Build Thread 429MII's Build Thread

lol.. should get some progress this weekend, hoping to get main piece of firewall in if the metal comes in today...

Got the mounts tabbed up for the mid plate which I had custom made. Will try to get some pics later today. I put small urethane bushings between the mounts and the frame. Trying for a firm mounting but with some give, as its a street car and I don't want to have to replace fillings in my teeth from having them rattled and buzzed out. So far trans mount is rubber, and engine plate mounting is rubber so hoping that will take up the vibrations. Still waiting on my sheet metal for the firewall. Once that is in, I can start fabbing the headers from the kit I bought.

A couple of pictures, not super interesting lol, but progress none the less.
Mounted mid plate. 1/2" bolts through the sub frame rails into 3/16" steel 2x2 angle that I built the brackets from. I cut apart poly Alden shock bushings to use as insulators between the brackets and frame.
The mid plate is fastened to the brackets with bolts and mounted solid on the engine side. The bolts I have in the pics are 1/4" for now, only because the 90 degree air drill I have that is small enough to get in there only takes bits up to 1/4". Next time I pull the engine out I will redrill and use 5/16 bolts. There are 3 per side and grade 8, which should be ample considering all the other mounting points the engine and trans have now.


I have made a cardboard template of the new firewall and am working on transferring that to some 20 ga steel today and get that tacked if possible. As I have mentioned earlier, I do not want to cut more sheetmetal out of the front inner fenders etc. until I have some firewall structure put back in. It seems really sturdy but i know there is a point where if you take too much out it loses strength. It would be only temporary, but I want the car to stay square while I do the mods without welding in a bunch of temporary supports.

Man I can't wait till all this crap is done so I can do something fun like build the engine lol.

Also,
Have a look at this pic of where the roll bar sits. This is where it ends up and it seems weird to me.

Not so much where it sits in the car on the upper part but look where it ends up on the floor.. seems to me it should sit further back, but there is no way it clears the roof and headliner if I tried to move it back. I have no points of reference because my interior is not in, so maybe it's right I don't know.
I'm reluctant to make the mounting holes until I am sure, so its just sitting in there right now.
sorry for the blurry pics, I will get some better pics to replace those later...

Here is another pic I took showing how close stuff gets in the engine compartment lol... i still have to fit clutch stuff in there somehow on the small piece of real estate left in front of the driver...

getting firewall built .....

Screwed some of the trans tunnel pieces on...I don't have enough clecos lol...
Rough pieces in place then will take them off and final build and weld together. The black after the tunnel is original tunnel that its screwed to.
The other side will be a whole lot more work as there is gas pedal and shift linkage clearance issues over there

The top line looks crooked, but it is not. It's folded at a 45 degree angle and then a side to side angle needed to clear wiper mechanism.

Okay...
Been a while since I posted. Firewall is basically pieced together, just need to fine tune and weld.

I got to the point of mocking up the gas pedal mount because since I cut the firewall out to make room for the "tiny" engine, the location for the pedal etc. is now gone and I want it to be located again for comfort and correct position. I plan to drive this car a lot, and it is not just a strip car, so it will have a full interior and comfort is important.

So..... I dug the driver's seat back out, put it in the car... and after struggling with where to put the gas pedal, realized the only way I can properly find a starting point for mounting the gas pedal is to mount the clutch and brake pedal assembly first.
Because the location of the pedal mount is unaltered from original, I can base my gas pedal location on this.
Makes sense so far.

I then realized when I bolted it up, that the clutch and brake pedals were not lined up. One pedal (brake) was about an inch lower than the clutch pedal.

Now.... I think back...and I digress... to when I bought those pedals on eBay. I remember the seller had the set listed for $250, which I thought was expensive at the time, but didn't have any other options, and I needed the part since it is integral to my build. He had a "make an offer" so i offered $100 which I thought was probably what they are worth. He replied with a counter of $200 and he scolded me that "he wasn't going any lower because he knows these parts" and he can (and I quote) "sell them all day long for $250"
I bucked up and paid the robbery price of $200.

Back to recently.. when I get to the point of installing the pedals, and I dig out my handy dandy shop manual for insight. After many different combinations, (whew) I realized the "expert" on eBay sold me a cobbled up set of pedals. The clutch pedal is a V6 pedal, and the brake pedal is a 4 cylinder or V8. Also the brake pedal is for power brakes, but I guess since most of these cars had power brakes that makes sense somewhat. So I bought a hodge lodge of misc parts for a premium price.
Well I guess I make lemonade out of lemons now. Wheres my blender....

So, with that epiphany, I hunker down to begin the modifications. First to correct the pedal alignment, or lack thereof, I drilled a new hole in the upper sheet metal frame to lower the brake pedal 1.25". This aligns the brake pedal with the clutch now.
Next, I drill a new hole for the brake pushrod 2" below the pivot point for the pedal through the pedal arm for my new pushrod attachment point. This gives the required preferred ratio (for manual brakes) of between 6 to 1 and 7 to 1 with the pedal length of approximately 13.25". (I am running manual brakes, owing to lack of room on account of that "little" engine.)
Next, I drill a new hole BELOW the pivot point for my clutch pushrod. This calculates out at 1 and 15/16 lower than the pivot, which puts me at 6 to 1 ratio on that pedal.
The normal location for attaching the cable is ABOVE the pivot as it needs to PULL the cable instead of PUSH the push rod as I will require for a hydraulic clutch.
(By the way, for those who want to get rid of the clutch cable and go to hydraulic, this works on any II, The area where it mounts needs relatively minor modification as well as the pedal mods I have described above, to make such a thing work.)

So now the pedals are aligned and the pushrod holes created and...wasn't I building the firewall? or was I mounting the gas pedal? ....Wait, what?... this is my conundrum... Every step forward is like 3 steps back lol.

Next, the firewall side sheet metal adjustment to fit the master cylinders in place. ....One day I will get back to the gas pedal install..or was it firewall...

I made a mistake in my story....My pedals were like yours, the brake pedal was higher than the clutch. I am just so used to seeing it upside down on the bench, I said it wrong....

Got the plate built for the master cyls to mount on fabbed up. Mocked it in place with both cylinders attached. They fit quite nicely. I might space the brake master out a bit further. The lid can come on and off the way it is though.
More finish welding to do once I get the engine out again, but now I can continue with the pedals etc.
Next weekend I should get all the pedals mounted so I can finish up the firewall.

Got the pedals all sorted today, and the accelerator pedal mocks up with cleo's. re- did the trans tunnel a little to make it easier to carpet it later. gotta weld all the frankenstein pieces together into one still. The pedals are on the same level!!! lol that took a bit of work.
Got my rad...need to get that mocked up, and there's this pile of exhaust tubes to attend too..

..

gratuitous giant engine in a small car shot.

more

roll bar in relation to seat.

Seat is a far back as it goes, so the roller placement must be right. It can't go back any further.

Some more shots of the clutch and brake linkages



accelerator. Re-engineered the original mount to use. Just screwed on for now, but provides a stiff mounting for go pedal.

I wish I was better at pictures. I just can't get the hang of it...