Well I just got back from Las Vegas and was greeted at work by an envelope from Ken's with more restoration progress pictures. I've received 3 updates since the last post so I needed to get the pictures up. It's snowing like crazy outside right now and supposed to snow throughout the night and well into tomorrow. I like the way the car is progressing, should be done and ready to enjoy just as Spring hits!
Anyway, here are 85 new pictures...
Big GN Update For February!
I think the first one is the last one of the previous set. Opps... The next set of pictures is the setup and painting of the fenders, doors, and hood, plus a few pieces of trim. One of my favorites is TJ taking a picture of himself in the hood after the paint was done. Keep in mind this is before any wet-sanding of buffing.
As you can see the paint looks amazing and the pictures do NOT show it justice.
The few pictures of the fender vents are just to show how they fabbed some little tabs on them to hold them in. I guess most guys just use double-stick tape but I think they did a little better than that :)
We decided to scrap the knock gauge and add in a fuel pressure gauge instead to the A-pillar.
The next picture is my radiator being packed up. Ken's sent it out to have a custom mount welded on for some extremely high flow Spal fans (not the ones pictured before, I have to sell those)... actually I have a ton of extra stuff to sell... lol. Since these pictures were a few weeks old, the radiator is probably back to Ken's by now...
The next few pictures is some straightening and welding of a few trim pieces.
My door jamb vents were in crappy shape and since everything else on the car is new, why not get new ones too... pictured with those is a set of Taylor plug wire separators.
Next picture is the remote tranny cooler and fittings, followed by the completed tranny pan.
Next few pictures are more parts, catalytic converter mount, pickup, shifter c-clip, cat, etc.
My original dash moulding had some holes in it and some small cracks so I picked up a GM NOS one. It's so pretty .... Next is a turbo cover, and the double-pumper fuel system.
The next set of pictures is the painting of all of the trim. Who knew the car had so much damn trim!!!!
Each piece meticulously painted, wet-sanded, buffed, etc.
The last pictures of the set kind of look like a Grand National don't you think?!?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
GN Update for New Year
Just a quick update and a bunch of pictures from Ken's Klassics.
Grand National New Year Update
The first bunch of pictures is a bunch of parts. The first picture is of the coil pack bracket and mount, freshly powdercoated. The next is a new belt tensioner, then a radiator cap, valve cover breathers, Optima Red Top battery, then some more stainless lines.
The next set is of my new Champion intake. Fully ported and polished, it's quite the nice piece. Then there are some more of the stainless fuel lines, sun visors, battery mount, heater hoses and valve, a map light, and shifter console.
The next few pictures are a test-fit of the rear wheel and then of the Nitto Invo tires I chose.
A turbo pipe adapter, few clamps, air filter, and a remote oil cooler (that we're not going to use) follow. The wrapped pipe is a 4" polished aluminum RJC intake pipe.
The next group of pictures is of the stereo equipment I got. Didn't go crazy, just an Alpine deck and some nice Boston component fronts and regular rears.
The front left fender has been a real problem to find one nice enough for this restoration. The original fender from the car had been in an accident and wasn't very straight. The fender from the parts car had been torched. I've been buying a ton of parts from Brian Weaver (Gbodyparts) and asked him to find me a nice fender. He had a good one but someone accidentally shipped it to Utah instead of Wisconsin, so somewhere between North Carolina, Utah, then back to NC, then to Wisconsin, it was damaged a little in shipping. Brian made it right on the pricing and Ken's made it right with their impeccable body work.
THe next set is the front of the car and doors mocked up before primer and paint. The interior is pretty much completed at this point too.
The next few pictures are of the custom downpipe, powdercoated pedals, master cylinder mount, sun visor mounts, the Tial wastegate, and then the AMS-1000 boost controller. The next pictures are of the remaining unpainted body parts primed and ready to paint. They were scheduled to be painted on Friday.
The next 3 pictures are of some parts that Ken's sent to a Zinc plater. The next 2 are the current state of the engine compartment. Things are just mocked up and nothing has been clamped down. We decided to go back to a rebuilt powermaster system for the brakes... the new unit is pictured next. The last picture is the parts back from the Zinc plater. Makes a huge difference.
We're just a few fuel fittings, a trans pan, trans cooler, catalytic converter, and a few other parts away from starting this beast. Those said parts have been ordered and should be delivered soon.
Grand National New Year Update
The first bunch of pictures is a bunch of parts. The first picture is of the coil pack bracket and mount, freshly powdercoated. The next is a new belt tensioner, then a radiator cap, valve cover breathers, Optima Red Top battery, then some more stainless lines.
The next set is of my new Champion intake. Fully ported and polished, it's quite the nice piece. Then there are some more of the stainless fuel lines, sun visors, battery mount, heater hoses and valve, a map light, and shifter console.
The next few pictures are a test-fit of the rear wheel and then of the Nitto Invo tires I chose.
A turbo pipe adapter, few clamps, air filter, and a remote oil cooler (that we're not going to use) follow. The wrapped pipe is a 4" polished aluminum RJC intake pipe.
The next group of pictures is of the stereo equipment I got. Didn't go crazy, just an Alpine deck and some nice Boston component fronts and regular rears.
The front left fender has been a real problem to find one nice enough for this restoration. The original fender from the car had been in an accident and wasn't very straight. The fender from the parts car had been torched. I've been buying a ton of parts from Brian Weaver (Gbodyparts) and asked him to find me a nice fender. He had a good one but someone accidentally shipped it to Utah instead of Wisconsin, so somewhere between North Carolina, Utah, then back to NC, then to Wisconsin, it was damaged a little in shipping. Brian made it right on the pricing and Ken's made it right with their impeccable body work.
THe next set is the front of the car and doors mocked up before primer and paint. The interior is pretty much completed at this point too.
The next few pictures are of the custom downpipe, powdercoated pedals, master cylinder mount, sun visor mounts, the Tial wastegate, and then the AMS-1000 boost controller. The next pictures are of the remaining unpainted body parts primed and ready to paint. They were scheduled to be painted on Friday.
The next 3 pictures are of some parts that Ken's sent to a Zinc plater. The next 2 are the current state of the engine compartment. Things are just mocked up and nothing has been clamped down. We decided to go back to a rebuilt powermaster system for the brakes... the new unit is pictured next. The last picture is the parts back from the Zinc plater. Makes a huge difference.
We're just a few fuel fittings, a trans pan, trans cooler, catalytic converter, and a few other parts away from starting this beast. Those said parts have been ordered and should be delivered soon.
Monday, December 14, 2009
A Small GN Update
Just a little update for today. With the holidays and the blizzards there isn't a huge amount to update on... plus we're waiting for a few key components to move forward.
The first pic in this set is of a stainless bracket for the detent cable, the next pic is spark plugs and 10mm Taylor plug wires. The next pic is new "bumperettes" the first thing that gets hit on the front bumpers.
The next series of pictures is of parts for my braking system.
The next pic is of some of the stainless fuel lines I ordered. All of the coolant lines and fuel lines are being replaced with stainless variants.
The next few pics are of the inner fenders being finished. They look awesome.
The next 2 are of the custom driveshaft I ordered for the car. It's from Denny's and it's a beast. It's their 3.5-inch "nitrous-ready" shaft but in my case will be "boost-ready" :)
THe next pic is the wiring nightmare that Ken's pulled out of the dash. There was a Greddy boost controller and some intricate alarm system (with antennas?!?) that was all pulled out. The wiring harnesses were returned to original condition.
The last few pictures are the start of the interior. The headliner, carpet, steering wheel, etc, are all new. The seats and stuff will be cleaned up but they wanted to get everything in place to make sure I had it.
I didn't have a map/dome light so I ordered that, and the shifter panel had a few holes in it but luckily they're pretty common so also pretty cheap.
GN December Update
The first pic in this set is of a stainless bracket for the detent cable, the next pic is spark plugs and 10mm Taylor plug wires. The next pic is new "bumperettes" the first thing that gets hit on the front bumpers.
The next series of pictures is of parts for my braking system.
The next pic is of some of the stainless fuel lines I ordered. All of the coolant lines and fuel lines are being replaced with stainless variants.
The next few pics are of the inner fenders being finished. They look awesome.
The next 2 are of the custom driveshaft I ordered for the car. It's from Denny's and it's a beast. It's their 3.5-inch "nitrous-ready" shaft but in my case will be "boost-ready" :)
THe next pic is the wiring nightmare that Ken's pulled out of the dash. There was a Greddy boost controller and some intricate alarm system (with antennas?!?) that was all pulled out. The wiring harnesses were returned to original condition.
The last few pictures are the start of the interior. The headliner, carpet, steering wheel, etc, are all new. The seats and stuff will be cleaned up but they wanted to get everything in place to make sure I had it.
I didn't have a map/dome light so I ordered that, and the shifter panel had a few holes in it but luckily they're pretty common so also pretty cheap.
GN December Update
Saturday, December 5, 2009
November Update (what they did in November...)
The car is really coming along and I've been ordering some of the final touches on the car (interior pieces, battery, etc).
The entire driveline is mounted, the engine, transmission, driveshaft, etc. is all ready to go. The intercooler, radiator, etc is also mounted. The turbo is mocked up on the engine but they did run into a snag. I had ordered a downpipe with external wastegate but it hit my headers and the frame. I have real ATR stainless headers and ATR stainless exhaust for the car, and unfortunately ATR is no longer in business so their products are becoming increasingly rare. The downpipe I bought ended up being a Chinese product with a cheap wastegate anyway. Some of the trusted vendors out there sell some real crap and offer little to no help.
So I had to find another company to make me a downpipe for my situation. With this downpipe I also had them put an oxygen sensor bung on it (for the FAST engine control system) a Tial wastegate, and I'll be using an AMS boost controller.
My wheels came in from CCW and they look spectacular.
This update shows the Spal cooling fans and then some of the front-end components being painted.
The next few pictures are the guys mounting the engine. You can see a few of Ken's other projects in the background.
After the pictures of the door hinges being painted is the pictures of the hood. The original hood I had must have got bent up during one of the times it was moved over the years or something because it didn't line up at all with the header panel. I found a guy that I bought another hood from. He ran a body shop and said that the hood was pretty much perfect and ready to go. Needless to say the pictures following show the massive amount of junk that was used to make it look good and how bad some people are at body work.
The bumpers are shown in the next few pictures. They were bumpers from the parts Regal. Pretty much every person I ever talked to said that you can't use the Chrome bumpers and turn the black. Well Ken's did and they look absolutely awesome. The bumpers were sent off to be de-chromed and then finished at Ken's.
Next few pictures are of the stainless fuel lines, stainless oil coolant lines, etc. Any lines in the car are being replaced with stainless steel lines.
The next few are of the complete set of GM NOS Emblems I found from a guy on the forums.
The next few pictures are of the FAST engine/fuel management system that I got from Hartline. It was put on someone's car but never ran. I'm not sure if he didn't pay his bills or what happened but I got a good deal since it wasn't "new". All of the needed Caspar's harnesses and everything else is in the boxes. It also came with a data logger so you don't always have to have a laptop in the car to log data.
The front dash panel was cracked a bit and pretty gross so I picked up a new one.
The next few pics are of the deep tranny pan I bought. It ended up being a prototype that was shipped to me on accident. It's on it's way back and the correct one is on the way :)
The next pics are pretty close to the current condition of the car. The trunk lid has been painted and mounted and the back end of the car is pretty much ready to go. The doors have been hung and are ready for paint. The front fenders were mocked up. The passenger side fender was a NOS fender and is perfect but the driver's side must have been in a wreck at some point. It was about 5 pounds heavier than the other side and didn't line up right. The fender from the Regal parts car wasn't acceptable either so I had to get another one on the way.
The windshield was replaced and looks great.
I'm starting to see the end of this project in sight, which is a little disappointing. I really love this whole process and I'm sure this isn't the last car that I'll have Ken's build. Most of his customers are repeat business and I know why.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Small Update on the GN
Here is the latest update from the restoration company. The car is really coming along.
The first pictures are of the front fenders down to bare metal. You can see how one already has the GNX style fender vent cut out. The other one still has to be cut.
The next pictures are front and rear shocks. I went with Bilstein because of their reputation and honestly, their availability. A lot of other shocks I was looking at had lead times of months.
Next few pictures are of headliner clips and the driveshaft loop. Next few is some pink stuff on the doors and fenders. Notice that the other fender vent has been cut.
Next pic is a teaser of the car being wetsanded/polished.
The next few are just some parts I ordered. All NOS GM. Cam sensor, Coil pack, and various other sensors.
The next few are of "Skinny" (one of the shop guys) working on the paint of the car. They actually sent me a bunch of pictures by mistake of some of the '57 Chevy's their working on, and one of them snuck into this gallery.
Then to finish up, a few pictures of the car outside after preliminary wetsanding and polishing.
The paint will be absolutely stunning when it's done. This restoration company has won hundreds of awards for their PPG-Certified restorations over the years.
And don't worry about the wheels/tires. I have ordered a set of CCW LM20's. They're custom wheels, the same brand as on my Z06. They will have anodized black centers and polished lips. 4" lip in the back. Badass :P
Frame Assembly, Paint, and Parts
Quite a huge update on this DVD of pictures from the restoration company.
The first pictures are of the rear end and rear end parts being primered and painted. The next few pictures are preparation of the random plastic pieces being worked. Other various parts of the car drying after paint are next.
The next few pictures show how they finished the tub of the car. They used a coating similar to truck bed-liner. It's super strong, and looks awesome in person.
The next group of pictures show a few stages of completion in the installation of all of the suspension, brake, and other components on the now finished frame. The also redid all of the brake lines and things like that.
It's like a work of art in person.
Next pictures are of the doors and hood being stripped and readied for paint. The work on the hood was actually a waste since this hood is warped pretty bad. I'm picking up a new one next weekend.
New bumper strips were ordered and that is the next picture after the inner fender pic.
The shell of the car was painted and some pictures of it the next day outside follow. This is before any polishing or wet-sanding of course.
The next set of pictures is a huge load of parts that were delivered.
The first 4 are stainless tanks for power steering fluid, coolant overflow, and washer fluid. The next few are trunk carpeting and underhood carpeting.
The next few are of the intercooler. It's a PTE front mount. It's been powdercoated gloss black.
After that, a picture of the transmission mounts, custom fabricated.
One of the dipsticks I ordered came broken... replacement on the way.
The next picture is the radiator. It's a Charged Air Systems (CAS) custom piece. Polished and clear powdercoated.
Next pic is an NOS grille emblem. Walbro fuel pump is next, and the next few are various wiring harnesses from Caspars.
The next few is of the Razor's Alky kit, dual nozzle, that is going in the car.
My favorite piece so far is in the next pictures. The PTE Billet Dual Ball Bearing turbo. Should create some serious horsepower.
Next up is some beautiful ARP Stainless Steel headers, custom coated in Ceramique chrome.
Next few pics are a loaner intake that we'll be robbing some parts from (fuel rails, vacuum lines, etc)... New air conditioner compressor and condenser are next. After that is the turbo-saver which relocates the oil filter and feeds fresh oil to the turbo constantly. The next picture is the turbo oil return line that goes back into the block.
The set ends with the custom coated intercooler piping, the computer, turbo oil lines, ARP stainless intake bolts, and the new rear end cover.
Finishing the Frame and New Suspension Parts
The next set of pictures is the restoration company prepping the frame and finishing it. They sandblasted it to remove any surface rust and then primered it.
The next few pictures are of the suspension components that I chose to put on the car.
After that are some pictures of the sad condition of the fuel lines and sending unit. I purchased a brand new fuel tank, sending units, gas lines, etc. A new high-performance Walbro pump will be used with a Caspar's Electronics "Hot-wire" kit that bumps the fuel pump wiring to a much higher gauge.
The next pictures are why we decided to replace the frame. You can see it has some serious problems in it and in a restoration of this quality there's no way they wanted to use it.
There are a few pictures of the rear end and then the frame being painted. The last pictures are the frames, new and old, next to each other for transplant.
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