Added another car to the garage. 67 Nova

[Aukai]

The car is going to be in the low 3K for weight, may need to set the rev limiter a tad low for the street if my wife is driving.
I'm going to start looking for the tail stock die holder, that was a frustrating event.....

 

[thomas s]

Aukai, The car is coming along great. you will be very happy with a tail stock die holder.

 

[Cadillac]

A holder is nice but you can always use the tailstock itself for alignment. Stock in chuck place the die on the end of stock then run your tailstock up to the die sandwiching the die between tailstock and stock. Use the die handle/holder to spin while advancing the tailstock to keep straight.

 

[Aukai]

Trying to look for a setup right now. Looking for something of good quality, and I do not have any round dies, so I'll need good ones of those too.

 

[mikey]

Good HSS split button dies (the round kind with a slit through the body) are getting harder to find at a good price. Used to be you could readily buy a really nice set from Ralmike's for a decent price. Now I don't know who makes them anymore. If you can find them, though, then a tailstock die holder is simple to make on your lathe, Mike.

 

[Aukai]

The 67 has a very tight trans tunnel, and I want to put in a big transmission. Some heating, and hammering were called upon to make the necessary adjustments. I could not get the transmission even close to the bell housing coming up from underneath. Here are some pictures, the trans cross member needs to be moved back around 6", next project. I cut the shifter hole with a nibbler. The swarf from that is horrendous, and there is a shot of the pick up tool too. When the trans comes back out after mock up, I'll smooth out the tunnel to make it look better.

 

[Aukai]

The trans cross member has to move back about 3" actually, the factory frame mount is spot welded in so many places I'm not going to mess with it. So I'm going to make stubs to the frame, and weld them in. The cross member is an odd width, so I'm cutting a 2.5x2.5 box tubing down, then half it, notch it to fit the frame, and cross member, then weld it up. Yeah like it's that easy......

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[Aukai]

Got a little done today, this is the stub that will weld to the frame, the "flap/tab" will get pulled down, and welded across the bottom of the frame. SO across for the tab, up the frame in the corners, and welded to the floor pan. Will this be strong enough? If need be I can cut down the floor pan sides, and weld another flat with a tab extending out like the frame side to extend the floor pan weld out farther. I hope this makes sense...

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[Aukai]

The frame stubs are done, now I need to notch the cross member to clear the belly of the Richmond 5 spd transmission, the tail shaft housing is short. The top of the mount will go through the floor pan(tight fit), and be welded top, and bottom

 

[Aukai]

Today's action, working on the cross member, it's mocked up anyway. Did a rough cut with a saw, then put it on the mill to finish it, welded the insert, then lengthened the slotted trans mount holes. Did a rough clean up of the frame, and it all went in and seems to fit. I will need a shorter trans mount I feel. Looks like the 3" exhaust will fit too, hoping anyway....