Found a car to buy

Finished the fabrication on the firewall and just need to grind the welds, bondo and smooth, and paint.



Made the steering wheel support and mount incorporating the brake pedal bracket .



I ordered a manual brake master cylinder, so that should be here soon. But I don't want to run brake lines until the motor is in it's final resting place. I need to play with the original gas pedal assembly to see if I can make that work for me.

I got word from Paul down in Tucson that my cam came in. And it does have the 4-7 swap also. The rod/piston bob weight came in really light. Now we have to machine the counterweights down to get it balanced.
The stock bobweight for a pontiac is usually around 2450 grams, and a light bobweight is around 2200. Mine came in at 2007.9--really nice and light. It's going to be a fast, fast rever. Can you say ZINGGGGG! Mark L

Better brake bracket shot and firewall pic.





Mark L

I installed the new manual master cylinder today, then I got a bug up my arse and put in the motor/trans/turbo to see how it all fits in.







I put the cowl panel on to show how much clearence is still over the carb yet. I still plan to run a 2 inch spacer under the carb yet, but there's lots of room.



Mark L

Two more shots showing how much more room there is either side and the new master cylinder. Lots of room there also.





Mark L

Backs been unfriendly lately so I've just been putsing around doing easy stuff. Put the original '57 steering arms back on after drilling them to accept the 5/8ths bolts to hold the 5/8ths rod ends on the soon to be tie rod.



I placed the original dash bottom and the empty chrome center filler in to see how it would look and how it all lines up. But not sure I like it all the way out there. Still thinking of making a custom dash. I think I can do a nice custom dash that will be simple but nicer looking. These shots are of the original dash set back. In some you can see the top windshield filler panel setting in place. I would have to make an extension to add to the original and span the gap between the filler and the dash. If I'm going to do that I might as well make a custom center and bottom to fit better, and still make the top extension to go over the new dash. I've got some ideas. Maybe I can do a little rendering if I have enough drawing skills to make a concept drawing. Probably look like crap. Heh!!
These are pics of the original dash just sitting in its new location. The shape of the dash opening in front of the driver does not lend itself to well to big speedo and tach guages either. Another negative.







I kind of had an O-Crap moment after I got everything inplace. With the dash all pulled back and the new seating location so far back I realized that all the window and door handle locations will be right where the end of the dash sits. I can relocate the door handles farther back, they are not a problem. And can get elecrtic lifts for the big side widows but not sure what I can do with the wing windows. I thought I saw a company that made electric wing window controls?? Or, if I make custom door panels I might be able to build run a gear off of the original wing window spindle and build another spindle and gear farther back to open the wing???? I have to look farther into that. Just part of the project. I'm still playing with locating the radiator in the trunk. So I'm constantly thinking about how to do the air flow in and out. I though I could build a shroud off of the floor after cutting it all open. Then locate the radiator up under the deck lid. Then I thought I'd find out what it would cost to have the trunk lid all louvered in the area around the radiator location??? But I think louvering gets expensive?? Anywho, that's what I've been up to, just taking it easy and moving slow. Mark L

Can you guys give me a few good shots of the '59 dash? I still would like to incorporate the guage cluster casting into a custom dash somehow.

I spent the day pulling the engine back out and got the hair up my butt to modify the MOON front cover and attach the Hilborn pump.







It is just attached to the cover and not working in any way. I'm going to pass the return regulator bypass fuel back to the tank through it. I think it'll throw a real interesting curve at those that know what it is. This also steers me down the path of no front water pump. WHICH, also starts me looking at the radiator in the trunk closer. See how I get myself in trouble. I do one thing that forces me to do another. I'mmm a badddd boy!!!!! Mark L

After trying to engineer the raditor in the trunk and get sufficient air in and out, plus get the original fuel tank in to the trunk. I'm having second thoughts about just putting the raditor up front and be done. It'll make things a lot easier.
I pulled the motor and attached the TH-400 case. While it was out I painted the firewall. The next pics you can see the painted firewall. Also, if you look at the previous engine plate pics you can see that it crosses the front cover but it also bolts up forward of the cover. The bolts could be very close to the backside of the balancer so I cut the plate in two and sculpted it so it slides down into the cover.Looks much better. Old plate (and painted firewall)



New sculpted plate







No pics but I built the rear trans mount crossmember and bolted it to the trans mount. The back of the engine is now supported (temporarily, no rear engine plate supports yet) by the rear trans crossmember. I used angle off of the inside of the new frame rails and 1X1 tubing for the crossmember with 1/4 inch late as the mount. I still have to perminently weld the angles on the rails and drill the crossmember ends for a bolt. Then I will bolt on the 4L80 case and put the same crossmember on it and add extra angles farther back on the new frame rails. This way I can bolt in either trans when I need to. The trans crossmember is not as much to support the trans as it is to be more for preventing forward/backward movement of the engine on the plates. The rear engine plate will do most of the engine/trans support. Mark L

Better close up of the front cover and the sculptured engine plate.



MArk L

Love it !. This is really an inspiration for me to get going - i cant wait to get the parts for my engine - hopefully on wednesday..

Thanks Christian. I have to tell you that my Grand Parents (Mothers side) were from Denmark making me 1/2 Danish. Their last name was Ditlefson. But I don't know where they were from over there. Mark L

It is a small world afterall . I woul guess that it may be ditlevsen in danish. Unfortunatly that last name is not uncommon enough to use for a search- at least not alone.

I went to the post office today to get my engine parts. After paying all the taxes and opening the 2 packages i realised that the pistons, the gasket set and the new distributor were not there - and there is properbly not a whole lot i can do about it, since it is long since payed - so there goes another month and 600 $ - crap . I have just send them a mail, but i don't expect a whole lot. I even paid the insurance for my shipper, but that is no good if i can't document that the stuff reached them. First time i lost somthing this way - why this ???.

Oh well, its no use crying about it - i just have to scrape the money and try again...

Your project is a inspiration, as i try to get my own going. Every day i bring parts to work, and after hours i use the sandblaster and hot tank cleaner at the powerplant workshop. I want everything ready when i finally get the engine home. So far it is just sitting at the engine builder until i get hold of some pistons.

That's the shnits!! I've only had one bad experience with mail ordering etc. That was only a $10 set of plans for ladder bars. You are probably right about the spelling. I'm not even sure I spelled it right since my Mom took my Dads last name in marriage. Interesting side note. When my Moms family came over they spelled it Ditlefsen. Another group from our family came over and settled in Canada. But their name got changed to Detlefsen--De not Di-- like my family. My Mom discovered that she had family in Canada in the '60's that her family never knew about. It was a really fun time meeting the new family back then. All new stories and people we never knew existed. Back when they came over there was never any communications once they left.
Are you saying that Ditlevsen is a fairly common name over there? Here I always thought we were special, heh! Good talking to you about this and thanks for being nice enough to reply. Always wanted to make a trip over to see the country but I doubt that will ever happen now. I have a lot of but fading memories from Grandma Tillie talking about it. She taught me to use OOF Da! (sorry if I spelled it wrong) long before it was popular over here to say it. Mark L

Been working steady on the car but not accomplishing alot. I decided to go back to the original bench seat. I'll have to try to reupholster it or have it done if I can. It's in sorry shape, but I built floor mounts for it at it's new location.



Later I'll cut out the old sheet metal flooring and add new to meet up and smooth out the mounts to original flooring. And I got the seat in and bolted down.



Then I started playing with an old J-Car rack and pinion steering unit I had picked up somewhere along my lifes journeys. I cut off the one end, I built this bracket to attach a cross steering rod from it to the passenger side steering arm. Not sure yet how I'm going to mount the rack to the frame but Ill get there. It'll mount under the driverside front motor plate mount, and the inside mount will hang off of the motor plate itself. Not sure I like all of that yet so we'll see if I go with it in the end. This is the steering rack and pinion and then the rack with the mount I built.







That's it so far. I need to sit and mull over my rack mounting options before attacking that. I just cut off a hunk of sheetmetal to build the rear firewall at the back window. Also gunna struggle with that next. Mark L

Since I decided to go with the original front bench seat, I now need it reapholstered. I decided to buy some Indian blankets and put them on the seat. Spent some time today stripping all of the old junk off of the seat, down to bare springs and frame. I oiled and checked out all the mechanicals so they are all in good working order. I'll add some pics tomorrow. Sunday will be fabric shopping day. I'm going to use burlap to cover the springs, foam on top of that and the Indian blanket over that. What's better than Indian Blanket seats in a Tin Indian????? We'll see how that turns out. Mark L

Heh - i finally got word that they found my missing package, and after sending them pictures of the missing parts they identified it as mine - so my hopes were up once again - at lest for a few days. Now the package is stranded at Iceland under a cloud of vulcanic ash. Somehow i doubt that i will get running for this season . Glad to see that you are making some progress though .

Great to hear that it was at least found. But not out of the woods (ash??) yet though. Good things are worth waiting for though. I certainly don't envy your circumstances, trying to get aftermarket parts from way over there. I'm the type that, the minute I decide on something, and especially once I've sent the money, I want it now. This build of mine is a long term build and it is driving me crazy. But I'm forcing myself to go slow and look at everything three or four times before advancing.
Got a pic or two of the seat and the indian blanket pattern. I'm going to a black interior. But this is the blanket colors. Thought they should stand out in there and still not be out of place. Tried to find just a black and white pattern but the blankets all have some bright colors in them. Which I actually like.



And the bench seat bottom all stripped out. Lots o' bad stuff in there. The foam rubber was all disintegrated or disintegrating. Ended up all over the place. Someone at some time had tried to reinforce the drivers side of the seat bottom by adding carpet store sample pieces to the seat springs. Must have been a large owner at some time. Was right in line with the times. One sample was a bright blue shag, heh! Threw everything away except the outer upholstery, in case I need it for patterns.



Going to the fabric store today to see what they have for underlayments. Should be interesting. Mark L

Started playing with apholstering the seat. The seat had a very bottom layer of paper with really thin metal rods running the length of the seat. It was beat up but usable so I reused it. Then I put a layer of batting that went over that and to cover the outside egdes of the spring frame to soften and protect the next layers from the frame. I forgot to start taking pics until after I put on the next layer of burlap.



The layers so far plus a 2 inch foam pad were still not enough to get a good firm seat. So I added a layer of old cut off carpeting I had laying around to spread out the pressure across the seat springs.



Now the foam.



And then the blanket. The bottom is one blanket and the seat backs are the second blanket. I'll clean up the original seat back apholstery and then basically make a seat cover to slip over the two seat backs. This is close to what it will look like when done. Just have to tuck in and clip all the extra fabric ends to the set frame.



Mark L

seat looks good, mine are wrapped in mexican blankets as well!!

Throw a pic so I can see.
Worked on the rear package shelf and seat back firewall. Original tubbed back area.





I'll get that all locked in and use velcro tape on the tin to hold down black some vinyl upholstry with some thin foam underneath to finish it off. Probably get some light wood or cardboard board to attach the upholstery too and at attach that for the firewall. Then I can use the same thin board to make the side and door panels. I'm going to build a flat shelf where the back seat bottom was so I can put stuff on it, just like using the seat, heh. Mark L

I'm jealous Mark

Hey Robert. Good to see your name pop up. I'm waiting to hear whether the 406 is getting assembled or not. With the light pistons and the light aluminum rods the bobweight came out really light. So light that they will probably have to machine off some of the counterweight material to get it balanced. So that held up the assembly again. Should be close now though. That old block of yours is going to be a killer engine. Mark L

Glad to hear it Mark! I'll have to make a trip to see it for sure

I worked on finishing the seat bottom and put it back in the car. It works fine, not as nice as a professional job, but Ok for the time being. Later when the cars is more complete and less costly things are in need of buying I'll look into getting it done right. Actually, once the interior is complete it may not look bad as is.





The seat backs still have to be done. But I can do that even with the seat bottom installed in the car.
I started looking hard at the dash board. The overall interior should go together pretty easily. The dash will take some time. I also need the guages I'll be using but I don't want to buy them yet. Too many other things to spend on. Found a great area where there is a whole bunch of upholstery shops and a big upholstery supply store. I'm going to check out the supply place for the carpeting and the interior vinyl. OK. I'm done talkin'. Mark L

Just laying low still taking it easy. Went to a local swap meet Sunday and scored some stuff I really needed. Found an aluminum 26 gal fuel cell from a boat. I'll have to add bungs for the lines, a spill valve, and a filler assembly but it should fit right down into the trunk floor. $20. Maybe $100 dollars for the mods and I have a nice aluminum cell for $120.


I need 3/4 hiem rod ends for my ladder bars. Found these off road bars again for $20. Now I just need the tubing bungs and two more rod ends. The ends are around $20 a piece.



Now for something really different. Been thinking of how to build a custom dash. I found this to form the tach/speedometer/guage pod. Then build the rest of the dash around it. It's a '69 A-body (GTO?) grille shell. When I asked about it the guy gave it to me because it is broken in the very bottom headlight opening where it is really thin. So I brought it home just incase I go that route. I might look for the opposite piece and use both for a dash. A narrowed '69 GTO looking dash would be neat.


Not sure I'll go that way since I still have the old dash sitting in place in the car for now. But it's a thought. I'll probably be getting the black vinyl today for the rest of the interior. Get some sort of wood or heavy paper board for the panels and build the interior panels. So dat's what I be doin', plus rehabin'/excersizing in the pool. Mark L

I've forgotten to update you guys for so long I really apologize. I saw Robert posts on another site and it reminded me of you guys.
I still have not started the car but the engine is all finished, The frame is all done and the full cage is in certified to 8.50. This is a couple of pics of the car from last spring. I trailered it down to a city wide cruise and car show. It was all mocked together, pretty much in its final configuration. I had several things to do on the motor so I pulled it again after that show and its been on the engine stand since. One thing was a front drive distributor. I decided I did not want to mess with a rear mounted distributor, working around the tunnel ram etc in the cove of the firewall after moving the engine back 11 inches. In th epics you'll see the Moon front cover and the spud drive off of the cam to drive a Hilborn fuel pump. I decided to go back to a big trunk mounted electric fuel pump and use the cam drive to run a horizontal front distributor. Anywho. This is a couple of pics of the car all mocked up.
Roberts '60 389 punched .090 to 406. Forged steel Ohio Crankshafts 389/400 3.75 stroke crank. GRP aluminum rods. 4 bolt splayed caps. Ross forged turbo dished pistons. Hellfire rings. 3/4 filled block jackets.
KRE 318 @ .600 cfm aluminum D-Ports, 2.11/1.77 valves. Turbo specific custom cam by Harold Brookshire (he just passed away). Reverse duration 251/241 @ .050--.601/.601 net lift on a 116 CL solid roller cam.
Tunnel ram with twin 750 blow thru E85 Holleys by CSU. Twin air to water intercoolers, twin 76MM ball bearing Turbonetic turbos. ShoGun twin inlet blower scoop closed off and plumbed to work as a turbo hat fed from the intercoolers. I just got the distributor shaft back from machining and fit to the motor so it was not on the car at the show. Anywho, here are the pics.
This is the front drive distributor.



The car::









Still a longggg way to go but close to getting it in and firing it up.

Mark