Brendon's '67 Firebird thread by Tuske427

5 minute(s) of a 286 minute read

I put a few hours in this weekend. I made a couple of patches (Brett would be proud) for my trunk to fill in the drain holes. I also ground down the gas tank strap welds and started making some channels for additional exhaust clearance in the floor pans. I hope to finish this one up next weekend. Then I can start making the rear drive shaft loop/ suspension support (this one is inspired by another build on this board) and I'll want to make an access panel in my trunk floor for the electric fuel pump/ gas tank. I did this in my last build and it was extremely helpful. It saves having to drop the tank to access the pump.

4-30-2011

I didn't post pics last weekend but I did finish up the exhaust cut outs. Attached are a couple of pics of how that turned out.

Also last weekend and today I worked on the driveshaft safety hoop. I made a quick sketch of how I'd like to build it and last weekend I bought more metal and roughed out the parts. Because my drivetrain isn't in and I don't have a driveshaft yet I believe it would be difficult to accurately calculate the range of driveshaft will travel, so I'm only making part of it now and will make the bottom half later when everything else is in.  

A big thanks goes out to Brett (67zo6Camaro) for taking some time to slice the parts out with his plasma cutter. That saved me a lot of time and clean up, not to mention cut off wheels and a big dusty mess to clean up. I bent the strips by hand with my vise and then welded it up. I also cut more tubing to make sleeves (same method that I did for my frame rails) for the bolt holes/ bottom half. I'll drill the correct size holes when I determine which fasteners I'll use. I was lucky enough that the 1" tape was the right size so I could cut the tubes relatively clean without a lathe. I welded the top areas and then drilled some holes on the bottom to plug weld the sleeves to the bottom. I didn't want to fill up the inside of the holes with weld...

I was able to tack weld and start welding the bracket in this afternoon, but I still have more welding to do. for some reason I am plagued with contamination when I'm welding this. I sanded, ground it down, welded, re welded, etc. Just one of those days, I guess. I won't be working on tomorrow as I have volunteered to help out at the Edelbrock car show tomorrow at their hq in Torrance. I think I'll be driving the Hot Wheels '66 GTO there. I'm looking forward to that.