Test Fit - Body to Frame!

SUCCESS! The body fits perfectly on the frame with the wider rear tires and newer Chevy 350 engine. The ONLY modification that needs to be made is to the tranny tunnel........ and that is just very slight to allow a little more clearance than is currently there. Very easy fix. No widening of the rear fenders is going to be required which is a relief. When all is said and done, I should be able to drop the rear of the car 2-3" to give it a lower stance..... but I will worry about that in the end.
The body has now been removed from the frame again. Engine will be pulled out of the frame and mocked up on the engine stand. Pressure tested, cleaned up, painted, and shiny chrome parts added.

Body work will begin shortly with the fun part of wire brushing UNDER the body. Patching a few tiny holes.......and then repainting / undercoating the car.

I'm currently modifying my el-cheapo creeper that I picked up for $5 at a garage sale to have a tilting back so I can sit more upright when under the car (like a recliner).

Rear Exhaust Hangers Fixed...

It was pointed out from my previous post that the rear exhaust hangers would likely be a problem to access once the body was placed back on the frame. Luckily for me this was mentioned now before I found out the hard way later (Thanks Glenn!) To fix this, I simply welded nuts to the TOP where they used to be sitting, and attached the brackets BELOW the frame. I will easily be able to bolt the hangers right up from below, and not have to worry about the nut spinning or accessing the top at all.
With the nuts welded into place, I tightened up the hangers and cut off the remaining bolts sticking up with my cut off wheel.

Exhaust FINISHED!

The exhaust is finally all mocked up! Everything is welded & hung. Next up will be to drop the body back down on to the frame and test fit everything with the exhaust & new engine.

Fabbed up brackets for the exhaust hangers to bolt to. They came out perfectly fine. These will get primed and painted to match the frame color.

Exhaust Almost Done!

I almost have the "over-the-axle" exhaust pipes completed. I just have to mock up the exhaust hangers and finish the extensions of the exhaust out the back of the car.

Hoping to finish the rest of the exhaust up tomorrow. Next I will remove the rear fenders off the body and set the body back down on the frame to make sure everything fits with the new engine. Once I verify everything fits properly, and I check how the fenders will fit with the wider rear tires, I'll take the body back off, put the frame out back for winter, and work on the body over winter. Finally getting to something that people will notice!

Exhaust Mufflers Attached!

I have the exhaust mocked up now all the way to the mufflers. Out of the engine, into the H-Pipe, and then into the Flowmaster 50HD mufflers.

Next step will be to complete the "over-the-axle" pieces allowing the exhaust to shoot straight out the back of the car.

Exhaust 50% Complete!

The exhaust is moving along nicely now that I have my layout all set. It dumps out of the engine with 2" pipes and after the first 90 degree bend increases to 2.5" pipe. From there it hits the H-pipe, into the mufflers, and then over the rear axle and out the back. The H-Pipe has been welded to the drops from the engine now, everything is welding nicely. Yes, the driver's side drop is slightly crooked. This is to help avoid the power steering box as much as possible.

Rough layout of how the H pipe / Mufflers will be layed out. The mufflers are slighly used FlowMaster 50HDs. They are the middle of the road mufflers in terms of loudness and resonance. I should have a nice rumble out of them, but not SOOOOOO loud that you get a headache driving the car.

More to come soon. Hopefully I can get the exhaust finished up this week. It has been nice the past few days, but the cold weather is quickly approaching!

Exhaust Drops From Engine Built!

When building the 2 exhaust drops from the engine, I forgot to put the collar on the passenger side pipe before welding it together. To fix that I cut the collar in half, put it around the pipe, then welded it back together. Welding magnets held it perfectly in place while I tacked it back together.

Exhaust drops out of the engine are now complete. I will bolt them in to place, and then start to finish the rest of the exhuast. I'm going from a 2" exhaust out of the engine into a 2.5" exhaust. you can see the 2-2.5" reducers here. From this point the exhaust will go into the H pipe, then the Flowmaster 50HD mufflers, and then out the back of the car.