Next step Ive been working on is stripping the new roof skin I have to make this car into a hard top. The old original paint on these cars is really tough. I had to go 40 grit/80/180 to properly clean the roof up for paint. Im going to paint the inside of the roof and the splines/ inner support structure since I wont be using a headliner..... I have a little bit of repairs to do around the rear window area to fix a little rust.
I have started welding the new roof skin on. Its been a little time consuming since I had to dry fit the glass to make sure the roof was in the right position. Everything worked out and I have tacked it in place. I have about 1/2 inch to the top of the roll cage so its nice and tight to the roof...
You have done a ton of work on the regal, and it has turned out great. Keep up the great work, and keep us posted. Great job. Tommy.
I was working away at finishing some of the small welding projects that I have left with the car. I have to patch the floor where the roll bar attaches to the frame, make another seat mounting point for the passenger bucket and so forth. So I started on that today and ran out of welding wire for my mig. o No: So instead I decided to start stripping out all the interior wiring and getting the heater box removed. The heater box I will be replacing with a vintage air unit and I will be rewiring the entire car with a new harness since the old one was really deteriorated. Next step is to clean up the fire wall and paint it, then test fit the vintage air unit. The fire wall is a complete mess, lots of wierd glues and seam sealers on it. No rust though... which is a bonus....
While you have it apart like this, put more seam sealer on the front where the windshield pillar meets the firewall, inside and outside. These cars have some issues where there was inadequate sealer applied in those areas. Lots of people had water end up in the rear foot from running down the wiring channel at the door sill. I know this is a race car, but still might as well keep out the elements.
Thats a good idea I will.... So continued on tonight with the firewall. Scraped all the seam sealer down, sanded, and then used a rust encapsulator for the first coat. Tomorrow Ill do some of the seam sealer before doing the top coat.
Sprayed the fire wall with a high temp enamel tonight. The paint laid down nice. So Ill have to let it cure a few days then Ill be fitting up my vintage air system. A/C and heat without a giant ugly plastic box.... nice!
I went with a complete coil over set up from ride-tech. I did their g body package deal.... I think they call them "strong arms". They seem to be really good quality. It was a toss up between them and detroit speed.... Ride-tech gave me a better deal though.
Fitted up the vintage air system and started welding up the floor around the roll cage. The vintage air system looks great and really adds some much needed space under the hood. You do need to trim the fire wall a little, not much but a bit. I marked the parts I rimmed in silver marker. Hers some pics:
More work tonight, needed to finish off some little things again to move the project forward. I spent most of the night building a second set of mounting points now for the passenger seat. Im very happy with how the seating positions turned out.... very tight to the cage. When I pad everything up and get the harnesses installed the car should be pretty safe. Like I mentioned before I went up to a 1/2 inch stud for the seat mounts from the stock that appears to be 3/8s. Some pics as usual:
I just wanted to say great thread. I'm looking forward to future updates. Do do you think you can finish it in time to race this year? Looks like your on schedule.
Thanks for the compliment! I'm not sure if I'll get it done for this season. I still have some major hurdles being paint and wiring. I haven't ever rewired an entire car so I'm not sure how long that will take. The engine is half built but all the hard stuff is done, so that's not too bad for time. This is whole project will be done by me in my garage so I'm more likely looking to the 2016 season, I don't want to rush and have to re-do anything.....
Well, some things have come up and I need to take about a month off this build to work on another build. As I don't do this stuff full time I have to stop work on one car to work on another. I'll be back updating this thread as soon as I get back on track. I am still waiting on parts from Trishield performance to get the heads and intake on my fresh 470. Hopefully I'll get those parts in the next few weeks so I can restart this thread by fitting the engine in the chassis.....