[aronhk_md]

Thanks guys, I'm pretty excited again Doc...it never ends until we die, and I'm not quite ready to die...lmao.

Smitty, its great to finally meet someone that has done this before, and interesting to hear the stories. I have several possible designs in mind, and have already admitted to myself that I need to modify those round sections of the firewall to make it clear. I had also thought about a sliding hinge to bring it forward to clear the round lower parts of the doors.

The problem there is that unlike the guys who run skinny front tires for drag racing, I am going to be running wide front tires as the car is hopefully going to see some roadracing. Since the fenders curve in at the bottoms behind the front tires, I am probably only going to be able to slide forward a few inches before hitting the tires.

The final issue is the hinge itself. The plan is to also use the frame horns as a mounting point. But I will use a two stage rotating hinge there that lifts as it rotates forward....thereby keeping the nose off the ground.

There will also be a partial belly pan under the front, extending as far back as I can reasonably take it, to keep air from coming under the front and into the engine compartment. By keeping the belly pan a few inches higher than the front spoiler it creates a vaccuum at higher speeds, pulling the front end down instead of the usual floating that occurs with these cars. In addition I will open the firewall at the top where the windshield wiper arms are, so air coming in the front grilles can not only exit the wheel wells and air extractors, but also rejoin the air stream flowing over the hood and up the windshield. My hope is actually that this doesnt end in a reversal of air due to the slightly higher pressure at the base of the windshield. Only testing with strips of yarn will tell the story. But I believe that the pressure of air forced in at speed through the front grilles will be far greater than the windshield pressure bump.

But back to the hood hinging...I will hopefully have it home in a few days from the shop. At that point I will be doing some brainstorming and may even attempt to make a cardboard/wood dummy....most likely partial....of the rear of the front end and the forward portion....to see if I can work through the problems. On another note, I may add some inner bracing......perhaps even mini inner fender portions in an attempt to brace the whole thing. It was surprisingly solid....not sure if your units were also made by US Body? But of course putting in the shaker hole may have destabilized it a bit.

I'd love to see any pics you might have....or if you can remember the name of the current owner of your old car. Honestly I have yet to see the RIGHT solution, and I can only hope there is one without cutting the fenders as mentioned.

[smittyseng]

Mr twister(screen name on here) bought my old car (the 73 w/glass front end). We both bought glass front ends from US body at the same time back in 89 or so. He got rid of his 72 that he had and later bought my unfinished 73 (I never finished it after putting in a full cage and butchering the car up to use the 1 piece front end), I will try to get him to post on here,I will look thru my old p[ics and see if I have anything, I'm sure he will be able to add to the discussion, Smitty

[aronhk_md]

Originally Posted by ERIC AULL

Aron, Lookin' insane!!!! My 67 GTO is coming along........keep at it!! Eric

Awesome Eric...when do you think you'll be putting rubber to the pavement? My goal is now spring.

Smitty....great, I'd very much like his input if he'd like to chime in. Appreciate yours too.

[BruceWilkie]

Front end looks great Aron.


Heres some pics of what I been up to.

[aronhk_md]

Thanks Bruce, and looking good there. Which heads are those?

[BruceWilkie]

A pair of 6x-8's I've had kicking around for a long time. Filled the pushrod holes and losing the entire pushrod bulge. (Will require 1.50" offset rollers, rockers and new holes drilled/slotted etc.) Flow restriction will be at the bowl/throat area now instead of the bulge. Sure straightens the path. Exhaust side will be radical. (More like SB Mopar W8 race heads on that side. Will require a bunch of precise machine work that will take me into water jacket in places. But... I got the issues that presents figured out as well.) If things go as planned they will be excellent heads for turbo use on a 400-428" motor.

Heads have bad ex bolt holes due to someone(senior muffler tech perhaps?) removing ex bolts with a cutting torch then trying to tap new holes. Rather than fix I figured these are great candidates for experimentation.

Should this be a flop I have a good set of 4x7h's I can do in the normal manner.

Keep plugging away on your car Aron I think its going to be impressive.

[aronhk_md]

Thanks Bruce. Sounds like a very interesting project. Any possibility of doing a convertible type exhaust on them too? Like the CV1's?

[ERIC AULL]

Aron, we plan on final assembly "over the winter"....so EARLY spring! Eric

[BruceWilkie]

Originally Posted by aronhk_md

Thanks Bruce. Sounds like a very interesting project. Any possibility of doing a convertible type exhaust on them too? Like the CV1's?

Exhaust mod planned is along those lines but possibly more extreme. Exhaust port outlets will certainly be upward in direction(just below valve cover) vs out the side or down . Search the net for Mopar W(2 thru 9) heads for an idea of what I'm striving for.

Taking pics as I go and will do a thread on them once both sides are near completion. I'll have flows etc too.

Aquired a 54 Stude 2dr hdtp for a rat rod project. 71Torino is gone on a cash/trade deal and I came out ahead. My 84 GP and turbo motor gets priority though.

[aronhk_md]

Good eric.....same goal here.

Sounds very cool Bruce, cant wait to see what happens. As for other projects, I recently acquired a very "project" 68 firebird convertible and 67 Grand Prix convertible. The 67 Grand Prix is surprisingly solid underneath, though it has lots of body panel rot. It is one of 205 convertibles with a manual trans though apparently.

[70 bird]

That GP is screaming for a s480 Aron!

[aronhk_md]

Sheesh Mike! I dont even have one turbo car back on the road yet...lol Dont know if I'm ready to start upgrading every bit of the drivetrain on that GP either. LOL. Especially considering how few they may have made. There were 205 manuals made, but that was split between 428's and 400's, as well as 3 spds and 4 spds. My guess is the 4 spd was more popular, so how many 400/3 spds do you think there might have been? Apparently the data is at PHS and the GM Historical Center, but nobody has culled it yet for those specifics.

My gut tells me its less than 50.

Besides......I have another turbo candidate. I picked up a super rare 1992 Honda Civic VX. It (they made them from 92-95) has in subsequent years become a cult classic...since people have reported over 60 mpg regularly on the highway. Honda used what they called their lean-burn technology, but unfortunately it was before our recent gas crunch and never really caught on. They look like any other civic hatchback but were lighter and had that engine coupled with a very tall geared manual trans. The downside of course was anemic power.

Some people have done aerodynamic mods and acheived as high as 95 mpg at 65 mpg.

But wouldnt it be cool if I could just get an extra 15-20 hp for on-ramp and passing to go along with that mileage? Have to be careful....they werent built for boost so it would have to be limited. On a rebuild could make it stronger, but I figure even 6 psi would feel like a kick in the pants on that 2100 lb car.

Great thing about it is the turbo boys have been playing with those cars for years and everything that fits those motors fits this little guy too. So a turbo exhaust manifold is like $50 new! And a turbo for that size engine/purpose would be cheap. I'd have to invest in an aftermarket fuel injection brain, but plenty of those available too.

I have to get back to work on the Trans Am............lmao

[Mr Twister]

Originally Posted by smittyseng

Mr twister(screen name on here) bought my old car (the 73 w/glass front end). We both bought glass front ends from US body at the same time back in 89 or so. He got rid of his 72 that he had and later bought my unfinished 73 (I never finished it after putting in a full cage and butchering the car up to use the 1 piece front end), I will try to get him to post on here,I will look thru my old p[ics and see if I have anything, I'm sure he will be able to add to the discussion, Smitty

The only way it could work, would be to mount the glass front on a fabbed up light weight frame and cut out the hood out which would make it a lift off hood only. The whole front end could come off the fabbed up frame by undoing a bunch of 1/4 turn fasteners. I abandoned the glass front project, and sold the thing. I still have the tilt front hinges BTW.

[aronhk_md]

I have an idea, but waiting for it to get home to see if its possible. In the meantime, I might be interested in the hinges if you are looking to get rid of them. I'll send you a PM with my email, and maybe you can send me a picture?

Thanks,
Aron

[smittyseng]

Originally Posted by Mr Twister

The only way it could work, would be to mount the glass front on a fabbed up light weight frame and cut out the hood out which would make it a lift off hood only. The whole front end could come off the fabbed up frame by undoing a bunch of 1/4 turn fasteners. I abandoned the glass front project, and sold the thing. I still have the tilt front hinges BTW.

The tilt front hinges are the sliding cantilever ones?

[Mr Twister]

Smitty, The fancy Mika EZ openers you put on the car.

[aronhk_md]

Still trying to figure out how to make the tilt hinges from Mr Twister work for me.

The shortblock is assembled, and heads are assembled with only the outer springs for cam break in. Allpontiac valley pan is out getting shaved to fit under the intake. oil return holes are drilled and tapped in the heads and oil pan. Removed O-rings in the block and filled with copper wire.....cometic gaskets should be here by Fri. Final compression ratio looks like 8.5:1. Getting the timing cover water outlets cut off and screw on fittings welded in place. Better since I'll be running a 30 psi cap and system on the cooling.

In the pic I have the March Track serpentine belt setup mocked up. Once I pull it back off and before I button up the engine......the block, timing cover, water pump, valley pan and a few other items will get painted House of Kolors Galaxy Grey base and clear coat.....its a dark charcoal like metallic grey.

The vette brake products transverse composite leafspring front suspension is in place, so she is back to being a roller.

[bryansMtngto]

I run a fiberglass front end. and the way it mounts I can either tilt it up or remove it. Most guys use a tube within a tube to mount the front end. We came up with a different method. Use a Z notched plate on the front of the frame rails. have a bar across the front end fabbed in. with support bar that rides in the z notch. then 6 dsuz fasteners 4 down low and 2 at the windshild cowl panel lock it all inplace. works really sweet. I also run a removable hood that is dsuzed on can take front end off or on with hood removed or in place.

[aronhk_md]

Do you have any pics of your hinge setup Bryan? I know the usual method is the bar deal. The problem is the car sitting low and that nose. If you only tilt forward the nose will hit the ground.

[Silver Judge]

Originally Posted by aronhk_md

Still trying to figure out how to make the tilt hinges from Mr Twister work for me.

The shortblock is assembled, and heads are assembled with only the outer springs for cam break in. Allpontiac valley pan is out getting shaved to fit under the intake. oil return holes are drilled and tapped in the heads and oil pan. Removed O-rings in the block and filled with copper wire.....cometic gaskets should be here by Fri. Final compression ratio looks like 8.5:1. Getting the timing cover water outlets cut off and screw on fittings welded in place. Better since I'll be running a 30 psi cap and system on the cooling.

In the pic I have the March Track serpentine belt setup mocked up. Once I pull it back off and before I button up the engine......the block, timing cover, water pump, valley pan and a few other items will get painted House of Kolors Galaxy Grey base and clear coat.....its a dark charcoal like metallic grey.

The vette brake products transverse composite leafspring front suspension is in place, so she is back to being a roller.

Holy Smokes, that engine looks great with the polishing details. Talk about BLING