Found a car to buy

Damn that looks nice

Bought the turbo today. Pics and info tomorrow. Swap meet this sunday. Maybe I can find some front wheels to match or compliment the rears. Mark L

Found no wheels to buy at the swap. The turbo is a Borg Warner S400 75mm with an exhaust of 1.32. Should work good for my combination. Then I went for it on a front fender.
Ok. Tried something I've never had the guts to do. I did some sheet metal welding repair to my front fender. The front pass. fender was damaged by a car dolly ( I hate those things).



The fender edge at the rocker seam cracked and seperated, the fender was pushed in and the holes for the trim needed closing. First time I've ever attempted welding fenders. I pounded out the damage. Welded and repaired the fender edge and welded the holes shut. There was a scrape in the metal just above the trim hole also, so I pounded that out and cleaned the area.



Was always scared to try that kind of welding but it all came out OK. A little bondo to smooth it out and we'll be good to go. Mark L

looking good mark

Hell yeah!

OK got the pics of the turbo. It's an S400 B-W 75mm 1.32 A/R exhaust. My son and I did a turbo map of this S400 and my combination. It shows at 10 psi that my combo will be right at the bottom of the sweet spot but still good, 15 puts it right in a nice lower mid point and the map shows this turbo with my combo puts it all the way to 30 psi where it starts getting close to the surge line but still good.





Mark L

Keep up the progress!

Played with a little art work. Still have to stretch out the skull a little to make it look more like it's going fast, and add a feather headress flowing back.




Mark L

haha Fuck yeah! That's pretty sweet

Did a little fine tuning on him and gave him a name. A/R



Mark L

I found a set of old CHROME bolt on Chevelle ladder bars on one of these boards. They are in pretty good shape and I polished them up as soon as I got them (after I took the pic). I think they will look good under the gasser. I'll just bolt them on for now but they will eventually become a permanent weld on pair.


Mark l

Are they homemade or who made them?

To tell the truth I'm not sure who made them but they were/are a regulaer offered item by one of the bigger manufacturers. Like Lakewood??? or?? I actually had a set on my '64 Goat back in 1970. They are designed to bolt onto the rear axle and then there are brackets that bolt onto the lower rear trailng arm front bolt. And then the frame. (I have those too but did not get them into the picture). When I bolted them onto the Goat I never got the front brackets bolted on so the front of the bars just floated. They were only an inch from part of the frame so when I'd punch it the bars would come up and bang on the frame/floor or what ever it was hitting. Used to scare the crap out of passengers. Especially back seat riders. But they worked well stopping all wheel hop with out hte harsh ride they normally do when they are bolted in correctly.
Anywho. I thought they'd make a neat addition to the gasser and the chrome should really look good underneath. I'll probably bolt them on temporarily tomorrow and get a pic of them. Mark L

Ah I see

Let us know how it goes

Found some 15X4 slots that look just like my rear slots. They are ont he way. I found some 175/65/15 radials for the fronts on Craigslist. Brand new unused Continentals for $100. I started assembling the sheet metal on the car to see how everything lines up. Then I can start building the structure and attach the hinges to the front frame horns for the tilt mechinism. When I get the new tires on the slots I'll get them mounted and put them on the car. Then I can get an idea of what this thing is going to look like. Waiting for the cam bearings to arrive then all the engine parts go down to Tucson. Mark L

Updates. I got some skinnies for the front, hung the sheet metal to see what it looks like, and I pulled the rear end out so I could get a good look at the frame in case I go ahead and narrow it and also to kind of mock up the big rear tires I have.

I would need to either get the tires all the way under and not modify the outside of the wheel wells, or leave them sticking out but not as much as the pic. Not sure if I have the talent to do a good radiused wheelwell. I don't want just a round cut. I would rather do something more along the lines of the hemi Darts. With more of a boxy/square cut. Either way I have to narrow the frame so I'll probably do that first, get the tire all the way under and see how that really looks. Or just stick with the slots and tires like in the previous shots. I really like the big tire look though.
Mark L

That's pretty sweet Mark. You gotta tuck those tires in, I think it will be worth the effort

This is a hemi dart with the style of wheel wells I would like the Cat to have. The tire tread would be right at the body outside line but the sidewall would actually require the wheel well to be cut and raised like the hemi dart in the pic. You can see that in the pic that tire just fills the wheel well. Me likey that. Heh.



The next pics are the frame rails from a donor '63 Catalina I got from Steve Barcak. The first is the frame rails almost cut up and trimed to final form.



The next is the scrap pieces already cut off. As you can see in the first one there is a little more to remove. I ran out of gas for the torch.



The last pic is the 4 link frame I have laying under the Cat. Thought about using it but it probably won't work as well as the Catalina frame rails and I can still sell it for some working capitol.



So I have to finish cutting up the rails and them grind them so they are half way presentable. Then I have to really map out how I plan to get them in and welded up. Wish me luck guys.
Mark L

Back in this pic.



You can see how the frame rails actually narrow and bend out losing some clearence. In the original position, this was to make more room for the top of the coil spring. I'm going to swap the rails side for side so the narrow and bent in section goes inward instead of outward. Giving me even more clearence for the tires.



I'll integrate these rails in along side the originals. Mark L

I've cut the rear crossover out completely but the original frame rails are still in there. I dropped the car down and placed the tires as far in as I could up against the old frame rails so I could get some pics. This is still preventng me from getting the tire all the way under.







I'm gong to try to cut out the frame rail except for the very back wall of the rail to see if I can get the tire further under. But that damn curve in the rail may prevent me from doing anything until I actually remove the whole rail. But, gottsta keep trying right?? Mark L

'Cause a lot of guys on other boards gave me crap about my Cat not being a traditional gasser, I rewrote Ozzie Osbourns "I Don't want to stop" to my specifications. See if you like it.

I don’t want to stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt_Bu1r-Ovg&feature=related

I don’t know what you’re bitchin about
I’m taking my own direction
This thing makes me frown, ain’t gunna slow me down
It’s just a gasser outside of tradition

Buddy don’t cry I just want it up high
Like driving it up in the air
Everybody’s smirkin’ but I keep a buildin’
It looks a lot better I swear

All my life I've been over the top
I don’t know why I do it all I know is I don’t want to stop
All fired up, I'm gunna go 'til I drop
You're either in or in my way, don't stop me, this thing’s gunna rock

Why can’t they ever listen to me
It’s not a full on competition
Nothing they say is gunna change my way
Don’t need no outside stimulation

Too many suggestions but only one Rod
I don’t need another example
Don’t try to change my mind
I know I’m one of a kind
Ain’t gunna change my build behavior

All my life I've been over the top
I don't know why I do it all I know is I don't wanna stop
All fired up, I'm gonna go 'til I drop
You're either in or in my way, don't stop me, this thing’s gunna rock
All my life I've been over the top
I don't know why I do it all I know is I don't wanna stop
All fired up, I'm gonna go 'til I drop
You're either in or in my way, don't stop me this thing’s gunna rock

I think gassers rock
I think gassers rock
I think gassers rock
I think gassers rock
I think gassers rock
I think gassers rock
I think gassers rock

All my life I've been over the top
I don't know why I do it all I know is I don't wanna stop
All fired up, I'm gonna go 'til I drop
You're either in or in my way, don't stop me this thing’s gunna rock
All my life I've been over the top
I don't know why I do it all I know is I don't wanna stop
All fired up, I'm gonna go 'til I drop
You're either in or in my way, don't stop me This things gunna rock

Mark L

haha fuck yeah!

Hey all. Been a while. It's been way too hot to work on the car so it has been sitting. I have decided to build my own frame rails for the narrowed back end instead of trying to use the cut off rails I got from Steve. So I bought some 2X3 tubing and will be starting as soon as the weather breaks. It's supposed to be in the mid 90's and it's been breaking records at 105-107. Got my CSU blow thru carb too.



Temps are supposed to break now according to the weatherman. So I can start getting ot work. I've been trying to fnd a set of 15 inch slots in 12 or 13 inch widths for the gasser. But they are hard to find. 10 inch wides are too narrow for the tires I'l be running. Talk to ya soon. Mark L

Yall have still been that hot? We've been in the 80s all week and even down into the 60s at night. I think the temp will go back up before it goes down any further though

What is that carb?

It's a fully modified 750 for blow thru. Lots of little tricks that CSU does like a boost referenced power valve, replaced al th eboosters with annular discharge boosters, the thoat entrances are all radious, th echoke horn is removed and blended and all the air bleeds are made into screw in jets for tuning. They also open up the power valve fuel channels in the metering block to flow more fuel. I still have to open it up and record all the jetting etc for future tuning purposes. Just don't need all that done until the motor is ready to run. I can't say enough about CSU Carbs and Kevin/Dennis that runs it. They were looking for a set of #13 heads for their turbo pontiac motor. I offered them the heads and asked if they had any old left over or unclaimed carbs for a trade since I needed one for my project. Kevin said, I'll just throw one together from all my extra parts laying around in trade for the heads. A fully built full purchase carb (no carb cores) is a hell of a lot more expensive than the heads were worth but Kevin went ahead and built me this. Great guy. Anywho. I really lucked out. Mark L