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 Lighter on attendance, heavy on Mopar fun
By Jim McGowan
The incredible Las Vegas Speedway was again the location of what has been the largest Mopar event on the left coast. However, this year proved different. Attendance was noticeably down, cars from the mid-west and east were missing and we all know why. It certainly isnt a lack of interest on the part of Mopar enthusiasts, its all about the economy, the cost to travel, particularly by gas or diesel powered vehicles. But, in true Mopar style, those who did show up had a great time.
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 Visual upgrade for your Chevy
By Jim McGowan
The steering wheel and dashboard are the two items in your Chevy that you see constantly while driving. They just wont get out of your way! Since youre the captive audience of these parts, they should look as cool as possible. We followed a Grant Products steering wheel upgrade, being installed in a restomod 67 Camaro convertible. The owner always envied the later model factory Rosewood steering wheel, which was optionally available, and decided to find an attractive substitute. This new three-spoke beauty (#973, 14.5-inch diameter, 3-inch dish)) from Grant Products was the choice. It replicates the style and design of the original, and provides a great look and feel while cruising.
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 The chassis is finished, and the time came to drop the body back on the frame. Things are lookin' good. The Air Ride sysem allowes this car to sit low! Here's a short video update of how the body re-install process went.
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 Choosing a rear axle for your project is an important part... you have to get the right gear ratio, the kind of differential you want, correct rear brake configuration, axle spline count, and it has to be strong enough for your combination as well as fit in the car! The days of junkyard Ford 9 inch rear axles are gone, so and even if you find one, you still have to cut it to fit, make sure it's striaght, weld up mounts, media blast and paint it. Then, you have to tear it apart, rebuild the housing with new bearings, obtain stronger axles, a new differential, new gears, install the gears and set them up right, find brake mounts... or you can zip to the Currie Enterprises website , click a couple times, and a brand-new, correct sized 9 Plus rear axle is shipped to your door. And it is perfectly set up with the options you want, with no hassles. The choice was simple to us.
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 When it came time to plan the engine in our 1965 Chevelle project, we tossed around a couple ideas, but decided to modify the 350 that came with the car. It's a parts-store remanufactured 4-bolt 350 V8 with less than 10000 miles on it. The bottom end is ideal for a mild street engine, but we didn't like the crappy lo-performance cast iron heads and weak camshaft. So before we turned a single wrench, we turned to our handy copy of Dynomation engine simulation and dyno software to help us build a smooth 400 horsepower version of our engine. Dynomation helps you select cams, heads, compression ratios, exhaust.. all elements of engine design and then simulate dyno pulls and evaluate parts changes, all without buying a single part. It's a great way to hone-in on your ideal combination without having to spend extra money and time doing things twice.
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 Sometimes the simple solution eludes you. In this case, we've been gearing up for the turbocharger install on the S71 Olds project. We've got our diesel block and new parts set aside, and we're using the original 350 engine to mock up how we want the turbo to fit in the car. We were expecting a ton of fambrication, as turbo manifolds or headers are not readily available for 1971 Olds 350 engines, and we were expecting to have to make our own. However, after studying the stock manifolds, a potential solution became apparant. From a performance standpoint, turbo cars don't seem to care if you're running headers or manifolds, the power levels are similar. And cast iron is as strong as anything when it comes to exhaust parts. We notices that the Olds manifolds had a provision for the single exhaust version cars that merges the left and right exhaust pipes together... can we use this factory style setup to build our turbo exhaust? Let's find out!
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 In this phase of the S71 Dash construction, we're integrating the Auto Meter volt meter, boost gauge, and stereo mounting face into the lower parts of the dash. Once the pieces were cut and fit, they were sandblasted and powdercoated, then the plastic dash was trimmed to accomodate the gauge itself. Here you can also see the 3M adhesive we used to mount the face to the original bezel in the top part of the dash. We are still seeking out the "right" indicators for the signals and high beams, but they can be added anytime before final assembly. The last part will be to have the dash pad restored by Just Dashes, then it gets assembled and wired!
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 "Routy" is the name given to this 1969 Pontiac Firebird project. It's a play on the last name of the owner, and the car's demeanor and looks are designed to cause a stir on the streets. We're starting with a 1969 Firebird that was originally a 350 2-barrel car, and adding a full Trans Am body package, upgraded interior featuring late model Trans Am seats, and 17" and 18" Boyd Junk Yard Dog wheels. The new engine is a 400-based Pontiac with lots of performance tricks. The design came from the creative mind of Ben Hermance at Hermance Design and highlights the car's original lines with a bright red scheme and subtle charcoal stripes. The stripe treatment suggests other Pontiac themes, like the 1969 GTO Judge. Below are the initial photos of the project before we started on it, and we'll post video and photo updates of every step of the restoration process.
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 The next phase in our S71 Dash Re-Do was to powdercoat the new face with Eastwood's Wrinkle Black powder coat, and the look matches the factory plastic dash pattern perfectly. Then we mapped out where to place our two remaining gauges, which meant we had to move the stock radio location over a little. We made another steel faceplate for that area designed to hold the volt meter and a newer style "DIN" sized head unit.
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 The stock dash face in our 1971 Olds "S71" project wasn't going to work for us. First off, the dash didn't have adequate instrumentation... it only had "idiot" lights for crucial items like oil pressure and temperature. Second, the dash just didn't look right with the 3-hole configuration and wood grain. So we decided to make a new dash face and load it with Auto Meter Ultra Lite gauges we obtained from the YearOne Speed Shop. We like large gauges, which made fitting them a trick, but we like the asymmetric look. We installed the silver faced 2 1/16" fuel gauge in the left lower corner, then added a 2 5/8" Water Temp gauge next, then a 3 3/8" Speedo and Tach, and finally a 2 5/8" oil pressure gauge. We're still adding a boost gauge and a volt meter to the hole left by the original ashtray, but that comes later. After measuring the size of the face, we plasma cut some 18 gage steel for the panel, and used Blair Holcutters and the HTP Plasma Cutter to make our holes. Tap Magic cutting fluid keeps the cutters sharp on the drill press. The last items to add will be the turn signal and high-beam indicators, and then we'll powdercoat the whole face with Eastwood's Wrinkle Black so the gauges "pop".
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COMING SOON!
Door Skin
Replacement
How-To on
1968 Camaro!
S71 First Start
Video!
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