clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2015-02-17 09:15 am
clevermanka) wrote2015-02-17 09:15 am
Do a little dance and then you drink a little water
If you reference a person's accent in any way other than "omg that is a sexy fucking accent hngngngn" or something similar, I'm judging you.
Mobility Mobility Mobility! Breaking Muscle has an extensive post about getting deep into a squat. I have mobility issues in my hips and my ankles and my squat form is, in a word, terrible. I know this. I'm working on this. I want to work on this more.
OH MY GOD THIS TEE SHIRT.
Because I am L-A-Z-Y lazy (and also, I have no burning desire to be a published writer), I decided not to spend the energy on a re-write and submission of that disordered eating post as an article to The Toast. So in case you missed it before I marked it as private, here it is. I'm also going to post a link to it on Tumblr tomorrow in case anyone wants to reblog it there.
Today's Tumblr, btw, is Tuesday, February 17: Wolves.
And speaking of Tumblr, I had a giveaway last week and nobody took me up on my offer. *sigh* If this looks like something you'd enjoy, please drop me a comment or send me a PM. First response I receive gets a free online art workshop--mutual follows get first dibs, but if none of my mutuals are interested, it'll go to the first commenter. If you're not on LJ but you have my email address, email me! I'd really like someone to use this gift certificate for the workshop. I've never taken one of Traci's online workshops, but her in-person classes are top-notch and I've seen several of her videos, all of which have high quality production standards.
Because we're finally getting some snow here, I have to drive the fucking Subaru to Kansas City for my appointment with Dr. Jonah today. UGH. I hate that vehicle. I know it's not unsafe, but it handles so different from the Crossfire that I feel unsafe in it. Like I'm not really connected to the road and the skinny little tires might just fling themselves off the highway at any moment. Blech.
In other vehicle news,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mckitterick finally settled on what engine to buy for the Chevelle (remember when I said the engine was the only part of the car we were keeping? yeah, never mind) and now we've got an engine on the way that is worth more than what we paid for the entire original car. Life with a gearhead, folks. IT IS GOOD. We've also decided to just grit our teeth and do a full off-the-frame restoration and finish the body work while we've got the thing apart, so that's going to delay our estimate on getting this thing on the road (again). But I feel like finally we both understand what the other wants out of this car and there's an actual plan in place instead of just nebulous concepts. So now it's just a matter of when we can get the things done that we know we want to do. This car's gonna be five years in the making but god damn it's going to be an amazing ride.
Mobility Mobility Mobility! Breaking Muscle has an extensive post about getting deep into a squat. I have mobility issues in my hips and my ankles and my squat form is, in a word, terrible. I know this. I'm working on this. I want to work on this more.
OH MY GOD THIS TEE SHIRT.
Because I am L-A-Z-Y lazy (and also, I have no burning desire to be a published writer), I decided not to spend the energy on a re-write and submission of that disordered eating post as an article to The Toast. So in case you missed it before I marked it as private, here it is. I'm also going to post a link to it on Tumblr tomorrow in case anyone wants to reblog it there.
Today's Tumblr, btw, is Tuesday, February 17: Wolves.
And speaking of Tumblr, I had a giveaway last week and nobody took me up on my offer. *sigh* If this looks like something you'd enjoy, please drop me a comment or send me a PM. First response I receive gets a free online art workshop--mutual follows get first dibs, but if none of my mutuals are interested, it'll go to the first commenter. If you're not on LJ but you have my email address, email me! I'd really like someone to use this gift certificate for the workshop. I've never taken one of Traci's online workshops, but her in-person classes are top-notch and I've seen several of her videos, all of which have high quality production standards.
Because we're finally getting some snow here, I have to drive the fucking Subaru to Kansas City for my appointment with Dr. Jonah today. UGH. I hate that vehicle. I know it's not unsafe, but it handles so different from the Crossfire that I feel unsafe in it. Like I'm not really connected to the road and the skinny little tires might just fling themselves off the highway at any moment. Blech.
In other vehicle news,
mckitterick finally settled on what engine to buy for the Chevelle (remember when I said the engine was the only part of the car we were keeping? yeah, never mind) and now we've got an engine on the way that is worth more than what we paid for the entire original car. Life with a gearhead, folks. IT IS GOOD. We've also decided to just grit our teeth and do a full off-the-frame restoration and finish the body work while we've got the thing apart, so that's going to delay our estimate on getting this thing on the road (again). But I feel like finally we both understand what the other wants out of this car and there's an actual plan in place instead of just nebulous concepts. So now it's just a matter of when we can get the things done that we know we want to do. This car's gonna be five years in the making but god damn it's going to be an amazing ride.
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That shirt is fucking adorable.
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Another awesome tumblr collection, too; how do you come up with them and how long does it take to put one together?
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I am car shopping right now. it's almost worse than house shopping, which I hated. I can't afford what I'd like, so I'm in my 2nd tier choices. Boy do I want to bludgeon every car salesperson I meet, though. I've spent 15 years driving a 1995 Civic HB that is as basic as a car can get and has been paid off for 10 years. Just the THOUGHT of a car payment is making me cranky.
I hope the driving went ok today. We got a light snowfall last night and I just stayed the hell home instead of risking it in tiny car. This is after I came home early yesterday b/ a neighbor called me to say my sump pump was running. Verdict? Basement window popped open in huge windstorm, froze copper pipe at the laundry sing and it opened at a join. J was able to temp fix solder it but there is damp mess to deal with. So needed the snow day.
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I'm so excited for you on the car! and a teeny jellish.
I still need to watch that movie Part Two. I got my Tesla T (http://society6.com/product/tesla-god-of-thunder_t-shirt#11=50&4=75) and I love it, other than CheesesCrisp American Apparel, you call this LARGE? Oh well, it's nice for a Very Fitted T, even if the caption is sort of under ma boobs.
Response to DWCoworker is awesome.
Mechanical Wolf. Wow. Bowie Wolf Ngngng. From that one entry, I'm beginning to think that the two "huskies" that keep getting loose in N. Lawrence might be wolves. I cried when I read that the rare gray wolf that was found dead was the one from the Grand Canyon. (http://knprnews.org/post/lone-gray-wolf-shot-utah-confirmed-grand-canyon-wolf) Stupid human... and eeeee.. more STFU wolves! :) I wish I could get my Tumblr back to being easy to use. Somehow I broke my log in.
My goodness, this response is a rollercoaster.. but you posted so much Good Stuff, so much to say!
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Thanks for the compliment on the collection! You know, I've never mentioned my motivations or procedure for building my collections. I think I'll address that in today's post!
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Ugh, car shopping. I am so incredibly fortunate that as long as I've got
Sorry about the frozen pipes. UGH. Winter, man.
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Ha ha ha! Good lord, no worries having a rollercoaster response to a rollercoaster post. =D
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Pssst...it's called racism.
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What engine size? I want details!
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Old parts
Hey, Rae, Chris here to share drivetrain details. Because Clevermanka plans for this to be her daily driver (!), she wanted the mechanicals to meet three primary goals, in this order:
1) Reliable compared to used cars.
2) Efficient compared to other muscle cars.
3) Fast.
Not an easy set of requirements for a '68 Chevelle! Especially considering what we started with:
Original engine
What was in there when we got it is a 1972-ish 402 big block Chevy bored out to about 408, with a decent flat-tappet cam, gear-drive timing set, roller rockers, ported iron heads, Hooker headers, Edelbrock intake, and Holley double-pumper carb.
Original transmission
Stock-ish, non-Muncie 4-speed with non-functional first gear and barely functional reverse. Clutch worked fine.
Original chassis details
Rear end was a stock-ish 10-bolt Chevy with 3.27:1 non-posi differential, drum brakes, and non-functional parking brake. Worked fine except for not being able to put the power to the ground.
Original 4-link control-arm suspension with completely frozen bushings, no anti-roll bar, and held up by ridiculously tall (truck?) springs and practically non-mobile shocks. The thing would hop so violently on one-wheel acceleration that it would toss the hubcap and trim ring.
Original drum-brake front end, with stock parts all the way around except for new bushings on the stock anti-roll bar.
New parts
On the way from small-town Alabama is a 2015 Camaro ZL1 6.2-liter (376ci) LSA with 175 miles (assuming the eBayer is on the up-and-up). This puppy is based on GM's modern LS3 architecture, but massively updated. GM validated it for reliability beyond 100,000 miles. They ran test engines for more than 6,400 dyno hours and more than 270 consecutive hours at wide-open throttle without failure, and it completed 24-hour track tests. The LSA block's deep-skirt block design makes it much tougher than old-school Chevy engines while also minimizing vibration, and its 319-T7 aluminum construction makes it 20% stronger than its LS siblings while reducing cylinder-block weight by approximately 100 pounds compared to the old-school iron block (almost 200 pounds lighter than the big-block). Cast-iron cylinder liners (4.06-inch bore) are finish-bored and honed with a deck plate installed (a high-end hot-rodding technique that simulates the heads being installed, promoting maximum cylinder sealing, piston fit, and peak performance). Nodular iron, 6-bolt main caps are many times stronger than the current engine's cast-iron, 2-bolt caps.
Its high-end A356-T6 aluminum heads are rotocast (a perfect casting technique), based on the L92 design but redesigned to work with a supercharger. Large-diameter valves (2.16-inch intake and 1.59-inch exhaust) stainless-steel valves gulp the air. For optimal combustion, the cylinder heads feature swirl-inducing wings cast into the intake ports, improving the mixture motion. Exhaust gases exhale through cast stainless-steel manifolds (if they fit, we're keeping 'em! If not, headers will up the power even more). The high-silicon 9.1:1-compression pistons get oil-spray cooling, and its rods and crank (3.62-inch stroke) are forged to handle the immense power; the rotating assembly is balanced, as well. The dual-pressure fuel-injection system delivers a gentle (and quiet) 36psi at idle and low speeds, but the electronic throttle management immediately increases fuel pressure to 87psi for wide-open throttle or high speeds. The LSA uses a mild hydraulic-roller cam (198/216 degrees at .050 with .480-inch lift) optimized for maximum reliablity and efficiency and for supercharging.
Oh, yeah, this is a supercharged engine! The belt-driven Eaton Twin Vortice (TVS) supercharger uses a pair of high-helix, four-lobe rotors to pressurize 1.9 liters of air to 9psi each revolution, and uses a low-throttle bypass for maximum efficiency. An intercooler is integrated inside the supercharger case, with dual air-to-liquid coolers to lower intake temps by 158 degrees F. Cooler air is denser, letting the engine breathe deeper while also preventing detonation under pressure.
This high-tech badass makes 580 SAE-certified horsepower at 6100 RPM, 556 lb-ft torque at 4200. This is the second-most-powerful engine GM has ever built for a street car (second only to the Corvette ZR1's LS9, which makes 638). The supercharger helps build a huge plateau of power through a broad range of RPMs, giving the engine massive low-end grunt along with stratospheric power at the top end - almost no engines have a peak-powerband that's 1900 RPM wide (torque peak to hp peak)! With a simple pulley swap or a bigger camshaft, this engine is rated to reliably make up to 750 horsepower.
The rest of the story
I had originally gotten a Hurst T-56 Super Magnum 6-speed to go into this car, and have cut the floors to fit its larger case. However, the new engine comes with the ZL1's Tremec TR-6060 MG9 6-speed. They're almost the same units, with stronger output shafts, triple synchros in some gears, revised linkage, more robust housings, additional mainshaft roller bearings, and other upgrades to handle 700 lb/ft of torque (about 30% more than the Camaro SS' 6-speed). The 8-bolt, dual-mass flywheel bolts up to a 700hp-capacity, twin-disc, hydraulic clutch for easy, certain, and quick engagement compared to the old-school, lever-action, single-plate unit. One goes in the car (probably the Hurst), and one goes on eBay.
New chassis details
New rear is a Moser 12-bolt Musclepak setup, 3.55:1 gears, 33-spline axles bolted in place (instead of clipped like a stock 12-bolt), Detroit Truetrack posi differential, Wilwood forged Dynalite disc brakes and parking brake kit, 1/2" wheel studs, aluminum girdle for added differential and gear support, and red powdercoat to keep things from rusting.
The axle is suspended with new springs that lower the car by 2" for better handling, and fully adjustable QA1 shocks. Rear suspension will be fully (on-car) adjustable, chromoly, tubular UMI Performance control arms (top and bottom) that use Delrin spherical bearings for precise, non-binding motion, and they're powdercoated (in red) for durability. A beefy BMR anti-roll bar keeps the car from tilting under acceleration.
In the front, fully adjustable QA1 shocks replace the saggy springs and frozen shocks. Tubular UMI Performance A-arms (upper and lower, also powdercoated red) update the steering geometry to modern sports-car handling, aided by new OPG Performance disc-brake setup that lowers the front end by 2" while providing far greater stopping power than the original drums. The front gets a beefier anti-roll bar, too.
Oh, and all the body and suspension bushings are either Delrin or Energy Suspension polyurethane to replace the saggy, torn, or simply vaporized original rubber bushings, helping keep the car from shaking over bumps or tilting in corners. It'll be louder than stock and have a way firmer ride, but Clevermanka doesn't want her car to wiggle!
There's lots more, but this'll do for now!
Performance figures for the Camaro ZL1
That's for a 4120-pound car, so at 600 pounds (or more) lighter, the Chevelle should at least match or better those numbers - including MPG, especially with more overdrive (assuming we use the Hurst transmission).
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Whatcah doin' with the cast off engine?
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I kinda hate to get rid of it at all, as it's pretty kick-ass as-is! Wish I had, oh, a 1967 Impala to drop it into... but the smart thing, financially speaking (and garage-space-wise), is to sell the extra parts. Probably will start with Craigslist.
Unless a '67 Impala drops into my lap....
Re: Old parts
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It'll be pretty kick-ass. CM wants to do a bare-metal, clear-coated finish, sorta like these:
Because she likes scars and wants to go for the rough-guy look!
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I love it!! Yes, I like the rat look better, too.