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Green with envy

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  • Tumerboy
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    Tumerboy polycounter lvl 17
    Congrats Flaagan!
  • low odor
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    low odor polycounter lvl 17
    you been working on this for a grip...it looks bad ass..I always wanted the cuda in the phantasm movies
  • Firebert
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    Firebert polycounter lvl 15
    This thing is simply jaw dropping!
    That first video gave me cold chills... and I knew this was not going to happen, but it just had that camera angel and vibe that it was going to....

    you're half-way out the garage, she's in her glory bathing in the sun, solar flares are being picked up on the lens, then BAM! fuckin' t-boned by an on coming car Office Space style.... I was just sitting there thinkin' "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" with this huge knot in my stomach.... phew... thank goodness it didn't happen... you've worked hard on this beauty!
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Now that I can access my site's ftp again~....

    The '63 mph' is my Corvette's heads-up display on the windshield.

    040509_testdrive.jpg
  • Tumerboy
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    Tumerboy polycounter lvl 17
    Seriously Flaagan? You were driving AND taking a picture? FOR SHAME! :::shakes finger:::
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Tumerboy wrote: »
    Seriously Flaagan? You were driving AND taking a picture? FOR SHAME! :::shakes finger:::

    Hey, it's not as bad as what some of the drivers around here do. :poly142:
    At the very least, I was paying attention to the road!
  • Mark Dygert
    Holy crap I missed the vids, WOO HOO! It's been a long time coming but hot damn its awesome!

    Sounds great too (even with the horrible youtube compression)!
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Vig wrote: »
    Sounds great too (even with the horrible youtube compression)!


    Yah, if you go the direct pages, it should have an "HD" option for each of the vids.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Just wrote a check for $2200 to a good friend to purchase a two post shop lift from him... muahahahaha!
  • Rwolf
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    Rwolf polycounter lvl 18
  • Smirnoffka
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    Smirnoffka polycounter lvl 17
    Looks sweet! Plus you have HUD, which brings you up a knotch in my book!
  • rolfness
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    rolfness polycounter lvl 18
    PIIIIMMMMP .... awesome job
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Smirnoffka wrote: »
    Looks sweet! Plus you have HUD, which brings you up a knotch in my book!

    I love the HUD on the 'vette. It's trippy the first time you see it, cause the numbers are just floating out in front of you; the look to be just to the right of the driver's side headlight. Now I never even look at my gauges. :poly124:
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Well, was gonna post some stuff about a few quick bits o' wrenching on the 'cuda, but seeing as the powers that be have taken a "this is not your blog" attitude, I'll pass.

    If the powers that be want to move this to the P&P section to keep it alive, I'll go with that. PM me if that's gonna be the direction that's taken.
  • rolfness
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    rolfness polycounter lvl 18
    I personally think you should keep posting in this thread, I dont see why it should be moved either it predates any change in policy and has numerous responses from the community. Besides I think the whole this is not your blog thing relates to something else.
  • Rens
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    I'd say this rates higher on the interest scale that people posting shit like "Why are you sad" or this

    Keep it up, have been watching a least a couple of years now, am sure there are many more lurkers to this thread who'd be sad it wasn't updated because of a rule brought in for serial spammers.
  • bbob
    You just made my inner petrol head very happy..

    And feck the "this is not your blog" rule on this one, this is inspirational..


    Need moar!
  • Slum
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    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    4 years and 9 pages deep with no spam. I'd say this thread is valid.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Fair enough, guys, I'll keep it goin then. :)
  • Krypteia
    These renders are crazy lifelike.... :-)
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    Besides, I think we all know what the real meaning of that 'blog' reference was. It's to stop the "I'm taking a shit" type of non-sense posts. This thread at least has some interesting content.

    Needs more kickass video though
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    notman wrote: »
    Needs more kickass video though

    :D

    Weekend consisted of a quick bit of wrenching under the hood. We picked up a blacked out alternator a while back so I got around to putting that in (pics sometime soon). We came to the conclusion that instead of making our own, we should order a trunk relocation kit for the battery, so that and a rebuilt power steering unit will be ordered on Monday. Nothing too major, what with all the other projects going on around the house. Need to fire it up again sometime soon as it hasn't run in a few months. :shifty: :poly124:
  • Slum
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    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    Just saw the video.. crazy seeing this finally come together. After watching the progress for so long, the first thing I thought when I saw it driving was. "Oh god, please don't wreck."

    So yeah.. drive safe.
  • [HP]
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    [HP] polycounter lvl 13
    Yeah me too, never saw this thread before!

    Epic achievement you're doing here man, must be a great experience making a car from (almost) ground up with good old pop!

    Grats on getting this on the road! :) Awesome wheels
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Oh yah, quick side note.. remember that shop lift I mentioned before?

    14335_192060851021_626801021_3530885_1351324_n.jpg

    :D
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    How much was it installed? I've seen these as low as 6.5g's with tank.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Lift itself was bought for $2200. We cut the holes in the concrete with a rented concrete cutter. I welded up a pretty crazy wire mesh for the concrete using rebar bought at Home Depot, since the bolts are welded to that framework. We rented a concrete mixer trailer and filled the holes back in, then lifted the two legs up by hand and bolted them down. All in all, it probably came out to around $3000 on the high side, with the cost of the lift itself and the rebar falling on me (along with a MIG welding tank and consumables).

    We're talking about building a garage around it since it really shouldn't be outdoors, and adding a single car garage onto that, where I'll likely put in a four post drive-on lift for vehicle storage. Kinda irked we don't have anywhere on the property that I could use for storage, local shop owner I know sold a four post lift recently for about $1500.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Just a quick update, rebuilt power steering unit and a battery relocation kit showed up,may get started on installing the kit this weekend. The power steering will likely be done by a local shop since it's a royal pain in the ass to work on.

    powersteering_batterykit.jpg

    Also, I'm loving my Droid, found an FTP app for it so I can upload photos to my web site on the go
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Got the main wire run for the trunk mounted battery, and got a bunch sorted out with that whole setup. I'll upload picts once I've got my network storage issue sorted out. :)
  • slipsius
    looks badass. though, good luck with any sort of speed bumps with those exhaust pipes. lol
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    We're taking the fiberglass hood, AAR wing, original trunk lid, and a rear valence to Trent's new body shop today, followed by going to the GoodGuy's hot rod show. If past experience is anything to go off, Trent should have some sweet rides in his shop. I'll get some images up this weekend, as I can now get some shots of the trunk battery cable installation as well.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Just to hold you guys over til I get my $#!+ sorted out and get some new photos online, I give you an example of why I love the hot rod and muscle car culture..


    Spotted at the Good Guys show yesterday in the for sale area (for a pretty good price), a dragster Pinto.

    23686_380338596021_626801021_4279867_8213829_n.jpg
  • System
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    System admin
    Hadn't seen this thread before! Great job on the rebuild, that's a sweet ride you have there and the engine sounds nice too :poly003:
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    flaagan wrote: »
    Spotted at the Good Guys show yesterday in the for sale area (for a pretty good price), a dragster Pinto.

    lol, nice! My coworker has a Gremlin 1/4 mile runner. I don't know what kinds of times he pulls, but it's a beast. I may see if I can find where I put a photo of it, and throw it up in here.

    Update (Found one):

    19760-1972-AMC-Gremlin.jpg
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Wicked! Dig the paint job, and nice action shot. :D
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    If you lived in my area, he could probably hook you up on the hood too ;) He makes them for many of the racers in the area, because they usually have special requirements for their engines. He made the whole front clip of that Gremlin out of fiberglass.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Actually, the fiberglass hood that we're putting on the car was bought on ebay from a drag racer on the east coast. :)
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    All righty, thanks for being patient with me the past few weeks, now that I've got our server issues (mostly) sorted out, I can get some photos safely stored and uploaded.

    I'll start with the alternator...

    First... blah-y oldness..

    work4410_oldalt.jpg

    And noooow, shiny new-ness!

    work4410_newalt.jpg

    Summit Racing parts supplier FTW. :thumbup:


    On to the latest 'big project'... the trunk mounted battery setup...

    We originally were going to do just the battery box bolted to the trunk, but it didn't come with any cables or other hardware (not even bolt holes). Drilling bolt holes kind of defeated the purpose of the box, which is to keep the trunk from getting fubar'd by leaking battery nastiness (look at a battery tray in any old car and you'll know what I'm talking about). So I combined the trunk relocation kit with the box and viola~!

    work4410_trunkbattery.jpg


    It's grounded to the body right by the box, and the + cable's.. well, I'll show you...

    work4410_cable01.jpg

    The cable's held in place by the same clips that hold the wiring to the body, it then follows along the same protected channel the wiring does down the driver side of the car.

    work4410_cable02.jpg

    (just to show the route I'm taking...)

    work4410_cable03.jpg

    Once it gets to the front of the car, it's run up and around the other hardware, clipped in place but loops attached to the foot-operated washer fluid pump (if you want to smell a noxious smell, take a whiff of the air that comes out of that thing! :poly142: )

    Then, it goes through a grommet in a hole that was drilled into the firewall..

    work4410_cable04.jpg


    ... and finally, is attached on the engine-side of the firewall to the kill-switch's top post.

    work4410_cable05.jpg

    Next up, I've got to re-route the starter and other wiring that went to the distribution block, originally located up by where the battery was (behind the driver's side headlight). Also, I've got to move the custom radiator overflow box up so it's on level with the radiator.
  • limesimme
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    limesimme polycounter lvl 11
    Read through the thread, you got one hell of a car right there, great job!
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Gonna stop by Magnum Force shortly to talk with them about the Flaming River tilt steering wheel (gonna get one in black).

    Decision was made after my efforts this past weekend to get the trunk mounted battery setup finished; dad and I were talking about about how the column's pretty scratched and dirty in the engine bay, and even with a fresh coat of paint it doesn't look that great inside. The tilt's going to come in handy since someone of my height has a hard time getting in and out of the driver's seat, and we'll be looking into a slightly smaller wheel.

    Magnum Force's been on shows like Wrecks to Riches and Monster Garage to do custom front end installs; I'd forgotten that they're local (like a mile or two from work) until I was looking up distributors for Flaming River.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Ordered the column, ended up getting an Ididit brand instead (better price, better product), actually ended up being cheaper than the Flaming River setup, should arrive within a few days. We'll be keeping the stock steering wheel since the purpose of this purchase was to have it tilt up out of the way.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Went forward with removing the headers and steering gear today (removed the steering column earlier in the week). Almost got the driver side header and the steering gear out, but the damn pitman arm wouldn't come off, so now I've got to pick up a pitman arm removal tool tomorrow and get cracking.

    I'm actually somewhat surprised I didn't already have one, especially since I swapped out manual steering to power steering on my sister's Bronco over winter break...
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    Yeah, I would have expected you to have some sort of puller that would work ;)
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    I tried kludging something together from one of the other pullers we have, but it just wasn't big enough to fit around either end of the pitman arm. No matter, I'll get it sorted out tomorrow, I'm definitely beat from today, not quite as much spring in my step as when I started on this car. :poly136:
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Well, after a weekend of wrenching, cursing, and busted knuckles, the old power steering unit and the headers are out of the car. The headers, the new power steering gear, and a slab of metal that'll be used for a info placard at shows are off to the powdercoaters tomorrow morning. I've been searching high and low throughout the garage and out back to find the damn hardware for the AAR wing, but haven't come across them, and they're supposed to get coated as well. I have a suspicion they ended up with the wing at the body shop, which means I may have to make a quick trip down to Hollister some time this week.

    cudawork_04112010.jpg
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Just got off the phone with the instrument repair company, apparently we lucked out big time. The voltage regulator on the voltage readout in the instrument cluster fried, which is apparently not an uncommon thing. The problem is, though, that the rest of the cluster is powered off of that same readout, and is a 6v setup instead of a 12v, so normally when that regulator goes, it takes out the rest of the cluster with it. Apparently, by some divine fortune, only the regulator went out and the rest of the cluster is fine. We're having the repair company put on a solid state regulator (one they've never had a return issue with) instead of a cheap-from-China repro, which they've had numerous recall issues with. They're also repairing the speedometer free of charge as they can't determine whether it was shipping or our speedo wire which caused the damage.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    'Nother update for you folks. Headers are back and re-coated, and I'm picking up the new power steering gear from the powdercoating shop tomorrow. I was supposed to pick it up over the weekend, and my timing was uncanny; the guys working over the weekend were literally about to walk it into the oven to cook on the paint, which is what they did with the previous one which lead to the seals going out. I ran in and stopped them, and all being well the paint sure be cured by tomorrow.

    In between all the other things I've got going on, I've been working on reorganizing a lot of the wiring in the engine bay to get it out of sight. This means a good bit of removing the wrappings and re-wrapping them in ways that work better towards this end.

    Also, while my dad and I were pondering over the engine bay Saturday night, I started going off about an idea to get a lot of things out of sight... this was the result of that idea (so far):
    041710_enginebay.jpg

    What that cardboard is covering is a gap between the front fender and the radiator support framework. I'm going to get a sheet of metal cut to size, we'll powdercoat it black, and mount it in that space. The hood spring and latch that are currently there will be gone soon as the fiberglass hood that's being fixed up now wont be using those (hoodpins instead). In that space I'm going to hide the horns and the controls for the dual electric fans.

    One of the other quick things done this weekend was to mask and paint the windshield washer fluid reservoir black, so that it blends in. I masked off a strip so you can still tell how full it is.
    041710_washerreservoir.jpg

    Also, our ididit steering column arrived during the week, so I got that mostly together and ready to go in once the headers and new steering gear are installed.

    041710_steeringcolumn.jpg

    Gonna be a hectic next few days, as there's a handful of things I want to get done or started on this week, and we're heading to Hawaii on Thursday~.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Was cleaning my harddrive and stumbled upon one of my first models. Yours looks better
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/448525/j.png
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    The car really needs a green tooth somewhere.
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