Brandon Good's 1980 Malibu Project-Chassis & Interior-05/31

[mustang1989]

Thanks for the good word and the bit of humor guys. lol.

Did some mods to the frame and was able to drop it a little more. I might have another scale inch to go in the front but I've gotta find a way to modify the front suspension a little. The front wheel is right on centerline with where the spindle will be at this point. I've been working on getting the frame to sit square in the body which has been a lot of work but I'm almost there after a lot of shaving and some mild cutting. I also cleaned up the resin body...………….ALOT!!

[LyleW]

Gonna be good!

[mustang1989]

Thanks Lyle. The more I worked with the frame to body fit the more I saw where it laid diagonally in the body. Weird. Never had that happen before and it would've caused the engine to sit diagonally in the engine bay. To fix, I cut the drivers side frame lip/ rail from the chassis and moved it in about an 1/8", sanded the passengers side rear wheel tub and frame area and sanded the inside of the body on the passengers side. So far it appears to have worked like a charm. It also looks like I might be able to use the 66 Nova interior as well. No back seat in that one...…….just a panel. I have a 67 Chevelle interior with a gigantic Chevrolet emblem molded into the rear interior panel that I could graph in. We'll see.

BTW....these will not be the wheels that I'll be working with. I will have to build the aluminum Alumastar wheels. Counting lugnuts the rears are 9 pieces each while the fronts will be 4 pieces each. The rear wheel sleeves were too wide which would've put the rear wheels at around 16" wide. Way too wide for this ride. So I got the machine shop to cut 'em in half so I'd have more like a 12 inch wide wheel which works perfect for the tires that I've got. More coming on those on down the line.

[LyleW]

I remain awestruck by you work, corrrection an scratch building!

[mustang1989]

Thanks Lyle. I appreciate the vote of confidence good buddy.

[mustang1989]

Just to show what I'm doing here. This is the chassis from AMT's 66 Nova Pro Street car. With a little elbow grease...…………..and a whole lotta sanding/ trimming it fits like a glove. It's like it was made for this car. I'll be able to use the complete AMT suspension under here.



Another bonus is that I think I'm going to be able to use the entire 66 Nova interior with this as well.



Every thing in the engine compartment looks like it's gonna play well with the rest of the car. I'll be able to use the 80 Malibu resin firewall here as well. Also seen in this photo is how well the interior is going to work with this car.

[speedgraflex]

Outstanding work, bud! TGIF!

[mustang1989]

Thanks Bruce. Had to take a quick break from the Arado. I needed something that I could make some progress on for a change.

[speedgraflex]

No worries. That resin to plastic parts fit is the best I have seen. It looks as though you formed the resin over the plastic.

[mustang1989]

That resin body was as thick as hell. A lot of sanding and I do mean LOTS to get the fit to look like this. Thanks Bruce.