It's great to follow.

This weekend should be a fun one.  Just hope for good weather.  This weekends plans start as follows:

First lets pull out the motor from under its towel, and get it hanging for today's projects:











Now that the heart is in the beast here is why I droped it in....




Corvette C4's do not have a cross member, and have a fiberglass floor.  I have to make a crossmember to support the rear of the transmission.  Should be interesting.  More to follow!

I now have the crossmember complete except for mounting holes.  I need to trim the side plates as well.  I am sure I will have this part complete by the end of today and will be on to some other work I have on the plate for the weekend.  I will need to replace the trans mount, but will do that once the trans if built and ready to install for a final time.  Tons of cleanup to do under the hood, and along the firewall.  Also need to do a ton of pruning and running new wires, but with the engine under the hood now, I can get busy with this stuff.  I have hope on getting the rest of the rear body work complete, get the rear firewall in, and get the rest of the tin work in the back of the car complete.  Then work my way forward.  Budget is not there to complete the engine and trans right now but would love to work towards finalizing everthing else, get a final parts list (althought that will never end I am sure) and work towards starting to wrap different systems up.  Anyway, here are some pictures of how I built the crossmember.


From the scrap pile, I pulled a piece cut from the original frame.


I cut the piece to length and cut the ends at an angle.  Welded on a couple of flat plates (Left over from my roll cage kit) and then took another one of those plates and welded it to the flat bottom of the new crossmember.  I will cut the height of the flat plates down some.  I will then drill a group of holes in them, crawl under, and mark the location on the tunnel, and start the holes.  Then go inside the car, drill these holes out.  Then I will create a plate that will be put inside with the holes through it.  Then I will take the crossmember out, weld the nuts on the plates, and mount the crossmember.  Then I will put a level on the engine once the car is on the ground and mount the engine at the angle I want it.  Then decide how much I need to change the height of the rear of the trans.  Then drill the holes and mount the engine. 

One thing I have learned real fast... the holes in the engine for the motor mounts, and transmission to block are all standard thread, and the old motor and trans were Metric.... guess I am going to need to get a lot of hardware new....

Nice to see that I can wrap so much up this year.  I will hope with all the work this year, I can lock down the car, and get the trans and engine done as cash is available.  Will still need to do fuel, and brakes on this thing, a ton of safety equipment, and all underhood, but as time allows, and parts are available I will wrap up those things as well!

More pictures and work to follow as I can get them done this weekend.

Today I went out, trimmed the ears, drilled the mounting holes in the crossmember, and holes in the tunnel.  Then I went and mounted the crossmember.  Stupid cold and rain... I would have worked on adjusting the back of the car, and then welding the wheelie bars together, and getting them ready to sit in the corner till it heads to the track for the first time.  Anyway here are some pictures of the crossmember boltin in place.  I have not drilled the mounding holes for the transmission mount just yet... Want to first replace the trans mount, and get everything squared up.





Now that it is set up, I can start to finish up the rear body work, and the tins.  Hoping for good weather during the week, and this coming weekend.  Would love to have the wheel tubs put in, and the rest of the interior tin complete, along with the rough body work in the back completed by end of June.  Then for July Finish up the underside, and start to put all the interior back in, once I run a full new harness.  A rewire with new wires, and correct guage is very important, and replacing everything that came in there stock will be easier to do from scratch, and much cheaper, expecially since I can then save the factory harnesses and resell them to someone that has another C4.  I have been asked a couple of times..."Why not just buy a crossmember?" or "Why not just use the one that was already in there?"  Well here is the simple answer... This car never had a Transmission Crossmember.  It had a C-Beam that connected the trans to the rear diff.... Since I have a Ford 9" in the back, that floats, and I have a TH400 inplace of the 700R4 it all has to be scratch made.  No aftermarket parts would work for this.  It is amazing how many parts I have to fabricate to work for this car, and how much the aftermarket supports the Camaro and Mustang.... Guess there are not enough people modding these cars yet. 

Anyway here are a couple of shots I took with it just in the garage entrance.  Thought on Memorial Day I would take a couple shots to enjoy for the next couple of weeks!

What kind of times are you anticipating running?

Hoping to see 10's or below once I get the chassis tuned in and the engine all broke in.

Quote from: tachout

good luck

I look forward to reading more of your progress.

Today I worked on posting my build thread up on another forum, and it sure is depressing.  I looked back at where I started, how long ago it was, and I sure have not made much progress.  I have got a ton done, but when I was asked what I got done on it this year... I had to say I dusted it.  WOW, I need to make some changes so I can start to work on it again.  Sure has been a long time since I put money into the beast.  Never know what will come up, but lets home some of what comes up are parts for this beast.

Progress good to me thus far. Nice machine!