The Willomet Charger

[1970RT]

Have you weighed this at any point(s)??

It’s been a minute, but the frame is about 200 lbs and the unibody shell is almost nothing. I’ll scale it as soon as it can legitimately go on all fours. That’s kind of the next goal.

David

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

Your work is crazy good. Pure artwork of metal. Enjoy your April camping.

 

[1970RT]

It might look like a hood scoop, but it's actually a lower cowl relief panel too allow for the intake to be serviced while in the car. With everything pushed back about 12", it's just a smidge too tight.

Learned a ton making this, and ended up using all the tools. I spend more time blending the visible (under) side than the part that will be concealed by the upper cowl.

It's not perfect, but that's what filler is for.

David

 

[Brandy]

It might look like a hood scoop, but it's actually a lower cowl relief panel too allow for the intake to be serviced while in the car. With everything pushed back about 12", it's just a smidge too tight.

Learned a ton making this, and ended up using all the tools. I spend more time blending the visible (under) side than the part that will be concealed by the upper cowl.

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It's not perfect, but that's what filler is for.

David

I was just wondering when we would hear from you again, and how it was going! Looking great.

 

[1970RT]

I was just wondering when we would hear from you again, and how it was going! Looking great.

Thanks man. We got back from NV at the end of April, and I started to get back on the car through May. We scanned the interior to help with cage design, and I also installed AC in the shop so the Texas summer (May-Sept) is more tolerable.

This cowl will be a big step forward to building the firewall, setting steering, and then building headers, rear suspension, cage, front suspension, and so on.

David

 

[Greg Ducato]

Damn David, you are a gifted one

 

[1970RT]

Damn David, you are a gifted one

Thanks Greg. Learning a lot by doing. Also, I made a test piece to try different dies and techniques before applying to the actual part. It’s a relief to try an idea “consequence free.”

David

 

[1970RT]

Successful rough fit check. Loads more integration work to go, but this intake or short stacks will fit just fine.

Why all this work? With the engine setback about 12”, the bell housing parting line is in line with the lower edge of the windshield. The old lower cowl shape was made to drain water, and so it’s actually super deep, but chews up a bunch of what is now engine bay space for a job it doesn’t have to do anymore.

Lots of welding ahead.

David

 

[1970RT]

12 individual pieces formed and welded to make one.

I’m going to weld this in from below, so the shrink pushes the seam upward and then planishing can mostly be done from the top down.

David

 

[1970RT]

Sil-bronze weldathon, tomorrow.

David

 

[1970RT]

Welded, blended, bumped, smoothed.

This took about an hour to weld, and just short of 8 to make the welds disappear and the panel to look as close to factory as I can produce.

Next, I’ve got to figure a better water drainage setup for this lower cowl. The original setup just channeled water to the corners, but would get caught at the fresh air intakes and eventually rot. There are better ways to let the water flow through the car.

David

 

[1970RT]

Transmission swap day! I pulled the TR6060 in favor of a T56 Magnum built by Tick Performance. It's their road race version, and has some nice additions; notably the billet front plate that uses a TR6060 internal pump and sprayer along with some internal upgrades that make it good for 750-800hp.

The pump interferes with the quick time bellhousing, so some grinding or machine is required.

There's plenty of hard fabrication to do, so it's nice to take a break and do a "bolt on" project here and there.

The new trans is about 3/8 shorter, and like a dummy, I didn't build in any adjustment to the first transmission mount, so here's the start on Rev1.

Just a few more pieces to a very large puzzle.

David

 

[1970RT]

The Rev0 transmission crossmember was 5lbs, and Rev1 is 2.6 lbs.

Also, procrastinated rust repair, and QA1 driveshaft.

And a start on the firewall.

Lots of small things coming together.

David

 

[ckessel]

I'm like you. Eating that Elephant one bite at a time.

 

[1970RT]

Just an interesting (to me) piece of detail.

Even with the deep engine setback (12.5” overall) this driveshaft is only 4.25” inches shorter than the original 52ish” one. Turns out, the factory 727 is about 3 or 4” longer than the magnum, the 8-3/4 rear end is around 4” or 5” longer from the caps to the axle tube center, and I moved the rear end forward about 1/2” so the 325/30R19 tire is properly centered in the arch. So, while all the current parts are overall more compact, the driveshaft still has a similar distance to span as the 1970 stuff would have.

Going though the design and layout, I never bothered to do the comparison, but as I filled out the driveshaft specification form, I was curious how the two compared and was pretty surprised at how similar they ended up.

David

 

[1970RT]

Firewall fabrication had a slight detour to closing off the front rocker of the unibody, and tying it to the frame. Little tasks like this are easy to put off, and I'm kind of bad about that.

The driver side has that weird forward angle from the factory that doesn't match my frame plate, so adding a slice of 18ga lines everything up correctly.

I filled the cavity with Seymour's high zinc weld through primer using one of those tube and nozzles off an old eastwood can. No photos, but it's in there!

Back to firewalls.

David

 

[ckessel]

On the Eastwood nozzles, I modified one. Cut off the spray head and slipped a 16ga butt connector in it and partially crimped it down. Works like hose nozzle now allowing me to jet in material so it flows out of seams. Makes a mess but thats ok. I know those lap seams are well protected now.

 

[1970RT]

On the Eastwood nozzles, I modified one. Cut off the spray head and slipped a 16ga butt connector in it and partially crimped it down. Works like hose nozzle now allowing me to jet in material so it flows out of seams. Makes a mess but thats ok. I know those lap seams are well protected now.

That’s a great idea. I have a couple and will try that mod on one of the others.

David

 

[1970RT]

Side firewalls are welded and blended, front firewalls are trimmed, fit, and cleco’d, and the flaming river rack delivers 33* of steering angle to the 305s. Lots of small progress adding up.

Doing a side-project for SEMA, then back on this.

David

 

[ckessel]

Are you going to follow the project when it's in Vegas? I'm going.