Rumbuilder Thunderbird

[Rick Modena]

lol @ Stroker Ace...

[4bangen]

as promised here's my new tbird video, with the skit that I hurt myself. I can't wait to hear what y'all think.

[4bangen]

wheels and tires are here! now I just need to 5 lug swap the car so I can test fit. From all my research this is as close as I'm going to get in a street tire to the size of a stockcar tire and wheel. 275/60/15 on a 15x10 wheel. I'm going to mount them black wall out and use a stencil to add the correct style lettering to the tires. The wheels will be painted red to go with the future paint. I'm all in on cutting the fenders and thinking I'm going to try and flair them myself. I'm picking up some fox mustang fenders to practice on.

[4bangen]

Well hello there, I have a small update.
I mounted the tires on the wheels so that they would take up less space while I worked on my truck. Well once I saw them mounted I decided I had to see them on the car, so that turned into an axle swap and front brake swap to get the car 5 lugged. While under the car I noticed there was only one driveshaft bolt holding the shaft to the rear end and it was loose. Makes me happy I didn't get it running when I first got it. I also found the front rubber brake lines rotten and falling apart. So after swapping to five lug and getting my 8.8 disk rear in the car, I test fit the new wheels and tires. I have always known I was going to have to cut and widen the fenders to get the look I'm after, but seeing them on the car really drove it home on how big of a project this is going to be.





I've been deep diving online and trying to figure out the best way to get these fenders how I want them with the car as low as I want it. I may eventually put air ride on the car since my plan is to be able to daily drive this thing while still sitting how I want it, but for now I'm going with sn95 drop springs.
remember this is what I'm going for.


in all my research I decided fiberglas isn't what will make me happy. I want the fenders to be sheet metal. I ended up being sent this kick ass picture of a crew member cutting and fairing a fender on a real 80's nascar and it got me really worked up. I think that I can do this. And if I can't, well, then fiberglass it is. I figure I cut the fenders and flair them to where I need them and then pull the springs, then jack the axle and a arms to the bump stops and cut the larger wheel openings.



All and all 'm still excited about the car, and once I finish my truck this weekend, I'm diving all the way in on the bird. I plan on doing a manual valve body C4 with a B&M pro stick for the trans. With the gearing and tire size I'll be seeing 2459rpm at 75mph. so it should still be streetable. then I'll worry about adding power. for now I'm just getting it setup the way I want it to sit, ride, and look.