Brendon's '67 Firebird thread by Tuske427

6 minute(s) of a 286 minute read

I had some time today to work on the car (I have to go in to work tomorrow and won't have a chance to work on it, so I'm posting my weekly progress tonight) but I was able to finally bolt the engine in today. After getting the tubing mounts ready I made the engine bolt tubes out of some chrome moly tubing my neighbor Brett (67Zo6camaro) hooked me up with. He also helped to tig weld them in as I don't know if my equipment is set up to weld chrome moly. I filled in the ends and bolted the engine in. Now I'm in the process of building the trans cross member and mount.

I'll be using the original trans mount and modifying it to fit. I'm working on "scalping" the top so it can sit higher (more exhaust clearance) and building some brackets to weld to the inner frame rails so I can bolt this new cross member where it needs to go. I should get this part finished up and installed next weekend.

8-14-2011

I had some time after work on Friday to finish up my trans crossmember. I was able to weld the brackets on and attach it. Nothing is torqued down, of course, but the bolts line up and the car is holding the engine.

Next weekend we'll be busy, so it'll be another couple of weeks before I can resume again.

8-28-2011

I had to work this weekend, so I took on a small project with the spare time I had- I modified the rear seat brace. Since I'm not going to have a back seat in this, I'd like to have a flat panel in its place. The OEM design is angled, so I trimmed it back to mount higher up/ be in line with the axle tunnel, pie cut it and put it back together. This way when (one day) I put an interior in this I can make a flat panel and use some removable attachments for it. It'll likely be covered in either the floor carpet or whatever I used for the package shelf. Not sure yet..  

These pics came out blurrier than usual so it's not anyone else's eyes (just mine). I also got distracted with a side project. I was given a prototype (sales model) of an old Tomy "Monster Machines" truck the other week. It's a hand built sample (cast resin, hand painted, etc) and too cool to just let sit and rot in my attic so I built a little shelf for it in my garage along with some other toys I have on display.

I really need so start spending some money. It's high time I get the brakes and wheel rims so I can start some other projects like my inner fender mods, reinstalling the quarter panels, outer inner fenders, remainder truck extensions, etc. Oh, I also need to get hold of a tubing bender so I can build that cage I was thinking about.