LS1/t56 swap

[Alxsmt]

back at it.. so I had intended on building a roll bar for my geo with the time off over the holidays for a practice run, but due to weather I decided to work on the Beretta..



about 165' of 1.75" .120 wall DOM




Very first bend on the mandrel bender! 155* before spring back. I didnt bother measuring after. Bend quality great!










for comparison purposes, here is a mandrel bend vs a non mandrel bend. I forgot to adjust the mandrel back to where it goes on the 2nd one.. so it was in the tube, but a few inches away from the bend making it pointless. You can see how much better the bend quality is!






And here is what I bent up. Yes I redid one, so both are mandrel bent. This is what I think im going to do. Im not in love with it, but so far its what ive come up with. Still thinking about it. The coilover hoops will sit lower If I do this. waiting for fuel safe to respond on the fuel cell, but I think i have that sorted out. The fuel cell location breaks the rules for silverstate (which I REALLY want to do) but I just got email confirmation they will allow it! If I were to do it again, the rear frame rails would be farther apart and I would have cut less out over the wheels.. maybe even tube the back end. It REALLY limits me on fuel cell options if im going to use the factory filler, and even then if I didnt, im still limited! oh well. Cant think of everything when you have never done it. Need to verify on NASA, NHRA, and SCCA still as far as the fuel cell goes. Also waiting to hear back from Koni about what coilover lengths are available, I cant seem to find any info on that.. Im pretty sure im just going to run a mono tube instead of getting the drag twin tube shocks and revalving them like I initially planned.

[Alxsmt]

finally got the factory seat mounts out and put some rust mort on to kill the rust.




this was my initial idea, im not sure I like it at all. 1.75" DOM to tie the seat mounts to the frame.. I am thinking about putting angle iron on the floor where it meets the trans tunnel to help stiffen the sheet metal up. Then 1x3 goes across the seat mounts to actually mount the seats to (which I totally screwed up and read the tape measure backwards on that.. so I have to get more metal and recut those..). The 1x3 will be on the inside edge of the by the tunnel. I need room to paint everything..



this was another idea, like the idea but dont like the end result.. 2x4 box all the way back connecting to the frame on both ends and the seat mounts. its a bit excessive... Id have to have it mandrel bent on the front side to get header clearance where it meets the frame, it kills a lot of foot room.. and it causes issues mounting the seats.. would have replace the angle iron.



another idea is with 1x3.. also replace the angle iron. Im not in love with it.. also thinking about maybe 1x1 or 3/4x3/4. Im not sure it would really add much strength compared to the DOM.

But this is where its at. Spent most the time thinking about how to do stuff and coming up with a plan than anything else. I have a few days off next weekend so maybe ill get the trans mount finished up at least and have a better direction. Im open to ideas!

[woody90gtz]

I gave up on the idea of the factory fuel filler. I'm going taller (which is better for slosh) and short so it will be even with the decklid or a little less. Gets me the volume I need and still keep a little bit of trunk space. And rather than dicking with the fill and vent hoses, it will just be filler tubes welded directly to the tank. Hopefully I won't hate it.

And I think you're already overkill on structure. My car (that's cut to crap) isn't nearly as floppy as I expected...still feels solid. Sometimes overkill is a smart move, but all that weight adds up too...so you gotta balance that aspect with it.

[Alxsmt]

I just don't like the idea of opening my trunk every time I need fuel, and keeping the weight lower is always good! No word from fuel safe yet. I THINK I can mount it rotated and run a surge tank, if that is true I can just run an off the shelf fuel cell thats a bit larger in dimentions than I want.. but it will make it have decent compacity. Funny how that works...

Also no word from koni.. I keep going back and forth. The legit race mono tube shocks are looking like 2k, each.. im looking at the 30 series they have for circle track guys but I don't know enough about valving honestly.. 200 bucks each is a bit better, but also steel and not external adjustable.. Waiting to hear back from a few other companies too. Looking into afco and qa1 as an alternative at least to get it going and sorted out.

As far as the structure goes, I just feel like the seat needs to be tied in in another way for some reason. But your right, in reality it is probably way overkill before adding a hoop to connect them together over the tunnel. I have some time to think about it this weekend. Hopefully accomplish something tho! I'm kinda at the point of waiting for answers, but I can do some work on the cage and some sheet metal work. Well and I do have my weld on nuts I can get my trans mount finished up too.. maybe..

[Rettax3]

The Delorean DMC-12 initially had the fuel-filler in the 'trunk' (which was of course up front, since the Delorean was a mid-engine car), and the whole lid had to be opened-up to fill the tank. Shortly into production though, they 'updated' the 'trunk lid' with a gas-flap door in the edge. So that could be an option for you too. I've considered some variation on this as well, likely utilizing a lockable 'flap' sourced from a motorcycle gas-tank or possibly an aviation application. This would let you potentially use a cheaper off-the-shelf cell without opening-up your luggage compartment for the world to see.

[woody90gtz]

The Delorean DMC-12 initially had the fuel-filler in the 'trunk' (which was of course up front, since the Delorean was a mid-engine car), and the whole lid had to be opened-up to fill the tank. Shortly into production though, they 'updated' the 'trunk lid' with a gas-flap door in the edge. So that could be an option for you too. I've considered some variation on this as well, likely utilizing a lockable 'flap' sourced from a motorcycle gas-tank or possibly an aviation application. This would let you potentially use a cheaper off-the-shelf cell without opening-up your luggage compartment for the world to see.

Hmm...I dunno. For me, I hate the idea of doing body work. (Look at Camaro) haha And I should rarely have dead bodies in the trunk to hide from prying eyes.

[Alxsmt]

I think I know what your talking about. Have the trunk lid go around it and have the filler basically attached to the body with a cut out in the trunk lid? I think thats actually a decent idea..

Hell I could just cut the box tube out and to round tube after the axle and make it fit. I dont know.. fuel safe never got back to be on the orientation but I've been too busy to really pursue it. I've made zero progress since the last post

[woody90gtz]

When does the new fuel tank come in?

[DOHC_tuner]

Skills! Way beyond my level......