In an attempt to free up some space on my shelves, I decided to put my ultrabel, aluminum pan and output shaft in my th400. I didn't do any rebuilding while I had the trans apart, just swapping the parts and checking to see what kind of shape it's in.
From this (TH375):
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To this (TH400):
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I got the upper and lower control arm mounts tacked in place. I have to test the fitment under the car before I completely burn them in.

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The buick finally saw daylight for the first time in a long time. I finished the rearend and bolted it up under the car. I need to swap the 14" rear springs for some 12" and put the engine and trans in and it should get the car down to where I want it. But getting the car rolling was a major goal that I've been trying to meet for quite a while.

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I finished the adjustable shock/ coilover mounts:

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The rearend under the car:

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The new springs should be in tomorrow and hopefully it will sit like this:

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The amount of fabrication work going into this is insane. You sir are an artist and a very skilled fabricator that all of us strive to be. Keep the car porn coming!

 

Well said, the way this build is going it should be in the hall of fame section!

Like Slo said, keep the car porn coming

 

Great job so far. I love watching others come up with ideas and fabricate the parts.

 

This is looking good. I have a GN sitting down the street from me that hasnt moved in years. Makes me want to go ask about it.

 

I'm working on mounting the rack and pinion and building the steering shaft next. To properly position the rack, I needed the motor in the car. This morning I put the mock up motor and trans in the car and built a quick trans mount on the stock crossmember for the th400.

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Rack and pinion install is done. I need one more universal joint to finish the steering shaft, but at least I can roll it around easily now. I think I'm going to have to put dropped spindles on it to go as low as I want in the front. I won't be able to tell for sure until I get more weight in the front. It's actually going to go into storage for a few weeks while I work on another car for someone.



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I had just pushed everything out of my 70 degree garage into 90 degrees and 100% humidity. So everything immediately fogged up.

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Dude, those wheels look so f'ing good on that thing, love it.

 

Awesome work , how fast are you planning to run , i'll be watching this build

 

beautiful work!

 

Great work.

Even a ford guy has to like this one...

 

I don't really have an et goal, but I think mid to low 5's 1/8th mile are doable. I would like to run some type of 275 class, but my wallet and the buick motorsport crank can't hang with the 4.90 cars.

I've done a lot of parts gathering lately and a little parts making.

I have most of my motor now. Pretty much everything is used because there are no quality usa made buick v6 parts anymore.
Buick Motorsport stage 2 on-center block 4.015 bore
Buick Motorsport 3.59 stroke crank
Oliver billet rods (new)
Peterson single stage external oil pump (new)
ATI balancer (new)
JW flywheel (new)
Jesel rockers
Isky lifters
Milodon gear drive
and lots of little odds and ends. Just needs pistons, rings, bearings and a cam.

I also decided to build my own sheetmetal valve covers and throttle body elbow.
I drew them up in cad.
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Machined the flanges from 3/8" flat bar in the mill.
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And tonight I cut the .090" aluminum sheet and bent it at a friends shop. Just some more touch up work on the valve covers and a couple strips to bend up for the plenum, then everything is ready to weld. I completely understand why sheetmetal valvecovers cost what they do, these are a lot of work to get everything to fit right and I still have a couple hours of welding for each one.
The aluminum is actually covered in a protective cover of clear pvc, so the marks you see are in the pvc, the aluminum is scratch free.
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I've also made some header flanges and an oil pan flange. Yep, I'm making my own oil pan also. I'm sick in the head, or just too cheap to pay the big bucks for someone else to make it.
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I need a neighbor like you..... Keep up the good work....

 

My weekend project. Everything is just tacked together at this point.

These aren't mine. I'm building them for another turbo buick owner. Nobody currently makes a set of stage 2 turbo headers and the used headers that are out there have lots of warping and leaking problems. The alternator, bracket, valve covers and stage 2 tunnel ram intake all belong to the guy I'm building the headers for. 304 stainless, 1 3/4" primaries, 2 1/2" crossover for a single T4 turbo.

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Valve covers are done.

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Nice valve covers. My question is about the two bolt holes on the flange that aren't being used. How are you going to utilize them? The flange thickness looks plenty thick to seal without them but I was just wondering.