Here is the start.
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Here is the start.
(If you register you can click on any picture to see full view)
Day 1.
Long beach, Ca.
Attachment 208
Ok here is the first day bringing the car home.
Rolling chassis complete, front end, upper doors, lower doors, no rear body, no bulkhead, (or firewall). 1 windshield, no side pods.
Chassis:
Attachment 211
The front upper shock mounts look pretty bad. The rear lower shock mounts look weak too. The rear springs must make weird noises in those spring buckets. I don't know I never drove one. All things I am changing. Shocks are blown and not rebuildable, all shocks and springs are getting replaced.
Chassis front:
I found an entire Mirage body for sale in Texas. This picture is in Texas. Paid for it and shipped it here. I thought I might make a rear body hatch. Much better to buy one, countless hours saved.
Front of car is white, rear is yellow.
I sold some duplicate parts I did not need.
I kept 2 windshields, 2 upper doors, and 2 T bars.
The upper doors I might finish with 1 set with windows, 1 set with no windows.
Crusty, sandblasted, powdercoated crinkle black.
Crusty 40 years old:
Attachment 219
blasted and powder gloss black:
Bellhousing powder gloss black:
Body mock up is a big job. Do it before you paint it. Many hours getting body parts located in position, hinging and latching. I have many more hours to go.
http://mantacarsforum.com/attachment...ntid=521&stc=1
WOW! that was a lot of work for one day :) . Great project. So where are you today? Is the last post pretty much where you are at?
I have set it up for QA-1 coilovers on all 4 corners, powdercoated the frame, and am setting up 4 wheel disc brakes now.
Stay tuned and see how that unfolds .... I will keep going on this thread and get us up to present time.
Who will be next to start their build thread ? ? ?
The 327 engine was hopelessly locked up.
So I bought this 350 crate motor with super low miles, for a super low price.
There are great deals on motors out there. This shop here puts 600 hp LS7's in everything and no one wants an old iron engine like this ... they don't even want LS1's anymore!
After I drive it with the 350 and Corvair trans I might want to go LS and Porsche trans, I am not sure ... we will see.
I might want to add something else to the car or do nothing ...
The motor I got was not fast enough for the owner of this '59 Corvette:
Attachment 226
Interesting to say the least. The LS2 crate motor I bought for my Mirage had 1500 miles on it, and was pulled back out of a '62 'Vette because the owner claimed the power was causing stress cracks in the body. He wanted to go back to the lower-powered gen I motors. I scratched my head on that (heck, put smaller tires on the back then), but it ended up being a good deal for me in finding a carbureted LS2 with the MSD ignition controller. I've been a Ford man all my life, but the LSx motors changed that after I finally got my hands on one and looked through the internals and it's machining and build. They really are great pushrod motors, with gobs of power, cheap to get lots more power, and lightweight.
http://www.fototime.com/735BEB3A75C9F3E/standard.jpg
Great motor Terry.
Here is more powdercoating ...
And more ...
QA-1 shocks are available at jegs.com and they also are relabeled by Jegs and cheaper.
I have the shortest QA-1's on the front, single adjustable.
Jegs number 122-US301 Ultra ride with bearing ends & 300 lb 7" springs.
And Jegs on the rear, double adjustables.
Jegs number 555-64900 bearing ends & 450 lb 9" springs.
The shocks and springs may not be the best for the weight of this car.
It's just my starting point, we will know more after we drive the car.
Rear coil overs.
Will you be fabricating a bracket that mounts the QAs onto the top of the lower control arms?
Yes.
And I if I have to, I will fabricate it 3 times before it is ok. :-)
Pull the transaxle ...
and then lift the motor ...
Even if this front upper shock mount never breaks it just looks .... well ... I am pretty sure I know what you are thinking.
Yep, mine looked a lot like that. In fact, the rear didn't even hold up to the trailer ride to the house before it failed. Being I had high aspirations, I decided then and there to gut everything and build it back up to my interpretation of "correct". That was 6 years ago, and many $$$$$ later (yes, build three to get a good one of whatever is being built), but the end is near, and paint has been purchased.
I'm thinking you may be close. I've been running 275/450 (F/R) on mine, but felt it was too weak (especially for the front), so I've stuck a set of 450/550 onto the car based on some other analysis and the additional weight the car has taken on since 6 years ago. I may be comparing apples to oranges between the two cars in that there are so many factors that need to be considered in the spring rate calculation. I'm also using the QA1 double adjustables on mine.
So, how do you get an odd length of spring (7" & 9")? I suppose that may be a QA spring though. The one set of QA springs I used had several extra coils as compared to other springs I had, which for the same spring rate then required thicker wire, all of which presented a longer coil-bind length and excessive weight compared to the other coil springs I've used.
Yes those are qa-1 springs. The front shocks I bought are the shortest qa-1's there are.
The rear jegs shocks are the shortest ones there are.
Front shock travel is about 2.5".
Rear shock travel is 3.88".
Wheel travel is slightly more in both cases because of the leverage ratio of the shocks in the suspension.
I don't think a Mazda Miata or the front of a Corvette ZR-1 even have this much travel and they are both heavier cars.
There are no sway bars, I can add them, this car is really low to the ground. Roll center is very low.
Maybe I will drive it 1st.
Terrys car is amazing. Everything is better. I could not do such a big project. I just need to mostly restore mine and that is plenty of work for me. It's more than you first think.
So here is a better idea for those front upper mounts:
I did this computer drawing and I could cnc cut it.
Ok Here is a shape that clears and attaches to the frame better.
Rear
Ok lets strip the frame down, cut off old mounts, and go to the welder shop ...
The mounts get welded in.
The coolant will not be going through the lower frame rails anymore. My welder said there was rust in the frame that would have got in the waterpump, the engine block, the radiator, and probably ruined it.
The inside of the frame has been sprayed with rust ender. The Eastwood company sells rust ender that goes through a long hose and then comes out of a spray nozzel. This way you can coat way inside frame rails.
Then it goes for sandblasting and powdercoating!
The frame is back:
I bought new upper A Arms. Here is the first look at assembling, I have not put the coil on the shock yet here.
These shocks can be run inverted.
Here you can get the idea of where we are going on the rear ....
Bearing end mounts are used on all shock ends.
I am thinking about bump stops and limit straps or bump stops for top out.
I cut out some brake adaptors .... (Thanks Neil)
And waterjet cut a couple of shock coil wrenches ....
Back when I had the old engine in the frame I made a crank adaptor to force the engine to turn on the old 327 ....
Even after soaking for weeks, the engine is stuck and I gave up on that one.
It probably needs each piston hammered out one at a time, or even worse it broke and locked.
looks like you've got a really good relationship with a machinist! I see what you mean by the motion ratio on the front (.6?).