I finally broke down and bought my own sheetmetal brake. I'll let you know when I'm ready to make more.

 

Bumper brackets are mostly done, but I still have to put a tube between them for a parachute mount/weight bar and fully weld everything.

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The X shaped bracket goes inside the fiberglass bumper and locates the 4 bolts, so I don't have to stick a wrench up inside the bumper to hold them.

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I had to roll the car outside to clean up and get a look. The rear bumper should go on pretty quickly tomorrow. I've also got a set of tinted GNS headlight and marker light covers to go on.

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I picked up a new shop toy also. I've been wanting a sheetmetal brake for a while, but nothing ever comes up used around here so I bought a cheap new one.

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That's a nice brake, where did you get it from?

 

Enco. Its on sale and there are a few free shipping codes going on right now.

 

I finished the front bumper mounts.

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Got the tinted headlight covers and fog lights put in.

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And I got the rear bumper and bumper fillers fit. Still need to finish the rear mounts.

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I made another set of sheetmetal valve covers to on my new heads.

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Any updates??

 

I've finished a few small projects. I've sold the empty shell of this car and I'm replacing it with a freshly painted and caged 87 hardtop GN. I'm going to pick it up this weekend and I'll be transfering all my suspension an drivertrain over to it.

 

pics!

 

I installed my suspension in the new car and brought it home. It's currently being stored in a friends garage until I finish a mustang in my shop. These are the only pics I have of the new car from the day I brought it home.

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I've been had at work for the last couple weeks. I've been getting this car setup like my old car was. Removed the rack and went back to a manual steering box. Did some painting, cut out some extra brackets, installed my intercooler and radiator. I still have a lot to do under the rear of the car, but the front and interior is mostly done.

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It's been a few months since I updated this thread.

In the last few months I've knocked a lot off the to do list.
Built a Th400 with a 34 element sprag, input and main shaft, rollerized, griner 1+2 brake etc. Should be good for ~1200hp.
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The last few parts for my motor finally showed up. Bryant Crank and Peterson pump.
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I put the finishing touches on the rearend and antiroll bar.
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Mounted all my electronics.
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fabbed up a fan shroud
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Getting close. I've got a few things to mount in the trunk, then I'm waiting on the motor.

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you got some skills my friend, car looks awsome

 

It's been a long time since I updated this build. So long, that I can hardly remember what all happened between then and now. I think I built another set of headers for another car in between that time.

So, here goes.
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While waiting on the motor, I decided to get all the belt drive/oil pump/ alternator stuff setup.
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I needed a bracket to mount a belt drive distributor, crank trigger, cam sync sensor and oil pump to. I worked on this in cad for a while and came up with this.
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Then I cranked it out on the mill.
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You can't buy a belt drive distributor for a V6, so I bought a sbc piece and found a distributor cap from an 84 Bronco II v6 that would work. You can no longer buy a V6 specific crank trigger from MSD either, so I made one.
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I got the header finished up enough to hang the turbo.
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I'm using a remote mounted water pump with the belt drive. It's a sbc pump that I took the ends off of and made new mounts/ends.
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I got the parachute mounted up.
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Then it was on to wiring.

Fast Stand alone harness that I changed a bit.
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To get legal, I made an aluminum firewall.
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A few bits and pieces I finished up while waiting on the motor.
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A little band aid for a hole in the fender.
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The motor was coming along nicely.
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I started working on a drive mandrel for the oil pump and alternator.
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About the time I finshed the mandrel, the motor was finally ready. I picked it up around September 15th and had a buick race October the 18th. The rush was on.
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I fired it up for the first time on September 26th.
[video=youtube;oB1l0j4skcw][/video]

No problem, I've got plenty of time to make the race, or so I thought. It leaked from every possible spot. I chased oil and fuel leaks for a week before I got to drive it. The front springs were too soft and they were in coil bind, so I had to put new springs on it.
[video=youtube;4j9v49UDSKk][/video]
After a couple trips around the block I checked it all out. New springs were better, but the alignment was awful. It still had a nagging fuel fitting leak at the filters and the motor had a slow oil leak from the belt drive.
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I worked on it for the next week and pretty much wore myself out. I had a wedding to go to the weekend before the race and didn't have time or energy to fix the engine oil leak. That's where the engine builder stepped in and got the engine leak fixed up.

 

After a few more issues were fixed, I loaded it up and headed to Bowling Green for the Buick GS nationals.

The car had never been down the track and I never had a chance to scale and setup the suspension. I made some guesses at where to set everything. I hadn't been in a fast car since I sold my mustang in 2005, so I let the engine builder make the first couple passes. I was a nervous wreck and could barely watch.

The first day at the track was a bust, we didn't even get to make a pass. I fooled with the FAST boost controller all afternoon and after getting fed up, we bought an AMS1000 from a vendor and spent the evening putting it in.

The next morning we tested the ams and it seemed to be doing what we wanted. we put a base curve in it and went to tech inspection. The car was a little light at 3415, so we added some ballast to get the class weight of 3450. Time to make a pass.

I though I was going to have a heart attack while waiting for the car to get pulled into the lanes. I didn't know if it was going to stand up, get squirly and hit the wall or just pop. It did a decent burnout and pulled up to the line. The boost cam up, he let go of the brake and the tires came up about 1' and set down nice and easy 20' out. I was instantly relieved. he ran it to the 1/8th mile so we could see where the tune was and check the car over. Time slip on the left.

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A picture from the first pass. That's me behind the car plugging my ears. This picture was probably taken at the instant the feeling of relief hit me.
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We checked the car over, and it looked good. The tune was ok and the plugs looked good. We added a little to the AMS all across and went back for the second round of qualifying. The car left the same and went straight as an arrow all the way out the end. Time slip on right above.
[video=youtube;b-X17w3--d8][/video]

That pass was leaving on 10 lbs. then ramping up to 23 at 2 seconds in. There was a lot left with no more changes other than leaning it out a little up top.

 

We had qualified #4 out of 10 cars. We had a game plan on making a few changes for the next day to try to get an 8 second pass, but that day was rained out. Didn't matter much to me, I was extremely happy. The car ran 9.27 on it's second pass, the trans worked flawlessly, the brakes worked, the chassis worked fairly well and it was still in one piece. I figured I would take it home and let it sit for a while.

That week I got the bug to make a pass myself, so I loaded it up and went back to BG for test and tune the next weekend. I made no changes to the car because I knew it was safe where it was at.
My first pass was only an 1/8th mile run. I was too nervous and forgot a few things. Timeslip on left. The next pass the nerves were better, but I still forgot to arm the datalogger. I ran it all the way out to a 9.6@141. It is a monster in high gear and I had the shakes pretty good after that pass. I loaded it up and brought it home in one piece. It's going to sit for a while so I can take a break and catch up on house chores. But, I'm already ready to get back at it and work those times down.
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[video=youtube;xnhN0geblBM][/video]
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