For the most part, each and every part I have gotten, I have done my best to get a good deal on, and the reason it will take over a year to build, is the cost. I am only able to aford a part here or there for it, and some of these parts are outrageous, so I have to take a couple months to aford it, or have to come up with side work, or trade for it. Being a home designer during the housing slump, I do not have near the site work I used to have. But once it is done, I can just sit back and enjoy it. Mind you then I will be racing it, and am sure that there will be some other project in the garage taking its place in line to be fixed, or finished.

 

Mark you are going on and past the call of duty. I must say, yours fits right in as there are some ugly fast corvettes in Utah

 

Thanks Wayne, I just hope when it is done, it stands up to what I plan on putting it through, and can run with some of you big dogs out there. By the time I am done, I am sure you will have your Dana 44, and the heads and cam, and will be knocking on some major fast times. Just hope I can keep up with you!

 

i'm pretty sure a twin turbo car will "keep up" (if thats what you want to call it when you blow by them at like 200 mph), with a car that has heads/cam lol.

 

Waynes car is pretty stout, and like all things that are just built, it is going to take some time to dial it in, and work out the bugs, tune it, and slowly up the boost to a point I know it will take it, but not break stuff.

 

In deed you are right, we have a local forum here, (utahvettes) and one of the guys in it has a twin turbo c5, nos and alcohol. Very fast! But I think 140/150 range at this altitude.

 

That's going to be one serious car there.

 

Well I had a light day today, and wanted to unwind some so I slept good tonight, so I decided I would go out after dinner and work on the stuff. Well to my surprise my garage door had leaked a small puddle about a 1/4 in deep into my garage under my car, and around all the stuff I left layed out. Had to clean up all of the stuff in the puddle, and then clean up the puddle. Then I put a space heater blowing on the floor and went to let it dry while I had dinner. Very enjoyable, as I got done with dinner, I changed out of my work clothes, and went out to see how bad it was going to be to work in it... IT WAS DRY! Well atleast where I was going to work. I got in there under the car, and ground out what I wanted out, and cleaned up a bit in there. Then I decided to go grind on the ends of that frame to get it into the hole, and read to size and fit for welding. Got it droped in the hole and it is now sitting on the rear cross member that will eventually come out. I can tell that at the end of working on it tonight, that I needed to grind on a couple more spots. Once that is completed, I can push it in to where I need to mark so I can cut out a place for the frame rails to come into the car. Should happen pretty fast, but I have set a 9:00PM Curfue on grinding, and cutting and loud noises because of the neighbors. So far no one has complained and I do not want them to. Slow I know, and I am glad I am not doing this for a living anymore. But then again I am having fun now, so all the more reason not to do it for a living. I can actually enjoy it now. I would say by the end of the weekend depending on how the running, and errands, and breakfast, and all go, I should be out there bending the main hoop, and sizing the halo, and rear shock to hoop bars. Once they are sized, I should be close to ready to remove the rear rails all the way, and start some serious welding. I am going to first cut out what I do not need, and then fill in the wound. From there I am going to tack the rear frame in, and start sizing the sheet metal for the wheel wells. Much easier to size before it is all welded up. Once it has been sized to some extent. Watch for more details as it starts to come together the photos should become more interesting, and rather than just shooting a few shots when I am done, I will shoot some shots during as well. Now for a few pictures of the progress.

 

First off the pictures might look a little different tonight. Over the weekend I went out and got a new camera, as my old one was a real POS and I found the one I have been looking for on sale.

Now for an update on the car. Well after a couple of days of grinding and cutting and fitting, I finally have that backhalf where I want it pretty much. I am about a 1/8" from where I want it, which is fine until I go to weld it, and then I can tweak it in. Anyway this is pretty close and then I need to go in and set the angles. From here I am going to start to size the hoop, halo and front and rear down tubes. Then I am going to cut out most of the rear frame of the Vette, and start sizing tubs. I hope to get to a point this weekend of sizing tubs. Once that is done, I can tack everything, remove the main assembly and start the finish welds on them. Then I will finish off the cutting of the rear frame, weld the new rear frame in place, and plate over the wounds. Then I will install the main part of the cage, and the wheel wells. Once that is done, I can finish the cage, and be ready for its first Chassis inspection. Once that is complete, I still have a ton of work before I can assemble the interior back in, including some fabrication of the trans cross member, as well as some rear tub interior parts, and the chute mount. Before that is done, I will also need to get a fuel cell, relocate the battery, and make some rear struts to connect the rear facia. I am also planning a belly pan of sorts in the rear to keep the wind out of it that will not be formed or put in until the end, when I got to do the exhaust.

I have decided to put the meth tank up front, along with the overflow and the oil tank.

 

Well since the activities were canceled tonight at the track, I worked about an hour late, and then came home and made dinner. After dinner I could see that the weather was nice for a tiny bit, and I had a window so I decided to go out and get the bends in my main hoop that I wanted to do. Now all I have to do is trim it to size and it will be ready to go in the car. It will drop down when I size it and that will put it under and behind the main targa bar of the car. Just need to leave room to get the interior trim panels in place, as well as Dynomat, and carpet down on the floor area. Also want to make sure there is room for padding on the cage, as well as a padding cover to make it look nice. I want it to be tight and hard to tell is in the car, but still meet the IHRA and NHRA Rules. Another piece close. Next after the cutting of the main hoop (Hopefully tomorrow) will be to size the down pipes from the main hoop to the shock towers. Would love to have that and the halo done before the end of the day sunday, and maybe a tack or two on those parts to the hoop. Then on sunday if we can buy some sunshine, I want to do the halo to front down tube connection, and the front downtubes sized. If I can get that far, I will need to do a ton of cutting on the rear frame, and then patch the frame holes this weekend.

 

Keep up the good work!
Should be pretty fast when it's all said and done.

 

Well today I have done some grinding to get rid of some old welds.... I have also got the rear bars from the hoop to the back half cut and sized. I put the door parts in, but will need to cut them once I size the front of the cage. I need to start on the halo, and front bars next, and that will be in just a little bit. It is hot and I decided tot take a drink break, shoot some pictures and post them. I plan on sizing the front bars, and the Halo tonight, and then want to do a little more in the next few days leading up to the weekend. This weekend I hope to weld in most of the cage, other than the front two bars that connect the cage with the front frame under the hood that go through the firewall. First I need to address the firewall, and then once the engine and trans are in, I will put these two bars in around the turbo's. Maybe if all goes well, by the end of next weekend around all that is going on I will be able to cut the actual Vette frame out of my way, and start patching the scars in the body with some sheet metal before I start rolling the tubs, and sizing them and all. Either way here are some pics so far today.























I still have some fitting and sizing, and I want to grind a bit off of the bottom of the main hoop so that I can put plates between the roll cage, and the frame. I am fairly happy with the fit, and I think it will be a fair match between body and cage. For anyone who has ever put a cage in, getting a good fit to the body makes a world of difference and I am glad I am taking the time to grind it tight. So many cages you see in C4's the main hoop is straight, and not bent to contour the body, and after that the seats fit bad, and you can see the cage just does not look right. Mind you it takes a lot more work to get it right, but I think it is worth it. Putting in the other door bars, the front bars, dash bar and halo should complete a very tight cage.

 

Well I did not get near as far as I wanted to. The Halo is close to where I want it size wise. Next I need to work on the front legs. Two considerations here though.... I need to get them as tight forward as I can, and also fit the halo the way I want it to. Might have to do a little bend on the end but still considering what I want to do there. Then I want to size the dash bar, and the rear bar that goes across at shoulder height. From there the side bars will need to be put in. The main bar, shoulder to floor in the front should lay in pretty easy. The ones that criss cross will take quite a bit more work. I want these as low as possible, but I want them right at the same time. From there it is a matter of supporting bars and stuff. Hopefully I can get enough time this week to get to sizing all of that, or I am going to put off welding for a week till it is all done. I am going to leave off the bar that goes from the dash bar/ front down bar to the frame under the hood until I get the engine in, and the turbos in, and all, and then I will work around everything to put them in.

Well here are some pics. I zip tied some stuff together to get an idea how stuff lays, and also to know where I need to do what to pieces without having to have someone stand in the garage and hold everything. (Not that I have not had a ton of offers to hold stuff)

 

This is turning out to be one of the best threads ever!!! Keep the pics coming.

 

As I work on it here and there, I update this thread at the same time I update the two other forums I visit. I do take a ton of pics, and if there is an area that anyone wants some other pics of, or closer or anything, just ask. Takes me a few minutes to shot a shot here and there, upload it and post it and all, but trust me in saying pictures are worth a ton. Lots of little things I am doing, I learned from looking at others builds, other pics of the same kind of thing, or actually looking at other projects at the track this year. I am working as a Tech Inspector at our local track just so I can get some ideas to make mine fit better, or learn what not to do or what ever.

 

Where are you hooking the forward down tubes to?

I like how they clear the door panels.

 

Actually the door bar is still a little high and will come down just a bit. I am going to put the front bars in after I have put the engine in the bay, put the twin turbos in, and have the headers in place. That way I know where I have to put them. I will let you know as I get it done.

 

i noticed the scoop-away cat litter buckets,dont know what id do without mine.

 

Isnt that the truth!

 

Well it has been like forever since I updated this thread. Really been working way to much.

Well when I was at the track last night I picked up a set of used junk tires to use for mock up and also to help in sizing. I rolled them under and decided that I just had to take a few pictures. This car is going to look wicked when she is done!















Well I got the chance this afternoon and evening to go do a little work. I am happy with the results of tonight. Tonight I got out there, took the main hoop and set it in its spot with the two rear bars that go to the shock towers, and tacked them into place. Then I pulled it out of the car, and put it in the driveway to clean and weld.... Ok I tacked it, went to remove it and found one was not tacked, so I had to get it all squared and set again, and then tack it again before removing. Welded it, cleaned spots and welded some more till I had a good weld all the way around the down tubes, working first a small area on one, and going back and forth. Felt really good, and I can say looks pretty good too. I will still put some gussets on it, and all but that can be done a bit later. I then started cleaning up since I wanted to take a nap before going in to work tonight around midnight. I took some pictures, and then put it back in the car, and guess what, it fit, and nothing moved due to heat! It will come back out again and I need to clean the floor, and put in a couple of plates, and then weld the main hoop to the floor. I will then weld the halo, and set the front down tubes and weld them, and then start working on the dash and door bars. After that the support bars...

At work I am starting to get caught up and once it is all caught up and I am between projects, I am taking a week off, and the plans are to spend atleast 80% of my time out there and finish the welding, and sizing and all and atleast get the cage in. Who knows, I might even put in the tubs and start to finish the back and get it ready for its fuel cell, and move the battery and all. Lots of special stuff to make all that work!

Here are a few pics. Thanks to my wife, I even have some of me welding but I will only share a couple of them