Thread: Project Sebring GT Spyder

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Originally Posted by 34_40

And I'm not certain, but you may have just jinxed things

Let's hope not! I think I knocked on wood when I said that!

Originally Posted by Hotrod46

Let's hope not! I think I knocked on wood when I said that!

Okay, well maybe we're safe.!? LOL

I realized just a couple of days before leaving to take the parts to the chrome shop that I had to add provisions for some sun visors that I bought from an online MG parts place. They are tinted Lexan and look like very proper British sports car parts.

I had to weld a small strip on the back of the upper windshield channel for the mounting screws. Of course, the welding caused channel to warp where the heat was even though it was clamped down. I had to apply some heat to the opposite side to shrink the metal and get it to straighten out. Luckily, that did the trick and it came out OK. I cropped out this pic to show where I had to shrink it. That is the blue marks just below the gutter.



In the pics, the visors still have the brown protective paper stuck to them. They are actually heavily tinted.









I just had to repost the picture of the original 100-6 frame. Mine is not an exact copy, but it's pretty darn close.

As you read this, the parts are at a chrome shop in Tennessee about a 7 hour drive from my house. After all the time I put into them, there was no way I would trust them to UPS or Fedex. Looks like 5-8 weeks before I can pick them up. I hope that doesn't turn into 10-16, but it's not like I don't have plenty of other work to do even if they did.

Oh boy my heart was sinking when I read that word... warp!

But you save the day, all's well and about to get better I think.

Thanks 34. Yeah, that was an "Oh, S#%^&" moment when I saw the bow. I was actually going to put it in my press and attempt to straighten it when I thought about trying to shrink the opposite side. I guess an old dog can learn new tricks!

The frame and sun visors really look right for the car, very well done!

Wow, great work on that frame. it sure looks nice. I bet it will look a lot better in 5-8 weeks though. Here's hoping it is only 5 weeks for ya.

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Based on the total lack of posts, I'm pretty sure most of you probably thought that I had given up on this project, but I haven't. Much has happened in the past months since the last update. I will be posting a bunch of pictures in the upcoming days in an effort to catch everyone up. I will try to keep the write-ups brief, but I will be glad to answer any questions. I have been forced to make several changes and here is a partial list and the explanation for them.

Some of the changes were because of the change to the 2 x 4 intake. I was forced to lower the engine for hood clearance and this required new motor mounts since the old ones weren't long enough to make the drop. The engine drop also caused problems with forward half of the exhaust and my decision lower the ride height because I realized that the car now sat too high for the new 15" wheels. This resulted in the pipes interfering with the rearend which resulted in scrapping nearly the rest of the exhaust.

Say what you will about me and my apparent quickness to make changes, but I want this car to be as right as I can make it, both in looks and performance. I suppose I could easily qualify as having some form of OCD when it comes to my builds. If it doesn't look or work right in my mind, I just won't ever be satisfied with it and it will nag at me until I fix it (in my mind at least). Plus, the fabrication and engineering is a big part of this hobby for me. I don't mind doing it if it makes the car better. In fact, I enjoy it.

The next thing that has happened is that my back problems seem to have worsened. I have a bad disk that occasionally presses on a nerve. This causes varying degrees of muscle spasms in my lower back that can be pretty debilitating when they are bad. Add that to the arthritis in my lower vertebrae that continues to stiffen my lower back and my progress in the shop sometimes drops to what I think is a snail's pace. Jobs that should only take a couple of hours take most of the day. I simply can't get in many positions that require me to bend at the waist unsupported and this constantly forces me to plan my tasks to allow me to stand or sit upright. Not always easy.

These back issues have also forced me to make changes to the car. I realized that I just wasn't going to be comfortable on the long trips we were planning for it. I had to have more leg room. This resulted in much rework of the area behind the seats because there was no more to be gained in the foot well area. My back may also force some more changes, but I haven't completely decided to make them yet.

There has been some bad luck, too. My LS engine block got some water in it at some time in it's past and ruined 3 cylinders. This was a very early block that could not be bored, only honed no more than .004. I had to find another block. No aluminum blocks could be found, so I had a 5.3 iron block bored to 5.7 specs. The rotating assembly in my engine was practically new and I wanted to reuse it. No one in my area would do it with a torque plate. This meant 2 fourteen hour round trips to the Gulf coast to get it done like I wanted it.

I also had the LT1 T56 converted to LS configuration. I had been told by several transmission people that mine couldn't be converted, but I found a company in Dallas, TX that actually pulled it off. This required 2 sixteen hour round trips to TX.

In addition to these changes, there were regular build things too. I'll start posting pictures ASAP. Hope ya'll are still interested.

Holy Cow ! I you sure had some stuff going on ! I know I'm not satisfied till I redo stuff at least twice lol Just curious, couldn't you have shipped the parts instead of the long trips? Maybe your like me and call them " vacation s "

Two important lines of thought there Mike.

Some of us have seen it, and I'm sad to admit there have been a couple times I've succumbed myself, where a guy just got impatient (or whatever) and convinced himself to live with something he was really not satisfied with. As crazy as it might seem to some, redoing something to "get it right" is almost always the thing to do for longer term satisfaction. No matter how wasteful it seems at times.

As for the back and arthritis issues I can't offer you much encouragement. As younger folk I suspect many of us would hear "the old guys" talk about these issues and not give it much thought or even found it mildly humorous. But then we get our turn if we hang in long enough. I find the loss of productivity, time wise mostly, frustrating, but it is what it is in the end. Adjust the expectations and keep on truckin'. Your arthritis comment reminded me of the other night when I was assembling something and had to take 5 or 6 shots at starting a nut on the end of a bolt...…………...might make a funny video. Gettin' old ain't for sissies, as they say.

Considering the weight and size, I decided to just deliver them myself. Also, I could get them there essentially overnight without the super high cost.

My wife did go with me on one of the trips to Texas and we spent the night, so I guess that qualifies as a mini vacation. I did stop by the Summit Racing store in Fort Worth. What a cool place for a gear head! I highly recommend it!

Sorry to hear of these troubles. I know firsthand the back issues, L-4 & L-5 for me. Had to have a discectomy so I could keep walking. Now I am so overly cautious about lifting / twisting / moving / working... it sometimes almost paralyses me.

More changes to the car.. of course we're interested!! Just been patiently waiting for you share an update or two.. many of us are also a bit anal when it comes to the building and what we expect or want it to look or perform like. It took me 12 years of putting it together and taking it apart just to put it back together with more changes... I really believe if the state of Mass. hadn't put up a deadline for these project cars to get titled - mine would still be in some state of assembly/disassembly! 8-)

Hope you can find relief soon, back pain is really a hidden suffering. You can look so normal on the outside and be a complete wreck on the inside. Take care of yourself.

Thanks for the words of support guys. I'm not anywhere close to giving up. Nothing to really be gained there. Staying active seems to help the flexibility. This is just a new phase in my life that I'm having to adjust to. Just damned frustrating.

I think when they called it "the GOLDEN years", they mistook the color of RUST for gold.

OK. Let's start this off with the new motor mounts and exhaust. I decided that if I was going to do this, I might as well make another improvement. The headers I was using dumped too close to the starter to suit me. It was one of those things I could have lived with, but now I didn't have to. I picked up a set of LS6 exhaust manifolds and a set of GTO motor mounts. The manifolds wouldn't fit before due to the mounts I was using. The manifolds are essentially cast steel Tri-Y headers with long merge collectors. They even have dividers internally to keep the runners seperated. The steel casting makes them nearly as smooth as tubing. I know they will support over 400 HP through cats, since that's what the LS6 put out. They'll probably do more with no cats. FWIW - I am considering a Lingenfelter cam and the tech I spoke with seemed to think my planned engine could make over 450 at the crank through these manifolds. They also have the advantage of well made OEM flange seals with a steel fire ring.





I used polyurethane biscuit type body mounts for cushions with the GTO pedestals. The frame mounts need a little more bracing when the engine comes out next.