7721Cobra
03-19-2007, 03:31 AM
What's up all? For those that know who I am, I have been real busy lately with building my street car. I have dubbed the car Project 7721. I get asked all the time what the 7721 is about so I'll give the run down. Its a combination of two numbers 77 my wife's birth year (lucky number 7), and 21 a friend of mine's basketball number. He died in a tragic car accident, so the number has been special to me since then. Enough of that, I gutted the ol orange race car out. I kept the drive line and electronics and am selling the shell. I loved the ol girl but she doesn't have a title and she's a little rough around the edges. I am building a 90 25th anniversary LX hatch, from a shell. One of the first things I started to build was the rear end. I purchased a 8.8 out of a 96 GT, it was bare bones. Then I bought a cheep 7.5 out of a 96 V6 car, for all the brake hardware. It turns out its a good thing I did.
As I started to prep the axle for welding I noticed the lh tube dog legged a little. I called the salvage yard I bought it from, (which I work for part time) turns out they didn't have any more 8.8's. After doing some research I found out that a 7.5 and a 8.8 use the same axles and tubes. So I figured what the hell I'll try a tube trans plant. Thank God I work for a company that has a pretty excellent tooling selection or I would have been F'ed. I took the 7.5 threw it up in the band saw and cut the housing in half, from there I took a wiz wheel and cut the housing on either side of the spot welds after that it was easy money. Tube extracted. On the 8.8 it was a little different, I drilled out the spot welds on the tube. Little heat, little slide hammer and she was out. Slid in the new tube while the housing was hot, little measuring and she was dialed in. On to welding. From what we came up with a little internet research, if you let cast iron cool too soon when you are done welding it to steel, it may crack. So I packed the inside of the tubes with fiberglass header wrap and keep heat on it in between spot welds. Then We put it in a tub of floor dry to slow the cooling. Welded up the tube supports I made and I was home free. Installed a set of 3.73 Richmond gears and freshened up the traction lock with FRPP's carbon fiber clutch kit. Little paint and a rear end girdle and its money.
On to the fuel tank, I am going to keep the carb on my engine. So I bought a tank sump kit. I though about doing a fuel cell but I didn't want to section off the rear hatch area. Dropped the rear tank cleaned it up good, little tig and some paint and I am pleased with the results.
I have a lot to do to have it done this summer but I want to roll it. Definitely for the Columbus NMRA. I'll keep those that are interested posted.
Later,
As I started to prep the axle for welding I noticed the lh tube dog legged a little. I called the salvage yard I bought it from, (which I work for part time) turns out they didn't have any more 8.8's. After doing some research I found out that a 7.5 and a 8.8 use the same axles and tubes. So I figured what the hell I'll try a tube trans plant. Thank God I work for a company that has a pretty excellent tooling selection or I would have been F'ed. I took the 7.5 threw it up in the band saw and cut the housing in half, from there I took a wiz wheel and cut the housing on either side of the spot welds after that it was easy money. Tube extracted. On the 8.8 it was a little different, I drilled out the spot welds on the tube. Little heat, little slide hammer and she was out. Slid in the new tube while the housing was hot, little measuring and she was dialed in. On to welding. From what we came up with a little internet research, if you let cast iron cool too soon when you are done welding it to steel, it may crack. So I packed the inside of the tubes with fiberglass header wrap and keep heat on it in between spot welds. Then We put it in a tub of floor dry to slow the cooling. Welded up the tube supports I made and I was home free. Installed a set of 3.73 Richmond gears and freshened up the traction lock with FRPP's carbon fiber clutch kit. Little paint and a rear end girdle and its money.
On to the fuel tank, I am going to keep the carb on my engine. So I bought a tank sump kit. I though about doing a fuel cell but I didn't want to section off the rear hatch area. Dropped the rear tank cleaned it up good, little tig and some paint and I am pleased with the results.
I have a lot to do to have it done this summer but I want to roll it. Definitely for the Columbus NMRA. I'll keep those that are interested posted.
Later,