Frame off restoration kind of.

[Sam Colalillo]

TSM car in the making.

I am starting this thread so I can publicly thank all of my friends who are helping me with this project. I started this over a year ago. My friend Pat (QKRNYRS) came over and we tore the interior out of the car. We left the A plastic, steering wheel, and dash in place. Door panels were also left installed so the roll bar could be made to clear them.

Wow how the originals plans of just taking the car to have a six point roll bar welded in changed. Originally the goal was to build a high ten second car. It is amazing at how all of my friends have stepped up to help conquer this mission. The car would be no where near were it is today with out their help.

Next the body came off the car. I did this part by my self, I was determined to get rolling on this project.

 

[KevinB]

Nice Sam!! Will it be ready for BG this year?

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Nice Sam!! Will it be ready for BG this year?

That is what I am shooting for.

Here is a picture of what it looked like last year during bowling green. I wish I had some close ups of the floor. It had several holes in it. This is where my friend Scott (UR50SLO) came and lended his skills. He hand made floor pans for the drivers side, several patch panels for the floor and welded them all in.

Thanks Scott for all your help.

 

[LukeC]

down the same path......

Hi Sam- i'm in the process of doing a frame off resto on my 87 GN. The car sat for 14 year in one location and needs work, mostly cleanup and TLC (32,000 miles on the clock) Can you post how you attacked the floor pans. The r/s window leaked and started to rust out the rear pans. Have a look, other then that the car is real solid.


.Mac Web Gallery

And maybe some insight on how you pulled the body off the chassis.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

I already had the engine and transmission pulled out of the car.

Gas tank was out of the car.

The rear end was out because of modifications that were being performed to it. (This made the height required to lift the body less, because I slid the chassis straight out from under it)

Disconnect Brake lines from the booster. Disconnect the brake warning switch lead at the proportioning valve.

Disconnect parking brake cable

Disconnect the steering column shaft from the steering gear box

Removed the front and rear bumpers

Disconnect speedometer cable from transmission cross member

Remove ALL body bolts (radiator core support, cowl, mid frame, forward of rear wheel, rear of rear wheel, rear corners of frame) I had to cut the top of the floor out in some areas, because the weld nut broke loose and I couldn’t get the bolts out. I had to grind the weld nut off the bolt and then the bolt dropped out.



Here is how I got the body off.

I cut 2x6 boards long enough to fit parallel to the frame rail in between the transmission cross-member and the and where the lower control arms mount to the frame. I used these boards to distribute the weight onto a floor jack. I used two floor jacks and these two boards. I placed one floor jack and one board under each side of the car. Raised the body up above the frame and slid some 4x4’s under the body. The 4x4’s are now sitting on top of the frame rail. Next I lowered the floor jacks down. Now the body is setting on the 4x4's.

Then I positioned the 2x6’s used earlier into a new position under the 4x4. The 2x6’s were placed on the out board side of the car parallel to the rocker panel and perpendicular to the 4x4. Two floor jacks, one on each side was slid under each 2x6 and the car is raised up. Then I put a jack stand under each end of the 4x4.
(see picture below)

Rolled the chassis out.


The floor pan fixes I left completely up to Scott. Don’t have any good photos but he hand made everything, even the rear body cross member which was rotted by each of the body mount bushing in front of the rear wheels. Scott was a huge help. Before his artwork was performed the body was mostly held to the chassis by the gravitational pull of the earth.

 

[LukeC]

thank you so much

keep it going, i hope to be able to drive it before I'm in the ground.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Next step was to start taking the chassis the rest of the way apart, and fix the body mount holes in the frame. Some of these holes rusted to a size large enough to swallow a bushing.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Next is when my friend Chris (BUICK CAMARO) stepped into lend a helping hand. The huge holes in the frame were fixed. He welded in extra gussets. We notched the frame rail. He added extra gussetts to the inside of the frame before welding the cut section of the frame back in. HR parts & Stuff lower control arm reinforcement were welded in place. Chris has several hours into this chassis and he was a humongus help.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Next some more friends are recruited to help flip the frame over and set it up on stands so I can paint it. Shane (1bad85GN), Tim (UnderdogGN), Jason (AffordableGN), and myself get it set into place for epoxy primer and paint. At this point Tim tells me if I need any help with any thing don’t be afraid to call. I bet he is really regretting that statement.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Now the frame is painted and front Suspension is installed, I start thinking of other things I should have had Chris weld to it. I get a hold of him, and he quickly responds to help do some more welding. At this point he has already boxed in the frame rails, and helped with all the other frame medications mentioned earlier. I want to add some more bracing to the rear of the car because of the frame notching we did. I also want to add a tow hook to the front.

After Chris is done my friend Pat and I bolt a spare 109 block to my Turbo 400 and set it into the chassis. Next I ran all the fuel lines, and confirmed I would not need to notch the frame for the DLS oil pump.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Rear suspension

Next a trip down to Moser Engineering to have the axle bearing ends cut off and new ones welded onto the housing. Get it back home and have Chris weld the LPW reinforment braces to the rear end. Upper and lower control arms from HR parts and stuff is bolted into place. Brake lines are routed and mounted. Time to put tires on. 15 x 10 rims are on the way, they will fit?

 

[tim87tr]

location?

What part of Indiana are you located? I've often thought of this type of project for my T-top GN I've owned 8 years. The progress looks great!

 

[Sam Colalillo]

I am about 40 miles west of Notre Dame.

This has been an exciting project, but it takes a lot of patience, and help from willing friends. I hope the final product is rewarding. My wife is going crazy wanting to drive her car.

Next step was to install the HR anti roll bar. Wow was that easy!!!

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Here are some picture of the modified fire wall. Scott thanks for the help welding thin metal again.

 

[DCVING 6]

Looks like the green DuPont self etching primer?

 

[Sam Colalillo]

cage

Wow!! good call that is exactly what it is. Next was a coat of filler primer, some sanding, then I sprayed a base coat of black down and followed it up with clear.

Set the body down onto the chasis next. A roll cage kit from Chris Alstons chassis works arrived. Now my my Friend Chris steps in and performs some tweeking to the bends on the tubes that came in the kit. We fit the cage tight to the roof of the car, and bent the door bars to fit nicely around the door panels. Next we tacked eveything into location. We raised the body up off the frame and Chris welded everything into place. Having the body raised up allowed him room to weld all around the bars near the roof and get into the bars which attach to the rame. Finally we lowered the body down and bolted it back up to the chassis.

Here are some photos.

 

[smoke20]

looking good. i just primed my x yesterday. 4 months till pinks. it will be close for me.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

looking good. i just primed my x yesterday. 4 months till pinks. it will be close for me.

Keep cracking away at that car. I am looking forward to seeing it at Gateway.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

Engine

Engine for this car is a stock block 109. Several parts came from Dan Strezo at DLS engine development. Lucky me, Dan is with in driving distance from my home. I have got tons of great technical advice from Dan. His shop is amazing and so is inventory, but his knowledge is so incredible. The engine has a solid roller cam, a DLS 3.625 stroke crank, K1 rods, program engineering billet main caps, and an RJC girdle.

I installed a DLS external oil pump system on this engine that is why you don’t see the stock oil pump pick up. Instead of blocking off the stock location oil pick up passage in the block, I modified the timing cover I got from Dan by putting a pipe plug in it.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

DLS oil pump

Here are some photos of the DLS external oil pump system install. The oil pan came from Dan also. It has a windage screen and a trap door in it. It’s a really nice part I just had to have it.

The oil pan has a special fitting in the side for a -12 hose to connect to. The oil is now pulled from the oil pan into the pump through a -12 hose. Then pumped out to an external filter and will enter the block through the -10 AN fitting shown below right above the oil pump. This hole is already in the block but had to be enlarged to 3/8 pipe thread. The bypassed oil is fed back into the engine through the fuel pump block off plate.