C3/4/5 frankenstein frame

[phantomjock]

When not into sailing - I got into tunnel hulls. Racing boats, but also a design and prototype build for Silverline later merged with Arctic Cat. Believe they've long since closed that operation-based in MN. I'll have to dig out a couple of ancient pics - maybe in the attic.
Years later (an AF-career later), in OZ I got really enthused with the Ausie (originally from South Africa) Thunder Cats.
I penned a design with a builder in Malaysia for a tender for sailboats/power cats/etc.. Probably never went anywhere - I left.

You could really Kick Ass with low HP - nice for a tender, inflatable, collapsible. FUN! Downside - the groceries might get damp.

Chris - I applaud your recreational side step! Looks like a heap of fun.

Cheers - Jim

 

[vette427sbc]

Thanks, guys!
Love the Glaspar! They look really cool skipping across the water. theres a guy around here who bought a similar flat-bottom who came out to run with us skiffs in the river... they dont seem to like the chop in the rivers around here so much, as seen by the look on the guys face trying to keep up
And those tunnel hulls look COOL! Havent seen those before.

Sorry for the un-exciting thread bump, no progress on the corvette, and the boat progress is slow. I was really hoping to have at least one toy to play with this summer. Sometimes I avoid the forum to keep my mind off of my expensive paperweight(s)... Feels good to pop back in and say hey though!

 

[BBShark]

Chris,
Seems like projects just keep multiplying, at lest for me. I haven't done much on the Corvette. I decided a month ago to clean up my garage. I literally had no place to set things down, every horizontal surface filled with stuff. Including tables I set up (to put more stuff on)!

I'm getting there, ~2 more weeks

 

[vette427sbc]

its back! Well it’s been back, but between customer cars and life and the boat, I haven’t had any time to continue on with my portion of the build. Soon though! im beyond thrilled with the fab work done. the cage is all 1.75 chromoly. It’s about as tight as you’re going to get it in a coupe. For now Im content just looking at it







oh and this silly boat is back from paint too… second pic is to show off the metal flake. It is wild in the sun!


I’ve got a lot on my plate and it’s never felt so good!

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I really, really like that cage. I've been considering how I'm going to improve my car - and a cage would do all the right things... and I could also take more advantage of the space I created with the Camaro clip

 

[BBShark]

Lots of very cool toys! What's next for the Vette?

 

[vette427sbc]

Thanks!
a bit of plumbing and wiring to do before its ready to fire up... Im still working on a list of things to do and buy. I forgot where I left off with alot of it. Able to move under its own power by the summer? Maybe?

 

[vette427sbc]

so here we are, almost a year later and I am ready to actually start working on this again… it sat in my garage at home while I Worked on finishing the boat over the summer. The boat is pretty much done now so my focus is on the Vette. I brought it back to the shop today and man does it just feel …right!
a few boat pics and then hopefully I’ll be able to start posting some new Vette work in the next week or so

 

[phantomjock]

Sweet. The boat and again the Vette. That cage is awesome.
The builder worked every detail that could be imagined.
Looking forward to more pics - of both. The Vette and the boat!

Oh Yeah - the block off plate!

Cheers - Jim

 

[vette427sbc]

wrapping the brakes up… one thing I did incorrectly when I first put this together was the vibration isolation of the ABS unit. I’ve replaced the rubber “washer“ with some proper vibration pads. This also meant changing from hardline out of the ABS to a flex line. I made up some angles out of aluminum to mount these junction points. I machined these so that the fitting can’t spin so only one wrench is needed when tightening.

 

[BBShark]

That is an aftermarket ABS? I didn't know that was available. Who makes it?

 

[vette427sbc]

This is a Teves MK60 which comes out of the E46 chassis BMW M3. Its totally standalone and works well in light motorsport applications with the factory programming... Bosch makes an aftermarket one specifically for motorsport but its $$$$

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

This is a Teves MK60 which comes out of the E46 chassis BMW M3. Its totally standalone and works well in light motorsport applications with the factory programming... Bosch makes an aftermarket one specifically for motorsport but its $$$$

the silver 69 Camaro doing the west coast stuff on Optima has anti-lock brakes. He works for Boeing and I think (know?) that bleeds into his car. He always does well, but I think he was 1s faster then before IIRC. I looked up the stand alone stuff... not cheap, didn't know about the Teves ... pretty cool.

 

[bobs77vet]

the boat looks like fun, it came out great!

 

[vette427sbc]

Weekend projects…
the brake system plumbing is done… I changed the ABS to all banjo fittings to keep things as low profile as possible since the oil cooler duct is right on top of it. the master-to-ABS is -4AN while the rest is -3AN


Next project is affixing the front clip to the new chassis. no more (stock) fender wells and rad support… I’m also going to make it removable, with quarter turn fasteners and the hood hinge bolts. im out of argon so all I could do was tack this side together. 1”x.125” tubing



The remaining inner fender is just there for alignment purposes now. Will all be cut out afterwards

 

[vette427sbc]

the silver 69 Camaro doing the west coast stuff on Optima has anti-lock brakes. He works for Boeing and I think (know?) that bleeds into his car. He always does well, but I think he was 1s faster then before IIRC. I looked up the stand alone stuff... not cheap, didn't know about the Teves ... pretty cool.

im keeping my expectations low… the cost of this unit with parts is less than a new set of tires after flatspotting them so as long as it prevents that, I’m content… anything more and I’ll be thrilled

and thanks bob! It’s such a blast to drive.

 

[vette427sbc]

Upper radiator line… too long for a rubber hose, and has to be out of the way for the radiator duct. Tubing bead roller, dimple die set and tubing notcher I bought for customer projects I finally get to use on my own car

 

[vette427sbc]

Waterneck finished… this is a 1.5” tall billet spacer with the side machined out and a filler neck welded on top. the available off the shelf options out there were too tall or didn’t have the correct output. All the placement in these parts takes into account for a future motor change

 

[vette427sbc]

almost forgot about the scales I bought years ago! the car is dry and has no interior, but most of the rest of the car is here. i haven’t done any spring or sway bar preload so I’m assuming that’s where my big jump from FL to FR is. But really happy with the front and rear distribution and overall weight so far. AND this is with an iron block. It shouldn’t take much to make this a really well balanced car

 

[phantomjock]

Looking good!
A little left-sideheavy, perhaps the driver is aboard?
Were the ARBs disconnected? Could be a differential there too.



I am always amazed when I check before buying a new "tool," the ones I find tucked away.
Even more amazed, when I buy one only to find that now I have a "Spare!"
I assume the unit does these calcs as one of the FNs.

Cheers - Jim

 

[vette427sbc]

Looking good!
A little left-sideheavy, perhaps the driver is aboard?
Were the ARBs disconnected? Could be a differential there too.
View attachment 56475


I am always amazed when I check before buying a new "tool," the ones I find tucked away.
Even more amazed, when I buy one only to find that now I have a "Spare!"
I assume the unit does these calcs as one of the FNs.

Cheers - Jim

Been there!

No driver, but I dont add much Swaybar connected, but everything is still in the "thrown together" stage... Left and right are certainly not level so thats why i assumed its so drastically off. I intentionally placed things as equally left/right as I could within reason... Drysump tank, battery and HVAC are on the passenger side, oil cooler, ABS, and power steering on the drivers side. Once its further together Ill get the ride height set proper and start playing with corner/cross weights. I just like to see that Im starting at considerably lower number than I had estimated given the full cage and reinforced chassis components. 3200lbs with an interior and driver would be a dream...

 

[phantomjock]

In the next week I "should" have some scale measures of mine. Machinist has a couple of bushings to fab this week.
I will probably do the toss together and the chassis is sans interior but I want to get a guestimate too. Plus be good to put it on the garage floor.
Plus I want to get real measurements to run - not all "adjusted" for jackstand heights.
Not bad at 3200, but wouldn't 2800 be sweet? Probably loose the HVAC though, and the carpet, and the stereo, and...
I'll be watching the Dry sump nstall closely. I may need to revisit my position - it might interfere with the headers.

 

[bobs77vet]

that plumbing looks great, I meant to ask is that the shrewsbury river?

 

[vette427sbc]

In the next week I "should" have some scale measures of mine. Machinist has a couple of bushings to fab this week.
I will probably do the toss together and the chassis is sans interior but I want to get a guestimate too. Plus be good to put it on the garage floor.
Plus I want to get real measurements to run - not all "adjusted" for jackstand heights.
Not bad at 3200, but wouldn't 2800 be sweet? Probably loose the HVAC though, and the carpet, and the stereo, and...
I'll be watching the Dry sump nstall closely. I may need to revisit my position - it might interfere with the headers.

My drysump is complete... passenger side 3 stage pump. I machined off the fuel pump mounting boss so I could get the pump closer to the block. I think I have room for one more stage before it runs into the motor mount. Otherwise nothin' fancy about it. If you need any specific pics let me know!


And yes thats the Shrewsbury, Bob! Theres still a few skiff guys that will hang at the launch ramp to see whos out playing if they hear one... They have such a unique sound out on the water.

 

[bobs77vet]

I was a member of the Red Bank Rotary club and if i remember correctly we use to have our meetings at a restaurant or boat club/sailing club place next to the bridge (maybe rte35) and you would see lots of fun stuff. if only they didn't BRAC Ft Monmouth.

 

[mfain]

Chris,

A couple of questions about your soft lines to the ABS unit. I just bought the Bosch M5 stand-alone ABS system and am getting ready to plumb it. Bosch does not recommend "soft" lines, but talking to the guys at Brown and Miller (BMRS) they insist on soft lines due to unit vibration. GSpeed, where I bought the unit, has done soft lines the full length of the car. I am thinking about short soft lines connecting to hard lines for the longer runs (rear brakes). Is that what you did. Did you use a flare and tube nut with AN fittings on your adapters. I have to get from a bubble flare at the Bosch unit to whatever... I was thinking of soft lines to bulkhead fittings -AN at one end then to an inverted flare on the other so I could retain standard GM fittings at the caliper end of things. Your thoughts? Who fabricated your soft lines? In addition to your photo, here is a photo of one of Stielow's cars. He is a GM engineer and uses GM components in his Gen 1 Camaros. I noticed he used hard lines, but there appears to be a lot of "slop" - the lines are not secured for some distance from the unit leaving some room for flex. As an aside, I have the Tilton 900-series pedal box and I had to switch from 78-series masters to 79-series that are built especially for ABS use, and they have a port to accept the pressure sensor that Bosch uses. The next photo is of my old masters. Finally, the last photo is of a GSpeed installation in a C7. They used soft lines from the master cylinders, but hard lines to the individual brakes.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'd be concerned using stainless - even annealed, it's very brittle. Add to that the tight bends and it'd be a problem of how soon, not if they will crack. GM runs hard lines to the unit on both sides - however, some get a stainless an line between the master cylinder and the unit. Personally, I'd use the nickel alloy lines and not clamp them for some distance then use rubber lined clamps for the first tie to solid mount....

 

[vette427sbc]

Yikes! Time flies… I hope everyone is well…
I’m back on the corvette with a vengeance. I need to drive this car. I’ve moved to final assembly on most of the critical components. Happy to be back as always


Pappy- hopefully you’ve gotten past your question over a year ago
I used pre-made stainless brake lines from earls. I have made the assumption that the top of my abs unit is machined square so I just used a banjo to AN -3. This ABS unit is rubber mounted in the BMW and has flex lines also. I’m against flex lines for the length of the car though… no leaks from the banjo fittings yet!

 

[BBShark]

Nicely done!

 

[vette427sbc]

Really happy to finally be able to share this with you guys who have been along for all of this journey.
The official gas station picture!
What a great feeling. Suspension feels great, the chassis is stiff and solid feeling. Brakes feel amazing, and the electric power steering pump is perfect for this setup. I’m yet to beat on it to really see what it can do, but the daily driver aspect of it is exactly what I hoped for.
Now to get driving… I’ve got 10 years of missed miles to catch up on!