1995 RMW Jade Project Wagon

Think the smell was bad for you? Talk to anyone that rides behind a car with hacked off cats. I pissed off a lot of people with my catless 94, lol. Friends would hang back about a half mile. You made a good decision for power tour.

great progress. turn downs should help with the smell

Way to go! Literally 38 years ago, catalytic converters were restrictive. Nowadays... Z06s and ZR1s run ridiculous power through catalytic converters.  

I wish I could find the test I read where they took cats off a C6 Z06 and made... ONE more horsepower.

So yes, do yourself, your friends and the planet a favor, and keep your cats in good working order. My next muscle build will have cats. And it will make ridiculous horsepower.

Adult rodding,lol.

Well....new tips are not really a win in my book. What I wanted in my head did not translate quite right. LOL! I need to do some thinking and find something that will tuck up more and look less like a horse wang. I wanted to do the TransAm style tips...but there was not a good way to make that happen with the room given by the spare tire hump. These are the tips the shop had on hand.

Nice to see better looking tips on that exhaust. Also nice to see that you stuck them out the corners. Thats how i did my old 93 wagon.

Well, the sound and exhaust smell is a lot better this way too. I just wish the tips tucked in more...but I’ll leave em as is for a bit to
see if it grows on me!

I like that a LOT better than the square tips!

Looks killer to me!

A couple trips up and down a steep driveway will round those off nicely..... scraaaaaaaape.

I would like to run flat ovals that go straight out the back, or out of the side in back of the wheel opening. My opinion on turn downs is that they blow up a lot of dust on gravel or dirt surfaces. These are a lot of car to keep clean as it is.

Thanks everyone!!

Lol, dmg4 - The tips that were on there had plenty of scrape marks. LOL! They hung a lot lower and were at the very rear. Although they did help save my rollpan a couple of times when backing up and missing something.

Wagons generally get dirty on the rear anyhow...and the rollpan seems to really amplify that. A quick swipe of the California Scraper/Duster solves it. Lol

Final Dyno testing happened over the weekend. I say final, but I'm prob going back again after some more changes. I can see why this can become addicting...when you have numbers and get advice on how to improve...you want to go back and see the improvement.

Anyhow, drives great and sounds great. Went to and from ATL with no issues and the smell is totally gone between the cats and moving the tips. Exhaust actually sounds better with the turndowns. I'm guessing it's the waves hitting the ground resonating.

Alex (tuner) was great to work with and has grown fond of the wagon now and wants one for himself! Lol. Evolved Tuning is where the Dyno was. They were a pretty cool shop and the owner had some great info and past data from other LT1s to share.

Well, not totally happy with the numbers....got bit by the bug...Lloyd Elliot heads (LE2 ones) are being made now.

Lol.

This should help this combo I have make the most power and I promise I will stop after the heads.

Sure you will. Suuuuuuuuuuure you will.

*cough*

What will prob happen...is...I'll get things as good as they can be, take it on Power Tour and then sell it and the Magnum R/T and try to get a Corvette.

LOL!!

What happened to NVRSELL? :p

I would love to do Power Tour one year. Goals.

That plate would just transfer to the next one! HAHAHA. I always tell people, NVRSELL but ALWAYS TRADE.

Taking this thread off "666" posts...lol. Also, changed heads over the weekend to the Lloyd Elliot LE2 heads. LOVE IT! Wagon feels way better. Jay and Heath came over to help and we all had a jolly good time! Ha!

I promise to leave things alone for now








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Drivetrain is nice and quiet (Jay really took time to adjust the rockers and I learned a ton from him on this) and idle is smooth.

PRE TEST DRIVE

First test drive scared me a little...I was not expecting the rear to break loose at part throttle! The power is definitely way up from before. Eager to get it measured again to compare.

FIRST TEST DRIVE VID


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Finally feel like I can really button up the engine bay. Takes some time to put all the top bits of the Torqhead fuel rail covers on - but it does dress things up. Just a PITA to remove.

WHAT A BEAST!

Great Work Chris!!!

SO....I put the new wheels on thinking I was "done".  It was at this moment that I really knew I had a problem.  

So I put the old wheels back on, grabbed a drink...and started peeling the sticker off.  LOL!  

Re-Wrap #4 in progress BAHAHAA

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Jeeze, you must have an infinite supply of the clips in every possible color!

Sighs...Glad you are over this psychedelic phase of your life.

I actually have 2 full backup sets of clips top and bottom!  BUT...I only broke 2 in the past 2 re-woods.  Lol. The bugger is my front pass spear since the main clip is hard to find.  So I have a makeshift clip and back it up with a dab of silicone.  Will be dry tonight and I'll get some more pics with the new wheels on.  

Then the tailgate comes Wed and BOOM!  Back to stealth mode.

I was kinda over the psychedelic mode before I really started, but the wrap material and trimming was really nice. I will say this, the shop that did it really knows how to lay it down and trim it out. It was just not my style and didn't do the wagon justice.  

Looks like I'm almost ready to drive to church in this thing. Lol

Chris that really does look fantastic Bud! Love it!

Thanks Mike! And thanks for the Roadmaster emblem measurements. I only found one of my NOS emblems...I need to find the other. I hope I didn't give it away (I might have).

lol

Tailgate will be finished up today...so that will be good. Was too excited to wait for a couple of pics and I needed to pull the wagon out to turn it around in the garage.

Still on the fence about the other wheels. I really like my current ones honestly, seems to "fit". I need to see it outside. Goal is to have the bling wheels for special times and run the DGGM wheels for daily/fun times.

Tailgate finished - had to do it in 2 pieces like the factory.  Material was limited, so we decided to play it safe and not risk doing the one piece and botching the plate area up.  

Overall, I am very happy and feel like I've settled on a look I can keep for a bit.  I've decided this IS the last re-wood...and the next step will be painting it all smooth.  

But you know me, I change my mind easily.  LOL!

Best iteration yet.

Still prefer the other wheels. lol

lol...I'm definitely not getting rid of the ones Jarrod painted. Those will be on there most of the time, but I do like the bling and redlines for special occasions.

I love the redlines. They tie in with the interior. Definitely support those. Where'd you get them anyway?

Tires came from: https://dbtires.com/

Are the new wheels larger, or is it just the redline tires look smaller because of the stripe?

The new wheels are indeed larger...I swore I would never go above 18in (which is what the DGGM ones are) but I liked and these are 20in wheels with 255/35 20 tires. Same diameter as my 18in set (so I can go back and forth without worrying about tuning issues)

 I expected a harsher ride, but it literally rides exactly the same. lol

I have 20in Scat Pack wheels on my Magnum R/T so it seems like a normal-ish size now.  

Took the wagon out for a long drive last night and am pretty excited about taking it to Daytona next week!

Drove the wagon to Asheville (South) Cars and Coffee Sat morning, then went from there to Duluth, GA Right outside ATL) for an INC meet.  Goal was to put as many miles as I could to really test everything before Daytona this weekend.  Ended up being 426miles total Sat.  

Seems I am in good shape - nothing fell off or blew up.  I'm also getting with my wrapping friend Robert Thurs night to do the tailgate again as I do believe we can do it all in one piece.

 Chris



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It was pretty cool to park next to a stock version of myself at CaCoffee!  

Tailgate was updated the night before I left for Daytona.  The one piece is much better and can be done with this material

VIDEO HERE




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I also added one of the shallow body alternators from Torqhead.  





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Then the trip to Daytona and back went great!  Nice to know that after this thing has been in pieces a couple of times...I can still just hop in and roadtrip without issue.  

Did a couple of other things - bought a dimple dye and made a fan shroud that kinda matched the Hotchkis engine brace:










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Also found a local tuner who has converted a few FBodies to the Torqhead.  He found some issues with the tune I had and the wagon runs MUCH better now.  The guy before tuned some things as if the engine itself was an LS, not an LT1.  

Charles Barber ( www.v8muscle.net )



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Installed the Dick Miller rear frame braces and finally put my UMI uppers in.  These have been sitting for a loooong time.  I was lazy.  Lol











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Put the 18s back on for ISSCA Nats (I was afraid to race around on the 20s as I've heard about people bending them up).  I'll put the bling wheels back on again.  

I still like the 18s better.

lol

looks great are the miller braces for a wagon or the sedan ones

mtrhead79 wrote:

looks great are the miller braces for a wagon or the sedan ones

Thanks! They are wagon specific ones. Just give him a call (I don't believe they are in his online catalog) as he has some more still.

91-96 B-body Sedan part number is DMR 5029-W. Wagon part number is DMR 5029-WW.
These probably fit 77-90 B-bodies as well.

One of the best looking wagons I've seen!

Kinda getting to the point where I'm running out of things to do....did find a set of export tails and working on an idea on the reverse light relocation. Just gotta find a couple more parts.

Still not happy with the rear exhaust tips...I really would like to find a shop that can do mandrel bends and just have the entire exhaust redone.

I did put the 20s back on and have been driving it daily for the past 4 weeks....nearly hit 10K miles since the new motor/trans was installed.

Are there exhaust shops that can/will mandrel bend an exhaust specific for your car?

Those mandrel bending machines are $40k+ and not exactly quick/easy to setup from what I've seen for a single application. I've always bought the mandrel bends and pipe separately, cut and TIG welded them together. Probably takes the same amount of time, but you don't have $40k+ invested in the mandrel bend machine.

I like the green (jade) paint color and the reddish tint in the woodgrain - nice combo!

What size tire are you running with the 18's and 20's? I like the rim to sidewall ratio of the 18's better

I got a couple of recommendations from some local friends...there are some guys not far from here that will do it. I really want a nice, clean and tight system and am willing to pay for it if it is done right. Kinda the last thing that has annoyed me for a while. The main section of exhaust is actually from my first project wagon, so most of that system is 11 years old at this point with various bugger welded bits added or changed over time.

The 18s are nice for track / beatings / long trips where you don't want to worry about holes. (255/45/18 )

The 20s still ride great and the redline might make the sidewall look less (255/35/20). I wanted the overall diameter of both sets to be pretty close so I can swap back and forth without much concern with the speedo being off.

Chris

Looking good. Once you get that exhaust taken care of it will be pretty much perfect Excellent work.

I also prefer the 18s. The 20s are just too rubber band looking for me. Still, it looks great on either combo.

Thanks guys!!  Did a Dyno tune today and am very happy (finally)!!  Always more mods to be done...but honestly...this wagon is a great cruiser with enough fun power to really make you smile and be pretty damn reliable.  
Other than the exhaust changes (might do Tri-Ys too...lol), I'm putting a pin in it for now!

These are at the wheel numbers (not crank)
325.77 rwhp
323.04 rwtq

https://youtu.be/JgvQ1GTHbDo

That looks really awesome. Great progress you've done there.

Well, the wagon is now in a new home (as of 12/31/19) and 2020 has brought a shift in my car projects. Focusing on the Caprice PPV now and picked up an old Subaru as a daily again.  

It went to my Buddy's Dad of all people! So it will spend most of its time in a garage coming out on sunny days for a cruise to the local ice cream shop.  Lol