Today I...

[cal30_sniper]

That's awesome work Raptor! A fellow could make some good money doing that.

Today I finished off the entire weekend of sandblasting and painting. I blasted the radiator support, both inner fenders, and the two larger bumper frame pieces down to bare metal, and treated them all with two coats of SPI Black Epoxy. I'll get the hood hinges and smaller brackets with the next batch, but the bulk of the underhood stuff is done now.





Now it's off to start studying for the Night Nav EP Simulator I have this evening. Should be fun.

[Casey]

That's awesome work Raptor! A fellow could make some good money doing that.

Provided he did more than F-body shift knobs anyway, he'd run out of customers quick.

[Ok-TA1977]

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Not all done today but not long ago. On the trailer ready to go to body shop.

[77 TA man]

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Not all done today but not long ago. On the trailer ready to go to body shop.

How are the sides and bottom of the car?

[Casey]

^Wow, someone has been busy.

So I just finished my daily car search, and apparently there's a 1997 30th Anniversary Camaro with the T56 for sale about 40 miles from me.  Part of me is like the Firebird and the Camaro are practically the same car by this point, but at the same time they aren't.  I know it's silly but I really prefer the Firebird over the Camaro, though I wouldn't want to pass up a Camaro with the T56 and then not find a Firebird in a reasonable time frame.  I will need to call for more information, but I'll wait until tomorrow as it'd be a bit rude at this hour.

[Ok-TA1977]

Horrible, I will post pics of rear quarters tomorrow as it is dark here.
 I also posted in the exterior section due to all the rust and am asking for panel info.

[Raptor]

That's awesome work Raptor! A fellow could make some good money doing that.

Provided he did more than F-body shift knobs anyway, he'd run out of customers quick.

Other cars are not worthy

It's the first time I do this but it gives me ideas. I could totally make a bit of money doing shifter boots and knobs.

[FormTA]

Spent some time grinding and wire wheeling the under side. This looking from the rear at the area behind the rear seats. That bumper is where the differential meets the drive shaft.

[cal30_sniper]

That's awesome work Raptor! A fellow could make some good money doing that.

Provided he did more than F-body shift knobs anyway, he'd run out of customers quick.

Other cars are not worthy

It's the first time I do this but it gives me ideas. I could totally make a bit of money doing shifter boots and knobs.

You could probably make a good deal more doing steering wheels and armrest sized stuff once you had a good reputation going.

[DGulliver]

.......bought a 1978 Z/28 4-speed. Don't tell anybody! (All of our T/As are still safe and secure lol..)

[Casey]

.......bought a 1978 Z/28 4-speed. Don't tell anybody! (All of our T/As are still safe and secure lol..)

I can't fault you, as much as I greatly prefer the Firebird over the Camaro I even more so prefer a manual over an automatic.  Plus this means I get a green light on the '97 6-speed Z28 I found.

[Raptor]

I did the e-brake hadle as well. As you can see, the original one was in pretty bad condition :


Even worse once the leather was removed. The handle is trash :


So I got an idea : maybe I could use the '89 handle instead. The problem is it's longer, but it does fit on the lever. So I cut the excess of plastic on the back, sanded the part and rounded off the edges :


I cleaned up the hole afterwards :


Then again, cover the part in leather to get the pattern :


And done ! :

[Casey]

^Nice job again.

Well apparently the Z28 was already gone...  Maybe that's a sign to wait for a Firebird.

[77 TA man]

Today I...Became an Eagle Scout.

[cal30_sniper]

Today I...Became an Eagle Scout.

Congratulations! That's something you will continue to look back on with pride for many years to come. Make sure you stay involved going forward. Being involved with NESA gave me some of my more rewarding experiences through college.

[Spoon]

Today I...Became an Eagle Scout.

Well done!

[ThKidd]

Today I...Became an Eagle Scout.

Congratulations!  You should be very proud of yourself; that's quite an accomplishment.

[DeCaff2007]

Today I...Became an Eagle Scout.

I had to google what that is.  Nice job. 

On a side note....  I do vaguely remember...  about 30 years ago...  my parents tried to get me involved in something similar.  Last thing I remember is sitting around a campfire, getting eaten alive by mosquitos, and singing about ravioli.  Yeah that was it for me!

[76455sd]

Today I...Became an Eagle Scout.

Congratulations!  You should be very proud of yourself; that's quite an accomplishment.

X2! Good job 77 TA man

[roadking77]

Congrats 77TAman, that is quite an accomplishment. There is a very active scout troop in my town and every year there are a couple guys in the paper becoming eagle scouts. I too was like Decaff, I only lasted as a cub for about a year

[77 TA man]

Thanks Everybody! I have 12 years invested into scouting( I turn 18 in 7 days to put that into perspective...) Its been a long journey and there were times I didn't think I would make it! I've learned a lot and made some very good friends these past few years since I first bought my Trans Am and and you guys have played a large part in that. I've been shown some extreme generosity by complete strangers to help my build
(Shout-Out to the unknown 2014 Trans Am Nationals vendor who gave me a free timing cover I desperately needed after hearing about my car/interests!) Among others who paid it forward to me, I really appreciate the kindness guys and look forward to helping others out with their projects when I'm in the position to do so!  I would say the biggest highlight of my scouting career was doing a 7 day/70mile Appalachian Trail backing trek in which I met very "interesting" people. I look forward to becoming an adult leader and staying active in the troop I'm in.  Overall I'd say that scouting has taught me a great many things, including the drive to keep going. The Eagle Scout Project Packet was a 30 page something monster that I made several hundred (if not thousands...) of revisions to it(printing out at least 12 different versions of it.... ) the course of 10 month period. The project went smooth but just getting the paper work done was the biggest obstacle as well as getting off my duff and starting it. It is finally nice to sit back and not worry about it anymore, I'm not sure if got it done for personal achievement or to stop the endless nagging of the troop adults lol.  Thanks for the compliments guys! Sorry to bore y'all with such a long post...

[Pats TA]

  Just received our 2 new laptops (Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series w/windows 10). So far no problems and pretty easy to use. My hard drive crashed on my old laptop (second time in a year) last Friday and I decided to just buy 2 new ones on Saturday. I told the wife this is our valentines gifts to each other.   
 

[roadking77]

Hit nearly 60 deg. was gonna take the bike out for a  little spin, it wouldn't start Not getting gas for some reason. So, I figured I would work on the t/a a bit, tried to adjust the pass window, not much luck there either , I did get my truck cleaned though

[DeCaff2007]

Today I... went to work for 7 hours that FLEW by.  Dealing with idiots is highly frustrating but makes the time go by fast.  Then, I came home and immediately got back to work on a friends 95 Dodge Dakota.  Biggest POS ever made.  All I'm doing is replacing upper and lower ball joints.  Yeah.......  Don't rent tools from AZ.  They are JUNK!  It was easier to remove the entire lower control arm than it is to try to press the ball joint in with the "special" tool.

I fought with that lower ball joint for 3 hours with that goddamned tool.  Then decided to remove the LCA (which involved removing the front diff cover, removing the axle from the diff ((to make clearance for ONE EFFING BOLT)), and 2 separate trips to AZ for parts) and had the frikken ball joint pressed in with a socket and sledge hammer in 10 mins 

Then it came time to put the diff cover back on.  I noticed both axle seals were leaking, as well as the rubber seal to fill the diff fluid.  Oil pan gasket is leaking in several places, drain plug is welded into the pan  (Good luck with next oil change!!), and omg the RUST.

This truck is yet another nail in the coffin of why I will never again buy a Dodge vehicle.

[SpankinElroy]

I rocked out at the AC/DC concert...they totally tore it up. Angus was without question the workhorse of the bunch, grinding that axe like I've never seen before. A true testament to rock n' roll...those bastards are the sh!t I say

[Raptor]

Today I... went to work for 7 hours that FLEW by.  Dealing with idiots is highly frustrating but makes the time go by fast.  Then, I came home and immediately got back to work on a friends 95 Dodge Dakota.  Biggest POS ever made.  All I'm doing is replacing upper and lower ball joints.  Yeah.......  Don't rent tools from AZ.  They are JUNK!  It was easier to remove the entire lower control arm than it is to try to press the ball joint in with the "special" tool.

I fought with that lower ball joint for 3 hours with that goddamned tool.  Then decided to remove the LCA (which involved removing the front diff cover, removing the axle from the diff ((to make clearance for ONE EFFING BOLT)), and 2 separate trips to AZ for parts) and had the frikken ball joint pressed in with a socket and sledge hammer in 10 mins 

Then it came time to put the diff cover back on.  I noticed both axle seals were leaking, as well as the rubber seal to fill the diff fluid.  Oil pan gasket is leaking in several places, drain plug is welded into the pan  (Good luck with next oil change!!), and omg the RUST.

This truck is yet another nail in the coffin of why I will never again buy a Dodge vehicle.

Not sure if judging an entire brand with a bad experience from a 21 year old worn out truck is a good idea

[DeCaff2007]

Today I... went to work for 7 hours that FLEW by.  Dealing with idiots is highly frustrating but makes the time go by fast.  Then, I came home and immediately got back to work on a friends 95 Dodge Dakota.  Biggest POS ever made.  All I'm doing is replacing upper and lower ball joints.  Yeah.......  Don't rent tools from AZ.  They are JUNK!  It was easier to remove the entire lower control arm than it is to try to press the ball joint in with the "special" tool.

I fought with that lower ball joint for 3 hours with that goddamned tool.  Then decided to remove the LCA (which involved removing the front diff cover, removing the axle from the diff ((to make clearance for ONE EFFING BOLT)), and 2 separate trips to AZ for parts) and had the frikken ball joint pressed in with a socket and sledge hammer in 10 mins 

Then it came time to put the diff cover back on.  I noticed both axle seals were leaking, as well as the rubber seal to fill the diff fluid.  Oil pan gasket is leaking in several places, drain plug is welded into the pan  (Good luck with next oil change!!), and omg the RUST.

This truck is yet another nail in the coffin of why I will never again buy a Dodge vehicle.

Not sure if judging an entire brand with a bad experience from a 21 year old worn out truck is a good idea

Ok. let me further elaborate.

When I was just a youngin' , the second vehicles I ever owned in my life was an 87 Dodge Shadow (this was 1998`ish).  Literally a leaky, rusty, POS!  115K miles of turbocharged crappyness.  But I was young and dumb.  That also gave me a bad taste for Dodge right off the bat. 

...but I didn't learn my lesson.  A year or so later I'm at a dealership... looking at a new~ish Plymouth K car.  I pop the hood.  Oil everywhere.  No reading on dipstick.  Entire undercarriage is rusted to Hell.  JUNK.

Fast forward 10 years or so,  a buddy of mine decides to drive his 95 neon into the side of a mountain in a drunken stupor.  He comes to me to fix it.  Other than the obvious physical damage, the thing was a POS rustbucket. 

Same buddy's sister has an 01 Neon.  Another POS rustbucket.  She unintentionally smashes a pothole and destroys the right front rim/tire.  Guess who gets a phone call.  It takes all the strength of two fully grown men (her hubby and I) to break the lug nuts loose.  This is WITH a breaker bar.  3 lugs come off, 2 SNAP the studs off.  This leads to hub/axle removal.  With all that rust lack of maintenance in general, this turns into an all day project. 

Now should I go into the things I've had to do to the womans 03 Jeep Liberty?  Nice vehicle in theory but it's slowly succumbing to rust.  Nah, it's actually still a POS.  Needs a heater core.  Huge job that requires special tools and evacuation of the AC system.  I'm avoiding that one for as long as possible.

Yet another buddy asks me to replace front axles and seals on a late 90's Jeep Cherokee.  After taking one look at the rust under there, I refuse to touch it.  His junk barely starts and needs a full exhaust to begin with.  JUNK.

Just three days ago...  a rusty, leaky 95 Dakota pulls into my garage.  Need I say more?

Oh LoL and here's the final nail in the coffin:  At AZ, if I'm not grabbing parts for junk imports (which don't really count, lol) or Fords, guess what make of vehicle comes in second:  Dodge/Jeep.

Convinced yet, Raptor?

[fb_rider]

Today I...Became an Eagle Scout.

Congratulations!  You should be very proud of yourself; that's quite an accomplishment.

X2! Good job 77 TA man

X3 very nice accomplishment!

[cal30_sniper]

I hacked up an old iron intake...




Pretty pleased with how it turned out. I might send it off to get powdercoated an aluminum color. I'm going to look at building an aluminum forge tomorrow so I can fill the heat crossover passages in my heads. Lowes, here I come!

I also got the rest of the odds and ends under the hood into epoxy primer. Headlight buckets and mounts, bumper mounting brackets, etc. I'm waiting on my patch panel and fender to valance bracket to come in, then I can finish up the fenders and get them in epoxy. After that, it's time to finally bring the shell out of storage and start stripping it down. Lots of solid work!

[TA6.6Liter]

Filled out the NATS and TIPP CITY forms to be mailed tomorrow.

[Casey]

Meh, most everyone is guilty of making a piece of crap at some point or another just some more than others.  My brother has the 5.9 Durango 4x4 with some 250,000 miles on it and outside of the faulty governor sensor locking out overdrive and 4H it's still in good shape.  His girlfriend has a 90's Jeep Cherokee with even more than that.  Any of the economy cars from the domestics until here recently are garbage, you can tell they really didn't care for making them at all.  Generally if it's RWD with a V8 most domestics are solid enough.  Generally any Japanese car made in Japan and not over here is good.  European cars are hit and miss, but most made in their homeland are good too.  Really the biggest factor is how it was maintained and treated.

Still no luck in finding a manual bird. 

[77 TA man]

Meh, most everyone is guilty of making a piece of crap at some point or another just some more than others.  My brother has the 5.9 Durango 4x4 with some 250,000 miles on it and outside of the faulty governor sensor locking out overdrive and 4H it's still in good shape.  His girlfriend has a 90's Jeep Cherokee with even more than that.  Any of the economy cars from the domestics until here recently are garbage, you can tell they really didn't care for making them at all.  Generally if it's RWD with a V8 most domestics are solid enough.  Generally any Japanese car made in Japan and not over here is good.  European cars are hit and miss, but most made in their homeland are good too.  Really the biggest factor is how it was maintained and treated.

Still no luck in finding a manual bird. 

Exactly, there are some out standing factory designs and there are some not so outstanding designs but most of it is how its driven and how its taken care of.

[hakitup]

I hacked up an old iron intake...




Pretty pleased with how it turned out. I might send it off to get powdercoated an aluminum color. I'm going to look at building an aluminum forge tomorrow so I can fill the heat crossover passages in my heads. Lowes, here I come!

I also got the rest of the odds and ends under the hood into epoxy primer. Headlight buckets and mounts, bumper mounting brackets, etc. I'm waiting on my patch panel and fender to valance bracket to come in, then I can finish up the fenders and get them in epoxy. After that, it's time to finally bring the shell out of storage and start stripping it down. Lots of solid work!

That looks great, I have wanted to do this too but have been a little hesitant.

Tom H

[cal30_sniper]

I hacked up an old iron intake...

That looks great, I have wanted to do this too but have been a little hesitant.

Tom H

Thanks, Tom! It was actually way easier than I expected. I used a 4 1/2" angle grinder with cutoff wheels and a grinding wheel. I also had to use a hacksaw in a few small areas that the grinder wouldn't fit, mainly finishing the first cuts through the flange at the bolt holes and the narrow bridge of metal between the thermostat and the front of the runners. It honestly took longer to vacuum up the metal shavings than it did to cut the thing apart.



Today I fired up my home built furnace that I'm using to melt the aluminum to fill the heat crossovers. I used a large metal pail and a 1 gallon metal paint bucket, with quickcrete in between and a 12" sink extension to hook the shop vac up so it blows air into the inner pail. Load it up with some charcoal brickets, hit the switch, and bring on the heat. I'm using an old fire extinguisher with the top sawed off as a cauldron, and a plier-style oil filter wrench to move it about. I melted about 10 beer cans today and got a few tablespoons of aluminum poured as a proof of concept. Next time I use it will be after I have the heads disassembled and the blockoffs built for the intake flange. I plan to bolt on the plates, turn the heads so the intake face is down, and fill from through the exhaust valve port until the melt is up near the valve guide. I'll use my die grinder to smooth out the bowl to match the end chambers. Gonna have to drink some more beers to increase my can supply between now and then. Finally, a good excuse.

[scarebird]

My smelter was more crude - a hole dug lined with bricks and an air nozzle hooked up to a piece of conduit.

Cam swap tonight started on the Lemans - back to a 2801.   Make a a nice cruiser as the TA will thrash it at the track.

[roadking77]

I'm mechanically challenged, I don't understand what you are doing with the intake.

[cal30_sniper]

I'm mechanically challenged, I don't understand what you are doing with the intake.

I'm filling the heat crossovers in the head, so I won't need the heat crossover on the bottom of the intake anymore. Saves a few pounds and my back trying to lift it off and on.

I also cut off the water crossover so I won't have problems with it leaking, can gasket match the intake, and will have a dry intake if I decide I want to pull it off. When I build the bigger cube engine, I'll be using aluminum heads, which don't have the heat crossover port anyways.

[Ford5of5]

I want to do this to an intake just because it looks cool.

Cal30, I notice that you cut through the center of the inboard holes. I see others do it that way too. Is there a reason for it? It just seems to me that it would make more sense to keep the entire bolt hole. I never tried this before, I'm just curious.

[cal30_sniper]

I want to do this to an intake just because it looks cool.

Cal30, I notice that you cut through the center of the inboard holes. I see others do it that way too. Is there a reason for it? It just seems to me that it would make more sense to keep the entire bolt hole. I never tried this before, I'm just curious.

Yep, I thought that was weird when I saw other people do it also, but there is a reason for it. If you look at the intake surface of factory iron heads, there are two holes between the heat crossover passage and the inner bolt holes. Those holes go through the intake surface and into the oil drainback area inside the head. In order to seal those holes up, you need to fabricate a metal plate between the inner holes where the heat crossover used to be, even if you've filled the crossover passages in the head. Edelbrock aluminum heads don't have those holes, so if you were planning to solely run the intake on aluminum heads, you could cut inside the bolt holes and keep the entire hole.

This modification is a pretty decent weight reduction. It went from pretty dang heavy, to about the same weight in hand as the entire aluminum Holley Street Dominator intake that I have with the crossovers still attached. Once I cut that aluminum water crossover off the HSD and use it, I'll save a bit more weight. Even though the crossover will add some weight on the vehicle, it will still be much easier to lift this intake in place. Not hard to do when the engine is on a stand, but it can be tough to get it done and all the bolt holes lined up when the engine is already in the car and you're leaning over between the fenders and hood.

[tajoe]

When I 1st saw your reworked intake Cal, I thought it was a RAIV, or 455HO manifold. I have a set of 191, (71 455HO heads), and some-one had done the blockoff to the crossover passage like you're doing. Never had it on the road tho.
 Not sure what your intent with that modification is, but if you drive it on the street, you may want to invest in a manual choke. Makes life "so" much more pleasant, when driving through the warm-up cycle.