Body finally back on project 59

John Mcgraw · 10-11-04, 10:46 PM

Hi guys,
I have been really busy at work, and have not been able to work on the car for the last couple of weeks. This weekeend, I dropped the body back on the frame. I have been running wire and am just about through with this task. I am running all the wire behind the inner fenders so that when you look under the hood, you will not see any of the wiring. The engine control wiring will also be pretty much hidden from view by the fuel rail covers, so it should make for a pretty clean looking engine bay. Saturday, I fabricated a couple of heat shields to go over the pipes and mufflers out of stainless. I was worried about the asthetics of them, bit I needn't have been concerned, since you almost can not even see them from under the car. If you look in the pics, you will see them hiding above the mufflers, but you really have to look for them!
They have almost 3/4" of air space between the top of the shield and the floor pan, so they should be real effective at keeping the heat out of the cockpit, especially when coupled with the floor pan insulation that will be going in. I got my upholstery material chosen and ordered, now all I need to do is get my upholstery guy motivated to get started. I can not get my dash in and my wiring finished until he at least gets the leather on the dash pad.
I say leather, but in fact, I have followed the lead of most of the street rod guys, and am using ultraleather on the car. It is an incredibly soft and realistic leather substitute that is supposed to out perform leather is every regard, with none of the problems associated with it. It is a lot more than leather, but the waste from cutting is almost nil, so it should about balance out. It is really an incredible product, and feels like the softest glove leather you have ever felt. At $75 a yard it is expensive but I hope that it will prove to be worth it. It is going to a be a very light buff color. This week I hope to get my splash pans fabricated and the remainder of the brake and fuel plumbing completed. With any luck I will be able to get this puppy fired up within a month if I can get my upholstery guy busy!
Check out the folder marked 10-10-04.
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubgallery.asp?id_=339303

67HEAVEN · 10-11-04, 10:50 PM

Sweet, John. There's some real artistry there.

Rowdy1 · 10-11-04, 11:10 PM

I wish I could see the large version of the pictures, I get the BIG X

studiog · 10-11-04, 11:35 PM

Incredible John. The craftsmanship is as exceptional underneath as it is topside and the body sits very nice on the chassis. Love to look at the photos of your progress. You set a very high standard.

John Mcgraw · 10-11-04, 11:37 PM

Thanks Bob,

It ain't going to have the brute force of your car, but it ought to make a nice highway cruiser! How much longer before you are ready to take your car on its maiden voyage? I sure enjoyed the clip of your car running for the first time!

Regards, John McGraw

IH2LOSE · 10-12-04, 06:49 AM

You know John the last couple of times I spoke with you on the phone you sounded stressed,I just hate it when work gets in the way of pleasure.You have to be real happy now lacing the wires.(I am trying to find a good source now for a hand held soldering gun and the tiny shrink wrap tupes)

It looks great and I have said it before your craftmans ships shows thru out the entire car.

IH2LOSE · 10-12-04, 06:51 AM

Is that the stance your keeping or are you going to drop her down a bit? I am going to set mine up allmost crawling in the front with a slight rake to the rear upwards

allcoupedup · 10-12-04, 07:38 AM

wow!

tigernut · 10-12-04, 08:21 AM

Excellent craftsmanship and finish John. I can't wait to see it in person at a local show next year.

Doug

John Mcgraw · 10-12-04, 08:30 AM

Larry,

You are right about being stressed. About 4 months ago our company decided to Exit the Texas market, and all of us were preparing to be unemployed next year.
We went to our senior management, and made a compeling argument that they were making a mistake by exiting Austin. After several meetings, they agreed with our assement, and instead of going away, they now are going to an additional 2-3 million sq/ft of office space in the next few months! I have gone from just waiting out the end, to not having enough time to get everything done that needs doing. The next few months is going to be really stressful as I try it integrate this much new equipmrent into our operation.

You are correct about the stance of the car. I raised up the shocks last weekend since the frame had been dragging on the lift as it went on, but I got a little carried away! I didn't have a good handle on how much adjustment at the shock equaled how much at the frame. Actually, the car sits almost a inch lower in the front and 1/2" lower in the rear than stock, but the lower profile tires makes the gap over the tires look huge. I am going to probably bring the car back down about 1/2", and I am going to remove 3/8" of spacer between the body and frame. The SRIII frame sits a lot lower than the stock one due to the triangulated frame having that lower tube, and I don't want to be rubbing that lower tube over bumps. If I had it to do over, I probably would have opted for some shockwave air units rather than the coilovers, but they were still a new product at the time and I was not sure of them. You never know, I may put them on in a year or so if I have problem with the frame dragging. It would sure be nice to be able to raise the car up around town, and then drop it in the weeds for highway driving and when parked!

Regards, John McGraw

richscorvettes · 10-12-04, 10:16 AM

John,

The car looks fantastic. I'm sure you are anxious to get it on the road. Best of luck in finishing it.

Interesting comment about the ride height adjustment. Any observations about how much a turn on the coil adjustment makes to the ride height?

Rich

John Mcgraw · 10-12-04, 07:10 PM

Hi Rich,

It appears that the ratio is about 1.5 to 1. For every 1" in shock adjustment it rasied the car about 1.5". This ratio changes no doubt as the angle of the shock changes and as the control arm moves through its arc, but that is what I experienced at the lower limits of extension. I am anxiously awaiting updates on your 63, as I have recently bought a 65 convertible basket case, and am probably going to be ordering one of Mike's frames for it as well. I think that this one will be a LS6 instead of the LS1 since I will be able to use a little larger rubber on the rear, and able to utilize the additional power. I may even do a Magnacharger engine.
Thanks for the reccomendation on Speed Scene. Zac did a beautiful job on my engine harness, and is just a few minutes away if I ever have an issues with the ECM program.

Regards, John McGraw

richscorvettes · 10-12-04, 07:46 PM

John,

Thanks for the info on setting the ride height. I know there will be some playing with that to get the stance I want but it's good to have a rule of thumb for the adjustment.

Glad the wiring harness worked out fine. He does do nice work.

As for the 63 project, we plan to take our time with this one and enjoy it. While I have a detailed plan there is no "cast in stone" end date - at least not yet.

I do like Mike's design for the C2 chassis. There is a reference to it on page 12 in the December issue of Corvette Fever along with a picture of it sitting in our garage. We have a lot of body work to do on this one (besides the mods needed to fit the new chassis) and the chassis is now being used for test fitting as well as replacing the entire nose. So it will be a while before I get the chassis back here to work on it and the suspension.

Thanks again,

Rich

IH2LOSE · 10-12-04, 09:56 PM

You know John I spent alot of time researching the air bag set ups (I actually want to drop the car on its frame at car shows) I decided against it for ride quaility. I plan on driving my car and wanted a perfect ride over all else.

John Mcgraw · 10-12-04, 11:22 PM

Larry,

You are correct. while there is some selection for spring rate on the shockwave units, it is nothing like the choices that you get with coilovers. I have started out with 250 lb springs on the rear and 300 lb on the front, but if I find that too stiff, I can allways change them. The replacement springs are only about 15 bucks each. I would guess that with that monster cast iron motor, that you probably started out with 350's on the front. I have a sneaking suspision that I may end up with my 250's on the front and end up buying a new set of 200's for the rear, but I will wait and see what the ride quality is like.

Regards, John McGraw