This project showed up missing the trans tunnel cover but had the Dzus tabs mounted.
Double frame rails were high in the car so overall tunnel height was kept to a minimum so carbon fiber dash can be attached and removed easily.
Tunnel sheetmetal is fastened together with aircraft type smash rivets. Still needs a few more Dzus fasteners before final-final.
Plastic pulled and Dzus is applied, dash shows hole were old intercooler pipe once lived.
NEXT.
We hear from many classic car owners in need of custom built performance parts. The photo below shows the new door hinges we just made for the 1936 Plymouth.
This 1936 Plymouth Coupe originally came with just a round cluster in the center of the dash. Luckily the car came with extra parts – one which was a deluxe factory dash – so we opted for that.
We built the gauge clusters panels to fit and match the original style. The original gauges where square – but these look great and work within the budget. A clock, cigarette lighter, two ashtrays (one for driver and one for passenger) – this is going to be a neat car. We still have more work to do and it will look cool once we are finished.
We flipped the car to finish the TIG welding on the underside of the chassis.
Cleaning up the chassis and getting ready for paint.
TIG weld firewall inserts.
These are floor pans. These sheet metal floor pans are not from a parts store. They are custom made for our 1936 Plymouth Coupe project.
Sheet metal and body panels are the usual issue with classic cars that are 80 years old. These new floor pans are 20-gauge steel, cold roll (stronger, made with pressure not heat).
This 1936 Plymouth Coupe is our restoration project. You may see this car showing up in the local Ingles Supermarket parking lot come Spring.
The below photo show the additional bars added to the back — to ensure no problems hauling those heavy coolers of refreshments to the car show.
FOR SALE
The final days of our 33 Coupe Custom Build. We started this Plymouth project in November 2014, and it will be finalized this week (9/30/2015).
The only non-steel part of this car is the front grille shell. This car will have working headlights, turn signals, brake lights, horn, tag light, street legal.
This is a one-of-a-kind car. This entire project will be completed by end of week and final photos posted.
We made custom exhaust headers for this car, with and added benefit of Edelbrock Competition Merge Header Collectors, you can’t find these anymore.
This car also comes with Zoomie Headers. The Zoomies make this car very exciting at the dragway — and may reach the tracks decibel level limit! It will certainly grab everyone’s attention.
FOR SALE
The side canards have been tacked in place on this project. Once they are finalized they will mimic the curves of the car. Not only will it look cool – they will help increase the aerodynamics and air flow.
FOR SALE
This type of custom car build is a step-by-step process of modifying and tweaking specific areas that are unique to this car. With this 33 Coupe we don’t have a square to spare, we just can‘t spare a square. So the builders had to get creative with the grille shell.
This grille and grille shell are the iconic areas of this 1933 Plymouth, and it must look good. So we spent hours of fiberglass work on the grille shell. It must be durable and aesthetically pleasing. Once this is finished no one will see what is housed inside the grille shell.
The front fenders have been finalized and adapted. The interesting thing is, I recently read an article about an American car maker elio-motors in Phoenix, Arizona that has similar front fenders on his new American made car that gets 84 MPG. Ours does not get that kind of mileage — but an added bonus with our car is . . . if you’re at the dragway you can easily remove these front fenders so you don’t have extra weight.
FOR SALE
Anyone restoring a 1936 Plymouth Coupe can buy a fiberglass fender online. For this coupe that would not be the case. We are lucky enough to have a decent looking metal fender to start with. We are keeping the steel fenders and widening them.
This car will run a 275/60-15 tire that will be perfect for this street hot rod. This tire has a wide profile that will give this ’36 coupe that race ready look — yet it is a DOT tire.
This car is nearly 80 years old and has been stored for many years inside a storage unit, on a concrete floor. Many classics are not that fortunate. This will help keep the project moving along and within budget.
FOR SALE
The final “hit list” on this 33 Coupe is getting smaller every week.
We started this 1933 Plymouth Coupe project 5 months ago — and with steady progress — we are nearing closure. This has been a great project for the iCanFab shop with lots of metal fabrication and welding!
In the photo below, you can see the sheet metal fabrication on the firewall is finished. Around the front window the tabs have been welded for the Lexan® front windshield we will be making.
This car’s suspension is very important. This Coupe will be a street car, yet at the track will be built to handle 1200 HP. Below photo we test fit front end with shocks.
The 33 Plymouth Coupe has this great grill, but the cooling fan we need is to big and heavy to simply zip tie to the radiator core. So we had to be creative and fabricate a mount system that became part of the grill shell.
The photo below shows lots of overall progress with the wiring; including placing of the brake system, wiring the entire car, engine, Nitrous Oxide System, vehicle lights and accessories.
The below photo shows the final sealing up of the firewall and behind dash is complete. Plus we just finished welding this mount we fabricated to hold the Racepak Digital Dash data system.
FOR SALE
We are in the final stages of mocking up the car, modifying suicide hidden door hinges, attaching grill shell mounts, radiator mounts, and stretching the hood to fit.
Below shows the trans tunnel and drive shaft tunnel are in. We had to split front drive shaft loop to make the drive shaft tunnel removable and serviceable. When this car is done – it will be a breeze to maintain.
New door hinges helped to smooth up the body lines with the suicide doors. It was a must to remove the original door hinges, which were external and hung outside this car body. The new hinges have been installed, checked and welded in. Strikers and locks will final final the doors.
FOR SALE
Just a few months ago — this car was just a shell and a plumb bob. WE have done some fantastic metal fabrication. Steel tube, sheet metal and aluminum are are all in play right now. Here are a few action shots from today.
FOR SALE
There are many factors to consider when building a hot rod or any street car by yourself. First of all, do you have the skills required to build your own car? Secondly, do you have all the tools you will need to finish the project? If you answered no to either question – you can buy this one complete in a few months.
In the photo below, we are sizing up for wheel tubs and cleaning up and trimming off excessive sheet metal, plus finishing up the anti-roll system.
This ’33 will have big block power and will need a bigger tire. To put on a bigger tire, we opened the quarter panel four inches. We sectioned up the old fender and re-attached it to the quarter panel. Then we filled in the blank spaces with hand formed sheet metal. The rear section of the fender was shortened and moved up, as seen in the below photo.
Door bars and seat mounts make the interior of this ’33 Coupe small, as seen in the photo below. Since we had an aluminum seat laying around the shop we decided to take out the Sharpie pen to design a custom template for a bomber seat that would better fit the interior, and accommodate a larger driver.
Once we created the drivers seat to our liking – we made the passenger seat from the driver seat as our template.
The below photo shows final on anti-roll bar, 4-link bars, shock mounts and final on wishbone.
FOR SALE
Everything in a custom street car needs fabrication – off the shelf parts just won’t do. Properly building a chassis and suspension, the headers, the roll cage – it all takes planning – and precise machining and welding.
1972 CHEVY VEGA UPDATE: The photo below shows the RCI 5-gallon fuel cell has been placed against a rear bulkhead surrounded by 3/4-inch tubing.
Below shows the Aerospace drag race break kit
The FORD 9″ center chunk Aluminum Daytona support and a 1350 U/Joint size.
4.56 rear end gears
The below photo shows the chassis and suspension roof bar that was added. This car will handle 1200 horsepower once finished this additional bar was added for strength.
Having the proper metal fabrication tools are very important when building a chassis and suspension like this. We need to get each stage of the project done within an specific time range if we are going to stay on schedule and within budget so we can sell this car for a reasonable price.
We modified both left and right sides of our S & W full 2×3 frame.
Below additional sill bar has been added for NHRA compliance.
S & W Race Cars full 2×3 frame
The below photos show the floor X and drive shaft loops. We added the X in the floor base for additional safety.
These photos show the S & W Race Cars full 2×3 frame and S & W ladder bars front crossmember with brackets
Below shows the right front motor plate mount. This drag car will be perfect for engine swaps. Once finished this radial tire car will be able to handle up to 1200 HP.
Below shows the steel dummy block in place.
A doghouse was made since this engine was set back over 4″
It looks like this Vega is ready for a firewall.
