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Made a bit of progress. These pictures show the bonnet mounted, engine-frame-exhaust now ready to be set for paint, transmission body work done, new seat in place, and wipers out. Still needs bodywork (someone dropped a pipe on the bonnet) tail lights fixed interior redone.
Left engine showing new firewall Left engine straight on New Seat in car Right side engine (valve covers will be black, note remote coil packs). Right side engine with clean firewall (note wipers are now gone, didn't work with the cut down windshield anyway).
OK, the windshield wipers are gone (they really weren't working with the cut-down windshield) and we changed the rear lights. Car is ready for the paint update, not shooting the entire car again which will be interesting given this is color-shifting paint. (I have my doubts this will work but fingers crossed). New tail light treatment (wanted a smoother look, the prior owner's modifications made going back to stock problematic and I wanted something more distinctive). Got rid of the Windshield wipers which are kind of pointless on a Speedster build given you look over the Windshield, but the arms were too long anyway). Another shot of the new rear. I have doubts they be able to get the paint to look right without shooting the entire car but they say they can do this so fingers crossed.
Before you built a new front frame for your car, I'm curious how those coil overs performed for you. I'm considering doing the same on my car, which has the beefier front picture frame of a V12 car. Did you have any issues?
Repainted Car Repainted Rear Repainted Front (a contractor dropped a big pipe on my hood so we had to reshoot the front end). No more wipers, didn't make sense really because I now look over the windshield.
Last edited by enderle; 09-27-2021 at 04:36 PM.
Reason: added word "came" to title
Well the car has spent the better part of 18 months at the body shop getting the bonnet fixed, and having the taillights redone. Now it gets completely rewired, a new interior (Going to try for something closer to Project Zero), and sorting that LS3 engine. We completely took apart the gas tank and it was ugly inside, so it's been cleaned and coated and should now last longer than I will. Don't have the lenses or lighting elements in yet, but they look a ton better than those Mark X lights I had on it before.
We are just finishing up rewiring the car, the Lucas Electric stuff is long gone and now so is the rest of the aging wiring. The Engine bay has been prepared for the new engine and the exhaust system has been fitted and ready to be installed (both will happen after upholstery which goes in next week). Then the sound system gets reconnected to a brand new head unit and, with a little luck, by the end of July or August I should be able to drive it again. Note we moved the battery to the other side of the car to make room for the new engine electronics. I'm really hoping we can make the car quieter than it was with the old 350 as it would wake the dead back with that older build. New Front Frame Side (painted and nearly ready for engine) Soundproofing on driver's side Speakers need dusting Waiting for carpet, wiring ongoing. Battery has moved Front of car cleaned up a lot.
The engine is in and hooked up, the interior is in though we still need to do some cleanup and now think that the Stereo display may be too large for the car, tail lights are done but still need to be wired, boot release has been moved and improved, should be done in 3 more months (no rush because I'm sure as hell not driving this in winter, it has seat heaters but no general heater).
Back of cockpit (still needs work) new door card, no speaker (looks better) Engine from the front. Engine from the right, note custom headers. Engine from the left and new battery position. New boot (trunk) release under glovebox. Center cubby, a place to put the smartphone and little else. New fuse box, under driver side dash. Front cockpit, I think the screen for the stereo may be too big. Tail lights still need to be wired (entire car is being completely rewired) but done externally.
Beautiful piece of work but me thinks it will be a handful to drive with all that power and front end weight bias despite the wider, modern rubber. Looking forward to hear what it's like on the road when you get there.
The stock engine and transmission in an e-type are around 700 pounds, coincidently, this engine weighs 460 pounds, and the transmission is 245 pounds or 705 pounds total. Using the aluminum block version of the LS allowed me to keep the weight close, and the engine sits back farther and closer to the middle of the car, so rotational resistance (fast cornering) should be improved. However, this much power without traction control will be problematic, and I'll need to go easy on the throttle, or I'll likely end up in a ton of trouble quickly. In a few years, I'll convert to electric with traction control, and electric motors can put a lot more power down because traction control works very differently in them than gas motors do. I would have gone electric for this car, but the battery solutions aren't yet where they need to be, and the traction control for a retrofit isn't available. For jollies, here is a drag race between the fastest electric family cars (imagine what an electric supercar would do) and the fastest gas car in the market (what I find interesting is you could buy around 18 of the electric cars, which are sedans with back seats, for the cost of that Bugatti).
Headlights look much better now (car needs a bath), it should be ready for me to drive again in May-this is a headlight conversion kit out of Europe. Headlights closeup Headlights front Headlights side
It is running a little rougher than I'd like and it needs some paint touched up in the rear but I have it back and it sure draws attention when I drive it. I have had baffles put in the exhaust so it doesn't stun the dead; now it just wakes them up. Here are the latest pictures.
The rear of cab (slot is for sub). The speakers light up if I want. The seats are really comfortable.
New Dash and front of cabin New engine right side New engine left side New exhaust (think this looks a ton better but still not happy with the license plate) Rear of car, taillights look a lot better. Side of car, pretty clean. Side cab of car
When I bought the car it had an old 327 in it which kind of forced the move to a 350 because the bocks are pretty much the same, then for an upgrade the LS-3 became the go to, but the front frame wouldn't handle the power leading to the swap to a Mustang II front end. Generally, in an e-type the older Ford engine will fit better than the Chevy, and while I'd love to do a swap with a Coyote, there just aren't many people who have done that swap in anything meaning you'll be paying for them to learn what works and what doesn't. I wanted to do a new LT engine but, again, I couldn't find a shop that both knew that engine and had experience with older cars leading me again back to the LS. I've seen a nice Hemi swap that seemed to go OK as well but that was also a learn-on-the-job kind of thing that did run into difficulties. Be aware that the existing front frame won't handle much over 350 HP without a high potential for metal fatigue and failure. Replacing that front frame is a lot of work but the Mustang II front end can be made to fit as I've showcased. Personally, were I starting this new I'd be looking at an electric conversion because those have gotten a lot better and for a car that I mostly just drive to car shows, the range isn't an issue, keeping the gas from gumming up, and dealing with the oversized exhaust (plus typical ICE maintenance) is, but that swap does require a specialist and while there are several, the cost is in the $100K range for the conversion (this will drop over time). For a new engine, the LS will be the easiest, for a legacy engine the Ford small block would be the easiest if you can find a kit for the car (there used to be a number of them). Hope that helps, best of luck!
04-08-2021, 05:50 PM
Engine Progress
