The Shop Rag build thread

[fibertech]

We have a complete build thread on LS1tech.com, but thanks to P!ssBucket extorting big money to host pics, I decided to start a "light" version of it here using Imgur.

This is a father/son project that we have been working on for 4 years. My son Joe owns So-ILL Speed & Sound in Carlinville, IL, and once a week we do "shop night" to get personal projects on their feet. This started out as Joe's street car that he had swapped an LS 6.0 Liter into a few years ago. It was a nice starting point because it was far from a show queen but still solid enough to use. Long story short, a driver, wife, and two kids do not fit in a single bench seat. We are using his original swapped motor and trans for the drag car, but we have turned the wick up some.

Here is the basic run down.
ENGINE
LQ4 with katec rod bolts, melling oil pump, double roller timing set, comp mutha thumper cam, cnc'd ls3 heads, comp 918 springs, vic jr carb manifold, proform 850 carb, msd 6010 box, and edlebrock headers.

TRANS
turbo 400 with manual reverse valve body, trans brake, 5500 stall PTC torque converter, and a B&M ratchet shifter.

REAR END
12bolt, with strange axles, c-clip eliminators, spool, 4.33-1 gears

WHEELS AND TIRES
American Racing Salt Flat Specials 15x4 & 15x8 with 26" hoosier front runners and hoosier 28-10-15 slicks



If you are needing any LS engine work, or Chassis work from a simple roll bar to a full on frame and cage, shoot Joe a message at [email protected] or check him out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/so.illspeedandsound/






Joe is building this 272" Top Dragster for himself to compete in NHRA Div 3. Been a couple of years in the making because customers and life gets in the way.

[Deaf Bob]

Nice! Hope the dragster does not become obsolete before done... Well.. There is always nostalgia drags.
Please keep posting...

[fibertech]

Back to the quicky build thread. We loaded the car up to take it to the car wash for a quick hose down before we started assembling the drive train. We did a lot of Aluminum Oxide blasting on the body and that stuff gets EVERYWHERE.



Back at the shop, engine and trans in place.



Getting plumbing and electrical installed.

[fibertech]

Finished plumbing and electrical.











We have since changed to a billet fuel filter instead of this canister type. When cleaning it out for this year, we found the glue holding the metal top and bottom of the paper filter was disintegrating.

[fibertech]

When you are building a car like this, saving weight is part of it, so when you can incorporate parts it helps. We needed a way to support the radiator, and hold a puke tank as well.





After last year's tranny puking episode(s), we decided a catch can for it would be a good idea so I came up with this addition to mount it.





When you are planning to double (or more) the horsepower that the factory ever intended, it's a good idea to beef up the frame in critical spots. We boxed and braced where the upper and lower control arms connect. The patch on the frame where it kicks up is to support a rusted out portion of the frame. These frames are notorious for Mid-West Cancer.

[fibertech]

Since we needed to wire spark plugs for the Shop Rag and Joe's dragster, we bought a bulk roll of MSD cable and a bunch ends to build custom sets for each.





They are fairly easy to make with basic hand tools as long as you pay attention to what you are doing and make sure you have good crimps.



As Joe made each one, he checked resistance to make sure they met specs.

[fibertech]

We had to re-shape the wheel houses to fit a 10 inch wide slick. It is a good idea to seam seal the repair and give it a good layer of undercoating since it will be subjected to lots of water in the burnout box.

[fibertech]

Here is the pretty part of the wiring. Joe does a great job of this. He has been doing stereo work since he was about 16 in our home garage. This board holds the MSD box and all of the relays it takes to power the car. The second relay for the starter is a fail safe backup. The other relay mounted but not marked is a spare in case any other relay fails.



Installed for easy access so we can plug our laptop into the MSD box for tuning.



Just so you don't think Joe does EVERYTHING on the car, LOL, I built this switch box for easy control of all electrical.



The quick dis-connect switch is mounted so the push/pull rod is inside the quarter panel, and exits above the tail light.





The battery we use is actually a deep cycle unit designed for high end audio, but works great for our project. It is a sealed gel soaked mat style and I have abused one in my 1967 Nova street car for 12 years before it finally went tits up.



Joe made this quicky battery hold down mount.

[fibertech]

In more weight saving effort, we gutted the doors and all glass in the car. The Bayer company (yes the same one that makes aspirin) makes a generic version of Lexan (polycarbonite) called Makrolon, and it is half the price of Lexan brand name.

I smoothed the door tops where the glass would normally roll up through, and mounted aluminum angle to it so the window would have a place to mount across the bottom of the opening.



I then rough cut a piece of 1/8" Makrolon to size and bolted it into the door with button head stainless steel screws, flat washers, and aircraft nuts which made the glass conform to the door for easy mark up.





After it was marked out for final trim, I removed it and cut with a simple jig saw. I then turned it over and taped of everything but the outer 2 inches to painted flat black to give it a nice finished look when installed.



I did the same thing for the front and rear glass. To mark them for cut out, we mocked them up with cardboard them transferred them to 1/4 inch MDF for a permanent template. We then used the MDF template to make the final mark up.









[img]http://i.imgur.com/y4FU9LV.jpg[/img

[fibertech]

Joe Tig welded these windshield support brackets out of aluminum rod. They work exactly as intended at speed.



Windshield installed, we left the protective coating on as long as possible because even as tough as this stuff is, it will still scratch.



All glass in and looking good. Although we made our own, it has small gentle curves over all. If your ride has large compound curves I would recommend professionally made ones.

[DanStokes]

NICE work! And super happy that you posted here. I think PB and others are busily shooting themselves in the foot - they'll be sorry!

Wanna make a new rear window for my '85 S-10?

Dan

[fibertech]

I'm kinda old school and I love the custom stuff from the early days. I wanted to try my hand at engine turning. For the dash insert, I started with a scrap piece of aluminum and a Roloc pad.



That turned out OK so I cut out my insert and marked it up for the pattern.



Started in turning.



We had a friend of ours painted it with tail light tint to soften up the look and keep glare down.







Installed with gauges, I think it turned out pretty well for a low buck build.

[fibertech]

With a last minute thrash, we made it to LS Fest at Bowling Green last year. We had a blast as far as a father/son trip went. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and met some great people, but we had a lot to learn about the car.

Right out of the trailer, in an untested car first run netted an 11.50 @116 with rusty old Dad driving. It didn't help that the front end came up and I could feel it squirm to the right and I couldn't see where I was going so I chopped the throttle to settle it down. We ran in the Rumble Class so we couldn't use the trans break. The last time I drove a drag car was 1980 so it was going to take a little getting used to driving again.



Turns out the jetting was fat and we had WAY too much timing in it. Next pass netted an 11.28 @119. We were creeping up on it.



Third pass I hung on to the 1-2 shift too long and netted an 11.37 @ 119. Joe said he heard the rev-limiter for what seemed like 5 seconds, and he couldn't make the shift light come on any brighter, LOL.



Fourth pass I did everything about right except the reaction time and it netted us a 11.27 @ 119. It was encouraging because it backed up our time on the second pass. We were set for the 11.25 index.



Then came the Sunday Eliminations.



We felt good going into Sunday, except unknown to us, they put us in the 15 second index instead of the 11.25 index like we had posted on the window. Long story short, we got screwed because I did not bother to look at my dial in on the timing board and before Joe realized what was going on, I already launched at the light (with another horrible reaction time) and did not see until about half track that my dial in was way too slow so I hit the brakes but it was too late. I ran an 11.99 on a 15 second dial in. WAH-wah!

[fibertech]

A couple of weeks after LS Fest, we went to Gateway for a Wednesday night test and tune.

Again, right out of the trailer with me driving, everything was left the way it was in Bowling Green except we set the launch RPM at 2500 and used the trans break. I did everything right and got a 11.01 @ 122.



Second pass was Joe's first time EVER driving a drag car. With the set the launch RPM at 3000 this time, he wasn't ready for the horizon disappearing act and chopped the throttle to settle it down but still legged it out to an 11.49 @ 121. Pretty good showing for a rookie!



Third pass, I took the wheel again with the launch RPM at 3500, I let go of the trans break and the car headed for the right wall. I got out of the throttle and got it straightened out and got a 11.77 @103.



I wasn't sure if there was something wrong with the car or I ran over some liquid so Joe took it out for the fourth pass in the other lane and it did the same thing to him. Also the trans puked a little fluid on the passenger header and it looked like he was fogging for mosquitoes when he got out of it. He carded an 11.15 @122 which was good for pedaling the car at about 50 foot. After that we decided to take our race car home while we still had it in one piece.

[fibertech]

Stay Tooned, we are preparing for LS Fest 2017, and yes it will be another thrash....