66 Impala

[Dom87SS]

they are made on a $260k rapid prototyping machine

[Dom87SS]

ok here is what i got done today.

i made my collectors...about 4 times after not liking them. then got to the point of "ok move on" just like i did with the headers. the final consisted of taking a large tube and sliding it over the 4 individual pipes then cutting it flush through to make a flat surface. i then glued a piece of what i was going to use for the crossover pipe to the flush area. i then cut a small band from the large tube again and cut a section out so it would wrap around the crossover pipe making a small step from large tube to small tube. once dry i used a round file to "merge"the band to the big tube piece and round it off. i think it worked better in vision than reality but again will work for the project.

i then made the crossover/merge pipe out of 3 pieces of styrene and mounting it to the 2 existing pieces of styrene. and mounted up a radiator with electric fans up and out of the way but behind the head light and grill still. this was out of my box-o-parts and should be an easy to recognize part for most.

then cut it to an angle to where i wanted the turbo mounted. and cut a piece of flat stock the size of the housing on the turbo and glued it down the glued the turbo to that. it all fits under the stock hood too, even though it looks lifted in the front right corner it does sit flat after a small adjustment.

[Dom87SS]

funny you should ask. I just finished making the down pipe/exhaust for it.

here is how i routed it. it runs under the car as well to the trans cross member and has a slight turn down with a slash cut to direct toward the ground. In scale the pipe is 5.4" in diameter, its freakin huge and i couldn't bed it so i cut sections up, glued and sanded away. It consists of 10 pieces to make this part.

[george 53]

Jeeeze Dom, this things gonna be a MONSTER!!!!! I can't wait!!!!

[ajulia]

Hello there friend! Talkin bout "knockin two birds with one stone" I mean one of the baddest year of the Impala and nothing but brute strength!!!! Excellent build-up so far! Keep on wit the keepin on!!

peace

Tito

[Dom87SS]

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback and comments

[Bowtienutz]

when building header collectors I've found that choosing a piece of plastic sized to the outlet pipe. Then choose a piece of electrical wire shrink tube large enough to fit over all sizes of the primary pipe. Center the collector pipe over the primaries and shrink the tube over all 5 pieces.

[Dom87SS]

Good idea, ill give it a try next time.

[Dom87SS]

so im just about done designing my intake manifold for this car, and hope to have it ready by next week and on the car. its getting hard to draw the lines on how much detail needs to be on this motor. it could really get crazy, but i think that'll take some of the fun out of it for me. guess time will tell how i go about it.

also designed a fuel cell for under the hood to hold the methanol for when the motor sees boost

Edited December 29, 2010 by Dom87SS

[SuperStockAndy]

Uum yeah, I think you'll need wider tires with that engine!

[camarobuilder]

Very nice work! Hey, I could use a set of those 315's in 1/12 scale...LOL

Frank

Edited December 29, 2010 by camarobuilder

[Drago]

WOW!!!!!!!!

I definitely will follow this topic!!!

I really liked the turbo... where did you get that???

I´m building a '65 Impala ProStreet as well.. so far.. only this!

[Dom87SS]

Uum yeah, I think you'll need wider tires with that engine!

I've personally seen cars run mid 7's with stock location suspension and these tires and cars run high 6's on a 315 this year. Technology is here and making it possible. I love watching the big power monsters get down on these small tires and no wheelie bars, its pretty exciting.

Very nice work! Hey, I could use a set of those 315's in 1/12 scale...LOL

Frank

Mickey Thompson can hook you up with them

[Dom87SS]

I'll hopefully get more done over this upcoming 4 day weekend.

[Dom87SS]

I read the 1/12 scale post wrong. Thought 1/1 for some reason. 1/12 I can do but it'll be pricey. PM me if you want a quote on how much they will be.

[Dom87SS]

here is what i did with the down pipe today

[Dom87SS]

so i didnt get much dont today, but i did do the intercooler piping on the interior and take the interior apart so i can start getting everything painted. The pipes themselves arent finished as they need a bit more sanding and some filler to help make them more round and have a better looking flow to them, but you get the idea here.

[Brutalform]

Wow...You have great modeling skills!!! I cant wait to see more of your project.

[Dom87SS]

so i made a little progress tonight. got some paint on the engine/trans/turbo setup and realized my down pipe needs more smoothing since i can still see cross hatching marks from my files. I also tackled making upper a-arms for the car since the car is so low the stockers werent gonna work. Also need to make a spindle as well. This is my first time attempting to make a-arms, and kinda dreaded it. Im not thoroughly pleased with them but for a first time tackling it, i think they came out ok. Im on the fence if i want to redo them or just run with them, time will tell i guess. Check out the pics and let me know what you think of it so far.

Also decided to break out a new car to work on while paint and glue dry on the impala, a big bodied 66 buick wildcat. its a kit i just picked up and though would make a wild outlaw radial car. That was till i opened the box and found a curbside kit with a horrible casting inside. So since its open and i still need a in between car, i think im just gonna paint it up and try my hand at foiling, since ive never really done that either. And if it turns out, i can throw it on the shelf. The since holes, mold lines, and lack of detail are plenty in this kit which is so disappointing from the looks of the car on the box.

Edited January 6, 2011 by Dom87SS

[Dom87SS]

here is what i got done tonight. It wasnt a lot, but forward progress is never a bad thing.

mounted the upper a-arms to teh chassis and started making my spindle first from a piece of styrene rod. I also started planning out the rear suspension. To get the car as low as i want it, part of the floor needed to be removed. im trying to keep as much material in place as possible here so i trimmed out just one section of floor. and once the rear end is in, i will make a new floor piece to cover up the hole.

next thing i did was make a radiator mounted electric water pump out of some tube, flat stock, and 2 different sized rods. its hard to see what all is done with the lighting and the part being white, but it is to resemble a meizer pump.

[brett]

You're doing some great work here man,yet to see anything I would change

[Dom87SS]

thanks, appreciate the comments

[george 53]

Dom, those A arms came out good, at least the right one is, the left one looks like the second shaft is crooked. They just look TOO nice NOT to fix. It doesn't look TOO hard to do. Are they ONE long bent peice of tube? or two seperate peices joined at the Ball Joint? They look good Daddy-o, and as for me, I think they came out pretty good for your first shot! DON'T stop now, Daddy-O!!! ;)

[Dom87SS]

Dom, those A arms came out good, at least the right one is, the left one looks like the second shaft is crooked. They just look TOO nice NOT to fix. It doesn't look TOO hard to do. Are they ONE long bent peice of tube? or two seperate peices joined at the Ball Joint? They look good Daddy-o, and as for me, I think they came out pretty good for your first shot! DON'T stop now, Daddy-O!!!

the cross brace is square to the tubes, the mounting bar that gets bolted to the frame is on an angle this is because the front side bar on each arm is longer. The lower ball joint isnt on center, it kicks back. so i had to make the upper arms kick back as well. the arms are made from 4 pieces of rod, 2 small triangle piece of sheet (at the ball joint area) and 2 slivers of rod on either side of the arms to replicate the arm passing through the mounting rod. I did some more sanding to them, and figured what i had was good, since most of it wont be seen anyway once mounted, and put them on teh chassis.

everything is looking pretty cool Dom i don't know why but i had thought that the intake piping was all going to be silver in color looks good in black too

not sure if you've seen it yet but Slixx is coming out with two new decal sheets that are right up your alley. there are two "goodies" sheets that will have alot of stuff perfect for building cars like this.

i had originally planned on it being silver, but with the aluminum block, heads, intercooler, inlet side of the turbo all being silver i thought it would be too much. Plus i like black, and this satin black is definitely way cool and hope it all gets tied together for a clean and intimidating looking engine compartment. I have not seen these new decal, do you have a link or pic of them?

[Dom87SS]

so didnt get much done, but it took me all night to do it. Dont know what was up, but it took me a good 3-3.5 hours just to do a few little things.

first off i removed the radiator and trimmed it down some so i could tuck it up closer the the grill/headlight area. still needs to be squared off as i just roughed in the top and sides for more room. Chopped off the fan motors and made my own that a shorter, also to help tuck it back more. then made a brace for the radiator to sit on out of 3 pieces of rod.

next i got to work a little further back. i had already removed the trans cross member over this week because i did not like it. it was just too boring for me, so i bent up some rod and made a frame on each side. then crossed it with another piece of rod with some slight bends to it. then figured id build a drive shaft loop off this piece. the loop was the worst part trying to get it to stay while i tried fixing the other pieces to it. It was just a pain to do for some reason and really shouldnt have. So that ended my night and i am letting it all dry till i get back at it tomorrow.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Dom87SS