Pic's of 1970 W-31 clip-off restification.

Engine out - what a mess! Had an apparent oiling problem at low RPM and pan leak.

Found oiling problems caused by debris (nice size metal shaving) in oil bypass valve at filter keeping bypass open and dumping oil back into pan. Main & rod bearings worn. Pic is after machine work, align and line hone, balance & blueprint. 461 (455 0.030 over) on stand with HS roller rockers. Mondello billett flywheel (which you can buy just about anywhere else cheaper.) Re-used existing TRW forged pistons Holley 800 DP and bought JM3-4 cam. ARP studs on mains & heads (W/straps), restriced oil to cam, ARP rod bolts. Heads are stock "E" with 2.072" in and 3-angle valve job, new seals & guides, hardened seats installed. No other cutting done on heads. Pic of garage shows what you will have for space when you do this in a two car garage - basically what you have is a narrow path. Fenders and bumper has been stored on back deck of house - neighbors love it I'm sure. Other parts stored in various extra rooms in house.

Sandblasting and POR-15 treatment done to firewall forward. Rebuilt suspension with new eurethane bushings and Moog ball jounts. 1" lowering springs installed.

Engine installed beteween framerails. POS chrome thermostat replaced with stock cast part plated at nearby Advanced Plating. Decent plating job, but there is some shading of nickel in a few of the tight spots. Studs on carb & t-stat housing & valve covers. New Moog center link and inner/outer tie rods and adjusters installed.image on bottom right shows clearance on the z-bar and the header and my sloppy bending job on the brake lines from moving the proportioning valve away from the headers.

Here's the floor cleaned and POR-15 treated. The T-5 required a bit of clearancing at the original shifter hole in the floor. I made the black plate out of sheet steel and put 8-32 screw to hold it in. Have since purchased a rivet gun and will replace the screws with rivets. Looks like I got some of that paint on the rear seat - ARGH!

Core support blasted, POR-15 and installed. New forward harnesses purchased, not installed yet

20051123 4-core radiator support cradles fabbed to replace 3-core cradles from factory. Pic on right shows progress on car - butsed up grille mounted. Still awaiting install of radiator.

20060123 Hunting through the garage I finally came across the broadcast card, that means it is now I have documented proof that the car is an official W-31. If I only had the corrrect engine :( Here's a nasty pic of the broacast card and some optional firing orders for GM V8.

20060328 Finally got fenders back from acid dip & media blast after amonth of waiting for them to get done! Below pics are of the inside of the rear of the front fenders. Looks like I've got some work to do.

20060402 I have been problems using the aftermarket z-bar. Below are pics of the new and an original I was loaned by a friend so I can modify mine. On the left, the aftermarket part is in the foreground the lever going to the right(pedal lever) is longer, but the problem is the lever going to the left (clutch lever) is straight and also too long and hits on the headers when installed. The pic on the right shows the differences in the arm for the lower clutch rod.

On the Left is a pic of the inner parts of the seat belts. They are very thin metal and appear to be made of spring steel that has been blued like a gun barrel. These parts had only surface rust on them after 36 years, so I figured if I coated them with a good gun oil, they would be ok for quite a while. I didn't think sanblasting would be a good idea on these parts. The top two pieces have be coated with the oil and the rest haven't. The pic on the right is a random pic of the Formula Car I was lucky to get a ride in, in 1998.

20061115. Have recently decided to pull the rear axle off the car to rebuild it to match the front. I will probably pull the body off the car and clean, then POR-15 the frame and under body.I also decided to box the lower control arms usiong a kit from OPGI. I blasted the lowers and had them just powder coat the inside, then welded the boxing plates in and had the uppers and lowers fully powdercaoted, all for $40. In total, $32 for the boxing plates, $85 for the urethane bushing kit, $20 to my welder buddy and $40 for the powder coating, total investment $177. Pic's of them below:
After doing the front of the car, it's getting very difficult for me to not do the back of the frame and chassis. Pic below is an indication what the control arms looked like before I did all the cleaning, blasting and powder coating:
20070129. Here's the body sitting on 4x4's and concrete blocks. Frame is off and ready to go to frame shop to ensure straightness and then media blast & POR-15.

20070130. Heres the frame rolling out of the garage, getting ready to go to the frame shop to check out straightness.

20070204. Frame is now bare and ready to take to frame shop, then blast & powdercoat. Pic on right is what your 2-car garage begins to look like when you do a frame off there. This is the reason I didn't intend to frame off this car in the first place.

Since I've been asked how I got the body off the frame on my '70 W-31, I'll post here. I removed the front clip, steering connection and front engine and lighting harness, brake lines , throttle cable and heater hoses. I jacked on the frame and removed the rear suspension, bumper, brake lines and fuel tank. I removed the body bushings. The 2 in the front "dog houses" were difficult and I had to use a wrench which had the socket built on and was open ended on the other end. None of my standard wrenches has enough bend to get there, a standard socket isn't deep enough and a deep well won't fit. My body jacking points was above the gas tank (with 4-5 stacked 2x8x~3'between the jack and the body and in the front I had a 4x4 on the jack, on the body bracing area under the front seats. I started in the back and lifted, going forward on the car. As I pulled the bushings out, I replaced them with 2x4x4" blocks. Then I started over and replaced those with 4x4x4" blocks, and went up 2" at a time. Once I got it high enough, I put 2 4x4x12's through the rear wheelwells with a 4x4x4'on each to keep the longer 4x4's from the wheel well lip and supported each side with cinder blocks 3 tall. Next, I put the same setup in the front, except on cinder blocks 2 tall. I then slowly dropped the body onto the 4x4's. Since the front suspension was still on, I rolled the frame out into the driveway draggin the rear of the frame behind.

20070320. I just got the frame, crossmember and core support back from the blaster and went over to the powdercoater to get pics. Below are pics of the core support and crossmember after powdercoating. I'll get some frame pics posted asap.

20070323. Here are some random pic's of the parts back from powdercoating. Inside shots are in my living room. I also cleared the fenders and bumpers out of the garage to make space, the other is upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms. I would have never gotten away with this if I were still married.


20070327. Got the front suspension and steering assembled. Looks like camera lost it's date.

20070403. Rear axle housing with two coats of green primer using Devibliss starting line guns. Now have to wait for good weather to get the color on it. Pic on the right is 1st side I've put color to. Three coats of Black gloss. This is my first attempt of painting anything without a brush or rattle can.

20070410. Rear axle painting complete. Here's a few pics of the other (bottom) side.

20070422. Rear axle in car w/ powdercoated upper and lower control arms, lowers boxed and Hotchkis trailing arm link kit. Still have to install axles, brakes, etc.

20070528. Updated pics with new camera.

Watching the kids dog for a week. Look where he likes to sit the most.
20070703. Got the solid fuel lines in. One more brake like, then body back on frame ... Random rear backing plate pic.

20070806. Engine going back onto frame after their long separation. I hope they can learn to get along.

20070829 Finally cooled down enought to work on the car. Body back on frame in about 8 hours of sweating.

20071111 Got the headers, starter and Lokar LS1 dipstick tube installed, so now i can start putting the front clip back together. Here's the rad support with lamps and busted up grille installed.

20080507. Got the underside (and inside floor) of body pretty much covered with 2 coats of primer and three coats of color (rattle can applied on bottom, POR-15 on inside with a brush), after many many hours with a wire wheel on an angle grinder coming out with a black face each time. The driveshaft is in and I'm now working on parking brakes and sealing vents on kick panels so they won't leak when it rains. Ordered new vent cables from Year One and they should be in soon so I can finish with the Dynamat.

20090429- Tried to add new pic's - all too big.  Car is basically together now san hood, trunk and rear bumper.  Spent 2 weeks stripping trunk to bare metal and finishing it.  Found correct splatter paint at Napa and have gone through about 4 cans to get everything covered.  Will try to pic posts asap.