It's about time I started a build thread as I'm now 12 months into it.
Some specs:
Gen 1 chassis
LS3 with factory ECM
TR6060 6 speed
2015 IRS with 13" brakes
Electra-steer
Hard top
Bike fenders
Heater & A/C
Kit was ordered in June 2018 and after an 8 week boat ride, arrived in Australia early December 2018. Pedal box was to be supplied loose but didn't turn up at all. After discussing with FFR, they decided they were going to engineer the RHD conversion instead of supplying LHD parts that would need modifying. The new pedal box and RHD rack arrived around March 2019. I then spent the next 6 months modifying the chassis in order to meet local compliance regulations.
The factory chassis does not meet torsional rigidity requirements so an additional RHS was welded in across the chassis below the firewall. Thanks to fellow forum member Barrel for assisting here.
The RHD pedal box fitted straight in without any mods. Next was to sort steering out. Another aussie requirement is use of a collapsible steering column. Although the shaft is inherently collapsible due to multiple U-joints, the column itself was not, so a custom built column was required:
A collapsible mount was also required. The mount was fixed directly to the black plate, while the sliding tabs are fixed to the pedal box. A small roll pin is fitted to each tab which shears in a high impact situation and allows the column to slide towards the dash (mount is pictured upside down):
Next was to find a home for the Electra-steer unit. I settled on the location just forward of the engine mount with the motor pointing up - may need some heat shielding here:
Seat mounts and seat belts were something I pondered for quite a while. The supplied seats are not legal here in Aus as there is no head restraint. I wasn't in a position to purchase seats yet but needed to have a plan on how to mount them. I'm also a vertically challenged 5' 5" and my wife is shorter, so adjustable rails would be needed. I added some RHS on each side of the chassis to hopefully pick up some aluminium RHS inside the cabin where rails could then be attached to. My engineer then advised that if using RHS for seat mounts, a 'crush tube' through the RHS must be added. As I had no idea where the seats were going, I had no idea where to position the crush tubes. Instead, I cut the bottom out of the RHS to create a 'U' section which gives me flexibility to fix the seats anywhere along its length:
Harness belts are also illegal here, so lap/sash had to be fitted. I think I can make it work by mounting the retractor up high just below the waterfall. I'll have to weld a boss onto the roll bar to pick up the sash pivot. The engineer also suggested welding in some tabs to brace the roll bar back to the chassis:
I purchased an Eastwood powder coat gun a while back and it's been a great investment. One of the biggest advantages is cure time. Once it's cured for 20 mins in the oven, you can fit the part as soon as it's cooled. No waiting days for paint to fully cure. I even built a small 'booth' to try and limit powder drift. It seemed like I was forever sweeping powder from the floor. I had a wet/dry shop vac already but added an ebay mini-cyclone to avoid loading vac bags up and to hopefully reclaim some powder.
Front and rear end in and brake lines ran. The supplied lengths ended up too short so I had to have some made locally as pre-made lengths weren't available. The braided lines supplied were also illegal here. They need to be marked as complying with FMVSS-106 and also need to have a PVC cover over the braid. Hel performance made up some lines.
I was unsure of what to do with the firewall finish. I debated powder coating, painting, polishing but ultimately decided to go with a brushed look and then sealed it with Everbrite matte protectaclear. This pic shows the completed lower firewall pieces.
Brake reservoir location was a challenge. I didn't want the hoses in the engine bay and didn't want to drill large holes in the chassis to route hoses through. After some mock up with the firewall and hood on the body, I decided on the high centered position as shown in the post above. It just clears the hood. If needed, I'll cut and re-glass a relief in the hood support.
I've spent some time working out how to fit A/C, chassis & GM fusebox under the dash. A/C needed to be flipped so hoses exit on the LHS. I've put the chassis fuse box on a hinge and will mount the GM fuse box directly above it so it can still be easily accessed. I'm still not sure on GM ECU location. I was hoping to put it on the RHS of the pedal box but the accelerator pedal takes up most of the space here. Might see if I can get it under a seat?
Fabricated a mount for the TR6060. Had to swap the spacers on the engine mount to shift it forward ~10mm so the tranny would clear the chassis bracket. Drive shaft will need to be modified to bolt to the tri-flange.
Picked up the modified driveshaft today. A Sonnax T35-GMFD-01 3 bolt flange adapter mated to a slip joint was used. The Sonnax bolt holes were drilled to suit a 1/2" bolt however the tranny flange is M12. Easy enough I thought.....I'll drill out the flange to 1/2". I soon discovered this was not going to happen with the HSS drill bit I had as the flange was hardened.
After some googling, I learnt that a standard masonry bit will cut through hardened steel due to the carbide tip and I just happened to have one. Well the first hole started OK but I managed to chip the carbide tip as it broke through. Ok, off to the shops to find another bit which proved fruitless. No imperial masonry bits in any of the engineering/hardware supply shops here.
So I purchased a 13mm bit and ran the sides of the tip over the grinder to knock 0.3mm off it. Worked a treat!
Looking good Brad, lot's of mods going on there! Hey just a heads up. I notice you have a hybrid chassis (cross between Gen1 and Gen2) similar to Chris (1102) and myself (1104). You have the dip in the chassis at the front of the door sill (but body doesn't do that) and your door striker mounts are welded high up on the side. When you get around to mounting the doors and trying to get the striker and latch to line up you may find that your striker is far too high and you can't adjust it low enough. FFR has made special striker mount brackets to fix this problem for Chris and I and you may have to request as well.
Cheers, Steve
Gen 1 '33 Hot Rod #1104
347 with Holley Sniper & Hyperspark, TKO600, IRS, 245/40R18 & 315/30R18, DRL, Digital Guard Dog keyless Ignition
Thanks for the heads up Steve, I'll keep that in mind when I get to the bodywork.
Now that you guys have flagged a problem, I'd like to think that FFR would just send the revised brackets to all affected owners......
The next challenge is finding a home for the alternator & A/C compressor. The alternator is a Mitsubishi 140A unit normally fitted to our locally built VF Holden (same as the little known Chevrolet SS in the US) but I suspect it's a little larger than some of the US fitted alternators. I can't get it to fit down low on either side so the only option I have is up high on the RHS as the A/C compressor needs to be on the LHS where all the hoses will be ran. The problem with this was that the oil filler was in the way and I can't get the alt in tight enough to clear the engine cover.
I've now swapped valve covers side to side which gives me the clearance I need. Now to fabricate some brackets. I'm hoping to make some templates in MDF, transfer the critical measurements into AutoCAD, then have them laser cut.
I've moved on to the exhaust. RHS downpipe had to be re-worked as it was hitting the chassis. I cut the flange off and re-welded in the right location. While the flange was off, I used the lathe to create a taper on the inside from 2.5" at the leading edge down to 2.25" so there was a smoother transition from the 2.5" headers through to the 2.25" downpipe.
Catalytic convertors must be used here and finding a spot for them proved challenging. I decided to ditch the FFR mufflers and ordered a pair of Flowmaster Super HP-2's which I've mounted below the rear cargo floor. These were the only muffler I could find that was small and hopefully quiet enough to fit up there. This then freed up enough room to fit the cats where the mufflers would normally go. I cut the ball joints off the mufflers and welded them onto the cats so I could fine tune fitment and still get the pipework through the chassis. I also used a V-band clamp just forward of the diff. My stainless welding skills need a LOT more work.......
To try and keep heat down, I've wrapped the underfloor pipes and installed a heatshield over the cats.
Floors have been drilled and undersides coated with Bully Rubber Liner. I've done 2 coats with the chassis contact points masked up and then removed the masking for the final coat (not shown).
Tunnel fitment was terrible around the footwell. I couldn't get any less than 5mm gap no matter how I played with it. I'll have to use a rubber weather strip or similar to seal it off.
After a substantial amount of googling, I'd settled on using a Sanden SD7B10 air con compressor. These seemed to be the most compact unit I could find, however after discussing with the local air con expert, he put me onto a Delphi SP-10. He'd used these in a number of conversions and had a few used ones lying about. I haven't compared the Sanden & Delphi side by side, but the Delphi looks to be a fraction smaller. He gave me one to assist with fit up. So far it's looking promising. I can get it to tuck in nice and tight to the block on the LHS down low and the mounts will be straight forward to fabricate.
Had to use some rubber weather strip as well, in 2 places of the tranny tunnel - the small angled sections of the lower front and the top of the drive shaft tunnel at the rear.
Gen 1 '33 Hot Rod #1104
347 with Holley Sniper & Hyperspark, TKO600, IRS, 245/40R18 & 315/30R18, DRL, Digital Guard Dog keyless Ignition
Finally got around to making up alternator and air con compressor mounts. I stumbled accross a solid works model of the LS3, so used some measurements from that and set up a couple of 2D AutoCAD drawings. The air con compressor mount was pretty straight forward, but the alternator took quite a few revisions to get right. I traced out the shape and holes onto craftwood at first then once happy everything fits, I had a local aluminium fabricator cut the parts out of 16mm plate using a CNC router. Really happy with the result. Not as flashy as the ICT tensioner I used, but it's functional and looks neat enough. Hopefully all the pulleys line up OK. Aiming for a first start in a few weeks. 20200616_191708[1].jpg
Used the old faithful lathe to turn up a few idler pulley bushes. 20200616_192143[1].jpg
MonstaS4, where did you get that lower hose 90º connection piece for the water pump?
'33 Hotrod, #1047 Gen 1, delivered on 2/27/18, go cart on 9/24/18.
LS3 w/Gearstar Level 3 4L65e Tranny, Yank converter, Lokar shifter, Electric PS, Vintage AC/Heat/Def, 8.8" 3.55
TorqThrust II Wheels w/Toyo Proxy T1 Sport Tires, F 235/45ZR17 R 295/35ZR18
Garage Built, Driveway Painted.
Then threaded the holes to 1/2" & 3/8" NPT. Neither needed drilling but i do recall one of them was fairly tight and needed a lot of fwd/rev with the tap to get through it.
Front fitting is 1/2" NPT x 5/8" hose tail, 90 deg.
Rear fitting is 3/8" NPT x 5/8" hose tail, 45 deg.
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