What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2021]

[wonderboy24]

just picked this 85 Chevrolet Celebrity Euro coupe 2 door yesterday. garage find 1 owner 63000 miles. was working at a house replacing all the water lines. me and the owner were in the house talking about the water lines. he said you get to work i am going to load a car on a trailer and take it to the junk yard.i asked him about it. he said it hasn't been started in over 10 years.he said he isn't going to mess with it. scrap yard told him they would give him 200.00 i said i will give you 200.00. the car and a boat came with the house he bought they were both sitting in the garage. the lawyer/power of attorney gave him the tittle and paper work for the car and boat. so the fun begins to get it running. there is hard plastic still on the seats. there is one small surface rust spot.

 

[Supercharged111]

It looks like the tank swap is good to go, minus the fact that I need to drive the fuel neck down farther and make a bracket for it. Pump and sender are doing their jobs. The brakes seem alright too, but I need to put the axle on stands and idle the car in gear to see if I have a bent rim or axle. The guys at the dyno said it was jumping pretty good. Hopefully it's just out of balance. Speaking of dyno, I couldn't have picked a shittier day to load and go. I loaded as the snow started coming down which was made even more entertaining by the fact that my knuckle swap netted me 3.5" of toe out which I realized as I got partway down the driveway that was covered in snow so I pressed on to the trailer. I almost didn't didn't make it up between the toe out and snowy ramp with slick tires. Thought I was gonna have to winch it for a second.

I ended up running a space heater in the trailer overnight because the low was 26 and the car has no antifreeze in it.

The only way to open this door the next morning was with a propane torch. I got the ramp door with a prybar and the other side door from the inside with brute force. Had to use 4wd at the gas station because the truck was sliding downhill in park. Everything was a sheet of ice. It was so bad I couldn't position the trailer to fill the car so I filled a jug and hit the road. At the dyno, I ended up having to plate up from a 35mm to a 37mm to get my 260whp, I got 307wtq. Initial pulls on the 35 were 251/301. When I got home I roughed in the alignment at 1/8" toe out. I still need to make sure the rack is centered and get camber evened out on both sides. Left is good at -3.0 but right side is at -2.7. It's probably close enough but I'll be running counter clockwise next weekend on a roval so the additional camber is welcome on the right side. Once I do that and finish my trap door cover for the fuel tank/pump I should be ready for tech which is scheduled for Tuesday.

 

[Supercharged111]

Alright, got the alignment re-roughed in with -3.0 camber both sides, had it at 1/8" of toe out, then decided to center the rack. It's now eyeball centered and I'm at 3/16" of toe out, so plenty of wiggle room to correct it on the road tomorrow. I'll shoot for somewhere in the 0-1/16" out range, favoring the 0 side to see how it works for me mid corner. Toe in is supposed to be best for mid corner, if I could make that work I'd like to see how it works. I think the driving approach there would simply be an earlier initiation with the same late apex.

Edit: I also went ahead and marked my bias valve.

I bought the car back in 2013 and took until last season to decide I wanted to **** with the valve, mainly because I'd walked the compound down to the point I could deviate from full minimum. We'll see if this does me any good. Seeing how I whooped *ss with metal on metal rear brakes last year I have my doubts.

 

[motorheadmike]

It looks like the tank swap is good to go, minus the fact that I need to drive the fuel neck down farther and make a bracket for it. Pump and sender are doing their jobs. The brakes seem alright too, but I need to put the axle on stands and idle the car in gear to see if I have a bent rim or axle. The guys at the dyno said it was jumping pretty good. Hopefully it's just out of balance. Speaking of dyno, I couldn't have picked a shittier day to load and go. I loaded as the snow started coming down which was made even more entertaining by the fact that my knuckle swap netted me 3.5" of toe out which I realized as I got partway down the driveway that was covered in snow so I pressed on to the trailer. I almost didn't didn't make it up between the toe out and snowy ramp with slick tires. Thought I was gonna have to winch it for a second.

I ended up running a space heater in the trailer overnight because the low was 26 and the car has no antifreeze in it.

The only way to open this door the next morning was with a propane torch. I got the ramp door with a prybar and the other side door from the inside with brute force. Had to use 4wd at the gas station because the truck was sliding downhill in park. Everything was a sheet of ice. It was so bad I couldn't position the trailer to fill the car so I filled a jug and hit the road. At the dyno, I ended up having to plate up from a 35mm to a 37mm to get my 260whp, I got 307wtq. Initial pulls on the 35 were 251/301. When I got home I roughed in the alignment at 1/8" toe out. I still need to make sure the rack is centered and get camber evened out on both sides. Leftist good at -3.0 but right side is at -2.7. It's probably close enough but I'll be running counter clockwise next weekend on a rival so the additional camber is welcome on the right side. Once I do that and finish my trap door cover for the fuel tank/pump I should be ready for tech which is scheduled for Tuesday.

Snow? Ewww.

 

[melloelky]

Picked-up the modified steering column shaft for my 64 C10 project. I'll do another partial-assembled housing test fit this weekend. If everything is good, an exterior housing makeover will commence (nothin' special just slicked & Satin Black). Then the guts get rebuilt for finished assembly & installation.

i have to ask as I've seen it before,did you make any kind of divot or low spot with a drill bit or mill for the set screws to sit in on the flat of the shafts?those set screws even with the lock nut have a tendency to walk on the flats and loosen up.

 

[Supercharged111]

Snow? Ewww.

Not the first time, won't be the last. Dyno day 2019 when I woke up it was 6 degrees outside. One of the other guys was horsing around while I warmed the car up on the dyno and ended up eating the curb because cold tires and stuff power steering. Here's loading for the first race of the season in 2017.

When I got to tech everyone was calling me out for fluid leaks but it was just dripping melted snow.

This one came down the day I was supposed to load back in 2014. Thankfully it was melted enough by the time I got home from work to load.

I'm sure there's more. Like the time I raced in the snow back in 2016 but have no pics/proof.

 

[scoti]

i have to ask as I've seen it before,did you make any kind of divot or low spot with a drill bit or mill for the set screws to sit in on the flat of the shafts?those set screws even with the lock nut have a tendency to walk on the flats and loosen up.

Haven't yet but there will be drilled divots for the set screws to seat. No sense in doing it until I knew things were nearing or at the end of mock-up validations.

 

[melloelky]

put a 90 degree connector on my mic plug, yeah its small thing but I'm digging it.

 

[Supercharged111]

Another LS1Tech copy/paste. It's cram time, practice Friday and race Saturday/Sunday!

Today I sent the fuel neck down the rest of the way with brute force, WD40, and another obligatory sacrifice to the blood gods. In addition, I nailed the alignment down. I got it DAMN close last night with the tape measure and eyeball. The wheel was only slightly left of center and I was able to get it right by reeling in that 3/16" of toe out by necking it down to 1/16" on the right side. Next I set my sights on the right rear wheel. I put the car on stands, in gear, running, and observed movement on the right side that I didn't see on the left. I then swapped wheels and repeated, the problem didn't exactly track. It was so inconclusive I wasn't sure what to make of it, so I called a friend and he suggested the dial indicator. Duh! So I set it up the lazy way at first on the brake rotor and got 12ish thou of lateral runout. Fail. I then tore the brakes off and repeated at the axle flange.

Both lateral and radial are at or under 5 thou, so I believe my issue is the wheel(s?) itself. Gonna have the rim runout measured going forward with tire mountings. For now? Send it!

 

[Supercharged111]

'Nuther copy/paste.

Got the car tech'd today, that's a mental load off. Also received my AiM SoloII DL.

If I can get the laptop to play ball I'm in business. This thing should be a game changer. For that to happen I think I need to shoehorn a Windows 10 upgrade into my already tight schedule. Still need to pump a liter of brake fluid through the system along with some other piddly stuff. And do my j-o-b. We do this for fun, right?