El Camino project car

[FoMoJo]

Stick with what you've got.  It's right for the era.

[hotrodalex]

I want to move up to 17" eventually to have a better tire selection.

There's another set I like - American Racing Shelby wheels. I posted a picture of them a bunch of pages back. Classic style but heavy and expensive.

[hotrodalex]

Pro-touring.com gives some nice info on the all the suspension stuffs. Funny to read the different "sponsors" (vendors) give their spiel to try to get people to buy their stuff, too.

Those adjustable Jegs trailing arms look like they should also allow for a bit of articulation, which is an improvement over stock. They use heim joints, which most of the fancy expensive companies say aren't as good as their stuff, but if it works it works. I'm really just doing it to avoid bending the stock arms anyway.

[hotrodalex]

Was thinking about buying a whole new rear end with a posi, but that seems like a more expensive option, not to mention hard to find a good one that is nearby or can be shipped. And I don't want to wait forever, since I want to do all the rear end upgrades at once. So I'll just go check out my current rear end and find an Eaton posi to match it.

[Secret Chimp]

No, you need wheels that have way less offset than that. It doesn't look right to have wheels with no lip at all on an old car.


edit: le quote button master chief

[hotrodalex]

I'm assuming they would have more of a lip if I ordered them with less offset.

Got some L-channel aluminum and decent looking interior screws to re-engineer my speaker/subwoofer set up behind the seats. Right now it has an aluminum C-channel pop riveted to the shelf under the window. Works well, but with decent bass from the 6x9s the front part of the C rattles against the speaker mounting board. Tried putting some rope caulking between them to dampen the rattle, but it's not enough. So with the L-channel I can just screw the pieces together and hopefully eliminate that problem.

Also went to the fabric store to get some vinyl to cover it all, but it was $20-25 a yard. So that'd be over $50 to cover everything. F that noise. I should be able to find some black speaker carpeting for way less. Won't look quite as nice, but that's the fun of building a car while in college.

[hotrodalex]

Ordered 6 yards of carpeting from Parts Express, enough to cover my stuff and also do the trunk of my dad's Camaro. $50, same price as the vinyl for just my car would have been.

[Rupert]

Rubber washers, maybe.

[giant_mtb]

Ordered 6 yards of carpeting from Parts Express, enough to cover my stuff and also do the trunk of my dad's Camaro. $50, same price as the vinyl for just my car would have been.

Carpeting for...?

[hotrodalex]

Speaker box

[giant_mtb]

Speaker box

Nice.  Parts Express is da shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

[hotrodalex]

Didn't realize they were so close to me, too. Could have picked up the stuff if I really wanted to, they're just north of the city. Probably would have cost the same for gas as it was for shipping, though.

[giant_mtb]

...you live in Ohio??

[hotrodalex]

Technically Kentucky, but I'm right across the river from Cincinnati.

[giant_mtb]

Technically Kentucky, but I'm right across the river from Cincinnati.

Oh, I gotcha.

[Soup DeVille]

Technically Kentucky, but I'm right across the river from Cincinnati.

Florence, Y'all!

[hotrodalex]

Got that right!

[hotrodalex]

C-channel is out, L-channel is in. Removing the plastidip from the speaker boxes and then I'll glue the carpet on. The pieces for the 6x9s will need to be trimmed down a bit to allow for some clearance with the carpet, but that's not a big deal.

[hotrodalex]

Plastidip is a pain to get off primered wood. Kinda peels off but it'll take 10 days. So I got some goo-gone and a scraper instead.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Heat gun......

[hotrodalex]

Too late!

[hotrodalex]

Gettin there. Probably could have left it on but I didn't want it to peel somewhere down the road and cause issues.

[hotrodalex]

I'm also impressed with Goo Gone's ability to remove the plastidip while leaving the primer untouched.

[Rupert]

Goo Gone is pretty impressive stuff.

[hotrodalex]

The 6x9 panels peeled off pretty easily. Just need to do a little trimming so they'll fit with the carpet wrapped around them, then glue the carpet on.

[hotrodalex]

Got the 6x9 panels done. Just need to drill a few mounting holes but can't do that until I finish the sub box.



I'm basically a pro.

[giant_mtb]

Nice.

[hotrodalex]

Sub box is done, just need to put the woofer back in. Might mount it all back in the car tomorrow if it's not raining.

I'm deciding to forget about the posi for now, just gonna go ahead and get the new control arms and sway bar. Will still be doing one-wheel peels but the rear end will be much more settled in the autocross.

[hotrodalex]

Hellwig sway bars, 1 1/8" adjustable in the rear and 1 1/4" in the front. Current bar is 7/8" in the front so all around improvement.

Going with the Jegs branded tubular control arms. Too bad I'm not in school right now because I could easily build those myself, literally the same thing that I built for the SAE baja car last year, just a bit beefier for a car weighing 3,500 lbs instead of 400 lbs.

[hotrodalex]

This thing has been a huge PITA to put in today so if it still rattles I'm gonna light it on fire.