63 restomod update
 

Ok... 4 years later and I am making a major change to my project. The pics below were taken when we test fitted the wheels and then last week with the first coat of primer. Once we have all the gaps and lines nailed, the body is coming off for the last time. Had I started this project today, I would be using an LS3 rather than the 383 I bought when I started. Since the body is coming off one more time, I am taking this opportunity to swap out the 383 with a Mast motorsports LS3 416 630hp crate. Out goes the Dana 36 and in comes a Dana 44. Paint should be complete in 6 weeks and the car should be on the road in 8-10 weeks. I'll post more pics once we get the new drive train installed. Can't wait!!

http://i53.tinypic.com/23ti9a9.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/207nyx4.jpg

Nice keep the pic's coming
Hugh

:cheers:

:thumbs:

Saaawweeeeeeeeeeeetttttt!!!!!!! :d

Very nice, just a little bit more to go. Keep us posted, thanks for sharing.

Getting close now. We got the new Dana 44 installed, the stainless fuel tank last came in last week, the Be Cool radiator is being built and should arrive next week. Mast Motorsports is still waiting on heads for my engine. It has been 6 weeks since I placed the engine order, they are expecting the heads to arrive tomorrow, so hopefully I will have the dyno results by Friday and a delivered engine next week. I'm hoping the Dyno numbers are in the new ZR1 range! The painter is making good progress. He will start laying color on the car early next week! The good news is the car is still on target to be complete by Mid April! I'll post some pics when the engine is installed and once the color is on the body! :woohoo:

:thumbs: :thumbs:

:cheers:

Jim :cool:

sweeeetttt:thumbs:

Always enjoy reading about other projects out there.

More Pics please.:cheers:

That is sweet! Congratulations!! :thumbs:

Here are a few photos..

Smoothing out the firewall
http://i54.tinypic.com/2gufqrr.jpg

Firewall smoothed
http://i52.tinypic.com/14imxc6.jpg

Prepping engine bay for paint
http://i55.tinypic.com/2076jqg.jpg

Not only is the paint coming along, but when I called Mast Motorsports the heads came in and they are just waiting on the spring which should be in tomorrow. By Friday I should know the dyno results. Can't wait to take some pics of the engine in the chassis and color on the body!

My painter was busy yesterday and got the engine bay, wheel wells and under body painted!
http://i55.tinypic.com/8x7eoh.jpg

Very Nice Work
 

Did you block sand that firewall you sick puppy?:cool: Things like that take a ton of time but yield great results. Cant wait to see the body painted.

Earl

Hi Earl- He blocked the firewall and we smoothed out the underbody. The wheel wells were cleaned up as well. We are installing a vintage air kit and a remote wiper motor kit, so we were able to fill in the old wiper motor area as well as the old heater core hole. I guess I could have gone totally OCD and created a completely flat firewall, but then they would probably be fitting me for a strait jacket! The car has been fitted with the GTS rear qtrs, filled in the seams in the rear exhaust panel and added a center exhaust exit area. Ok, maybe I will go fit the jacket myself!

Looks super! The body lines always look great in primer.:thumbs:

where does the vintage air box mount if it doesnt mount where the old heater box went? The remote wiper motor kit, whose did you get for that?

thanks, Herb

Hi Herb-
The vintage air unit mounts under the dash. We will use a bulkhead plate to get the heater/ac lines through the firewall, rather than the box that mounts on the firewall. The remote wiper kit was purchased from Specialty Power Windows.
Thanks,
Rob

Can you explain what your doing to the rear valance? Is it still removeable?

The rear valance is no longer removable... with bolts anyway. :) I should have started with a side exhaust rear panel, but I didn't. So the mods were:
1) fill in the exhaust holes
2) create a cutout for the center exhaust under the license plate (similar to Rich Lagasse's Split Personality)
3) fill in the 2 vertical seams as well as the seam that runs between the license plate and the bumpers.

We didn't fill in the seams hidden by the bumpers/license plate. This was to aid in the future, if I ever wanted to remove the valance, there are fewer seams to cut. We also tucked all the bumpers close to the body, this just looks cool to me.

Here is a picture of some of the rough work done. This was taken prior to making the seams completely seamless:
http://i53.tinypic.com/25u5j4m.jpg

Just for giggles, here is a pic of the tucked bumper. The one of the left is original and the right is tucked:
http://i51.tinypic.com/ayaoo1.jpg

I had SPW send me a wiper transmission to see if it would fit. I havent done anything with it yet. Have you figured out how you were going to mount the transmissions? I used this set up in my '60 and it worked great, but then it was designed to fit the C1. As I said, I have pursued the SPW version yet on my '63swc and will be interested in what you have to do as well as any photos.....

thanks for the information and any additional you might provide!
Herb