Conversion - Future Plans
The car goes back to Lone Star Chassis for sub-frame connectors soon. I am also planning to have the rear control arms boxed and see if Ron can fabricate an engine compartment brace similar to the kind used on late model F-body cars. I am thinking of upgrading to an ’89 Corvette 700R4 Lockup converter to get a better stall speed (around 2200-2400 I’m told). A Painless Wiring 18-circuit universal street rod wiring harness will eventually replace the original Vega wiring, which by now has been extensively modified and spliced.
My ultimate street rod would have air conditioning. It appears there is just enough room between the frame for the SPAL fans and the radiator for a condenser. Once I see how well the engine cooling setup works this summer, I may try putting a condenser between the fans and radiator and see how it affects cooling. Another option is removing the SPAL fans and trying Flex-a-Lite dual pancake fans behind the radiator in order to free up space for the transmission cooler and an A/C condenser in front of the radiator. If either of these work without making the engine run too hot, the next step would be to add air conditioning. This would require new March outward-mount accessory brackets, A Sanden 508 R-134 compressor, probably a new alternator, and a Vintage Air compact heat/AC/defrost evaporator in addition to the condenser, lines, and accumulator. For now, I want to see how my current setup does this summer; but if I can figure it out I definitely want A/C in the car in the future.
Maybe Someday…
How about porting the LT1 heads? Better yet, how about converting to LT4 heads, valve train and cam? That would require a bigger throttle body and injectors. All that torque will probably explode my S-10 rear end, so I would probably need either a narrowed 12-bolt or custom 9" with a torque arm setup. Might as well upgrade the torque arm and beef up the rear trailing arms at the same time! The list is only limited by imagination, time, and money. Keep checking back at www.h-body.org -- I’ll keep you posted!