Project No-Flight Update
June 2003
After a brief two month delay while Julie's '70 got a leaking front brake caliper fixed (the "you might as well's" turned it into a full-on front suspension rebuild), I finally got to complete the exhaust system by fabricating the sidepipes. The photos only show the left one as I can't get far enough away to get any pictures of the right one with the car in the garage.
In this last photo you can also see the vibration isolator and mount for the rear of the pipe. I "slightly" melted the isolator when tacking the right side pipe mounts in place, but they need to be taken out for frame painting anyway so I'll replace them both then.
I also have tacked in place the front sway bar pivots and lower mounts. I bought and installed the radiator and fan so I could see where I had space to put the front sway bar. After getting it in place it was obvious that there "was" no place I could put the sway bar in front of the axle centerline. Between the front-steer rack and pinon unit, lowered radiator mounting (needed to clear the hood after the front wheels were move forward) and the narrowed front track there just was no room for a sway bar that could tie into the "stock" connections on the lower A-arms.
After quite a bit of searching and some measurements I decided I did have room to mount the sway bar behind the axle centerline and under the front of the engine oil pan. I had hoped not to have anything under the engine to make servicing easier, but had no other room left. The sway bar is easily removed by disconnecting the end arms and sliding the bar out of the pivots, so I can still pull the oil pan if needed (sure hope it isn't) without having to remove the engine. If everything looks ok as I progress I'll finish weld the swaybar stuff when I blow it apart to paint the frame.
