I know.. I know.. Im nuts!

[Dion Hildebrandt]

Tonight is the night that we "MAKE SOME NOISE"!!
- primed the engine
-ran the valves
-ran all the needed wiring in the engine compartment and the temporary stuff inside the car
-got the fuel system operational

things sure drag out when you only get an hour or so a night to get things done.
I am getting close enough that I figure end of april I should have the car completed

p.s. I emailed Pat C. and I will have to contact a Roger Allen at General Motors....does any one happen to have his contact information?

[Dion Hildebrandt]

Update - So I got the Acadian running the other day, I used to think this engine sounded bad azz....nothing sounds as good as a well tuned stocker or super stocker!
-The first picture is the ignition rack ,it will be removable with 1 weatherpack plug,1 cotter pin, the whole unit drops into a tubular receiver
-The second pic is the "command center" switched, circuit breakers, power bar - also quickly removable for maintenance
-The 3rd pic is the completed shifter mount , for the Precision Products shifter
-The 4th photo is showing the potential layout of the fuel cell, weight box, fuel pump and filter, and rear roll bar stringers
-This last picture is for a question? I have had these traction bars for quite awhile and got them second hand, does anyone recognize what brand they are?

[Bob Shupe]

Dion the bars look like low profile cal tracks, I have a set on my Street Nova. Hopefully you have rearend housing brackets if not call Cal Tracs direct. When I was putting my Nova together for the street I got lucky I did not want slapper bars and I called Cal Tracks and they told me these were available, for a street car it just looks better, Nice build by the way. Go on Cal tracs site they show both styles.

[Wade Mahaffey]

Dion, Looks like you are having a lot of fun with a tubing bender. High marks for the effort of doing it yourself. Every time you build something, you will find something that you could have done different and/or better. That combined with research leads to evolution by way of experience. Two things I learned about wiring many years ago, A) solder all connections and shrink tape, and B) use terminals with an eye/hole and a small machine screw with stop nut when securing a wire to a switch or other components. If your switch does'nt have a hole in the blade, make one..carefully! This is especially important in situations where possible shaking and/or excessive vibration could occur. You will notice, all of the racing electronic devices i.e. ignitions, delay boxes, throttle stop boxes etc. all have screw connections....there is a reason for that! LOL

Oh yea....you will receive such a feeling of accomplishment when you get it done and on the track. It's a win just for getting there, having done it yourself! And please continue to share the photos as you go, they are very helpful to folks that may want to jump in the racing thing and try like you!

Wade Mahaffey

[Wade Mahaffey]

Sorry....double posted

Wade Mahaffey

[Dion Hildebrandt]

Thanks , Bob I thought they could be Caltracs just wasn't sure!
Thanks for the kind words Wade, I hear what you are saying I have built plenty of cars over the years including my stocker, and no matter how much attention I pay to any particular area there is always something that could have been done better.
-as for the rats nest inside the car that is just so I can get the car fired, I have to do most everything myself and pushing this car sucks! I intend to solder and screw all connections once I lay out the proper wire routing.

[Dion Hildebrandt]

Update - The roll bar is starting to take shape...the original plan was to get a friend of mine to custom bend and weld up the remainder of the tubes, as there was fitment issues. Well a week before this was to happen his shops tube bender was inop with no immediate plans for repair. Awesome! so plan b was started, I had another fabricator friend bend some pipe for me after plenty of careful measurement (wing and a prayer as car was offsite). At this point I have all bars in place and all plates bent and formed.....just waiting on space to get it all burned in.
- Car runs, needs to be tuned.
- Radiator and fans are in place ,wired, and plumbed
- All Engine bay wiring is complete, soldered, heat shrinked and restrained

Once the roll bar is welded it will be time to figure out fuel cell, fuel pump, weight box location and mounting.....Then we can paint all that tubing.

[Dion Hildebrandt]

-Update
-The roll bar is in and fit, just needs to be final welded in place. I think plan c or d is where we are at this point as my go to guy can no longer be gone too. Most times when an outside source is relied upon there is an element of let down...so I will weld it up myself. Only a couple of hurdles here, there is snow on the ground so my bodyshop is BUSY...I don't have a smaller enclosed trailer anymore...our 46 foot trailer is in getting hail repaired as we speak...starting in January...So I will complete all other fabrication first
-first photo is the main hoop and the rear trailing bar
-this is the front drivers side bar
-the front lower side bar mount off the frame connector
-the main hoop mount also off the frame connector
I went this route for the bar mounts rather than the sandwhiched plates for more structural integrity (stiffer car) ,plus I figured in a serious event this will endure more torture.
-in the last photo my "screw up" is visible and that was that I had originally placed the main hoop too far back, this caused a number of problems most of which being the arm rests were totally in the way and the side bars were too short.

[Dion Hildebrandt]

-And more
-I had been struggling with the fuel cell, weight box, fuel pump and fuel filter mount.and there isn't a lot of photographic examples around for comparision....so what does a guy do?
-I studied the rule books of both sanctioning bodies and came up with what I think is an acceptable solution.....we will eventually find out. The tubing is 3/4 inch with a good wall thickness, where any bolt goes through it is sleeved, I have some gusseting left to do yet
-The fuel filter will be moved as it seemed a good place while mocking up the unit, upon completion I don't like it at all. 90degree turns and short runs of plumbing spell It Is Going To Be Changed!!
-The unit mounts to the roll bar plate area ,that uses 1/2 inch bolts which is overkill according to the rules. The bolts run through the rear frame rail and are sleeved to prevent crushing of the frame and plated where the bolts run through the floor pan only.

[HandOverFist]

Looking at that driver-side door tube I hope you are contemplating a quick disconnect steering wheel...one of the first things I added to the Camaro and it sure made it a lot easier on my old bones.