1971 Speedipus Rex

[edp]

sorry not yet , gotta finish the hydraulic clutch first, then put the dash in!



WOW! I gotta say that it makes my way look 10 times longer to do with the same results(probably cheaper too) I was looking to do it your way originally but haven't found a clear that would bring back the brown, thanks for sharing!

sorry I don't have any pics for you guys right now, I finished installing the headliner and quarter panel covers, speakers and then my camera crapped out. I'm currently working on a hydraulic clutch, then I'll get my dash installed and front/rear windshield in, expect some pics by the end of the weekend!!!

see page 17 of this pdf manual - southern polyurethanes shows a Hot rod black & a matte clear, I'd use this next time

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/TechManual.pdf

my cheap & likely not anywhere near as good a quality enamel clear is convenient but not the best. I didn't know they actually had this product as I would of gone that route, its got all the UV protection & Im sure the bomb can stuff does not. I used a lot of their stuff & its excellent.

datsuns in SPI clear, epoxy & 2K - excellent products....

 

[Lowhound]

Great work Dangina. Ive checked this thread before from time to time but I finally took the time to read everything. Looks like you know what you want & you stick with the job til you have the results you were looking for. You wont look back thinking wishing you had done things differently because you have the patience to do the job rite the first time. By the way thanks for the info about the fender braces & radiater support piece. Il give them a try. You were a big help.

 

[dangina]

Great work Dangina. Ive checked this thread before from time to time but I finally took the time to read everything. Looks like you know what you want & you stick with the job til you have the results you were looking for. You wont look back thinking wishing you had done things differently because you have the patience to do the job rite the first time. By the way thanks for the info about the fender braces & radiater support piece. Il give them a try. You were a big help.

no problem glad I could help!!!

Been busy trying the past couple months, been trying to work on the car whenever the little guy is sleeping, I pulled apart the 400 and took it into the machine shop. Its a good virgin block and will work great for my 470" kit from muscle motors (which has been 2 months and still haven't recieved it yet)

Installed the headliner from year one (which is from PUI) I would not reccomend getting it from them as they sowed 2 bows in the wrong spot and I realised this wasn't gonna work after we had already cut up the material. So with summer coming fast I drilled new holes, sowed on extra fabric on the front to make this work. Its ok but not great. I will replace it with one from legendary down the road when i have more time to do so, but for now it'll work.

painting some forgotten interior parts

washed the seat belts with laundry soap in a tub, then washed them off and dried them with the air gun. They look like new!

Installed the rear panels - had to repair one of them, turned out pretty good

- - - Updated - - -

installed front and rear speakers

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so I built my own hydraulic clutch bracket from 1/8" plate for my wilwood compact 7/8" MC:

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added spacers and welded on the nuts and drilled out the stock holes:

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drilled out the angle for the MC, didn't like the angle of first try which is why you see unused holes:

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cut off any extra unsed weight

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paint!

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the firewall wasn't perfectly straight so I had to cut somemore off, final look:

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installed!

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found a graet place to mount my wilwood bottle for the MC:

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little guy dropped in to see what I was doing:

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installed dash and for the insert It wasn't as bad as the instrument cluster for wear, so I tried the method of clear paint and painted the edges with the silver paint pen. Its too shiny and about two shades darker than my cluster now so I may change one or the other down the road but for now its going in:

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rear seat mockup:

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installed the front and rear windshield yesterday:

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now time to pull out that rear!!!!!

 

[roadrunnerman]

That looked like some complicated work for the clutch assembly. Turned out great. Great that the seat belts came out as good as they did. Interior looks good also. Your little guy sure is getting big. Are you sure he wasn't out there to make sure you were doing everything right? He's probably already thinking that it's his car.

 

[dangina]

That looked like some complicated work for the clutch assembly. Turned out great. Great that the seat belts came out as good as they did. Interior looks good also. Your little guy sure is getting big. Are you sure he wasn't out there to make sure you were doing everything right? He's probably already thinking that it's his car.

he would be correct, the day i can no longer drive it, its his lol

 

[northerndave]

Wow what a great project!

 

[monroegtx]

You're doing great work here. Keep it up. Very inspiring.

 

[hunt2elk]

Just read through your entire thread. Very nice work - that butterscotch really looks great.

 

[tallhair]

That was quite an update Dangina and results are looking great. Keep up the great work and progress. Also little guy is gonna look back on this with pride in Daddy some day.

 

[edp]

congrats on the progress, wish mine was coming along so fast! Thats a pretty creative way of doing the MC setup, it take a while to figure that one out? How are you going to access the reservoir?

Keep it up , looks great! Oh yeah, you think legendary over Year One - it was that incorrect? I need a headliner & haven't ordered one yet for my 71.

Thanks, Evan

 

[dangina]

congrats on the progress, wish mine was coming along so fast! Thats a pretty creative way of doing the MC setup, it take a while to figure that one out? How are you going to access the reservoir?

Keep it up , looks great! Oh yeah, you think legendary over Year One - it was that incorrect? I need a headliner & haven't ordered one yet for my 71.

Thanks, Evan

Thanks guys for the kind words!

The master cylinder I did it in one day, I can easily access it behind the guage cluster (i installed the cluster to make sure I can get both the reservoir and my hand in and out of there, on the reservoir, One hole has a stud, the other a bolt, so I only have to undue one bolt - Its pretty slick. And yes you are correct I should have bought a legendary headliner instead of the year one (PUI) headliner



I've been working like a dog at work and have been picking up a ton of overtime, which I am doing more tomorrow, but I'll show you what I have done so far before my next set of days off next week:

I picked up a ton of parts after getting my passport finally - some items I have aquired:

QFT 830cfm, mechanical secondaries, annular boosters, electric choke - I wanted the double pumper but they don't make them with an electric choke and I plan to drive this from spring-fall so I went with an electric choke setup instead.

electric cuttouts for the exhaust!

I also picked up my front and rear from a car I thought would fit. I wanted a functional rear spoiler so I am using this one:

It turned out better than I had thought! and to top it off I also used the front spoiler off the same car which equally looks just as good - can you figure out what car they're from?

Have you guessed it?
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Its a from a 67 camaro! Haters are gonna hate.

the front spoiler from spoilers by randy still hasn't fit right and I'm not crazy on the design, Plus the camaro was only $20 for the front and $120 for the rear both included shipping!! I thought they would fit looking at a 67 camaro at the world of wheels and thought if it didn't fit I could easily sell them. Actually for $20 I bought the 68-69 front spoiler as well but I liked the bigger 67 instead

I started tearing into my rear end now the windshields were in and no longer taking up space. I matched up the old springs to the new fiberglass ones:

One the hypercoil website it says a 4.5" ark but you can see its almost 6" I was wondering if that meant after they settled? I left them on the car for a week and it actually settled over 1/4"

old spring for reference:

there is some slop on the bottom leaf stud, but I found some brass bushings off one of our old machines that have been discontinued and they work perfect!

I just put a couple spot welds on the bottom to prevent it from falling out

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Now with the rear diff out I'm starting to make a few improvements, first I drilled three holes. Why 3 holes? the two one the bottom - one is a oil drain, the other for a future rear differential pump, the top one for the rear diff cooler return. I will be welding on the 1/2" female bungs next week. It may be a year or 5 years or never, but at least now I won't have to pull the rear diff when I want to do it. I'lll also be running as extra power source for the pump but I'll probably leave it in the trunk for now until that day comes:




I changed the wheel bearings (what a pain in the A$$) and here you can see doctor diff's billet adjuster:



Here is something that hasn't gone so smooth - I bought the same seals as autox cuda (from: [url]http://www.sealsit.com/axlehub.asp) and I drilled out the inside weld in the rear diff, I had also shaved the edge off the seal that was meant for fords, but I was only able to press it in as far as past the first oil ring on the seal (the seal has 3) looking at the chart on the website I should have went with one size smaller (either the blue or gold one)

I taped them off so I can grind off the edge without getting any fillings in the seal

I tried taking a pic as best as I could with the little room in the housing you can see the gap on the sides:

Thats it for now, I hope to have the rear axle and suspension done next week on my next days off!!!

 

[Lowhound]

Great work. Keep it up

 

[Budnicks]

cars looken' good, should handle better too, the 67 Camaro spoilers look much better than I thought they would, I'm no hatter, just was curious... keep up the great work... "build it how you want it & drive it like you stole it"

 

[Lowhound]

Keep us posted on how that hydralic clutch works out. I dont know how everyone else feels about your thread but I think that you have posted the best detailed pictures that I have seen on this site. We can look & dont need to ask a bunch of questions. I followed your advice from earlier & had my own tubing bent for a radiator support & fender bracing. Got lucky, a friend has a bender & they worked out great.

 

[Propwash]

Work is looking great! Great pick on the spoiler. Gonna set it of nicely.

 

[dangina]

cars looken' good, should handle better too, the 67 Camaro spoilers look much better than I thought they would, I'm no hatter, just was curious... keep up the great work... "build it how you want it & drive it like you stole it"

The only thing I wish is that they were a 1" to 2" longer, but you can't beat the price - the cuda and challenger T/A spoilers were over $450 before shipping! yikes! I could of orderd the same rear spoiler in carbon fiber for about that price but I wanted to make sure that the fibeglass one was gonna work out first. I do like the looks of the original wing but function is more of what I'm after. i'm just happy it has turned out the way it did so far...

Keep us posted on how that hydralic clutch works out. I dont know how everyone else feels about your thread but I think that you have posted the best detailed pictures that I have seen on this site. We can look & dont need to ask a bunch of questions. I followed your advice from earlier & had my own tubing bent for a radiator support & fender bracing. Got lucky, a friend has a bender & they worked out great.

Thanks - The slave cylinder will be the one of the last things I'll be working on but I'll be sure to take more pictures. I'm glad I can help out! I don't have a great camera but i try to take at least 2 or 3 pics of the same thing and pick the best one to show. I'm trying a bunch of idea's I had kicking around my head and it may not be everyones cup of tea, but I'm building this thing the way I want it, and you can be sure I'll be driving it from spring to fall. I still have a couple more things I'm gonna end up doing on this car that no one has thought of yet so stick around - theres more to come!

Work is looking great! Great pick on the spoiler. Gonna set it of nicely.

Thanks I was hoping for at least one of them to look good, i'm just glad I like how they both look. Although I do admit that I don't like the front spoiler without the chin spoilers, I always thought that the chin spoilers by themselves were missing something, but put them all together and to me it looks like they belong...

 

[Lowhound]

I had to be a copy cat didnt I? Thanks for the information on the stiffening stuff.It was a big help & save me a lot of money that I can now throw at something else on my car. I know the welds look a funny color but I was starting to run low on welding gas at the time.

 

[dangina]

I had to be a copy cat didnt I? Thanks for the information on the stiffening stuff.It was a big help & save me a lot of money that I can now throw at something else on my car. I know the welds look a funny color but I was starting to run low on welding gas at the time.

It looks good! in the first pic I don't see the k-member, does the bar clear it? I know my k-member is pretty close
in the second pic did you see if that bar clears your tire? I tried tucking mine in and up as high as possible to avoid clearance issues

 

[Lowhound]

Yes everything has plenty of clearance. The K member was close but I temporarely bolted it back up so I could see where to place the radiator support. Got your message too. Thanks Il be sure to check on the doors like you said. I figured with all the stiffening that Ive done that it may make any other weaknesses show up eventually.

 

[dangina]

been busy working lots of overtime, bought a acreage, but haven't stopped working on the car - just slowed down. I'll start with the rear spoiler and what I have found:

I did some reasearch and found out that the 69 spoiler was longer but no one knew how by how much. So I bought one anyways and here is what I have found out:

the 69 spoiler came in and its exactly 2" longer - just the length I need! although the 68 spoiler is almost a 1/4" taller in height, they are the same width in the base. The mounting holes are suppose to be the same, except it all depends on who fiberglassed them in place and where. I had to file each hole a bit, or alot, to make it fit but it was close. Pics for those who are interested:
67-68 top
69 bottom

67-68 top length
69 bottom

67-68 height

69 height

67-68 rear decklid

69 rear decklid

On to the back of the car:

I welded a nut on the inside to prevent the seal from coming forward(not that it should, just some added insurance)

I made this up so the welds won't harm the seal:

welded a backbrace on the rear end, I also welded on 4 1/2" npt bungs - one for putting in oil, on for a drain, the other two for a rear diff pump/cooler down the road if I ever want to do one - this just saves me time doing it later:

doctor diff eaton true track 3:55 gears! 408 casing:

front leaf spring hanger, welded them up for extra strength:

I let the car rest on the springs for a few weeks before I did this install - I'm running sliders and wanted the leafs to settle before I put them in:

I should also mention the the mounting point on the rear leaf springs are about a 1/2" out (20.5" instead of 20" front segment, this also confirmed with the ones brad bought from his challenger) coupled with the thicker bracket moves your rear wheels back about 3/4" total. This also increases your wheel base which is good for better stability at higher speeds like roadraces but not so for the agility aspect. That and it may lmake your tire look funny in the wheel well a little bit. I don't have the wheels mounted yet, if it bugs me enough I may have to do what brad did and weld up the front holes on the front leaf spring bracket and drill out the holes where I want them.

lined up where they will be (black line indicating where the sliders should be):

Drilled some extra holes for welding:

showed my boy what I was working on:

now I came with two problems with the sliders first was that the metal sleeve that came with the sliders was a about a size or two bigger than the one the fiberglass leaf springs came with so I had to dremel the poly a little bit before I get them pressed in

and second the washers that come with the sliders are two thick (you can only get one in and it was tight) so I dremel the outside in a taper so I can run the thinner, smaller washers on the inside:

I ended drilling out the center of these washers to make it work

went to install the hewig sway bar, they give you this piece that you have to weld on one side and it has this huge spacer on the other side - I thought that was stupid why didn't they just give you the length you need and weld it on both sides with washers to make it stronger? so thats what I did:

helwig way top:
my way bottom:

- - - Updated - - -

When it was time to mount the sway bar to the rear axle, the Helwig bar utilizes Ubolts to mount the lower brakets. I forgot that I welded the backbrace on so I couldn't utilize them, so out came the welder again:

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installed Dr.Diff 11.7" rear brake kit and hotchkis rear shocks

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now onto the front!!!