NixVegaGT

[waybad]

I think everyone wants to make sure he is ok!!!

[Stonebird]

Google is amazing. I was able to find his name, address, job, ect. starting with just his username. He posted on facebook about a month ago so I assume he's still alive. I sent him a message on facebook to check in here. we'll see what happens.

[NixVegaGT]

Hey team. Sorry I've been so absent. A lot happened the past year. I came down with a pulmonary disease that was a mystery for a while but ended up being something called Sarcoidosis. It basically puts a bunch of little tumors all over the lungs making it really hard to breath. What's really crazy is I'm almost over it with the mysterious power of prednisone!! We live in miraculous times.

OK on to the very very long term project. I've got a bunch of pix to upload. I mostly didn't want to post anything until I knew where I was headed was really what I wanted to do or would even work. Well in the end I've really chopped up this car. It's now got a completely tubular tunnel chassis and I'm well into PLAN B. I am happy with where I'm headed but I've definitely started into total custom territory. I've mounted the IRS now and fabricated the motor mounts and transmission mounts thanks to the setup motor. I'm in the middle of fabricating the roll cage.

I'll upload pix tomorrow. It's a trip. I'm really pressing hard now to get a wrap on this project. I'm in about $12k now and some of that I pretty much just wasted. I'll have more tomorrow.

[chevyart]

nix get well real soon. good luck art

[1100kaw2]

Good to hear from you Nix. Glad it seems the meds doing the job. Sounds like no fun for sure.
Cant wait to see pics. I'm sure its gonna rock.
Darrell

[ROB]

So, you majorly modded the Vega all the while being super sick. Dude, true gear head!

[waybad]

Glad to hear you ok

[Monza Harry]

What the Gang said above and Glad Your Back! Harry

[zeke]

Glad u recovered man! My wife has severe allergies that require prednisone occasionally, it is an amazing drug.

[NVEGAR8D]

Hi,
Glad to hear your on the mend and welcome back.
nick75vega

[NixVegaGT]

It's good to hear from you guys. Thanks so much for the well wishes. I've got a lot to update. The pix aren't great but I'll try to get some better ones. Some stuff I didn't take pix of. For instance I didn't take pix of the IRS installed before taking it back out for final fabrication.

Here's a couple pix of the tunnel chassis fabrication. I'll upload some pix of the current setup shortly.

IMG_2601.jpg

IMG_2610.jpg

IMG_2603.jpg

IMG_2608.jpg

[waybad]

I like it ls power is going to be killer,,

[NixVegaGT]

I've got some pix of the tunnel chassis fab work and as far as I got on the roll cage today. I'll start with the tunnel chassis. I've connected the top of the UCA mounts to rails that connect with triangulated tubes to the tunnel. I'm planning on integrating with connectors to the roll cage to help distribute the forces in the chassis. My hope is to end up with a very stiff but light chassis. Then I'll refabricate the inner wheel wells to house the 275-40/17 rubber.

TunnelChassis1.jpg

TunnelChassis2.jpg

Here's a couple from the inside of the car:

TunnelChassis3.jpg

TunnelChassis4.jpg

Here's a shot of the integrated transmission mount. I've mounted the engine and transmission up inside the tunnel so everything including the exhaust will be mounted above the bottom of the frame rails. I'm also fabricating some skid rails along the bottom of the channels I welded onto the pinch weld. I'm planning on having the ride height at about 4-5".

TunnelChassis5.jpg

[NixVegaGT]

I got some time on the roll cage today. I was pretty geeked up because I got up late (4:40 am vs. 3am) to work today and by 8am I had the left door hoop bent. Big deal for me because it's quite complicated. I really wanted the hoops to be fabricated in very close to the body supports. To do this I had to ad a bend just above the angle to run straight down from the base of the A-pillar; I did this because the stock unibody sort of sweeps slightly out at the base of the A-pillar then back in to converge with the roof. SO that tube needs to start out at 50º back then I added a bend ≈8 cm mid A-pillar that bends back 90º from the plane of the first bend at ≈20º; Then rotated outward about 5º so it follows the body line. The top A-pillar bend had to be 44º but 20º off plane (axially) from the the first two bends. The result is a final angle, if looking directly from the side of 40º to total the 90º needed. YIKES! I screwed up two DOM tubes experimenting to figure this out. The second hoop went like lightning though. AND with those tubes finished the rest should come together without too much crazy math.

rollcage2.jpg

rollcage4.jpg

rollcage5.jpg

rollcage1.jpg

rollcage6.jpg

[NixVegaGT]

Peep this pic of the dragster my son built. I was super impressed with the engine he built. See how it uses the upward angle pieces so it looks like a blown V8! So cool.

TunnelChassis6.jpg