Rebuilding LemonWedge.

Same here just as DVW. Scratched built the trans tunnel out of found metal out of a metal shop in the Navy Yard. bent it over some barrels and hammered it into shape to clear the engine and trans setback.
LW might have an opportunity to really get some good weight distribution not only with weight loss itself, but moving the drivetrain rearward.
I moved my mill back almost 4" inches. Short driveshaft now.

dvw said:

I ran gaskets on the plate on my previous car. After a while they would leak. This car has used Ultra Grey with no gaskets for 13 years, zero leaks. No mid plate in mine. Same trans case and tail housing (1965) since the day it was built . Snout bars outside the engine compartment have two good points. More clearance in the engine compartment, you can tie into the shock towers.. Mine actually are in and out. It was a lot of work as the foward portion of the inner fenders had to be removed and fabbed. Came up with a trick to weld the snout bars to the front hoop. Hole saw the A piller with a 4" hole. Weld the bars, weld the cutout back into the hole. The dash bar is under the dash. Looks better, supports the column and you knees have more room. I have to say every time I see Mikes car I wish I could get to that level. Mines functional, his is like it was done By Dave Kindig

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You guys both have some serious skills. I wholeheartedly agree that Mikes work is like jewelry. Your work and your car take a back seat to none however Doug. The workmanship evident in both of your cars is inspiring. We are lucky to have both of you here to share ideas and experience.

I’ll be mocking up the snout bars real soon. I’m leaning toward running them in the engine compartment above the inner fender “shelf” then down to the frame as tight to the sheetmetal as possible. The other option is outside, in the fenderwell. Can a bar be run down to the outer face of the frame and stay clear of the tires full articulation here? (Perhaps this is why you passed to the inside here, Doug?).

Along thes lines…. I got a text today from my body guy. He ran across a great opportunity on a mandrel tubing bender and pulled the trigger. Perfect timing for my project! He’s excited that we’ll be able to tackle this project together.

dvw said:

The trans tunnel. Cut th.e hole leaving the throttle pedal mount and the stock tunnel are from the torsion bar cross member rearward. It's roughly overall a 2" larger radius than the stock tunnel. Didn't have a large enough piece of metal. Just welded two pieces together that were laying around and metal finished them. Took the oversized piece of sheet metal and bowed it over the grandkids pedal car. stuffed it up in the hole with a 2.x4 and a jck. Started tack welding from the top down moving the jack as it was welded. Once it was all tacked the excess was trimmed. Welded it solid on the interior side, then on the underside. Then metal finished.
Doug

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This looks like time well spent. Fighting with the blanket…. Room to move it all rearward. Just more room in general in a real tight spot on these cars…. Maybe best of all, my rookie fabricating skills would be fully concealed. I’m going to give this some serious thought.
Define “metal finished” in detail please, Doug.

I really enjoyed following your build. It’s sad to see something so awesome wounded. I’m gonna follow this time to.

LemonWedge said:

This looks like time well spent. Fighting with the blanket…. Room to move it all rearward. Just more room in general in a real tight spot on these cars…. Maybe best of all, my rookie fabricating skills would be fully concealed. I’m going to give this some serious thought.
Define “metal finished” in detail please, Doug.

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Metal finished is just basically finished welds. Thats why when the tunnel was welded in, it was welded on both sides to add more thickness before grinding. Surely not a necessity, just looks nicer. Don't be afraid to do the tunnel. It was quite easy. The snount bars can stay in the wheel well. We've done them that way. You can cut the bar at a sharp angle at the front then weld to the outside of the rail. Or cut a piece of sqaure tube in half at 45 degrees. Weld that piece to the side of the rail and land the tube on top of it. Mine was done the way it was simply because I liked the way it looked. It does land directly above the front K frame bolt area. Was going to attach the motor plate to it as well. That would've braced the shock towers left to right. I just got lazy. Don't be afraid to fab. It's easier than you think. I had never done a lot of the things i did before. If you don't like it, just start over and make it better. The part that actually took the most time was fitting and bend the cage. I had never bent anything besides fuel and brake lines in my life. The part that was way easyier than anticipated was stretching/rust repair of the 1/4 panels. There were no good parts available so I made them.
Doug

I’ve tackled the minitub project all by myself. That was a LOT of work, but I was in and out of it in one off-season. The rollbar I had a friend do the bending off of my templates. I did all the fitting, fish mouth cutting, install and welding myself. So I’m not completely without experience. It’s just not something I think of myself as an expert in. I do really enjoy the satisfaction of knowing I built this car. Many of my race-friends farm stuff out to local guys that specialize in these things. That’s fine I suppose, I’m a do-it-yourself guy.
Some pics from the minitub surgury:

Looks great and the DIY approach rocks. Did that too on my 65.
When I was fitting up the spring boxes on my 65, I put a square across the old mount and to the outside wall of the inner rail to make sure all was kosher. It was. Then I decided to get out my 7' level to use as a long straight edge and put it on the inside wall of the boxes to make sure where the back end of the spring's should be in the rail. Nope. It was lining up with the old shackle tube. Good thing I hadn't welded it together at that point. With a C- clamp I pulled to box over till the straight edge landed where it needed to be. Tacked, made sure of the alignment, then welded fully. In the picture, you can see where the level was compared to the scissor jack pad where it needed to be.