BUILD THREAD Project long time coming

[Streetbu]

Made a little more progress on the car this morning.

Floor cut open and roll bar set into position.

Forgot I never repaired the small square of floor above the right side body mount. Oops. Guess I was in a hurry to get back on the road. Have some surface rust to clean up under the rear seat, not a big deal. Played around with the location of the bar and I like where it sits now. Mostly hidden by the B pillar. The down bars they sent are just 5' long pieces of straight tubing. It would work but I'd really like to hide the cage a little more. We have a hydraulic bender at work. Think I'll try to bend one and see if I like how it comes out. Bought a 1-5/8" hole saw off Amazon to notch the tubing, that'll be here Tuesday. I'll tinker this afternoon and get the floor cleaned up. Hopefully some more updates this week.

 

[carnutjw]

Don't know if this is what you have in mind, but I saw it on Classic GBody Garage FB page and thought of you. It's from this website:

G-Body 4pt Fitted Roll Bar

Wild Rides G-Body Roll Bars are expertly bent & notched to fit your g-body, ready to install, they are the best fitting easiest to install.

wildridesracecars.com

 

[Streetbu]

Don't know if this is what you have in mind, but I saw it on Classic GBody Garage FB page and thought of you. It's from this website:

G-Body 4pt Fitted Roll Bar

Wild Rides G-Body Roll Bars are expertly bent & notched to fit your g-body, ready to install, they are the best fitting easiest to install.

wildridesracecars.com

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Thank you. Yes I've been searching the net looking for ideas and what not. Unfortunately we dont have the correct size dies for our hydraulic bender at my work. So that means I'm SOL for bending the tubing. Hoping to have some good updates this weekend. I've made some more progress but was trying to finish a couple of things before I posted.

 

[Streetbu]

Well didn't make it as far as I wanted. Always seems to be the case. Worst part is its my own fault.
So I cut the holes in the trunk to get to the top of the rear spring perches.

Cut these circles out of 3/16" steel, 4.125" diameter, and they fit the top of the spring pocket perfectly.

Then I started welding them in, working slowly and letting it cool down in between.

What I won't show is right at the very end when my welds really started looking like crap. Figured I was just maxing out my cheap Northern Tool mig welder. Then realized I was out of gas. 😡 of course all of the welding places around here are closed on the weekends since covid became a thing. So that meant I wasn't going to finish the cage this weekend. Decided to do what I could. Got the tubes coped, and ready to cut to length, once I get the main hoop tacked in.

I'll take that for a rookie job with hand tools.

Then I moved onto the rear brakes. Now I'm not breaking any new ground here, this has been done many times before. Just trying to do a clean install/swap with some decent parts and hope it's the last time I ever have to touch/modify them...

Still waiting for the paint to dry on the drivers side caliper and bracket.

Now if you remember, I had bought a set of rear backing plates already, but once I got them, they were not in the shape I was told. Unfortunately the actual tin backing plate portion is obsolete and not made by anyone. They make aftermarket assemblies that are entirely cast iron, which I thought about getting, but then you would still need all the hardware, shoes, etc for the parking brake. I found this set on Ebay from a guy in Las Vegas. I didn't even clean them up. That's how clean they were. Rust belt sucks. Here's the first set I bought.

The other one isn't much better. I just couldn't put those on after all the work I've put into this car.
So that's where I currently am. Going to make the shock relocation brackets at work tomorrow, get the mig tank filled, and get back to work.

 

[Streetbu]

Filled the tank for the mig welder after work and made the shock relocation brackets.

It wasn't tightened down in this pic, which is why the shock bushing looks so out of whack

 

[Streetbu]

Not much motivation, I've been swamped at work and beat by the time I get home. Played around with some bracketry for the parking brake, think I have that figured out. We shall see. Decided I had to get something done, so I installed this heat shield on the starter solenoid. I've been having a slow crank/heat soak issue since I swapped to the LS. The headers are very close to the starter so it would make sense. I guess this was stock on F body's from 98-02. They are sold on RockAuto for $15, figured it would be worth a shot. Had to remove the starter to even get enough room to slip it in. It simply snaps over the solenoid. Hopefully it helps.

 

[Texas82GP]

Not much motivation, I've been swamped at work and beat by the time I get home. Played around with some bracketry for the parking brake, think I have that figured out. We shall see. Decided I had to get something done, so I installed this heat shield on the starter solenoid. I've been having a slow crank/heat soak issue since I swapped to the LS. The headers are very close to the starter so it would make sense. I guess this was stock on F body's from 98-02. They are sold on RockAuto for $15, figured it would be worth a shot. Had to remove the starter to even get enough room to slip it in. It simply snaps over the solenoid. Hopefully it helps.

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That shield is stock on my 08 Sierra 5.3. Also stock on a 15 Silverado 2500 6.0. I think you are supposed to run it. We don't have one on my brother's 78 Z28 and no issue though. I hope it solves your problem.

 

[Streetbu]

Had our Mardi Gras party last night. Fun times. Today, not so much 🤒 🤣

Had to make some kind of progress on the car this weekend so I pushed thru it and got the rear down bars cut and test fit. Main hoop is barely tacked into place. I need to figure out what I'm doing with the rear seat area before I go any further. If I'm going to put aluminum panels back there, I need to cut and fit them before I weld the cage together. I think I should close my eyes while laying on the couch for a little bit and decide. LOL

 

[Streetbu]

Working on the car today. Made some headway on the rear brakes. Mainly the parking brake. Was going to have new parking brake cables made, but the local Fleetpride doesn't make them any more. So I had to fall back and punt.
This is the bracket I came up with. Seems to be working well at the moment. Think I might weld the slot in the nut closed so the cable can't slip out somehow. Besides that it applies and releases, can't ask for much more than that. I used parts of the Camaro parking brake cable brackets to make mine. Bolted it thru one of the sway bar bolts on the lower control arm. Still need to cycle the suspension to make sure all is clear but I think I'll be ok.

 

[Tony1968]

I'm a little confused per usual. Is the slot so you can weld it to existing bracket 🤔?