I BECOME POTENTIALLY FAMOUS

Since the World Class 5-speed transmission shifter is nearly 8 inches further back than the stock Saginaw 4-speed I realized that if my lovely wife Tammy, or a circus midget, drives the car, they'll have to move the stock bench seat forward and it would hit the shifter. To remedy this I had to choose to radically alter the shifter so it would be really long and come forward under the seat for a ways, or get bucket seats, or notch my bench seat. I became a notcher.

An upholsterer removed the fabric and padding and I measured and cut the notch in the seat pan. Then, I welded a length of 1/4" steel rod along the inside of the cut so that there wouldn't be any sharp edges, and returned it to the upholsterer. $100 later, it came back and solved the problem. I think it looks pretty cool.

Back under the hood I began installing the accessories and the TPI intake parts. I'd decided to use the factory A/C unit from the donor car so I removed the stock heater components and cleaned the area on the firewall. I resealed the blower box and cleaned all the hardware. The only part I had to repaint was the fan motor cover, the rest cleaned up pretty well.

I did the A/C swap with the engine in the chassis so now you and I both know that it can be done, but it would have been easier with the engine bay empty. Having the passenger fender off gave me more access. It was the kind of job that makes you wonder if you can get a shoulder and neck rub from the little woman later.

Since the A/C compressor was mounted on the driver's side of the engine it meant that I wouldn't be able to route the air intake and Mass Air Flow sensor that direction like I'd originally planned prior to the A/C swap. Now it required me to mount the battery on the driver's side so it would leave space to put an air cleaner on the passenger side. Are you dizzy yet?

The problem with mounting the air cleaner & ducting on the passenger side is that the alternator was right in the way of the ducting as it came out of the throttle body. The fix for this was one that I'd never seen before, so unless you've seen someone else do this - I invented it.

Using the stock alternator pivot bolt (about 6 or 7 inches long), I discarded the upper mount and swung the alternator all the way counter clockwise about 150 degrees. I fabricated an adjuster bracket using steel tubing and welded a large nut in the center to allow for adjustment. Then I welded a 5/16" fine thread nut on one end and a left-hand thread 5/16" fine thread nut on the opposite end. I had the two spherical rod ends (heim joints) left over from another project, one left-hand thread and the other right-hand thread, so they made it possible to lengthen or shorten the bracket smoothly. For the top, to stabilize the unit, I used one of those stout, A/C stabilizing brackets that are usually mounted on the front part of the intake manifold going to the A/C compressor bracket. I had to cut one end off, shorten the bracket, bend it slightly and weld the end back on to make it the right length and shape. So, in less than an hour I'd solved the alternator locating problem, and I'll become famous when someone markets the brackets and calls it the "Doug's Drugs Cool Alternator Mounting Bracket Kit".

Doug