V8 OR RWD W-BODY

[dohcfiend]

if you pull that off, it would be the ULTIMATE SLEEPER until you started it...lol.

that is awesome. props x8. you are my hero.

[86euro]

I like your idea, I just hope you complete the project
I'm curious why you cut the body at the rear quarters though. If you are planning on joining the car back together with the same length, that was a bad place to make the cut. Do you plan to reuse the lumina interior panels and dash? That would be cool.

[LeftVentricle]

I think the first gen W-body Grand Prix coupe would be very nice in RWD as well I think the Coupe GP looks like it should be RWD. And the V8 sound definitely goes with the cars styling

Then feast your eyes on this link!

[Hotlap]

86euroI like your idea, I just hope you complete the project
I'm curious why you cut the body at the rear quarters though. If you are planning on joining the car back together with the same length, that was a bad place to make the cut. Do you plan to reuse the lumina interior panels and dash? That would be cool.

I'll complete it alright. The car will be a Trans Am inside except for the Door Panels and Head Liner. This car will be a two seater when finished.
The Lumina wheelbase is 6.4 Inches longer than the Trans Am, so the body had to be shortened. The center of the car was the Best palce to remove the length.


LeftVentricle, that is an awesome Build. I personally would have never stuffed a Cadillac motor in anything, Northstar or not, but that's just me.

[Hotlap]

This past Saturday my son and I started in on the Rear of the Car. After removing Frame, wheel hubs, rear floor pan, and a bunch more stuff we laid the Rear clip on the Chassis:


After trying to Align the Roof and the Quarters I found that the two were not going to go together as planned. I chose to go with the Roof top for Alignment.


The Quarters were off by almost 7/16'ths on their height.
Here are the clamps I got from Kerry in place. To get the best possible Gap we got the two side as close as possible with some spots touching. Next I took a 1/32 wide cut off wheel to the Gap, then one by one moved the clamps to the spots I already ran the cut off wheel through. Next cleaned those spots, then notched out a slightly bigger opening for each clamp. Last we Pushed the two panels together with the Clamps in position where the notches were. This worked really great and let us Fuse a lot of metal together without filler.



My Son did a really nice Job welding the Panels.
Here is an Example:


Afterwards we pulled the Clamps and used filler rod in those areas.


(Sorry Should have rotated that one)


On to the Drivers side....
I did not take pictures of the Frame being welded back together, nothing fancy or different to show there. We Mig Welded the Frame.
In this Shot you can see the Side had to be cut again to align everything, I was not happy at this point. Everything ended up working out pretty good though. The top right section of the cut had to be heated up first. After getting it Hot we were able to align the window frame. After getting the window frame in place I altered the cut out panel to fit back in. I still have some rust areas to patch yet at the Bottom But, here are the Clamps holding it in place.


And here is the Quarter after Weld:



This Weekend we do the other Quarter and start putting flanges on the Wheel Hubs.
Thanks for your time.

[Hotlap]

Time for an Update:

The day started with cutting out the rusted lower section of the rear drivers Quarter and putting a Patch in it's place:


Here is the Patch welded into place, the black water lines are from running the Shrinking disk and quenching the top section of the Quarter:



Next it was on to the Rippled Roof:



Around the roof Supports the Sheet Metal really raised. These areas had to be knocked down. I used the Dutch Slapper, and supported the Roof from the underside with a simple support:


SUPPORT:




I'm not proud of the Warpage to the Roof but after learning so much here and at the different Metal Meets over the past 5 years I wasn't Intimidated:


Here is the same Profile two pictures above after knocking the High Spots down and running the Shrinking disk for about an hour. An Hour is not very long, the results are fast but there is a lot of start and stop so time passes quickly:


Here is another shot from a different angle. Here you'll notice a lot of the affected area that was wavy before is now gone. Bad thing is I have a few areas that were to thin and need to be touched back up:


A Couple more shots:






There is a lot more Shrinking to do as well as some patch work on a couple of seems that split, but the results are Very Satisfying. We Started Tacking the Passenger Side Quarter in Place Next BUT ran out of 02.
Here is the butt clamps holding it in place after a few Tacks:



I think that's it for a Few Days, Christmas is coming! I Hope you all Enjoy the Holidays.
__________________

Joe Andrews

[Hotlap]

Had the Drivers Door on this morning, got some mods to do to the Inside Door Panel to fit, But the Door Opened and Closed perfectly. I ran the shrinking disk for about 5 hours on the Drivers Quarter, my hands are still torqueing to the right. I was pleased with my results, but there were still a few spots I could not get to come flush. The bodyline down the center of the panel gave me fits, I think it will require a tad bit of grinding and filler to set it just right. I got a few pictures, one shows the Semi Completed Quarter(at least as far as I'm concerned ), the other shows the side ground effects. Note the 6.4 Inches I took from the car now needs to come from the ground effects.
Short Post tonight, Tony Stewarts racing Outlaws in Fort Wayne, at the Colisium tonight.









Anyone got some suggestions on the Ground Effects? There Flexible, Urethane?
Thanks for any Any Help, Happy New Year!
__________________

Joe Andrews

[Hotlap]

I'm working with a Guy out of Michigan who is designing my new Decal for the Car. Still making some changes to the font, like the "L", it's to sharp and needs to be softened up a bit.

The Larger of the two goes on the Quarter panel where the original Z34 one was at, the small ones go on the front and rear bumpers.



__________________

Here is the Old:

Joe Andrews

[Rhedalert]

nice!

[DEI37]

Looks really slick.

As a side note, I had a minor role in the Northstar GP build. I brought four cylinder heads from New Jersey to Madison, WI. It's a car I really want to see in person.

[IsaacHayes]

Why the 57? It sounds good though. (was thinking 34+28 but that's 62!)
Crazyness! keep up the good work!

[bszopi]

I'm not up to date on the V8 engines, but I think the WS6 that is going in this is a 350, which is 5.7L.

[latemodelnewbee]

If the firebird is 93 to 97 its a 350 LT1 if it is 98 to 02 its a LS1 which is like 346 cubic inch but they still call it a 5.7L

[86euro]

I'm a fan of the original style lettering for the decals. The other is the z71 truck style, so I immediately think of "Silverado" instead of "Lumina".

[Hotlap]

86euro I'm a fan of the original style lettering for the decals. The other is the z71 truck style, so I immediately think of "Silverado" instead of "Lumina".

I agree, I like the original to but I don't want the stripe around the middle of the car. When you remove the stripe from the original it looks Funny and Small, that's why I chose the Newer Style.

latemodelnewbee If the firebird is 93 to 97 its a 350 LT1 if it is 98 to 02 its a LS1 which is like 346 cubic inch but they still call it a 5.7L

Correct, it's a 1998 Formula T/A, LS1 automatic with 340 HP.

IsaacHayes Why the 57? It sounds good though. (was thinking 34+28 but that's 62!)
Crazyness! keep up the good work!

Thanks Buddy, Z57 because the 3.4 DOHC is gone and has been replaced by the LS1 5.7 litre, plus Heinz 57 steak sauce is a blend of a lot of Ingredients!

DEI37 Looks really slick.

As a side note, I had a minor role in the Northstar GP build. I brought four cylinder heads from New Jersey to Madison, WI. It's a car I really want to see in person.

That's one cool ride, I'm not a Caddy fan but the Car turned out Beautiful, I'd Love to See it in Person as well.

I wired up all of the Lights on the Car as well, really very simple and Both cars use the newer style bulb. Color codes were different on the wires, but an OHM meter straightened that out.

Sorry I took so long to reply, a lot of what I'm working on is repetitive, I've shown the drivers side being done and now it's the passenger side being completed. In a couple of weeks I should be doing the Inner Fenders, I'll post more pics when I reach that point.

Thanks for the Great comments you guys, it Helps keep me motivated.
Joe