IROC Wagon Project

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Today was another one of those “loose end” days. Had several things I needed to resolve and/or test fit so I went after a couple of them. Started with mounting the seat tracks on the seats so I could test fit them in the car. I purchased these seats from one of the members on the site here in Arizona so at least one of you guys should remember them.




Yes, admittedly they look pretty crappy right now but these are pretty rare two year only Lear Sigler seats, similar in design and function to a Recarro. I just like them because they were only available in F-Body’s from 82-85 and have lots of mechanical bolster adjustments.





The seats fit well in the car but without the column, it’s kinda tough to determine how comfortable it will be to drive. One thing I figured out is I probably should have got the longer shifter lever. That’s a relatively easy fix albeit not an inexpensive one.









Next on the list was to cut the hole in the floor for the park brake cable to go through. The straight lines are easy to cut with a die grinder but the rounded corners are impossible. I really need to spring for a plasma cutter. I used a drill and hacked it out but now I need to go back and repair, weld, some of the boo boos up. No, nobody is ever going to see it but I know it’s there.





If you’re looking at the lever bracket and thinking it’s a crappy weld, I can assure you it ain’t gonna budge. Yes, I’m a crappy welder but I’m a worse “call somebody and wait for them to come over and weld it” guy.
:roll:

With that more or less done, I marked where my rear park brake cable brackets need to be mounted in order to have adjustment when I’m done. I found out Inline Tube cannot make F-Body cables like I’m using so I need to be certain the stock lengths work. It’s really just a matter of where you locate the cable brackets using slow curves with the cable to get where you need to be.





There’s also a center cable bracket that needs to be welded to the floor I took from the F-Body floor pan I bought. This piece essentially guides the lever cable to the center and is where the two rear cables all intersect. I didn’t get photos of that because I’m not done beating the crap out of the bracket so it matches the contour of my floor. It will however comply at some point.

I did route both the rear brake cables and attached them to the backing plates. Couldn’t get the eyelets over the brake actuator levers so like usual, had to get the file out and finesse the parts to make them play nice together.
:blam:



Scott, ... :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :wink:
 
Hey Scott,
It's looking good. I really like those seats. They very much resemble Recaros. You have a good eye and taste, my friend. What size spacers did you finally decide on?
As for your welds, I wouldn't worry about them too much. As long as they're not holding a frame together or something critical in nature. My welds aren't the greatest either, that's why they make grinding discs and stones... :lol:
One of these days, I'd like to see how your bumpers came out. Probably when you're getting ready to mount them.
 
Hi Scott. Good progress on the car. I think you're right about the shifter. I appreciate the photos of your handbrake setup, because I'm considering something similiar for my Malibu. Just in case you didn't know, GM offered the Lear Seigler seats on the Buick GNs in 1984 and 1985. I just learned this recently, after I liberated the 2 front bucket seats (driver's side power operated), and the rear seat out of a VERY rusty 1984 GN, that the owner was parting out. The car was fully optioned out, with the exception of power windows, but as I said, I don't think I've ever seen a more rusted out G body. When I saw those seats in your car, I thought to myself, where did he get the tan GN seats? The seats in the GNs were upholstered in light grey cloth on the sides, with grey leather inserts, with the Buick "6" logo stitched into the upper part of the seatback in the leather.
I noticed that the seat foam on your seats isn't in the best shape. Mine have the same problem. Do you know if there are reproduction seat foams available for that style of seat, or is it just a matter of finding someone who can repair or rebuild the existing seat foams?
Keep up the good work and the updates.
 
Hey Jack,

Thanks as always for your support. Sometimes it’s the little kick in the pants that does it! I ended up starting off with single 5/16 spacers on all four corners as a baseline. Once I get the console in and mounted somewhat securely, I’ll reinstall the seats and tweak the way they sit. Based on what I felt when I was sitting in the car, I need to deal with the shifter issue first.

As far as the bumpers go, like I alluded to before, I was really frustrated with that project so I put the whole thing on hold. My first attempt was going to be to section the bumper as well as narrowing it. We all know these bumpers, while not as ridiculous as the 73-77 bumpers, are still overkill. My biggest concern isn’t the cutting or the welding, it’s the finishing. I’ve come to the conclusion that even with all the tools I do have, I don’t have the ones necessary to accomplish what I started out to do so I threw those in the neighbor’s yard and will start fresh when the time comes.

Even the best painters work will look like crap if the body work isn’t right. The best chrome shop is only as good as the guy doing the surface preparation. I really can’t assume the chrome shop will make these perfect so I need to do the lions share of the finishing before they go out for chrome. It will get done but needs to be on hold for now.

Hey Clean,

Thanks for your support as well, the fact that others have interest in this build is top shelf motivation! Yeah, I found references to the Lear Siegler seat being offered in the GN after I made my post. I just think they’re cool because it’s not something you see every day and it’s an OE Camaro, (ahem) and GN seat. I think the parts are scarce but I have my parts guy engaged in finding what’s still out there. I printed the Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC) pages out for option AF9 seats. I’ll send it to you if you PM me an eMail address.

Funny you should ask about the buns, I just ran across a site with the whole set for sale the other night. Hopefully I bookmarked the site. Go to the attached link and have a look. If not, I’ll spend this week on the road surfing for the parts again. I need the buns among other little parts but I’ll make do with what I can get. I did see the OE GN covers for sale and I found the OE Camaro covers too.


http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/produ ... -ONLY.html







Scott, ... :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :wink:
 
Here's some of the stuff from yesterday and a few more things I did today.

The hole in the floor is supposed to look like this.



The actual hole in my floor looks like this. This is why I need to do some repair welding and the reason I need a plasma cutter. Try to remember all of this stuff gets cleaned with lacquer thinner and/or painted before it gets installed for the final time.



The other order of business today was to fabricate the brackets for the rear park brake cables. I looked at a bunch of brackets to accommodate this function, even bought a couple of Corvette parts, but in the end, decided to use a readily available, but modified exhaust hanger. These brackets hold the Monte SS tailpipe to the frame in lieu of the discontinued GM hanger. Notice how they have the two struts incorporated into the stamping. These should be more than adequate to keep parking brake cables in check.





I merely flattened one of the right angles and cut a small section off. I drilled a hole in the bracket to attach it to the floor brace until such time I can get it welded.



Here’s what it looks like with the cables routed through the bracket. Notice the nice easy curve of the cable. I may end up adding one clip in the floor to keep the cable up tight as I suspect overtime they will relax and sag.





This is the center bracket from the IROC. This bracket centers the park brake cable as it comes through the floor. Essentially this gets welded to the floor about where I’m holding it, then the park brake lever cable routes through it. Notice the blue designer bandage.



Here you can see that the rear cables land about half way up the adjustment of the front cable. More than likely, I’ll cut off a big chunk of the extra threaded adjustment rod.



Other than ripping large chunks of hair and flesh out of ones head, does anybody know what these tabs are for? The threaded inserts are for the OE driveshaft loop. I’m in the market for a bolt up NHRA loop, just haven’t found one for the right price yet.



Scott, ... :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :wink:
 
Well I decided because the car is pretty low I didn’t want to weld the brackets to the bottom. Besides that, and as previously stated, I’m a crappy welder so it was an easy decision. I drilled holes and used through bolts for the center cable bracket. Put a dab of weld on the heads where they come through the tunnel, that much I can do efficiently.





As usual I used twice as many fasteners as GM would have but then again, I know I won’t need to redo it any time soon. Rounded the corners off on the brackets and used Loctite on all the bolts whether a through bolt or a sheet metal screw.




I have two additional retainers I’m going to use in the event the cable starts to sag after its in use for a while. I’ll drill a hole up through the floor and then tack weld a ¼ 20 bolt to secure the fastener to. Need to go back and glob some sealer over the holes I’ve drilled thus far.






Tomorrow I should be able to finish the brackets but I still need to finese the hole where the cable comes through the floor. Last time I did that I made a bigger mess than I fixed. Doesn't mean I won't still attempt it, just sayin what happened last time. ...
:blam:

Scott, ... :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :wink:
 
Updates dammit! I know Sunday is your day to work on this ride so when you don't update I figure Sunday is a wash too.
 
Well Dudes and Dudettes, I worked on the car a lttle over the long Memorial weekend. The two weekends prior to that I was in other states. Last weekend I started installing the Fat Mat, Rattle Trap or what ever you'd like to call the interior insulation. My old back and knees can't take much of that I'll tell ya. Make sure the Alleve bottle is full for the weekend.

Think I'm about half way done thus far. Started with the roof then the passenger side working around to the driver side. I'll lay the floor last. Still have some welding to do and a couple of bracket modifications to make. The stuff is easy to work with, it's not difficult, just time consuming. Tell you one thing, this car is probably going to be quieter than a Cadillac from the same vintage, maybe even quieter.

I think in the end the Fat Mat will add about twenty-five pounds to the car. Not that it matters but the weight is easily offset with all the alumninum stuff I'm using. Bumper backers, bumper brackets, core support. Plus the bucket seats weigh less than the bench. Not like I'm building an NHRA future record holder but I don't want it to be a pig either.

I'll take some more photos this coming weekend. Really tried to make up for lost time last week. Next deal is to get all the interior junk stripped, probably blasted with walnut shells then a redye so I can start puttin this puppy back together. ...

Scott, ... :arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :roll:
 
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