[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by dataway

I think Roger is an alien from the planet Autosignet IV come to earth to use his powers to shame us all. You are just too fast, too neat and too focused to be one of us.

I have been waiting for roger to burn out & take a break. I get exhausted just following the thread.

But so far it looks like the only burnout Roger will experience will be from the rear tires.

All kidding aside, this has to be the fastest nut & bolt restorations ever documented on this forum. Truly amazing pace!

[68ragtop]

The convertible brake & fuel lines have some odd bents in them on the drivers side. This was one of the areas I really struggled. I had pics from the guys here & had to rebend the lines an awful lot around the crossmember area. mine also came across the top of spring pocket where some of them tucked just in front.

Here's a link the the thread if it helps.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=818210

68RT

[roger1]

Originally Posted by dataway

I think Roger is an alien from the planet Autosignet IV come to earth to use his powers to shame us all. You are just too fast, too neat and too focused to be one of us.

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

I have been waiting for roger to burn out & take a break. I get exhausted just following the thread.
But so far it looks like the only burnout Roger will experience will be from the rear tires.
All kidding aside, this has to be the fastest nut & bolt restorations ever documented on this forum. Truly amazing pace!

Dataway and 68, you guys crack me up. And thanks for the compliments!
Btw, today marks 6 months that I have been working on this project. Things will slow down in the summer when it gets hotter than blazes here. I do have some other things planned.

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

The convertible brake & fuel lines have some odd bents in them on the drivers side. This was one of the areas I really struggled. I had pics from the guys here & had to rebend the lines an awful lot around the crossmember area. mine also came across the top of spring pocket where some of them tucked just in front.
Here's a link the the thread if it helps.
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=81821068RT

Thanks.
One option I was looking at for the fuel lines was to buy 2 of these from Inline Tube, run them side-by-side and try to find some aftermarket clips to use along the straight part of the frame rail that will hold them and the brake line. With my fuel injection setup, I wont need that 1/4" vapor return line.
I wont be able to run stock clips where the fuel lines go back to the tank either but my intention is not to drill and new holes in the frame. But, I might install rivet nuts into a few existing holes.

[68ragtop]

What injection system are your going with? Just curious, I am actually in the process of sorting that out myself on another vehicle. The ones I am looking at all use the return line & the car I am going to be installing it on only has a supply & vent that comes up to the charcoal canister. Too small to use for fuel so I have to add a dedicated return line for that car.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

What injection system are your going with? Just curious, I am actually in the process of sorting that out myself on another vehicle. The ones I am looking at all use the return line & the car I am going to be installing it on only has a supply & vent that comes up to the charcoal canister. Too small to use for fuel so I have to add a dedicated return line for that car.

It's an Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 35970. I've already bought it and it's over at the machine shop with the engine. He's going to set it up on his dyno after the engine is complete.

[taf44667]

Roger, what diameter holes did you put in. We’re they the same as frame hole diamter.

[roger1]

Decided what I'm going to do for fuel lines. I bought a stock type pre-bent fuel line from Inline tube to run on along the driver side frame with the rear brake line. That allows me to use stock clamps along the straight part of the frame and I ordered those too. For the return line, I decided to run that on the passenger side but will bend that myself. I ordered a roll of 3/8" nicopp tubing that's easier to bend than regular steel fuel line. And I will use existing holes in the frame for new 3/8" clamps with 5/16" bolts so I can use factory holes. Even though this is a resto-mod, I don't want to drill new holes when I don't have to.

I haven't done a lot of new things in the shop since my last post. I've been spending a lot of time on the computer researching parts. My interior guy emailed me and said he wants me to buy new seat foam, so before ordering that from Ames, I worked up an order with a lot other parts from Ames and got that done this morning. I went though all the small parts for the seats and cleaned up and painted some and ordered others from Ames that I wanted to replace. I also got the small parts cleaned, blasted and painted where necessary and wrapped and ready to go back to the interior shop when the new stuff gets here.



I installed the most of the steering linkage but haven't tightened all up yet. I haven't heard anything on when my new spring compressor will ship but I'm hoping not long after I finish installing the fuel lines.



I moved all the rest of the things out of my storage shed and lined them up. I figured I would try and get the paint stripped and get my blasting done while I'm waiting for my engine and transmission. The weather window for me to do outside blasting is running short. Not too many cool days left here before the heat sets in for good.



I got these out too. I'll want to blast them after I get the crud off and repair the sloppy access hole.



So my plan after putting the body back on the frame is to install all these things in a mock-up. I'll then get everything aligned the way I want and start the primering and blocking phase. But I will blow it all back apart for painting it all.

So I got a call from the machine shop on Friday. They got started on my engine. The previous machine work on the block checked out good. The cylinders were a little too tight for the pistons but is what you want before honing them. Evidently he's got a super good honing machine too. He didn't like the rope type rear main in the gasket kit I gave him and wanted me to get one from Butler along with a new oil pump shaft. I got that rush delivered and it got here today. Sounds like he will pretty much have the engine complete this week but it may be another week until he's ready to run it.
He did want me to buy the fuel pressure regulator I was going to use rather than the one on his dyno machine. I had to do quite a bit of research on that before making a decision. I got some help on the Edelbrock forum for that decision too. I'm getting a 58 psi one from Edelbrock that mounts on the fuel rail. They also gave me some advice on the forum for software parameters to use for the initial programming.

[north]

Looking at the original pics on this thread I’m questioning if your interior guy is making the right decision about needing seat foams. Barring cars with utterly chewed up seats I find that usually what is needed is replacement spring set for the bottom.

The new springs on the original foam cushion always give a better end result than those repro foam kits that are not the right shape and density.

Just my two cents but factory foam with new springs and legendary covers come out beautiful while those repro foam gives that overstuffed feeling and poor fit at the corners.

[Scarebird]

Are you running your fuel line thru the crossmember? I came in short of it and fed from the rear.



I switched the crossover to the front and ran a pressure gauge in the rear passenger side. I did not want to fish it thru the PS pump and alternator stuff.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by north

Looking at the original pics on this thread I’m questioning if your interior guy is making the right decision about needing seat foams. Barring cars with utterly chewed up seats I find that usually what is needed is replacement spring set for the bottom.
The new springs on the original foam cushion always give a better end result than those repro foam kits that are not the right shape and density.
Just my two cents but factory foam with new springs and legendary covers come out beautiful while those repro foam gives that overstuffed feeling and poor fit at the corners.

Appreciate your advice but I consider the guy I use the best of the best. Everything I've had done by him before has been perfect. This is the 4th time I have had him do seats for my project cars.
He said it definitely needs new foam in the seat parts. He's well experienced in using replacement seat foams. He did tell me he did a little repair on the d/s seat with a new portion and said it will be fine. However, he intends to put that seat base on the passenger side if possible since he always does that when he can. I bought the ACI seat foam set which I have heard are much better than the cheaper ones.

Originally Posted by Scarebird

Are you running your fuel line thru the crossmember? I came in short of it and fed from the rear.
I switched the crossover to the front and ran a pressure gauge in the rear passenger side. I did not want to fish it thru the PS pump and alternator stuff.

For now I'm going to do that but I wont decide how exactly to run everything at the engine until I get to that part and that wont be until the car is painted and I get it ready for running. I may end up not running them through the crossmember but they will be already through there if I decide to do it that way.

Btw, did you go with the 35lb injectors? In guessing the horsepower of my engine at around 400, I was right on the line of being able to go either way and chose the 29lb. A guy on the Edelbrock forum said he thought I made the better choice.

[Scarebird]

Not really sure - what ever came with the 450hp kit is what I got.

I ran the Corvette regulator on the rear by the tank to keep it simple and cheap. Some guys run all AN stuff which is needlessly expensive. Running the fuels lines before body drop is a hell of a lot easier.

[roger1]

That would be the same kit I bought with 29lb injectors. The 550 hp version has the 35lb injectors.

[gtohurstjudge]

I agree on the new seat foams that it is a bad idea. I deeply regret ever changing mine out because it makes you sit up too high in the car. I'm a tall person and with the new foams the top rail on the windshield is in my line of sight. I have original foams in my 70 Chevelle SS and the seats sit way way lower like they are supposed to. As a future project I'm going to put original foams back in the front seats on my car. The seat back foams also cause you to sit too
close to the steering wheel........I despise them.

[Scarebird]

29 pound - got it. I should probably know this!

[roger1]

Were they ACI brand?
I can't remember if it was this board or the gtoforum where an interior guy posted that ACI were good and he had installed many. He also had experience with the other brands.
I guarantee the guy I use will get them right and have the sitting height they way they are supposed to be.

[roger1]

Done with using the discs. Next I will blast the undersides, door jambs and anywhere else that wasn't practical to use the disc on. Everywhere that I did use the disc will get sanded with 80 grit on a D/A before priming.



The metal looks really good.
No surprises other than a so-called body man drilled 3 holes in the passenger door to hold his filler skim coat to a couple of small door dings.



A few hail dings in the hood but good other than that:



Just need a good day for an outside blasting session soon. There's rain in the forecast for the next several days so it may be awhile.

[roger1]

I removed, disassembled and blasted the door hinges in the cabinet. They are in perfect condition but and the bushings had very little wear. The d/s detent roller had just a little wobble in it but the p/s was good but decided I should replace them both. I ordered a kit from Inline tube that includes new pins, bushings and the rollers.

https://i.imgur.com/3dELgr4.jpg

Got the holes in the doors welded up. I was able to hammer and dolly the area to get smoothed a little better too. Hit it just a tad with the shrinking disc as well.



I started on repairing the core support today. It was more complicated than I thought to remove the braces at the frame mount area than I thought it would be. There's a flange on both sides of the brace and on side if it is sandwiched between 2 other flanges and spot welded on both sides.





I couldn't get my spot weld drill bit into this area so I had to grind them out.



The other side:



Most people would probably opt to buy a replacement core support but I'd rather repair it and have an original part. I like to keep original parts when I can. I don't have to worry about the fit and quality that way.

[bluejudge]

Originally Posted by roger1

I removed, disassembled and blasted the door hinges in the cabinet. They are in perfect condition but and the bushings had very little wear. The d/s detent roller had just a little wobble in it but the p/s was good but decided I should replace them both. I ordered a kit from Inline tube that includes new pins, bushings and the rollers.

https://i.imgur.com/3dELgr4.jpg

Got the holes in the doors welded up. I was able to hammer and dolly the area to get smoothed a little better too. Hit it just a tad with the shrinking disc as well.



I started on repairing the core support today. It was more complicated than I thought to remove the braces at the frame mount area than I thought it would be. There's a flange on both sides of the brace and on side if it is sandwiched between 2 other flanges and spot welded on both sides.





I couldn't get my spot weld drill bit into this area so I had to grind them out.



The other side:



Most people would probably opt to buy a replacement core support but I'd rather repair it and have an original part. I like to keep original parts when I can. I don't have to worry about the fit and quality that way.

Please post a picture of the core support when you are done. If your car was in good condition and the core support looks like that, I hate to see what mine looks like. Thanks, Marc.

[Sidponcho]

I think you might be onto something with regards to the original core support. Instead of a complete incorrect assembly maybe the aftermarket could make pieces such as the 90 degree brackets that could be used to repair an original

[roger1]

Originally Posted by Sidponcho

I think you might be onto something with regards to the original core support. Instead of a complete incorrect assembly maybe the aftermarket could make pieces such as the 90 degree brackets that could be used to repair an original

It would help if they did that especially if he areas were worse than mine was. On mine though, I would have repaired my brackets anyway.
There's really no way around not having a good mig welder to be able to repair one and have it look original.

Originally Posted by bluejudge

Please post a picture of the core support when you are done. If your car was in good condition and the core support looks like that, I hate to see what mine looks like. Thanks, Marc.

You bet. I'll post photos of the rest of the repair steps and when it is complete. The only rust on mine is at these mount points. The rest of it is just greasy and dirty. Once done I will blast it and paint with black SPI epoxy primer like with everything else I've done that with.