lasater

OK, here is the story. I began on this project (actually working on it) 3 years ago. The first 2 years were completely just me out in the work area on the side of my house. I followed the YearOne build on many areas and did my own design on others. After 2 years I got a bunch of people involved with the build. I'm fortunate to have a local transmission builder that builds tons of racing (drag and off-road) gearboxes. They are the first in the list. My long time friend Troy Davis (drag boat builder) did the engine. Two painters at work re-painted the white panel Mercedes black (it's blacker than GM black). Troy Davis' son Tad has done a bunch of fabricating for me. A GM wiring/computer wizard named Randy Thomas is figuring out how to make it all work together. So far that's it.

As far as my shop goes, it's basically the size of a 3 car garage. 1 space machine tools, 1 space open shop (work bench, tool boxes, air compressor) and 1 space a 4 post lift that the car sits on. I'm pretty well "tooled up" in the shop, 3x4 welding table, tig and mig welders, plasma cutter, drill press, 18" band saw, 14" lathe, 4' brake, 4' stomp shear, bead roller and every hand tool you can buy.

I never met a tool I didn't need or love.

Also, almost every part on the car has come from my local Chevy dealer or from Summit Racing. I can order stuff from Summit in the afternoon and it's here the next morning via UPS thanks to their Nevada warehouse.

lasater

We've been working on the electrical portion of the build for a long time, going around and around without solving many problems. I decided yesterday that the best approach is to stay with the Camaro harness completely. I hoped to integrate the two systems but it is proving just too difficult. That would be on the level of difficulty the GM engineers are up against when they design these cars. And honestly I'm not willing to hire a design firm and pay $20k to wire this. To this end we are going to use the Camaro ECM and BCM. I will splice the ends of the Camaro harness onto the HHR pigtails. The VAT will be eliminated and the VIN # will be changed to the HHR VIN#. The ignition switch (key) will have to be modified but I have an automotive locksmith that claims he can do it. I assume I will loose some BCM controlled items such as "auto on lights" and "auto door locks" but you never know, I'll find out when I get there. As far as the dash goes, I already changed the A/C and heater to Vintage Air so that is stand alone. The stock radio will have to be modified but I have a guy for that. I'm not sure about the gauges. The speedo uses the same number of pulses as the Camaro unit so that might work with re-calibration. I'm using a Sun tach so I won't care about the dash tach. Don't know about the temp gauge and the gas gauge will hopefully read the Aeromotive Ls fuel pump assembly.

Steve Hanes, the builder of the Ls3 powered Cobalt ended up going this same route. He still has a few items that don't work. Oh well.......

Other than that I'm looking good.

lasater

When I had the rear wheels widened almost 2" a while back they had a different finish than the original Moon SpeedMasters. To this end I dismounted the tires and sent them in to the polisher to make them all the same finish. Here is what they look like now.

Oldblue

Nice attention to details, and that big and little stance will be awesome!!! These are the wheels I first wanted for Oldblue, however the cost of shipping soon killed that idea, and now the WV's are part of Oldblue's looks.
Just like these kidney bean old school magnesium look wheels from the '50's are part and parcel of your Black Beauty's look!
Very cool!

lasater

I'm in the process of the exhaust system now and I need to extend the rocker panels a bit lower to encapsulate the exhaust tips. I'm taking a page from Benjiwah's build by building the rockers up with foam. I went to my local airplane supply store and purchased a sheet of 1" polyurethane foam and guled it together with 3M 77 adhesive. I then filled some gaps with Great Stuff foam. In a couple days when it is cured I will spend some quality time on the band saw to shape it. The rockers will be a little over 1" lower than the stock units giving the car a lower stance while making room for the oval exhaust tips to exit in front of the rear wheels. I'll fiberglass the outside and clean it up with Bondo. Once the shape is correct I'll take them to my fiberglass guys and have them pull molds from them. From these they will make new rockers for me. If they turn out good and if there is any interest, they may be available to forum members.

lasater

After spending almost an entire afternoon rough shaping these rockers I am even more impressed with the work Benjiwah has done. This foam is so soft and one false move puts a big gouge in it. Plus, after you finally get one looking OK, you have to duplicate it on the other side.

Here is what I have so far. The front of the rockers are about 1" lower than stock. The rear is about 1 7/8" lower, a bit of a taper. Tomorrow i start glassing. Wish me luck.....

Oldblue

Nice work, good luck!!

lasater

I was having trouble sanding the bondo next to the super soft foam so I added a layer of fiberglass mat to the entire surface. The plan is to sand the glass into shape and then add bondo to that surface. Hopefully I'll have better luck with a surface that is the same hardness. Like everything elas on this build, this is turning out to be a big deal........

Benjiwah

Thank you for the props lasater! Once you get your shape worked out, reverse molds will be a piece of cake. As everything you have done thus far, I am certain the work will be impeccable!!!

lasater

I took the rockers to the car today and clamped them in place with "C" clamps. The fit is actually better than I hoped for on this the first try. The height of the rockers is going to be just about right giving room for the 2 1/2" x 5 1/2" oval exhaust tips. One problem I need to deal with is there is a twist in the length. This wouldn't have happened if the rockers were on the car when I put the foam on them but that would have created it's own problems. Anyway, I need to add some bondo to the rear top sections to flatter them out. It doesn't matter as these are simply "plugs" to pull molds off of to make the actual parts.