GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

I was planning on starting this after all of my parts were delivered, but I'm anxious to get started and have nothing to do lol. A quick background: car has about 2,500 passes on it and is now 22 years old. It was repainted about 12 years ago, but its showing its age. I've broken countless gear sets and transmissions, but other then that, it has been very reliable, and I have been happy with what I have accomplished with it. Made probably 50 passes in 09 and broke 3 ring gears. Made ONE pass in 2010, getting a little greedy on the tune and broke the ring gear on the very next pass. At this point I was very frustrated and vowed that the car wouldn't return to the track until everything was exactly the way I want it, sparing little expense. I moved from MD to NC last summer which left me no time or money to mess with the car.

Unfortunately I moved right to the center of the small tire racing capitol of the world and it has me hooked. So that is the direction the car is going to go in. I set no time dead line, tho my plan is to be "done" this time next year. Also set no real budget, but I'm not going crazy on it either. I have an idea of what I'm putting into it and I'll try to stick to it. But I'm refusing to settle for any cheap on inferior parts. Going overkill on everything since I'm not sure of my future goals.

Plans for the powertrain are a 408 6.0 LS based motor with AFR 235 heads. Immediate plans are to run NA, but move to a turbo in the future as my budget allows. Powerglide transmission, 9 inch rear, chromoly cage and a repaint are the plans for this year. Rewiring and replumbing the car, everything under the hood and chassis will be show quality. I'll try my best to take pictures along the way and share everything.

On to the goodies. I'm going to start with the cars achillis heal, the rear. I'm never breaking one again. Ever. Going with a thru bolt yukon aluminum case, strange 40 spline spool, strange daytona support, strange 40 spline gun drilled axles. For now I just have a set of 4.10 street gears in it just so I can move the car around. Not sure what ratio I'm going to need in the future, so no sense in waisting money on a pro gear for now. All this is going in a Burkhart chromoly fabricated housing, with Burkharts anti roll bar and adjustable chromoly panhard bar. Brakes are wilwood drag brakes at all 4 corners. Ordered a manual master cylinder from Burkhart as well, not sure if its a Strange piece or BMR's, but they had the best price including the firewall adapter and linelock solenoid. Using Afco double adjustable shocks, and for now, stock GTA springs. I was going to ask Gary's advise for my rear suspension setup, but he was unavailable for comment. All of these parts are on order, and with the exception of the rear housing, will be here this week. I was told 4-5 weeks for the housing to be built. My goal was to get the rear to weigh as close to the 7.5 as I could get.

Only pictures I have so far are from when I was assembling the center section. Will get more as parts start rolling in.



Here is a pic of Burkharts fabricated rear (someone else's), supposedly only wieghs 38 lbs. Undecided if I want to powdercoat it, clearcoat it or get it hydrographic dipped (carbon fiber). If I find someone local that can do it for relatively cheap, I'm going with the hydrographics.



Thanks for looking, and if anyone has any tips, suggestions, or knows any vendors with good deals, let me know..

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

I'm excited for ya Matt, I'll be keeping an eye on this one!

88GTAbandit

iTrader: (1)

Hey matt what size cam was in your old 350 set up?

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Its a 225/235 .572/.576 on a 110 lsa

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

get out your checkbook. lol

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Funny you say that. I have everything written down, part numbers cost, etc., so I can plan my budget. I forgot the golden rule of drag racing: whatever you think it will cost, multiply that by 2....or is it 4? I'll admit I went overboard on the rear, which has dipped into the cage and paint budget

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

i would say multiply it by 4. or 5. or 6. lol

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

LOL 2x, 4x... give it up, just take all your money and set it on fire, it will cost you less in the long run.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Powder coat the rear and skip the repaint.
If you paint the car, your going to worry about it 2 much and you won't have as much fun.
I have been to Burkhart and Midwest chassis (I live within a hr of each), both have great products.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

if its not much, i would do this. if its expensive, i would probably just paint it. it will be covered in soot, dirt, and oily vapor anyways.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

I think I paid 150$ to have it done.(long time ago)
Either way will look nice. For me its easier to wipe off that powdercoating and make it look nice than the paint buuut paint is easier to touchup if you mod something..

I have quite a feww miles on this old gal...

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Hydrographics FTW!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

How well does that stuff hold up though?

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Supposedly its pretty tough. I'm sure you've probably seen guys with it on their valve covers, intakes, etc. I'm sure not as strong as powdercoat. Guy I work with did his AR15 camo and it seems pretty tough. The only way I would go this route is if I found someone local to do it. Not paying hundreds to ship this thing all over. Burkhart only charges 150 for powdercoating. Like I said, Haven't decided yet and at this point its the least of my concerns lol.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Matt you're getting the sneak peak on all these lol. Rear brakes and shocks came in today. Expecting fronts any minute. Going to pull the front spindles, cut, sandblast and paint them sometime this week. Waiting on lockwire to come in tomorrow so I can get the rotors assembled.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Wow this thing is gonna motor down the track!

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Quick update, got the brake rotors assembled and safety wired, pulled the broken rear out in preparation for the 9". Pulling the fuel tank this weekend and running new fuel lines and brake lines. Kind of up in the air about what I want to do with the fuel system. For now its going to be a single 255 pump and -8 feed, -6 return. That will be fine for the time being, but with boost I'll probably sump the fuel tank and need a -10 feed.







This is what the car looked like sunday morning....



And sunday afternoon. The rear is locked up and the trans has no forward gears from the rear locking up. Pretty sure it just took out either the one way sprag or launched the snap ring out of the input drum. But that left me with no way to get it off the trailer myself, so just doing everything on the trailer for now....



I was planning on painting the underside of the car but after some cleaning, it looks pretty damn good! I didn't bring any torx bits home from work so the stock shocks are just hanging for now.





While I'm not putting the motor together anytime soon, I got a steal of a deal on some Jesel mohawk shaft mount rockers and couldn't turn them down.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

My buddy should still have his Nasty Performance fab fuel cell that fits in the stock location. Its 600-700 brand new I believe. Sumped, 10 gallon cell I believe. He may take 450-500 for it.

I dont think its been used yet, bought a roller and doesnt need that tank so he's parting it out. Let me know if interested.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Me and a buddy were just talking about aftermarket cells that fit into the stock location but I never did any research into it. Just checked out nasty performance website and thats a perfect setup. Unfortunately I don't have the budget for it at this exact moment, but I'll keep it in mind. Thanks.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

sumped factory tank ftw

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Thats not out of the question either. Guy at my old work had the stocker sumped on his LT1, D1 combo.

Matt, here's my buddies '82 I was telling you about. My cage will be a carbon copy. Gonna try to tuck the dashbar a little closer to the firewall tho. He had to trim the cluster a bit to get the dash to fit back in. The plastic bucket is only there for mockup. I'll get more once its back on the ground. Really a beautiful car. Cleaner then mine!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

wow very nice! I can't wait till I move to Maryland so I can get in on this 275 action yall got up there.

-AO-

Looks good. FYI, I'm also building a white 1990 GTA.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Sweet, what you doing to it? You're on HPJ right?

-AO-

I'm still not sure what I'm doing with my GTA but it will probably get a TPI 355 and T5 trans.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Managed to get a bit more done this weekend. Pulled the gas tank friday night and started pulling some of the underhood stuff I wont be re-using. Was planning on getting a big start on it saturday, but I took on a side job for a buddy. After wrestling out a leaky heater core on his car in a 110 degree garage for a good part of the day, I was too burned out to even look at my car when I got home. Got a jump start on it sunday morning. Popped in the new 255 pump and got a pleasant suprise. I've never had the tank out in the 10 years I've owned the car and wasn't sure what to expect inside. It usually sits all winter with fuel in it and I wasn't sure what to expect. It was crystal clean! No dirt or rust anywhere. And the pump was indeed original, good enough for high 11's!

After installing the pump I sanded and painted the tank and its straps, and went ahead and painted the rear bulkhead. Got some neat fittings for the lines as well. For the feed, I found (on Amazon of all places) a 16mm x 1.5 female fitting with a -8 male that converts the factory feed line to the -8. I have a tool the can make a GM quick connect fitting on steel line, so I flared the factory 5/16 return to the quick connect style and used an LT1 adapter with a -6 outlet. Got the -8 fitting installed no problem and began routing the line. I don't care for the factory lines running next to the driveshaft, so all the lines will be mounted to the subframe connectors. I'm also running the fuel lines up the passenger side rather then the drivers side. Then I ran into problems with the -6 fitting. My cut off wheel is leaving the braiding frayed, and after poking a dozen holes in my finger, I'm going to take the lines to work on tuesday and use the chop saw to cut them.

After that, I lost motivation for the fuel system so I moved to the front. I need to modify the spindles for the wilwood calipers, where I ran into problem number 2, I didn't bring home my tap and die set from work, so another job for tuesday..... So I moved on to painting and cleaning. Didn't get a picture of them, but I sandblasted the stock rear springs and painted them a thin coat of flat black. Also blasted and painted a few other brackets. The front struts are Lakewood 90/10's I installed back in '05. The red paint was very faded so they got a new coat, along with the front inner fenders and rear fenders.

After the first coat, I really struggled to get rid of the "zebra stripes" the paint (rustoleum brand) left. I managed, but from now on, I'll only be using duplicolor cans...











Painted the inner portion of the rear fenders. I scrape the rubber out every year, and its that time again. After I get them scraped, they'll be getting a coat as well. BTW, the paint I'm using in the fenders is the black crinkle coat paint. I really like the way it covers and blends in the factory undercaoting. Hopefully it won't flake after a few burnouts :/ I also "adjusted" the areas in the rear wheel wells where you can see the tires were rubbing.



And of course a random rainstorm popped up on a sunny day, so everything got shoved under the car until it passed. The joys of working outside



Thats all for now, never really realized how much work I bit off

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Dont mean to hijack thread but when will this be? lol


GTA Matt, looks good so far! car is clean underneath!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

I graduate may of 2013, I should be headed up that way shortly there after. I do have to obviously find a job and sell my house, but my wife is more than ready to move back home (she's from Baltimore area)

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Only thing good about MD is MIR and Cecil. Other then that its insanely high cost of living and too many politics. Glad I left! Come on up to the Carolinas, 6 tracks within an hour and several weekly/bi-weekly small tire series!

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

exactly what i was gonna say.. retarded high cost of living.
great job on the car, keep it up!!

-AO-

North Carolina > everywhere else

zz17iroc

iTrader: (4)

The car is coming along really good and should run just as well. Your right about MD, I grew up in Frederick, MD and couldn't wait to leave. The cost of living is too high that's why I retired from the army in GA.

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (2)

Cannot lie, i really in the first post was thinking you went with a Dana S60. But, great looking pieces you have there. Thought i mussed the 12 bolt up this last week, its still good, didnt think a little old 6.0 with a cam and a bit of nitrous was going to give me issues.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

And another week has gone by. I can finally see some of my plans come together. Got the front end buttoned up and began plumbing the brakes. Got the fuel lines put together and ran to the motor as well. Master cylinder and panhard bar arrived from Burkhart. Still anxiously waiting on the housing, hopefully sometime next week! On to some pics.

Spindles cut and painted. Calipers mounted and safety wired



All mounted up



Shameless plug on my brake line skillz. Don't care for how close the factory lines are to the engine and headers, so I'm taking my own route.



I ran the fuel lines up the passenger side subframe connector and up behind the passenger front fender into the engine bay. Mounted the filter behind the splash shield to make it easy to service, keeping everything away from heat.





Still have to run the rear brake lines and remove and drill the brake pedal for the manual brakes. I did get all the extra "crap" out from the engine bay. Need to gut the wire harnesses of all the wires no longer in use. That will be next weeks episode....

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

lookin' great matt!

RoadHammer

Cool build!

I have a Burkhart Fab9 rear as well for my build and it's a stout piece. Here are some teaser pics.






Center is an Aluminum Moser bolt-thru case filled with 3.50 gear and a Wavetrac diff from Burkhart.

Since those pics were taken, the rear has been shortened and a more streetable rear brake setup have been added (Wilwood 12.2" w/parking brake)

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

That looks awesome! I shoulda ordered 2. I need one to hang on the wall! Did you order it with the lower shock mounts or did it come that way?

RoadHammer

Not sure what you mean by "lower shock mounts". The shock mounts on there have a couple different heights of holes that they bolt to.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

The clevis mounts that have the bolts going thru them in the bottom shock mount hole.

RoadHammer

They come that way. Burkhart doesn't nickel-and-dime you for every little thing like Moser does for the M9. They build their rears the same. I did specify housing length, ARB, powdercoat, tow loops, brakes. That's about it.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

Matt, are you having them put wheelie bar mounts on?

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Awesome. I did the same, with the exception of the powdercoat and brakes. Apparently tow hooks are standard on the CM housing, says $50 on their site, but Chuck told me they were included, along with the fill and drain plug. You're right about moser nickle and diming you, extra for the plugs, back brace, etc.


Matt, no sissy stick mounts! Should look just like RoadHammer's pic.

RoadHammer

Chuck told me tow hooks were included for me as well. I guess they haven't updated their website yet.

Chuck also told me that his shock mounts will support rear-coilovers should one decide to go that route.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Another week has passed, have some more updates. Got the rear of the car completely buttoned up and ready to install the rear. Removed the wiring harness and more crap from under the hood. I plan on retaining the motor thats in it for now, so I'm just going to rid the wire harness of all the wires that won't be used and reinstall. Removed the HVAC box and duct work from the dash. I'm amazed at how much room there is behind the dash once all this stuff is removed. On to some pics!

Figured I'd weigh the new front rotor and spindle before I installed it. Unfortunately I never weighed the old setup, but you can see the difference in the entire new setup and just the old rotor and caliper.





Scraped, cleaned and painted the rear inner fenders. These things turned out great!





The dash as it sits now



My old line lock solenoid had apparently sprung a small leak that spread along the front frame rail. I scraped and sanded it and then gave it a quick shot of primer to prevent some rust. I plan on painting the engine bay, but would prefer to do it with the engine out.



The rats nest on it way out. Most of these wires won't be making it back in



HVAC block off panel temped in for now, note the alternative position of the MC

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

V bulletin doesn't like my pictures.....

MC temped in while I route the front brake lines. Its amazing how much room that big booster takes up!





And the reject pile for my scrap guy



Some time this week I still need to run the rear brake line, re route the battery cable, drill the brake pedal and continue stripping the interior for the cage install. Fingers crossed for the rear being delivered this week!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

what master cylinder are you using? are you modding the placement of the rod on the pedal assembly as well? looks great man

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Its a Strange MC with a 1.032 bore. I read after I got it that a 1.125 bore is recommended for a 4 piston caliper set up at all 4 corners, but I'll see how this works. It came with the aluminum mounting plate and threaded rod end attached. I realized I don't really have any good pics of it. Next time I take it off I'll do some measuring and maybe it will help some guys out who plan to do their own. I'm moving the mounting point up 1 inch on the pedal arm.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

that thing is nice...part number?

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

I know I saw that BMR has something similar, and I'm sure TRZ and Racecraft do too. Here's the link for mine http://burkhartchassis.com/id84.html

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

Its been a while since I've done any updates. Work has been busy and the weather has been unbearable the last few weeks. Also still waiting on the rear housing. A bit disapointed but hopefully the wait will be worth it. Been doing a LOT of research on turbo LS motors the past few weeks and have learned a lot of useful info. Ultimately I'd like to run in our local RS275 class. They are trying to keep the class in the 5.30-5.40 range. Rules for LS motors are they must run the stock 15 degree valve angle, not a big deal. Boosted LS must weigh 3250+50 for aftermarket heads. Air to water intercooler is another 50lb penalty. Meth injection is allowed with no penalty, and I'm leaning that way, not only for the weight, but the reduced cost. Turbo is limited to 76 mm, T4 flange, no billet wheels and no ball bearing. With these rules in mind I'm leaning towards a 370 ci motor. I'm thinking a 408 would be too large for a single 76. Still going with AFR heads, just due to the thick deck height. I know some amazing numbers have been made with ported stock castings, but I'm looking for 1000 rwhp at around 18-20 psi and with a 4 bolt head I need all the help I can get.

As soon as the rear gets here I can get the car to the chassis shop and get started on the cage. Plan on getting the car 100% ready to drop in a motor and tranny by next season.

Through all of my research I've found that the stock steering box leaves much to be desired for space for turbo headers, so a manual rack is on order from Spohn. Saved $120 with their 4th of July sale!

I've also made up a block off plate for the fresh air duct on the inside of the firewall. Made from .062 aluminum. Making a few for some local guys, if anybody is interested I'm selling them for $25 shipped. This is only if you have done a complete HVAC delete.

This is before mounting holes were drilled