My Next Project: 1965 Sunbeam Alpine

[UNSTUCK]

As an update, I guess...

Haven't done much since the last update. I mounted the Lokar shifter to the transmission. I also added the extra mounting tab to the brake M/C bracket that we talked about. I feel much more confident with it now. I put the proportioning manifold in place next to the M/C's. Then I have just been working on putting the car back together how it needs to be for sheet metal. I was hoping to drop it off at sheet metal last week, but they have gotten behind. Now I'm hoping for this Friday. The list has gotten quite long with the items I will have them build/install:

rear tub
build a fuel cell and trunk deck above the cell
transmission tunnel
firewall
mount evaporator (I could do that but I want to make sure it will bolt up to the firewall they will make, so just let them do it)
front inner fenders
build the exhaust
build hood scoop

Should look like a car in a few weeks!

 

[67Bronco5.0]

Mine is mostly a street driver that I am looking to improve the mannerisms of. It currently has a 2.8 efi v6 from an 87 camaro, and a bodged up front suspension with awful bumpsteer. Plan is to do the c4 ifs, a narrowed 8.8 ford explorer rear for disks on a satchell link setup, and eventually a 2.5l i4 duratec with itbs and mega squirt with a miata 6 speed.

Body work is mostly done, but there is some ugly hack work under the hood and around the front I plan to clean up.

 

[UNSTUCK]

You may want to rethink going wider for a street car. The upgraded suspension will be a huge improvement over stock. So much so that going wider may not be worth it. Then you can keep the original, unique lines of the body, and still get some big tires under them.

Good luck with your project. Got pictures of it?

 

[67Bronco5.0]

You may want to rethink going wider for a street car. The upgraded suspension will be a huge improvement over stock. So much so that going wider may not be worth it. Then you can keep the original, unique lines of the body, and still get some big tires under them.

Good luck with your project. Got pictures of it?

I don't have many pics of it. This is from last weekend when I got the injection system back together and it was running for the 1st time in 5 years (ran for 10 minutes then puked the coolant up, I'll need to debug the cooling system next, but I know the radiator is leaking in several spots.). Previous owner flipped the spindles side to side, and put a rear steer rack in it, that has the worst geometry you ever saw, plus moved the wheels forward. The stance is all wrong. The 2.8 install in it is wonky, and the front cross-member has been butchered to fit the 2.8.

I am mainly thinking of widening the stock because of the amount of material I will have to take out of the vette cross-member to get it to work. Vette is 60.5 wms, I'll have to chop 9.5 inches out of it to get it to fit, then I have to find a rack and pinion that will fit. I am looking at chopping down a pinto, or depowered miata r&p. Every inch wider makes it that much easier to find a rack that will fit .

Photo doesn't show it but previous owner already cut the rear openings a slight bit larger than stock.

 

[67Bronco5.0]

Also, I need a custom wood dash made. Any of you wood workers want to make me a nice dash out of 3/4" (?) mahogany or like wood? I need it stained to match the steering wheel. I don't know if that's hard to do or not. I have a bit of a template and we can modify it as needed.

There are shops that do a really nice full wood dash ($600ish http://www.maderaconcepts.com/NewSite/VehiclePages/Sunbeam-Wood-Restoration.htm or http://galootcentral.com/membersites/charliedriggs/cdanda_specialties/index.html) for the sunbeams, or you can get a replacement wood dash from some of the sunbeam vendors ($400ish http://www.victoriabritish.com/features/sun/sunida.htm http://www.rootes.com/catalog3color.pdf).

 

[UNSTUCK]

Dropped the car off at Lockharts yesterday for the sheet metal work. When I got there I noticed the front suspension had dropped to the trailer deck. The support rods that take the place of the shocks had buckled. I started sweating a bit. Upon inspection, the tires missed the body by about 1/8 inch. Nothing else hit anything. All was good.
Mark came out and looked at it and thought I was bagging it. When I told him we weren't he though we should because it looked so good sitting on the ground. I think it would be cool and not hard to do. I'll pass the idea on to the owner and see what he says.









I'm super excited to get it back from Mark. This is a huge point in the project. I'll stop by there every few days and get some pictures of the progress.

 

[mesha]

your inbox is full.

empty it or you will be forced to sleep on the floor of a hotel room.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I'm not usually a fan of the bagged look, but that looks great.

 

[UNSTUCK]

your inbox is full.

empty it or you will be forced to sleep on the floor of a hotel room.

Stop cluttering up my thread with nonsense.


On a simi related side note: I once slept in a hotel in vagas, way north of the strip. It had a by-the-hour option or $25 for the night. It was me and a bunch of friends. There was not enough room for us on the beds so we drew straws to see who would sleep on the floor. I drew the short straw and slept on the floor. I was actually happy about that as I figured the floor was cleaner than the beds!

 

[nnnnnate]

So those rods were just temporary anyway right? They are used until you get everything else dialed and can measure for spring rate and length?

 

[UNSTUCK]

Yes. They came with the front suspension. It allows you put the front end together without needing the shocks in place. They have three holes at one end to simulate ride height, compressed and extended lengths. I had Carl cut me some for the rear. They held up just fine. Of course they don't have a motor between them.

Right now the front end is sitting on a set of C/O's that Mark had at his shop. I will repair/replace my bent parts for the ride home, beefed up a bit of course.

My customer likes the looks of it lowered. I am looking in the cost of bags so we'll see what happens.

 

[sixstringsteve]

do bags completely kill the handling/ride quality?

 

[idahoyj]

do bags completely kill the handling/ride quality?

I dont think so. I'm pretty sure they can be set up to improve handling, not just "lay frame".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWkI9Myty2Q

 

[UNSTUCK]

So after sitting at the sheet metal shop for 5 weeks waiting for her turn, she is in getting work done! This was from last Thursday and in theory my LONG list of work to be done is supposed to be ready for pick up tomorrow. We shall see. I'm pretty happy with how the firewall is coming along. A lot of strength got put back in so I'm happy about that.













Hopefully I'll be back to regular updates soon.

 

[sixstringsteve]

that's some clean work!

 

[Kiel]

agreed looks awesome

 

[UNSTUCK]

SLOWLY coming along.

 

[UNSTUCK]

Took on a side, side project while waiting for the sheet metal in the Sunbeam to finish up.

This motor is an LS2 from a 2006 GTO. The goal here is to make the wiring disappear as much as possible. Once finished nothing will stand out, other than the engine. As it should be.





The coil packs will be relocated to hide behind the hood hinge mounting walls. There will also be wheel wells built and inner fenders covering the suspension, so just the engine shows.


First I laid the harness out as it was from stock and figured out what all the connectors went to, and labeled them.


Ready to start trimming.


All wiring exposed. Started de-pinning wires that wouldn't be needed for this build. Actually not that many have been removed.


Started reattaching connectors and routing the wiring where I wanted it.


There are two holes at the very top of the transmission tunnel that the wiring goes through. One leg for each fuel rail. The passenger side also includes the wiring back to the transmission.




Inside, the firewall will have the ecu mounted on it. There will also be two legs that run out to each side for the coil packs, and one more leg that runs to the diagnostic link and throttle pedal. All this will be up in the dash, out of sight. As you can see, the harness is way to long in stock form for what we want. I will cut 2-3' off of it, leaving the original lengths for the coil wires. Should work out good. Custom thinning a stock harness is the only way to go, IMO.


Yeah, I need to start a (my) jeep build........bad.

 

[RogueJeepr]

I need to stop by Lockharts sometime . I have a car, that needs a belt-line recreated sometime in its future . They put a chev boltpattern on my 8.8 rear in the past .

 

[UNSTUCK]

I've always been happy with them. Good thing too, because I have no idea who else does this kind of sheet metal work.