lasater

Spent all day today re-vamping the firewall. Since I raised the rear of the trans it no longer fit. I cut it in half and welded it into the car. Tomorrow I'll mock up the rear half with cardboard and begin on that. The weird thing at the top of this picture is a fiberglass welding blanket to protect the windshield from splatter

eaglefreak138

You have no idea of the level of jealousy I'm having towards your skills! Awesome. Love the updates. Can't wait to see it done.

lasater

I appreciate all the compliments guys. I'm 65 years old and I have been building hot rods since I was 16. I take this stuff seriously. I have put a lot of effort into learning machine shop skills, welding, sheet metal fabrication, and chassis fabrication. Still, the only way this build is possible is with the help and support of my buddies I have been hanging around with most of my life. Their ideas are almost always better than mine, so I steal them and use them as my own. Also, I don't think they have printed enough money to hire someone to build a car like this so I gotta do it myself.....at least I will never have that kind of money. But again, thanks for the compliments.

lasater

Ok, now I'm into some messy stuff. I took the heater/AC/blower motor out of the dash area to fit into the car to make sure it doesn't interfere with the new firewall. I won't know this till this weekend when it is test-fit. What remains here in this picture is the bare bones dash superstructure. There is also a picture of the steering assembly. I have to take it apart and delete the electric motor portion. I hope this isn't a huge deal.....I guess I'll find out.

Oldblue

I'm confident you'll figure it out! Nice work on the trans hump!

lasater

After many emails back and forth with Steve Hanes on the Cobalt SS Forum (he put an Ls2 in a Cobalt) I have made a couple of decisions. The first decision is to cut the "driveshaft hump" all the way back to the old gas tank area. I think the clearance now is just too close and I better fix it now or deal with a larger problem later.

The second decision is based on consulting with many many people and finally with Steve. The mating of the Camaro computers with the HHR computers was always going to be the biggest challenge. From what I can tell, there will be just too many problems. I have decided to swap out the whole HHR wiring with Camaro wiring. The fewest problems will be with this route. I will have to deal with the speedo and gauges not working but I would have to deal with that anyway. At least this way the engine/trans/fuel delivery system/ECM/BCM /door locks and lights will work.

Thats my story and I'm stickin to it.

victweezy

This sounds like the best bet to me too. I put a P5 Rover on a CTS-V body for a custom shop out here, and all the wiring had to come with it. Back up camera and all, it was a complete disaster when everything was apart. On a side note... I did all this work and only got 1 pay check from the guy... thanks buddy... All these fancy computers and stuff in these things now a days can really be a nightmare. I Miss when wiring only took up 5 pages in a Haynes manual, and consisted of about 2 dozen wires. I think there are 2 dozen wires going to the fuel tank now. I'm getting antzy to see more custom work! I've been stuck doing metal fab for a buddy on his 69 C-20 so I haven't been able to work on my HHR lately and have been getting the itch. At least he pays me in Liquor, and grunt work on the HHR when we are done. Thank you for keeping the forum posted with such an awesome build!

lasater

Since the V8 build will have the wiring and computers out of the Camaro, and it will be basically a Camaro at least electrically, I'm going to do away with a few things. There is no way the steering wheel controls for input to the DIC or the radio or cruise control will work...mainly since I won't have any of those, I'm removing the buttons and filling the holes prior to paint. One side is ready for final sanding and the other side is just about ready for bondo. I'm trying to simplify the car, especially of things know I won't be able to have. I'm not sure the instrument cluster will work at all but if it won't, I'll remove the stock guages and replace them with AutoMeter units in a new housing that fits the stock hole.

lasater

The engine/trans have been in and out several times. I'm going back to pick up some of the items I didn't get on the initial engine install. The master cylinder has to be moved way over away from the cylinder head. It's as tight as I can get it to the strut tower. On the other side (right bank) of the engine the bottom part of the rain sump below the cowl just below the passenger windshield wiper had to be cut off with the plasma cutter to fit the engine in. I'm now going back to fab up a piece of 19 ga. sheet metal to weld it in place. Another thing I hope to get done while I have the cutter out is to remove the upper portion of the drive shaft (exhaust pipe) hump so I can get enough clearance.

lasater

Cut the driveshaft hump out today. It's a real mess now. I hate it when everything is messy and you can't seem to get it organized. I will be fabing a new higher hump with the same bolt pattern so the e brake handle will go back in the same spot. Engine cradle goes to powder coat on Monday.