Finally cut the cage out today. It sure is nerve racking to make that first cut on (what I used to consider) a perfectly good cage. But I am glad I did it. That mild steel really adds up in weight. Lots of new ideas for the new build. Since my old frame rails were so wide, I will probably leave them in for support and run my new rails to the inside of them. Remove the old ones after the new ones are welded in place. Going to bite the bullet and run front struts on this go around.

On the plus side, I have plenty of tubing to build an engine runup stand. Maybe firing this beast up will give me a shot of adrenalin to get in gear already.

Looks like a lot of work but you`re gettin it done fo sho man............. I`m looking for a good used or new low deck t-ram manifold for my junk after I get a few more passes under my belt and hopefully a new best or two............

Holy $h!t. Grinding off all of those rear axle brackets was a ton of work. I don't think my back will ever be the same again! But it's done. Housing prepped. Ends are now cut off. I have 2" of engagement on each axle shaft, but there are 3" of splines. Is it safe to cut 1" off of each shaft. Moser 35 spline shafts.

As long as the axles don't bottom on each other it won't matter if they're long. If they hit, trim them.
Doug

I don't think the splines in the spool go all the way through. The axles stop after 2" of engagement. It's not the axle shafts hitting into each other. I'm yanking the spool out Tuesday night. Will get a better view of the inside of the spool at that time. If the spool splines are the cause, I'll find out if my local machine shop can cut the axle shafts down an inch. Tried it on my saw. These things are really hard.

Well, small amount of destruction found. Pulled the spool and ring gear out. Way too many shims on the bearings, case was stretched out. Shims show signs of damage. 2 ring gear bolts are gnarled up, 1 is stripped. 4 broken splines found in spool. This was built by a local shop a long time ago, but never found it necessary to take it apart, until now. This is why I like to do as much stuff by myself as possible. This was supposed to be built with all new parts. I just don't think that happened. Oh well, an order has been placed with Doctor Diff.

Got my new spool, bearing and shim kit, and billet housing ends from Dr Diff. Was able to cut my axle shafts with my grinder, but something is really tight. Guess I'll send the axles out and have them resplined. If something shows up, I'll just get new axles. Found a Nash/Richmond 5 speed on RJ. Bought it with Long 5 spd vertigate and Ram clutch setup. Should have it mid week. In the mean time, I took a couple of vacation days and hopefully I should have the frame rails in by next week, too. Didn't get home as early as I wanted to today, but got to modify a set of collectors. 2 1/8" x 3 1/2" hookers modified to 4". Stock length without primary slip is 12". New collectors are 17 1/2".

Gettin there homey............

Small mishap today. Cuda fell off the jackstands. Lifted it slightly in the rear and it went sideways off the jack. Minimal damge when car landed nose high in the air and quarters on the ground sideways. Wife came outside. Don't know if she is totally oblivious sometimes or just puts that much faith in me. She just says " I'm going to the supermarket. Do you need anything?" I hope it's the latter. On a plus note, by the time I got the car back up on the stands, the 1/4" twist in the left front rocker sill was gone. Frame rails should be in tomorrow.

Burned up a couple of vacation days and got the frame rails done. One header is done also. The other has to have the tubes reangled. Next weekend.

Damn, where`s the car..........

Crap! I knew I forgot something...
Frame rails are going to be bolted to the rear bumper sill and both rocker sills. The body will be removable. Easier for cage fabrication and upgrades down the road, or if I want to change the body altogether. Plus, I found a lot of dead weight all throughout the car while cutting her up. She's going to be low and light.

I GUESS..............

What weight and ET you shooting for?

I was aiming at 2700 lbs race ready, but I think it might come in a little under. Shooting for high to mid 8's.

Got my clutch and tranny. It isn't the box with the center support, or the torsion tube, but it's still a far cry tougher than my Hemi boxes, and it's a 5 speed. Oh, and it came with a long style pistol grip vertigate shifter.

Welded up the Racecraft ladder bar kit, cut the rear down to a final size, and assembled. Tomorrow, the ladder bar cross member and shock cross member will get welded in place. The rear suspension will be in place for mock up only at this point.

Today went along fairly smooth...up until the shock cross member. You would think that this is the most straight forward, easiest part of the whole job. Had shafts in place to simulate race height shocks, ladder bars in place, rear axle in place. Cut tube to length, mount shock tabs, install. Pretty simple, right? Yeah, well, I went to tack the cross member in place, and I watched it roll over the rear axle, even though I had it cinched in place. Leveled and measured, leveled and measured, leveled and measured. Sure enough, get everything tack welded in place, find out the left ladder bar slid on the axle tube 3/8" of an inch inboard. But all in all, a productive day. Decided to stop and continue next weekend.

Cold this weekend. Plus, nothing really worked/timed properly. Made a spacer block for the TR linkage. Got the dashboard out of the car. Heavier than I thought. 44 pounds, without wiring harness.