The DisAstre project

[SuperBuickGuy]

Ain't no way that it will pass for a factory piece with those body gaps....Awesome!

Fortunately, with most H-platform cars, the gaps depend on whether the ground is level, if you're accelerating, braking, or if one side of the car is warmer then the other

[Hoffbug]

Fortunately, with most H-platform cars, the gaps depend on whether the ground is level, if you're accelerating, braking, or if one side of the car is warmer then the other

Thank God for subframe connectors.

[Hoffbug]

Did a little research yesterday for the brake system on the DisAstre...
I found some inexpensive parking brake cables that should work and ordered a Wilwood master cylinder and adjustable proportioning valve combination.. Since the brake cylinders and pistons I installed are now the equivalent to 92 S-10 Blazer.. I settled on a 15/16th bore master cylinder which is basically the same size as the 24MM S-10 Master cylinder..
I think I even found a Threaded eyelet tip to make the rod mate up perfect to the Vega brake pedal. Just need to verify the thread size.

[Hoffbug]

I finished putting the new foam on the control doors for the heater controls on the DisAstre.. it's one of those weird jobs where you clean and paint everything and then you use this really sloppy glue that you're never sure is going to hold up.

[silver_bullet]

A roll of the dice at best....wishing you the best of luck....just give the glue as much set time as you can....

[Hoffbug]

So what happens when you try to adapt an engine made in 1963 to a transmission made in 1982? Sometimes nothing. But in the case of mixing brands or engine styles you will often need an adapter plate.

Adapter plates range from stuff people hacked together in their backyards ,to super high-end billet kits that include everything that you'll need and cost into the $1000 range

I purchased mine from Kennedy engineered products who specialize in Volkswagen swaps and sand drag buggies. The kit was pretty budget, but like any of these adapters I would suggest you have somebody put it on an indexer and make sure the dowels are on Center.
I had CedarMachine service check mine while the block was there... Ron does all of my machine work.
As expected it was off and he made some adjustments to make it dead on Center.
I had to do a little grinding and clearancing of some other areas (starter drive and ring gear) but it's all ready to go now.

[DanStokes]

Excellent! I used the TH200 from the Vega with good results - thought I DID worry about it being strong enough. I had several TH200s so I figured I could swap it out in the event of failure but it worked OK at my power levels.

Dan

[Hoffbug]

I didn't like the looks of what oozed out of the torque converter so I sent it in to BTE for an inspection and freshen.... I'll post a pic of my Billet battery tray I got for Christmas in the meantime.

[DanStokes]

CNC machining sure makes pretty patterns.

Dan

[Hoffbug]

Made some progress .. I Butchered the K-member instead of cutting up the oil pan.. This was a sweet little tubular K-Member made By Justin Kill. I really didnt want to do it but things were just too tight in there...

[Hoffbug]

I went a different route on the converter. I purchased a 3600 stall 9.5" lockup from FTI in Florida... I finally got the engine and trans in as a unit.. I didnt get the setback I would have liked so Its back to the drawing board on the cooling fans for the little radiator. Not big on pusher fans... But that might be my only option short of full scale butchery or a mechanical fan.

I have a friend helping out with the fabrication of the transmission mount and torque arm. He does this for a living and is far better that Ill ever be. Once that is done I can move forward on a lot of other stuff.

[Hoffbug]

I picked up a little 110 amp alternator... Should look good in there with the ribbed belt drive.

Ive had a rough Feb and March. My ex-wife passed away from pancreatic cance ron Feb 6th and my older brother from lung cancer March 1st... Hoping thats it for a few years. Its nice to have the garage to escape to... But with 2 young adult kids now depending solely on me I cant run too far.

[silver_bullet]

Sorry to hear of your run of bad luck.... things will get better! this place is a great support group, so hang in there! Looks like you should have plenty of room for putting that K-member back together even stronger than originally designed!

[Hoffbug]

At 7PM last night my daughter Alli had someone run a stop sign and drive right out into traffic at 30MPH.. Alli was doing 50 on the thoroughfare but managed to scrub off some speed before the collision.. She banged her knee up on the dash and got some belt rash but is otherwise OK... No airbag deployment

I think her Explorer is totaled.. Frame is tweaked for sure... The other car that ran the stop-sign looks worse.

~ The Fun never stops.

[silver_bullet]

I am very glad that only the car was severely damaged... could have been much worse! Hang in there!