a shop that is capable of doing invisible dash modifications. And while the shops I know do good leather and upholstery work, they have no experience with the type of mods I am looking for.
It is now time to drag my tired old bones out to the shop. :-)
Yesterday we were moving along just fine when we decided to trial fit the seats. I plugged the driver’s seat into the harness and applied power to the battery terminals and thought that would get power to the seat, but nothing happened. I still have to finish a few things as far as system grounds, etc... I am sure that everything will work just fine when I get the last of these wiring items resolved. At least I hope so.
But...
The Cobra seats are great, and I really like them, but I can't use them. I need to lower them 2" front and back and there is not enough "play" in the track areas to allow that. I could alter the cushion (remove foam, etc...) but I do not think removing 2" of foam is a good idea, even if it was possible. If you are wondering why this is an issue, the interior height of the 65 is just about 2” less than that of the 03 Cobra. I was hoping that this would be something we could resolve by modifying the seat tracks, but, as I stated above, there just is not enough room to shave 2” from the tracks.
So, I need new seats. I would like seats similar to the 03 Cobra’s with good, lateral support.
Also, I talked to Ford and their recommendation in regard to the air bag use in this car is....
If we use the air bags, we need to use the factory 3 point restraint. If we go to a 4 or 5 point harness, we should disconnect the air bags. I really wanted to use a 4 point harness tied into a rear roll bar assembly, but if I do that I will have to disconnect the air bags. THIS IS SOMETHING EVERYBODY SHOULD TAKE NOTICE OF. If you have altered the restraint to something other than the factory system, you really should disconnect the air bags. The factory restraints have a certain amount of give to them and this is factored into the air bag system. If you use a 4 or 5 point system, there will be no give and if the air bags deploy, you will be smacked in the fact with a fully deployed air bag. For the air bag system to work properly, you should contact the bag before it is fully deployed.
So, the seats and harnesses have to be addressed as a single issue. If we go to the 4 point restraint, we should get seats designed for use with a 4 point system. The people at SVT suggested using the same setup they used in the GTR concept car.
Any recommendations??? What do you all think???
Also, another wiring item I can't figure out is the use of two grey, two prong plugs in the under dash wiring harness. They are located to the far right and the far left among all the connections right at the kick panels. Any ideas???
I hope everyone had a good holiday. I took some time off to lazy about the house and also knock a few items off my “honeydew” list. It is good to be back to work. I sent a lot of my free time puzzling out some of the issues we have been facing.
I have resolved all the electrical connections in the 03 harness save two. There is one grey two prong connector near the driver’s side kick panel and one small black connector located over the drivers side rear wheel housing. I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and pick up the 03 Cobra wiring diagrams.
I have found replacement seats that should fit just right. They are Recaro LXF seats. They should sit exactly 2" shorter than the stock Cobra seats. They are seeing if I can get them with the same charcoal leather and grey suede as the Cobra seats. Now, I just have to figure what I am going to do for seat tracks.
With that said, I am also installing a rear roll bar and 4 point harnesses. This will require the disengagement of the air bags. I know I have been struggling with this for a while, but (as far as safety goes) the 4 point harnesses will do us just fine. Many feel that the 4 point restraint is a step up from the 3 point air bag combo.
Also, we are getting down to the short list. Today, I will be reviewing all the tasks left to accomplish, organizing them and prioritizing them.
