Originally Posted by sonksen_design

Could you tell me what steering column you used, the length and if you would have used one a little longer or shorter if you could have?

Jjackson,
Hereford AZ

It's a standard Ididit C2 column. My custom dash means I'm not 100% on how much different mine is from the firewall to the driver compared to stock. But the steering knuckled shaft should be able to be longer or shorter. Also depends on what chassis/rack and engine/header combos you're running. How's that for an answer? -SS

Originally Posted by sonksen_design

I’ve posted very little in the last 9 months or so. The bodywork took a long time at my rate, but I’m pleased with how it looks sealed in epoxy. I think everyone has seen the progressions of bodywork, so I wasn’t excited to share any of it. My shop is a mess and I’ve got another bodyman weekend coming up helping my cousin Nathan repair rear quarters on my uncle Carl’s ’57 vette. July will have my shop free of the body dust and then I’ll finally be able to detail out my ’67 SS Chevy II so I can get it sold. Sad, but sacrificial lambs are required when you're not rolling in money.

Anyway, here’s the prep’d body sitting there with a brand spanking new 525hp LS3 with the Phoenix Trans 4L60E. I have the Compushift / Twist paddle shifter stuff to boot. FYI- since I think I’m the only nut putting an auto in a restomod, you may be interested in knowing it fit without mods to the tunnel. And if anyone wants to talk smack with my choice, just pull up to me at a light and we’ll see how things go for you.

A ton of stuff to purchase and fit now. Front drive system, radiator, VA A/C, ECM and much, much, much more. I also am talking with upholsters about stitching up all of my custom interior and hope somehow to have that done by the end of ’16.

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Originally Posted by CorvetteMikeB

Looks great! One quick question...where did you place your compushift controller for your 4L60E 4-speed automatic transmission? Please provide picture of controller location if possible.

Originally Posted by sonksen_design

Mike- Look back a page. It's behind a false panel where the wipe motor is.

Originally Posted by CorvetteMikeB

Is that on the interior of the car?? I was reading to install controller under the dash or under the seat to keep away from the heat and the unit is not water proof, so do not install in engine bay. I could not tell by looking at your picture. You are highly talented and did a fantastic job.

Originally Posted by sonksen_design

Nope, engine bay. The cover will have a gasket, not that much water will be in there anyway. Heat won't be excessive there either. And... thanks!

Originally Posted by sonksen_design

Thought I’d start a thread on this build since I now have some substantial progress. On May 2nd, my wife and I made a run from our home at the Lake of the Ozarks MO up to SRIII Motorsports to pick up the stage two chassis. Mike was as good to work with as all of you had sworn by. I’m sure that I’ll be doing more bragging on him and his crew as the build progresses. We then swung down to Lee Bumb to grab the front end, hood and misc pieces that I needed. You may be interested in reading more details about this project and how it’s been began almost 24 years ago, so check out my ‘profile album’ by the same title.

Since I made some major improvements to my shop in 2013 and starting tearing down the ’63 almost a year ago, I’ve made fairly steady progress. Having sat in a field in Minnesota for a decade after being totaled, this old vette was a mess. Quite obvious that she led a life of abuse and neglect even before the wreck. I’ve stripped it down and had it soda-blasted and jumped on repairing and re-finishing the parts that were worth a darn. I have a great start on the interior design as well as some other interesting twists. Nothing too radical on this girl. I am building this car to tour around in and enjoying scenic drives with my wife to hammering through the pylons at some car events. I’ll be keeping most of Shinoda, Mitchell & Dontov’s body design, other than slightly wider GTS rear quarters and tucking mostly-stock bumpers. Like my ’80 custom project from TWO decades ago (man, am I getting old), this one will be done by mostly my hands. Hopefully less than the 1980’s six thousand man hours… no joke. That’s why I’m going through all of this mess, I keep reminding myself since you all know not ever aspect is pure joy. That said, I am absolutely loving life right now and having a blast on this project. No hurry here and no agenda or plans to start up a rod shop. Just a simple tradesman who’s enjoying the fruits of his labor while being grateful for another challenging project. Can wait to get her done and then begin ‘updating’ the ’80 for its Round Two re-birth.

So now that I’ve over-spent 2014’s budget by ten-fold, I’ll get to work on getting the chassis under there so that I can accurately bond the nose on. Once that’s done, the dolly will go back under while the dirty work happens. Not trying to stick to a timeline, but it makes sense to get some interior progress done after the rough body work is done, in order to allow time for the upholsterers to do their stitching magic. On that note, I’m enjoying picking up some metal-shaping tools and equipment in order to: A) Master another craft…and B) fabricate my interior components. I’ll post more as that ‘shop stuff’ comes along. Maybe 2015 will be when I start picking up the LS3/4L60E drivetrain stuff, we will see.

Since I haven’t obsessed on these types of blogs before, maybe some ideas on what you would like to see me show on this thread. I do appreciate the ones that have gone before me and posted a ton of helpful stuff, but I’m not sure I can equal their time commitment for the cause

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