Tennessee Tim's build thread

[Tennessee Tim]

Next, I took on the retrofit of the Classic Chambered Exhaust mufflers. I went with the 28" mufflers. I hope they won't be too quiet, but I will always have the Webers to add to the symphony.

First, the inlet end of the new muffler gets cut off and a 3x4 reducer is welded on:



Then the reducer gets cut down to make a "funnel" that just fits inside the collector:



Then the collector is cut off:



And checked for fit and tacked in place.



The turnout is also cut off of the old exhaust and welded into place. I chose to keep the turnout in its original orientation - facing out vertically. Some guys say that if you angle them down a bit, it makes them quieter. I'm not really after "quiet". I am doing this mod mostly because I much prefer the sound of a chambered exhaust, and I don't want to be putting screws into my exhaust after a couple thousand miles to stop rattling. The longer length will be quieter, but it also puts the turnout right in front of the rear wheel - where I think it should be. Here it is all welded up:



One last thing with the exhaust. The collector flange has some ugly spaces between the tubes. This allows gases to co-mingle, potentially robbing power. A few weld beads abd some work with a grinder and mill file take care of the problem:



Tim

[Tennessee Tim]

Wow. 200 looks and not a single comment. I must either be doing things really, really right, or really really wrong.

Maybe I just need to be funnier.



Tim

[Zaphod]

I think everyone is just thinking, "Wow."

But I'll say it: beautiful work, great attention to detail, I love it.

[MikeKelly]

Originally Posted by Tennessee Tim

Wow. 200 looks and not a single comment.

Looks like you're almost ready for an autocross...

[Tennessee Tim]

Originally Posted by MikeKelly

Looks like you're almost ready for an autocross...

Still a lot of work to do, but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks again for your hospitality a few weeks ago. That was a blast.

Tim

[dajomaco]

Tim. great job on the chambered exhaust....I'm doing the same because i love the sound of them ........I'm right at the stage of welding on the reducer piece then cutting it down to fit in the collector ......Thx for the tip on the welding in the gaps on the collector flange ....never noticed it before ....will make sure we run a bead and file down before finishing ......Here is a picture of the tips you can order and the factory ones that came with the car.....will try both to see which one i like before welding up ...the ones you order have a little more bend to it ......Darc

[MRSQSL]

I'll admit I was one of the people looking, but I have nothing useful to say, so I thought I'd stay quiet. It looks great, but everything you do looks amazing. I would really like a new update on your build site though. I've been impatiently waiting and checking each day. Unless I'm missing it, you are still on August. I know, so much nagging.

[Tennessee Tim]

Yeah, the long weekend threw off my update schedule. I was going to do it tonight, but I just got back from the shop, and I just don't have it in me. I probably won't do another update until after the weekend. Hopefully, I'll have some surprise goodies done by then.

Tim

[Tennessee Tim]

Originally Posted by dajomaco

Tim. great job on the chambered exhaust....I'm doing the same because i love the sound of them ........I'm right at the stage of welding on the reducer piece then cutting it down to fit in the collector ......Thx for the tip on the welding in the gaps on the collector flange ....never noticed it before ....will make sure we run a bead and file down before finishing ......Here is a picture of the tips you can order and the factory ones that came with the car.....will try both to see which one i like before welding up ...the ones you order have a little more bend to it ......Darc

Hmmm. I like the ones with more bend. Unfortunately, the pipes are being ceramic coated now, so there's no turning back now...

Tim

[akdreamer23]

Gotta say Tim, I am sad that I left Tennessee just becasue I will not see your car in person. Excellent build, great detail and craftsmanship.

I have a question though. How do you intend to get the access panel off the DS footbox with the body on, since half of the hole you cut and half of the bolts that you show in your pic will be under the body?

Im sure you have another fantastic solution, but I want to see it!

[Tennessee Tim]

Originally Posted by akdreamer23

Gotta say Tim, I am sad that I left Tennessee just becasue I will not see your car in person. Excellent build, great detail and craftsmanship.

I have a question though. How do you intend to get the access panel off the DS footbox with the body on, since half of the hole you cut and half of the bolts that you show in your pic will be under the body?

Im sure you have another fantastic solution, but I want to see it!

They won't be under the body when the whole front of the car tilts up. I will bond the hood into the body, and then cut the body along the line in this pic:



The whole front will tilt on a hinge at the chin. That will give me complete access to the hatch covers.

Tim

[akdreamer23]

Too cool man. I was certain that you had a solution.

I cant wait to see the finished product.

Thx

[akpingel]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

I think everyone is just thinking, "Wow."

But I'll say it: beautiful work, great attention to detail, I love it.

Ditto!

Looks great!

[Rare Iron Eric]

Wow Tim - awesome job! Can I ship my AAR Cuda down to you next for finishing-up?

I can't wait to see what you think of the mufflers.

[Tennessee Tim]

Another update...

Side pipes back from Nitro Plate:



Car got cut in half:



This caused all manner of carnage. After the cut, nothing fit. I expected that there would be some springing that would cause problems, and the body lived up to my expectations. One of the problem areas was the "recurve" on the top. I expected this would be the case and one of the plans was to locate the hood latches there, which is what I neded up doing. Here is the fit without the latch latched:



You can see how much the body sprung. But the latches work well. Here is the fit with the latches latched:



The "wings" were also a problem. They were sprung outward and I needed to fabricate some stays to bring them in. These are adjustable:



I also put a locating pin in the center of the hood:



And made a landing pad for it that doubles as a cowl brace:



I just needed to bore a hole in the pad to match the pin.

I also added some locating pins to the wings:



And the corresponding holes in a brace bonded to the body:



Add a couple of gas springs and the tilt-front is complete:



Now I just needed to do a bit of body work to make everything fit again:





For those of you who might be considering a tilt-front, be aware that once you cut the body, everything changes, and the two halves will not fit each other. Additionally, the door openings, wheel openings and exhaust cutouts all changed too. It takes a lot of work to get things straight again. Having said that, I think it will definitely be worth it. Engine access will be excellent, and the entire hood comes off by undoing two bolts and two gas struts. I'm happy with the result.

Tim

[Tennessee Tim]

Originally Posted by Rare Iron Eric

Wow Tim - awesome job! Can I ship my AAR Cuda down to you next for finishing-up?

I can't wait to see what you think of the mufflers.

Sorry I missed this post. We'll put the 'Cuda next in line

I'll post some before and after sound clips of the chambered exhaust.

Tim

[dallas_]

The tilt looks great Tim. Nice work for sure.

[MikeKelly]

Originally Posted by Tennessee Tim

This caused all manner of carnage <snip> I needed to fabricate some stays to bring them in <snip> I also put a locating pin in the center of the hood <snip> And made a landing pad for it that doubles as a cowl brace <snip> I just needed to bore a hole in the pad to match the pin <snip> I also added some locating pins to the wings...

Holy crap!

I think I'd better not try that mod - I'd never be heard from again, lolol...

Looks great though (functional too!),

Mike

[CraigS]

When you close the hood by yourself do the side locating pins find their holes on their own? Or do you end up going around the car and lifting and pushing in while dropping it again to line them up? This weekend I was helping a friend w/ a coupe for 10 minutes or so and I really liked the access so finally realized why your work will be very worthwhile.

[Tennessee Tim]

Originally Posted by CraigS

When you close the hood by yourself do the side locating pins find their holes on their own? Or do you end up going around the car and lifting and pushing in while dropping it again to line them up?

The center pin is a good bit longer than the pins in the wings. Once the center pin finds its hole, the rest of the pins just fall in place. The adjustability of the stays helps a lot. I can get each wing dialed in perfectly once the center pin is registered. It works amazingly well.

Tim

[Tennessee Tim]

Time for another update...

Before starting, I would like to share something. My wife looked at my build thread and Mike and Julie Casey's build thread and concluded that I'm boring.

BORING!!!

She said that I need to be funnier. But see, there's a problem with that. I'm a physicist. Physicists just aren't funny. Not even a little bit. Engineers are Rodney Dangerfield compared to physicists. I don't really know why that is. It may have something to do with the fact that most physicists (present company excepted of course) are pencil-neck geeks with sinus problems and we, er... they often make little piggy oinking noises when they laugh. It could be that our senses of humor were strangled by all of those atomic wedgies in school. Whatever the reason, humor and the ability to entertain does not come easy to us. But in the interest of domestic tranquility, I guess I should give it a shot, so here goes...

Two fermions walk into a bar. One orders a drink. The other says 'I'll have what he's having.



I crack myself up.

OK. On to the update.

The nose aluminum from the kit is useless with a tilt front. So, I had to fabricate new pieces. While doing so, I also installed the power steering fluid cooler and the pusher fans:







In order to facilitate the tuning of the Webers, I bought some old rusty plain steel pipes and put an O2 sensor bung in each runner and also downstream of the collector. This will allow me to tune each cylinder individually.



As a side note, it is probably worth noting that physicists, as a general rule, are not very good welders.

With a little bit of fiddling, by brother-in-law (pictured) and I got the idle circuit tuned nicely:



For those of you who have Webers, I am putting together a tutorial for tuning. It isn't done yet, but you can see the makings of it here:

Tuning Webers

I got the trunk carpeted:



(continued...)

[Tennessee Tim]

Next, I started on trimming the interior. I made some sides for the trans tunnel out of MDF:



I covered it with self-adhesive closed-cell foam, and sculpted the foam a bit:



And then trimmed it in black leather:



I did the same thing for door cards:



The the cockpit rear:



And finished with the carpet and installed the seats:





I started laying out the trans cover top. It will be veneered in walnut burl just like the dash:



That's all for now. Be nice or I'll tell more physics jokes...

Tim

[modifyd]

WOW, just WOW! I'm at a loss for words to describe how Awsome this build is!

[MRSQSL]

I had no idea you were a physicist. That's almost as impressive as your build. Aly is taking physics in high school this year. Now I know where to send her for help if needed.

May I say that I find your wife has excellent taste. She's a keeper. Hee, hee. I've never found your updates to be boring. Definitely more technologically advanced than mine, but not even close to boring. Then again, EVERY update from every build on this forum is more technologically advanced. I'm pretty sure yours are super helpful to fellow builders and will be referred to for many years to come.

Your car is looking incredible. Love what you are doing with the interior. I will be stealing ideas for Coupey (which is finally being ordered today - yay). My only complaint is the wait time between updates. I check your website every morning and every night. Stop torturing me!!!!

[Tennessee Tim]

Thanks, Julie. My wife is definitely a keeper. Tell Aly that physics is nothing more than applied math. If she's good at math, she'll be good a physics. If she ever gets in trouble, she can always call me. I mean it. Mike has my number.

I'm so glad to hear that you're building a coupe too. That is so cool. I guess I'll need to start spending more time at that other site too.

I know I've been lazy with the web site updates. I'll try to do better.

Tim

[ClemsonS197]

Love the interior. Is that just glue, or is it stitched too?

[dallas_]

Looking real nice Tim!

My FIL taught college physics for 30 years. But he has a sense of humor so I know it can be done. You're doing fine, don't give up!

[Tennessee Tim]

Originally Posted by ClemsonS197

Love the interior. Is that just glue, or is it stitched too?

My wife (an avid quilter) and I experimented with stitching and I found the glue to give a much better look. So, it is just glued. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Tim

[Tennessee Tim]

Originally Posted by dallas_

Looking real nice Tim!

My FIL taught college physics for 30 years. But he has a sense of humor so I know it can be done. You're doing fine, don't give up!

I won't lose sleep over it. I have other talents...



Tim

[MRSQSL]

Originally Posted by Tennessee Tim

Thanks, Julie. My wife is definitely a keeper. Tell Aly that physics is nothing more than applied math. If she's good at math, she'll be good a physics. If she ever gets in trouble, she can always call me. I mean it. Mike has my number.

I'm so glad to hear that you're building a coupe too. That is so cool. I guess I'll need to start spending more time at that other site too.

I know I've been lazy with the web site updates. I'll try to do better.

Tim

She quilts?! I want to meet your wife. Maybe she can teach me how to do it. I can do needlepoint kinds of stuff and I can crochet. I'm learning to knit, but never learned to sew.

I think Aly is doing well so far, but I really appreciate that you would be willing to help her. She is in AP Calculus and has struggled a little. She is strong in math, but it isn't the same kind of calculus I had in college. I'm not much of a help to her. I barely remember physics, so I doubt I could help at all. Thank you!