Show off your non-square project cars.

[tj43]

The under construction "Rusty Banana" post by @gilby959798 was this inspiration for this thread (if you haven't seen his build yet, check it out. He is doing it right). He had some cool mustangs in the background of his squarebody build photos. I suspect folks here have other non-square projects cars. I would love to see everyone's ancillary projects.

I will get the ball rolling. I have two other project cars: a 1992 Mazda Miata and a 2002 Z06 Vette Kart.

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Both cars have (IMO) kinda cool stories behind them.

The Miata was bought new by General Wesley Clark. You may remember him as the 4-star general who was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe and then ran for president in 2004 and again in 2008. He bought the car new in D.C. and it travelled the world with him to his various commands in DC, South America, and Europe. We live in ths same town. He is a lifelong swimmer, I am a former triathlete and my sons both swim competitively, so we see each other at the local 50m pool regularly. I always admired that a 4-star general daily-drove an old NA Miata with OEM BBS wheels and a hardtop (not in this photo). When I found out he was selling it, I bought it on the spot--a one owner 1992 Miata with 80k miles owned by a 4-star general was just too cool to pass on. The car still wears his pentagon access sticker on the windshield, came with every single sale/service record from new, and a photo of Colin Powell helping him change a flat on the car. The car was ROUGH when I got it. I have slowly gone through it. The mechanicals are super solid now, but it still needs some aesthetic TLC.

The Vette Kart belonged to a friend who used to race in the US Formula 3 series, then drove factory Audi GT cars, before becoming an instructor at the Porsche Experience in Atlanta. He now helps run a race team that is a feeder to Indy Car. He built the car as a no-holds-barred track toy. I fell in love with it and bought it when he decided to part with it. I street drive it--literally pick my kids up from school in it from time to time (it is street legal, tagged, and titled). I have some plans for it in the short term; I am just waiting for a local fabricator to give me a hand.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Woah, that's cool! A vette kart made out of a Z06 is wild lol. Was it wrecked or flooded or something?

The only thing I have at the moment is my daily but it's become just as much of a project as the square is

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I've had a few SN Mustangs like @gilby959798 in the past. I'd kill to have the yellow '94 or the Mach back

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[legopnuematic]

My 1971 Dodge Dart, 225 slant six.

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[tj43]

@TotalyHucked, the Z06 was wrecked (by my buddy who built it ). He slid it under a bus and damaged the B pillar and roof—so it wasn’t really rebuildable, but mechanically fine.

The first car that started my “car guy” disease was an SN95. I will always have a soft spot for them.

 

[tj43]

My 1971 Dodge Dart, 225 slant six.

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That Dart is super clean. I kinda love that it still has the slant 6. Nice car.

 

[TotalyHucked]

@TotalyHucked, the Z06 was wrecked (by my buddy who built it ). He slid it under a bus and damaged the B pillar and roof—so it wasn’t really rebuildable, but mechanically fine.

The first car that started my “car guy” disease was an SN95. I will always have a soft spot for them.

Ok, that's what I figured on the 'vette. It'd be pretty nuts to cut up a good car lol. That thing's gotta be a riot

I was born with the car guy disease, my dad passed it down lol. That yellow car was my first SN, when I was 18, I had an IROC Z28 and a '79 Malibu before it. It had an E-cam in the original 5.0, longtubes, ORH, flowmaster 40s and then I added the Cobra stuff and FR500 wheels. It was a premium with leather and the Mach460 sound system. If I ever find that one again, I'm buying it back. Alot of people hate the round body SN cars but I love them

 

[YakkoWarner]

I had put these in a different posting series last year, but this is my current (past/present/future/possibly perpetual) project of transplanting the innards of a rusted out 1970 MGB into the less rusted (pretty solid now that I replaced the floorpans) shell of a 1973 MGB.

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It actually will start and run at this point, but I'm running it from a boat tank until I am sure I won't need to do any more welding since the (purchased new quite a while ago) fuel tank has never even had so much as fumes in it at this point. Still need to service/check the rear axle, install the driveshaft and replace the overdrive lockout switch on the transmission before it can technically move under its own power.

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I have a little finishing up to do in the engine compartment - have not had the nerve to connect the heater core up at this point, it probably is dead and almost impossible to access. Not expecting to need that much in the way of heat while sitting right next to the drive train. I did install the mixture control cabling and the air cleaners since these photos were taken.

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There has been progress here since this photo - I have the front panel largely installed and working (retrofitted all lamps to LED except the in-panel turn signal indicators and alternator warning lamp - those need to be incandescant to work properly). The wiring for the center panel is a unholy mess, people always cut the you-know-what out of the wiring there to add different radios and such. Making sense of that and fabbing up the carb float vent lines are next on my list.

The shell had its 1973 wiring harnesses largely intact except for the center panel section, I had to add a couple of single wires for items that the 1970 engine compartment had which were not present in the 1973 wiring (different tach signal configuration and electric oil pressure sender to match the 1970 instruments). I did install a later year alternator to match the connectors, because that also changed between 1970 and 1973. Otherwise everything went together pretty much as factory. i did add quite a few extra grounds for the instrument panel and lights though, because those are always problematic in these cars.

 

[gilby959798]

Since this post was started because of my inspiration, I figured I should also post. As mentioned, I have a 98 Cobra that I use as a track car, it still has a full interior though. I bought it in 08 and it was my first "fun" car. It has a t56 6spd, Panhard bar, adjustable sway bar, upgraded roadrace pan, coil overs, yadda yadda yadda. I did have a fire with it on track but that is another story.

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Next up is the GT350, not a whole lot of work with it but I really enjoy this car. We road trip it often as a family. It is FAIRLY stock but does have some subtle upgrades. It was what got me into tracking because I got to attend the GT350 Track Attack at the Ford Performance Racing School in Utah.

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Here it is on the Tail of the Dragon, where my daughter got sick in the back seat. Luckily the wife caught the mess in a backpack.

I also "own" a 67 Mustang. I help fund it and its coming to me so I am claiming it. It's my dad's first car, I drove it on my wedding day, and it was the car the got me into cars.

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He just got it back from the body shop and is putting it back together after a full repaint and rust repair. I 3d printed some cool parts for that car that started my hobby of 3d printed car parts, you can kinda see the center caps that are body color, I designed them to take the steel wheel center caps and then painted them body color. They were also repainted with the car so they 100% match now.

Lastly, is my way back burner project... The daily F150 Coyote.

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I bought it new with 11 miles and now it has just shy of 195k miles. It has the Coyote (can you tell I like V8s?) but what is waiting in the garage to be installed is this:

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A 2020+ GT500 supercharger. Ford messed up and had them listed for under $400 so I bought 2. I have most of the parts to do the install but I want to get my GMC done so I have a truck to drive. Yes, I have way too many projects and that is why the Cobra is on the lift and the supercharger is just in the garage.

 

[gilby959798]

I had put these in a different posting series last year, but this is my current (past/present/future/possibly perpetual) project of transplanting the innards of a rusted out 1970 MGB into the less rusted (pretty solid now that I replaced the floorpans) shell of a 1973 MGB.

You must be registered for see images attach

It actually will start and run at this point, but I'm running it from a boat tank until I am sure I won't need to do any more welding since the (purchased new quite a while ago) fuel tank has never even had so much as fumes in it at this point. Still need to service/check the rear axle, install the driveshaft and replace the overdrive lockout switch on the transmission before it can technically move under its own power.

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I have a little finishing up to do in the engine compartment - have not had the nerve to connect the heater core up at this point, it probably is dead and almost impossible to access. Not expecting to need that much in the way of heat while sitting right next to the drive train. I did install the mixture control cabling and the air cleaners since these photos were taken.

You must be registered for see images attach

There has been progress here since this photo - I have the front panel largely installed and working (retrofitted all lamps to LED except the in-panel turn signal indicators and alternator warning lamp - those need to be incandescant to work properly). The wiring for the center panel is a unholy mess, people always cut the you-know-what out of the wiring there to add different radios and such. Making sense of that and fabbing up the carb float vent lines are next on my list.

The shell had its 1973 wiring harnesses largely intact except for the center panel section, I had to add a couple of single wires for items that the 1970 engine compartment had which were not present in the 1973 wiring (different tach signal configuration and electric oil pressure sender to match the 1970 instruments). I did install a later year alternator to match the connectors, because that also changed between 1970 and 1973. Otherwise everything went together pretty much as factory. i did add quite a few extra grounds for the instrument panel and lights though, because those are always problematic in these cars.

My brother has a few MGB's... A 69 that he is building a 302 for, an 80 that is his not project car, an MGB GT that he wants to put a flathead v8 into (mostly because dad is a flathead guru) and a couple of MGB parts cars. He is also putting a 302 in an NB Miata, so we all got the gear head gene from my dad.

 

[YakkoWarner]

My brother has a few MGB's... A 69 that he is building a 302 for, an 80 that is his not project car, an MGB GT that he wants to put a flathead v8 into (mostly because dad is a flathead guru) and a couple of MGB parts cars. He is also putting a 302 in an NB Miata, so we all got the gear head gene from my dad.

That brings me a good question. I've seen several writeups of people putting a 302 or 289 or other smaller American V8 into an MGB, but never saw much info on how to compensate for the additional weight up front. The factory built MGB-GT V8s used an alloy block engine that didn't weigh any more than the cast iron 4 banger, but I would expect the added weight of an iron block V8 to plat havoc with the weight balance and handling. How did your brother compensate for this?

 

[waterpirate]

Guy local to me used the aluminum block 305 I think. No idea what he did to hold up the front.
Eric

 

[gilby959798]

That brings me a good question. I've seen several writeups of people putting a 302 or 289 or other smaller American V8 into an MGB, but never saw much info on how to compensate for the additional weight up front. The factory built MGB-GT V8s used an alloy block engine that didn't weigh any more than the cast iron 4 banger, but I would expect the added weight of an iron block V8 to plat havoc with the weight balance and handling. How did your brother compensate for this?

I think he is adopting a different front suspension to handle the extra weight.

 

[1976dully]

Our 82 Z28. Another never ending project! Got to go through another small block for it. Got a 355 to replace the wheezy 305.

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[Finkaire]

1968 El Camino, bought as a work truck in 1979, retired in 1997

 

[Catbox]

The boy has this 1955 and it was found by him on Craigslist one day he was sitting at home.

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The OG drive train is gone as the 265 was fully stuck.
But it did yield a set of verified 1958 Corvette heads from a fuel injected car marked with the X 58.
Those are valuable to someone that is going to be restoring such a thing, to us they sit in the cars trunk.

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This one has sat in the driveway for a while as he works and saves.
He has a whole new front suspension for it in the garage that will soon go under it so it can move to a new parking spot.