Roadracer's #997 build

[RoadRacer]

Good score today- found a local guy on facebook marketplace selling GT500 wheels and tires for $500 - great condition, and brand new tires at the rear. 275x35x19 and 285x35x19.

These will be my "running in" shoes, I'll eventually replace with some wider rears.

wheels2.jpeg wheels1.jpeg wheels3.jpeg

[RoadRacer]

Got it on the ground for the first time - funny how much smaller it looks when it's low. Liking the look of the dark grey wheels. Never seems to come out dark enough in photos.

grounded-side.jpeg cool-grey.jpeg aerial-rear.jpeg rear-with-wheels.jpeg

[erlihemi]

Nice wheels. I like the dark gray myself. It does seem smaller when you set it on the floor. To compensate, the engine must growl loudly...

[RoadRacer]

Had a great morning - I've been preparing for my friends to visit from Georgia so they could help with first engine start. In the end everything went almost perfectly. Turns out the fuel pump I got with the motor didn't pump, so we had to buy a new one from O'Reilly's for $17.. then everything else fired up, ran perfectly and kept cool at 180-200 degrees, 40-50lbs oil pressure.

I have gopro footage of the whole morning, but took a quickie at the end to post here. Rolled it outside because the cheapy headers were burning off the temp paint.

https://youtu.be/fT2KYME0Ym4

outside1.jpeg outside2.jpeg outside3.jpeg outside4.jpeg

[TDSapp]

Had a great morning - I've been preparing for my friends to visit from Georgia so they could help with first engine start. In the end everything went almost perfectly. Turns out the fuel pump I got with the motor didn't pump, so we had to buy a new one from O'Reilly's for $17.. then everything else fired up, ran perfectly and kept cool at 180-200 degrees, 40-50lbs oil pressure.

I have gopro footage of the whole morning, but took a quickie at the end to post here. Rolled it outside because the cheapy headers were burning off the temp paint.

https://youtu.be/fT2KYME0Ym4

outside1.jpeg outside2.jpeg outside3.jpeg outside4.jpeg

Nice... I thought it would have been louder not having mufflers on it.

You sure you don't want that Turbo 400 to bolt onto that fly wheel until you get your transmission delivered. :-)

[RoadRacer]

I noticed that the ride height in the manual says 4.5 front, 5 rear, and mine was way higher than that - over 7 both ends. So even though I have no body, I decided to get it closer to final height. Adjusting the rear was easy, although without the body weight I had to adjust all the way to bottom of the shock thread.

At the front though - OMG. I had installed the shock collar just a smidge past touching the coil, but it was enough that I couldn't budge it. I had to remove the shocks completely from the car to adjust. If you're starting out (and have the standard body-down shocks) I recommend that you install the threaded collar so it's not touching the spring when unloaded! That way you can jack up and adjust when weight removed. Removing the front shocks with the engine in and radiator on is a painful process. The bottom mounts with those g/d spacers... took about an hour of swearing each.

So now the rear control arms are about level, and the front suspension looks very different. Suddenly a LOT more gap between the overflow catch can and the UCA.

Curious - from those with finished cars, is the top bar of the UCA level when correctly setup? It's close and it made me wonder.

Looking forward to the long weekend, with plans to do some tidying up wiring, swap the rear brakes side-to-side, convert to manual choke, etc..

[1932]

You need to check shock travel and set 55/60 percent on compression.

[RoadRacer]

Thanks, Did I miss something? I have standard shocks and don’t see any adjuster but perhaps I’m misunderstanding?

I’ve had adjustable shocks in the past and had a knob that would adjust rebound rate, but nothing like that here..

[1932]

For the best use of the shocks you need to know the total travel (in&out), then set ride height so that 55 to 60 percent of total travel is out.
Hope that this makes more since.

[erlihemi]

I noticed that the ride height in the manual says 4.5 front, 5 rear, and mine was way higher than that - over 7 both ends. So even though I have no body, I decided to get it closer to final height. Adjusting the rear was easy, although without the body weight I had to adjust all the way to bottom of the shock thread.

So this is another misleading dimension that is dependent on wheel and tire combination. FFR should show dimensions based on a fixed point on the frame to the control arm or ball joints for example. Measuring from floor to frame can vary an inch just with tire changes. I'm sure the other site has better discussion on control arm geometry. I have avoided playing with the front Koni's for now as I found issues on the rear. I have the old "stiff" set so mine are flipped from yours and my radiator sits back more. On the rear I found mine to have only 1.5" rebound travel after I put everything else where I wanted it. This actually results in unloading one rear tire during cone chasing. So I am looking at longer QA1's in the rear to center up travel better and the softer springs. I'll leave the front as is until I can actually push it harder without the back hopping around. My front center to center on the coil over is about 13" which centers the travel.

[RoadRacer]

Yes! Tire height makes a huge difference and they don’t state the “standard” tire height that they use. But having said that I wanted to get way closer to a reasonable ride height. At 7 inches f/r the geometry was way out.. e.g the rear LCA was at a very noticeable angle. I look forward to working on the geometry/corner weights etc properly when at final weight.

[erlihemi]

Yep, I have my rear lower arm on the lower hole and just slightly angled (non IRS). I haven't put on the adjustable control arms sitting under the bench yet. My pinion sits above the three link brace enough so that I never needed to notch it like some have. This was brought up in the build school and it is really a matter of setting the chassis low and getting the driveline center up in the tunnel. My front upper control arm is presently at a 6 degree down angle to the upper ball joint. QA1 and others have a nice spanner tool to put on your 3/8" extension to reach those tight lock nuts. I would recommend getting the Torrington thrust bearings and the tool together so adjustments are easier.

[RoadRacer]

I bought the cheapo summit headers that come with non-VHT paint on it, so I took them off and stripped, primered and repainted with exhaust rattle-can paint. But I did bake it on the BBQ per the instructions - 250 for 30, 400 for 30, 650 for 30 (although 650 was unlikely on BBQ, only goes to 550). Fitted them back up today and ran motor for 30 mins too.

baking-headers.jpeg

I also took care of something that had been bothering me - I'd put in the rear without modifying to swap the brakes to the front side. So I drained the diff, removed axles, ground off the unnecessary brackets, resprayed and swapped all the brakes side-to-side. I'd never been inside a diff before, so learned how it all goes together with c-clips, etc.

That diamond cutting disk I bought but cynically wondered if it would really last like 1,000 disks (or whatever they claimed), is still working great and made light work of cutting this 3/16 steel.

Before, during and after the swap..

rear-before-swap.jpeg cut-bracket.jpeg ground-bracket.jpeg rear-after-swap.jpeg

[RoadRacer]

Ordered, just couldn't resist. Cheapo ebay of course, whole thing was less than a decent shell. Brings my total spent so far to $16,333.18, but I hope my removing 33 grill from stage 2 will go some way to offset this

If it doesn't work, I have some nice garage wall art.

s-l400.png s-l400 (1).png

[AJT '33]

Ordered, just couldn't resist. Cheapo ebay of course, whole thing was less than a decent shell. Brings my total spent so far to $16,333.18, but I hope my removing 33 grill from stage 2 will go some way to offset this

If it doesn't work, I have some nice garage wall art.

s-l400.png s-l400 (1).png

Very curious on how it goes because if I pull the trigger on the 35 Pickup then that would definitely be a change I would make!

[erlihemi]

[QUOTE=RoadRacer;308141]I bought the cheapo summit headers that come with non-VHT paint on it, so I took them off and stripped, primered and repainted with exhaust rattle-can paint. But I did bake it on the BBQ per the instructions - 250 for 30, 400 for 30, 650 for 30 (although 650 was unlikely on BBQ, only goes to 550). Fitted them back up today and ran motor for 30 mins too.

So did the exhaust smell like Hickory or Mesquite?? I'm thinking maybe I'll do mine with Applewood.

[RoadRacer]

But I did bake it on the BBQ per the instructions

So did the exhaust smell like Hickory or Mesquite?? I'm thinking maybe I'll do mine with Applewood.

smelt like propane - i ain't fancy here

[HVACMAN]

I bought the cheapo summit headers that come with non-VHT paint on it, so I took them off and stripped, primered and repainted with exhaust rattle-can paint. But I did bake it on the BBQ per the instructions - 250 for 30, 400 for 30, 650 for 30 (although 650 was unlikely on BBQ, only goes to 550). Fitted them back up today and ran motor for 30 mins too.

baking-headers.jpeg

I also took care of something that had been bothering me - I'd put in the rear without modifying to swap the brakes to the front side. So I drained the diff, removed axles, ground off the unnecessary brackets, resprayed and swapped all the brakes side-to-side. I'd never been inside a diff before, so learned how it all goes together with c-clips, etc.

That diamond cutting disk I bought but cynically wondered if it would really last like 1,000 disks (or whatever they claimed), is still working great and made light work of cutting this 3/16 steel.

Before, during and after the swap..

rear-before-swap.jpeg cut-bracket.jpeg ground-bracket.jpeg rear-after-swap.jpeg

Just curious. What was bothering you about having the brakes on the rear?

[RoadRacer]

Just curious. What was bothering you about having the brakes on the rear?

Partially because I had screwed up a little. I had run the brake lines (and decided on the location of the chassis tab) when the car was up on stands, so suspension was at full droop. Rookie mistake. When it was on floor.. and then even worse when at approx ride height, the tab was too low and the flex lines were not running nicely over the rear. I could fix that by moving the tab and flex lines.. it seemed a better choice to move calipers and put the tab and calipers closer to each other and nothing for flex line to rub against.

Another factor was the seemingly nicer routing of handbrake cable - admittedly i haven't done that yet but I liked the "around and back" radius rather than under the rear route. Once I knew it could be done pretty easily, it just felt right

[RoadRacer]

Did some aluminum work; fitted the panel under the fuel tank, then drilled and bolted the fuel tank and ran the fuel lines and breather through aluminum. Then fitted the upright panel, patch (battery) panel and passenger floor panel. monotonous with all the marking and drilling, but also kinda satisfying getting them on the car. They'll live with clecos for a while though.

floor-aluminum.jpg

[RoadRacer]

Just before we left for vacation, looked what showed up! I quickly unwrapped and sat over the radiator in stock position - looks pretty good already!! Obviously I'll play with vertical angle, but I was surprised how good it looks laid back.

32grill-front.jpeg 32grill-side.jpeg

Yes a couple of grill bars came loose in box and I haven't snapped the grill into the shell properly. We were literally running out the door

[AJT '33]

Just before we left for vacation, looked what showed up! I quickly unwrapped and sat over the radiator in stock position - looks pretty good already!! Obviously I'll play with vertical angle, but I was surprised how good it looks laid back.

32grill-front.jpeg 32grill-side.jpeg

Yes a couple of grill bars came loose in box and I haven't snapped the grill into the shell properly. We were literally running out the door

I know I will be watching your progress very closely!

[wallace18]

Looks cool laid back.

[HVACMAN]

I wasn't to sure about this idea when you first started talking about it, but that looks awesome!

[RoadRacer]

After assembling rear brakes with new rotors/pads and adding e-brake, I played around with the position/slope of the new 32 grill. I won't make final decision until the body arrives so I can see how it looks, but I raised it slightly and sat it up a little to align with cowl. Still very laid back for a 32 grill, but now the top of the grill is much closer to pointing at where I think the body will be.

There are four holes on the grill where I can make up a bracket to attach to existing FFR points.

grill-front2.jpeg grill-14.jpeg grill-side2.jpeg

I celebrated by updating my avatar, so the old white/striped concept drawing is gone now (just as well, I had diverged quite a lot from it!).

[RoadRacer]

Got a late birthday present in the mail today

Love how this just slides on without adapters etc. I love it.

steering-wheel.jpeg

[RoadRacer]

I drained and removed the radiator so I can start on fabricating the necessary bracket(s) to attach to my '32 grill and chassis. Looks like it was made for it so far - I can use the existing "F5" steel bracket, and just make a CAD (C for Cardboard!) template that will attach grill to both rad and chassis, and leave the headlight mount usable too. Ordered some .125 6061 T4 to make the bracket.

grillrad.jpeg grillcad.jpeg

While the rad was off, I mounted the horns hidden in that spot, bending the brackets to get them even further back. I hated the route of the suugested wiring, because there was just nowhere nice to route the front loom on the drivers side. Perhaps this is a SBC thing, but the header and steering just left nowhere protected to run the loom. I want it away from heat, the steering and not exposed to the roadrash from the wheel or below the chassis.

But then I had a brainwave and tried the passenger side, where there is a LOT of room. No steering (obviously!), and the header is nowhere near the engine mount. I mocked it up and it works perfectly, so I tie-wrapped in place for now and trimmed the horn, fan and light wires to correct length. Lots of heatshrink and tidying up and I'm very happy with it.

Threw my DD battery in, guessed where the horn wire was supposed to go, and DAMN those horns are loud! I dunno the real answer but I just shoved the wire down the white plastic tube, and gave it a quarter turn to lock in place. Seems to work! If the engine isnt loud enough, these horns would wake the devil.

Anyway, here are pics of the route I took.

frontloom1.jpeg frontloom2.jpeg frontloom3.jpeg frontloom4.jpeg frontloom6.jpeg frontloom7.jpeg

[RoadRacer]

Created the aluminum brackets to attach grill to rad.. same bracket will also attach to normal FFR "F5" steel brackets soon. I took a bunch of photos that I hope are self-explanatory, but ask if you need anything.

r1.jpeg r2.jpeg r3.jpeg r4.jpeg r5.jpeg r6.jpeg r7.jpeg r8.jpeg r9.jpeg r10.jpeg

[RoadRacer]

..Continued

r11.jpeg r12.jpeg r13.jpeg r14.jpeg r15.jpeg

I'm pleased with the grill - it has proven to fit very well over (and attach to) the FFR radiator, and after studying pics of others will give more ground clearance at very front than the stock '33 grill. It'll also attach to the steel pretty easily - I'll either bend the steel brackets or make some spacers from round tube. There are already slots in steel bracket, so I may not need any more adjustment than that. But if I do, it's easy to add slots in my aluminum bracket.

[RoadRacer]

Just to compare the stock position and mine, here's a side view.

You'll see my rad is roughly the same vertical position, but stood more upright (look at fan mounting aluminum tab relative to steel bracket). The bottom is in standard location, but the top is about two inches forward. This gives me more room in front of shocks.

I also like that my grill covers and hides the radiator completely, unlike the '33 which just bolts on the front of the rad. That makes a difference when you're going hoodless and sideless like I plan.

grill-ref1.jpg siderad.jpeg

[RoadRacer]

I added a speedway motors honeycomb radiator protector while the rad was off the car.

honeycomb1.jpeg honeycomb2.jpeg

I then focused on mounting my rad/grill to the chassis. It was so easy FFR should offer this 32 shell as an option! After mocking up and measuring a dozen times I threw the steel brackets in a vice and "adjusted them" with a 7lb hammer.

radfinalmount1.jpeg radfinalmount3.jpeg radfinalmount4.jpeg radfinalmount5.jpeg

It's a slightly weird bend to describe, but the steel now lies flush with my aluminum. I drilled the first hole and put a temp countersunk screw there - which is covered up when I put the grill on, so it's pretty clean.

The final position is the same vertically as stock FFR, and lines up nicely with where the body will be (as in, a little above my firewall).

radfinalsideclose.jpeg radfinalplan.jpeg radfinalside.jpeg radfinal34.jpeg

[RoadRacer]

I wanted to final-fit the brake reservoirs and the coolant overflow tank, so that meant final fixing the firewall. I sprayed it black first, let it dry a couple days, then clear silicone and riveted in place. Added the brake reservoirs and coolant overflow, symmetrically. I have two independent reservoirs now just for safety and peace of mind. Still have to refit the steering column..

firewallp1.jpeg firewallp2.jpeg firewallp3.jpeg firewallp4.jpeg firewallp5.jpeg

[wrp]

Really looks good

[RoadRacer]

Got my new heater/defroster from summit: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/vta-506101

I haven't done much to the car this weekend other than work out how/where I'm going to mount it and run hoses. And shop online for heater hose fittings. Always a pain to find the right combo.. in particular a 5/8 barb to female -10AN right angle, black anodized fitting. Summit/Jegs don't stock - they have -10 barb. Pegasus have them but are a) way more money and b) charge shipping too. UGH.

TBH, I don't know if -10 barb is close enough to 5/8 barb.. anyone know? AN is a law unto itself.. even with the mass of help online I can't find -10AN barb dimensions

I'd love to use the supplied grommets and go straight through the firewall but there's no nice way to route the hoses to do that. Maybe if I was running hood sides I wouldn't care. So another $100 spent on hose ends that I wasn't expecting Coming up the firewall, then 90deg fitting both sides.

Anyway, the heater is nice - so small. I love the servo controlled defrost or feet flap option, and the servo heat controller that I'll mount to outside of firewall. The actual control knobs look a little cheap and nasty, so I'll either find better versions or just "modify" what they provide. I think just mounting knobs to the dash direct without the box, and removing the chrome accent might be enough to look half decent.

heater.jpeg heater-controls.jpeg heater-shutoff.jpeg

[myjones]

I ended up finding 90* 5/8 barb to male pipe in anodized black fittings by searching for intake manifold heater hose fittings.

I used 4 of those and 2 bulkhead fittings on mine. On the Hemi 33 it worked best to have those tight coupled 90's pointing down
and centered about 8" apart and 2" down on the firewall. The 2 90's under the dash point to the passenger side. Then I used 2
heater hoses from a Camaro IIRC because they were long enough to reach the heater and they had a molded 180 on the end to
neatly couple with the heater core. Those black 90's leave just enough space from the firewall to attach the hoses and clamps.
HTH
Dale
7L Hemi 33

[RoadRacer]

Thanks Dale, makes sense.

[AJT '33]

Got my new heater/defroster from summit: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/vta-506101

I haven't done much to the car this weekend other than work out how/where I'm going to mount it and run hoses. And shop online for heater hose fittings. Always a pain to find the right combo.. in particular a 5/8 barb to female -10AN right angle, black anodized fitting. Summit/Jegs don't stock - they have -10 barb. Pegasus have them but are a) way more money and b) charge shipping too. UGH.

TBH, I don't know if -10 barb is close enough to 5/8 barb.. anyone know? AN is a law unto itself.. even with the mass of help online I can't find -10AN barb dimensions

I'd love to use the supplied grommets and go straight through the firewall but there's no nice way to route the hoses to do that. Maybe if I was running hood sides I wouldn't care. So another $100 spent on hose ends that I wasn't expecting Coming up the firewall, then 90deg fitting both sides.

Anyway, the heater is nice - so small. I love the servo controlled defrost or feet flap option, and the servo heat controller that I'll mount to outside of firewall. The actual control knobs look a little cheap and nasty, so I'll either find better versions or just "modify" what they provide. I think just mounting knobs to the dash direct without the box, and removing the chrome accent might be enough to look half decent.

heater.jpeg heater-controls.jpeg heater-shutoff.jpeg

I am about to purchase the exact same unit for my 33, would you have any additional photos of how you ended up mounting the unit as well as running the hoses and possibly vent runs?? I really don't want to lock in all the wiring under the dash until this until this unit is mounted to ensure there is enough clearances for everything else. Any insight that you can provide will be greatly appreciated. As well, I also have been looking at a better looking control system however have not seen any that look good enough. Seriously now thinking of hiding them behind a faux panel that would look like a riveted piece of copper which would follow my them so I don't see them keeping the dash clean. I know its a pain to adjust opening a panel however the cleaner look is more important to me than direct accessibility. Any insight is appreciated!

[TxMike64]

I'm watching this install as I've been looking at this same heater unit.
I'm curious to see how it will all fit under the dash as I'll have: this heater, a Telorvek panel (+ECM), the FFR fuse panel, the DR wiper setup, and an IMRC Control solenoid.

It looks like you can take the switches off the little panel to mount some other way - possibly directly on the dash if you want. And it looks like just a set screw holding the knob on the switch shaft - so take it off to use whatever knob you want.

I like that the water control valve is electric, not cable-operated. Easier to hide.

[RoadRacer]

Yeah I'll post plenty of pics when mounting.. I don't have a wiper choice yet, but the way this heater works it needs to be in the center (the floor heat isn't ducted, just comes out a servo-controlled flap). So the heater will go down low center, next to fuse panel. I'm hoping the wiper will either be in roof, or will fit on right side, but this heater is still so small, and because I don't have an computers or anything I maybe have room for a glove box Half joking because without the body I don't even know how deep the dash is

[RoadRacer]

Here's the heater mounted. I didn't want to get in the way of the transmission cover which attaches to the bottom square chassis member, so I angled the heater out at the bottom - and that way the bottom flap will direct air more out into cabin. spacing it like this allows me to put the harness behind the brackets, so I'm pleased with how it worked out. It's not quite centered because i wanted to leave the strengthening lip on fuse box panel and leave a small gap.

I'll still attach the harness with clips; don't want it rubbing against the brackets. I made the brackets from .125 6061-T4, and although very simple they turned out very sturdy.

heaterbrackets1.jpeg heaterbrackets2.jpeg heaterfinal1.jpeg heaterfinal2.jpeg heaterfinal3.jpeg

One more thing - the heater comes with right angle hose connectors (#121018), but we need straight (#121004). They sell the parts cheap ($7 each i think) but since they are just up the road I emailed sales@ and asked nicely if I could pop by.. they let me do a straight swap. I haven't ordered the bulkhead fittings from summit, so I can't route the hoses yet..

121018.jpeg 121004.jpeg