Found a car to buy

Latest updates. No. 1. Week and a half ago we had a bad hailstorm. Tennis ball sized hail. Our 2002 SSEi got beat so bad they totalled it. The house has $12,000 worth of damage. So there's lots of work to do on the house. Took th emoney from the SSEi and found a 2001 BMW 530i that is like brand new. A 2001 with only 82,000 miles. So we are cruising in style now. The worse thing is, just prior to the hailstorm I had stuck over $1200 worth of repairs into the front end, bearing blocks, sway bar end links, oil sending unit, brakes and rotors. If I had waited only 2 weeks I would never had stuck the money into it.
Now the happy news. I found a member on another Pontiac board selling a really good T-56 6 speed trans with an aftermarket shifter and a 3rd Gen crossmember. I originally planned to run a 4L80 OD trans but a Gasser just needs a manual. And the turbo will work almost as well with the manual, just not as well. But on the street it will be fun.
Well that's it from this location for now. Talk at ya later.
P.S. Robert, still waiting for the short block to get done. GOOOD thing I ain't in no hurry, heh!
Pic of the Bemmer



Mark L

Hail in Arizona in October? WTF?

Hopefully it's a Viper T56, They're supposed to be the strongest

I'm glad you're using that block!

Hey Robert nice talking at ya again. The T-56 is a '96 Camaro unit for the LT1 which is not the strongest. But it will get me down the road until I can beef it up. At least it will all be installed and I'll be able to drive it as long as i don't hook it up at all. By son will be beefing up one he has so I will be able to see what all he has to do.
You bet I'm using that block. Along with the 6 speed that ought to be one hell of a fun car. Weather here is finally getting nice so it's out to the garage now. No more excuses to be lazy. Mark L

Hell yeah, get on it

Hey Robert. You wanna see what your block looks like now?

Paul Carter has been working on the 389 block. Sent some pics so far.

The support rods down into the block deck. The rods run down to the bottom of the water jackets to support the decks from moving under boost.



The block with new dowels for the splayed caps.



The caps all installed. The no.1 cap is the original front cap. The machinest was supposed to move the no.2 cap up since it fits the same and is a lot beefier than the no.1 cap. Waiting to find out what happened.



Things are getting there. Good to see progress. I'm glad to have Paul doing my short block. Mark L

That is awesome!

Finally took some time to build some frame rails. My intent was to run a single rail all the way from the front frame kickout (perimeter frame) straight back, tie into the lower rear control arm mounting points, then up and over the rear end, then tie back into the original frame after the rear end. But the front kick out does not go far enough into the center of the car to line up straight to where the frame needs to tie into the rear control arm mounts. So instead of trying to bend or cut and Snake a rail back l made one rail from the front frame kickout back to the control arm mount location. And the overaxle frame rail will be seperate, sitting just along side of the front rail but inside of it enough to narrow the amount I need for my tires. The pic is the long front rail and the overaxle laying alongside of it in position. (The long rail still needs to be cut for length). You can see the chaulk mark on top of the rails where the long rail will be cut and welded to the frame/contol arm mount. You can see the overlap of the overaxle rail to the long rail. This will be about 4 inches of welded overlap. I'll angle cut the overaxle forward end to taper nicely into the overlap.



The second pic is the whole rail and overaxle rail but showing the orientation of the whole set up.



The last is a good look at the overaxle rail and the front end of the long rail. I cut the end that way to lay up under the front frame and give more support from under the rails and to give more welding area. The whole rail system will hang one inch under the original frame but it will not be noticed unless you look under the car. Once I cut off the rear cut I'll add that same lip at the rear of the long rail for the same reasons.



You can see the overaxle rail is higher at the rear to match the original frame heights. The back end of the overaxle will be cut sideways at a 45 into the original frame to tie it all in. If I do it right I can still use my original big gas tank back there. But the narrowed rails may interfer. If not too bad I'll have the tank sectioned a little bit to fit at the front corners, add a rear sump, and have a nice big tank for lots 'o miles 'o pleasure. This will give me a full 18 inches of space inside the wheel wells for my tires/rims. I still have to cut and relocate the inner sheet metal. Mark L

Ordered and just received my timing set and roller bearing cam retainer from Scott Sims. What a great looking timing set and the retainer looks first class.




I'm looking forward to getting this in and working with all the other parts in my 406.

Mark L

Sure is perdy!

I need to make a glass front timing cover so I can see that thing a whirlin' away in there. Now that be perdy! 8^) MArk L

Now that would be cool

Got the long front frame to rear control arm frame rails all welded in and done. I've got the overaxle rails in place for mock up and I need to do some grinding on the welds so the rails can lay tight against each other where they overlap. Then I can determine the cuts at the back end of the rails, measure for the angle to cut the rail and add a leg from the rail back over to the original rear frame. I'm trying to get the rail out of the way of the original gas tank so I can still use it. Would be nice to have a giant gas tank to fill with future $5 a gallon gas. Heh!!! I would love to use E-85 but there are only 2 stations on this whole metropolis that has E-85. But one is only a couple of miles from me. Any who. I want get the frame where I can start figuring out the motor/trans location and put in the cross bracing for the ladder bars and trans mount. That means I have to finally determine the engine set back. This is getting FUNNER!!!
Mark L

Sounds good Mark! Progress must be nice...

What's up with E85. I only know of one place to get it. Same with Biodiesel. Everyone on the forums says to run B20 in newer diesels but wtf I can only find one place that sells B5.

Cut out a plywood form to build the inner tub wall.









I'll use the form to shape the metal inner tub. Cut the metal 1.5 inches longer around th ecurve and bend/hammer the metal over the edge to form the angle on the curve. Then span the old outer tub to the new inner tub and again go 1.5 past the form and use the form to bend/hammer the top edge down, creating a double overlap that I can tack together. Then tack/weld the span to the outer wheelwell. Mark L

Sure looks good !!

Made the one inner tub and put it in place.



Placed tire/rim in final resting place.





Now I have to cut open the other side and place that tire in and measure for the reare end width. MArk L

I've been a very busy Dude. Got the wheelwells tubbed




Frame all narrowed.



Got the 9 inch all widened out to the right width and installed in the car with temporary trailng arms so I can roll it onto the trailer.



And cut the firewall, moved the cut out back 12 inches and welded it in place. Next I have to replace all the metal around the pulled back firewall. Plus a pic of the new seat location. In the rear seat footwell.




Mark L

And the biggy!




Some pics of the turbo headers all mounted up and the mods to the motor plate to make them fit.





And a pic of the car before I dropped it down with the motor all mocked up. Turbo, intake, carb etc.

.

Mark l

I did all this quick fabrication/assembly work because I took it to the Pontiac Heaven show and put it in the car show today.







And came home with this.



I had great reviews and compliments on the car and the build. Everyone was very positive about it.

And I'm going to add a teaser for a future addition to the car.




Mark L

I started building the firewall filer panels. This is the passenger side filler.



panel in place from firewall side



Panel in place from inside



And this is my high tech, high priced, highly prized flange bending equipment. Well, highly prized anywho!



Mark L

Lucky for you that we don't live close to each other otherwise I'd be at your garage bugging the heck out of you with "how'd you do that? Show me how to do that!, etc., etc." HaHa

Shhhhhhh-----Keebler Elves!! Mark L

Did a little more to the firewall enclosure.







Still have to finish off the upper outside little corners to get it all done. Then mount the original brake pedal assembly and reinforce it with 1X1 tubing. Mark L

I got a little bit more done on the firewall. The upper inner corner done and some of the welds ground down. Once I'm all done welding I'll grind the welds, bondo the seams and paint the firewall. Should look pretty decent by the time I'm done.



Mark l

Still more work on the firewall and installed the brake pedal assembly today. I'll use some 1X1 on top to tie into the upper original firewall to reinforce the bracket.





Almost done closing up the firewall. Got the last piece shaped and set up in place. Just need to finish trim it and weld it in and the firewall will be done. I'm using body seam filler to seal off all the seams. Then I can grind all the welds down and bondo/sand and paint. That will be a good job done.
The little pocket on the drivers side is there for the master cylinder. I'm debating a manual cylinder or finding a hydro-boost unit. But I don't want a power steering pump on the motor so I'll probably go manual. Mark L