Oh man. So much awesome.
Oh man. So much awesome.
Once you get it ground scraping low if changing the rear tires is too difficult cutting the panel over the tires and having them clip on like old fender skirts shouldn't be too hard.
jimbob_racing said: How much can you lower the car ride height?
Quite a bit. Maybe 2"? Right now it's still on the stock springs. The current plan is to get the body on the chassis at the max 60" height and let the assembly settle below that as components are bolted back on (doors, tailgate, interior, etc...)
I mean, it would be a lot of work, but chopping the roof by 5 inches will certainly get you the height decrease you need.
The awesome in this thread is strong
Anybody remember the Renault Espace F1? There have been other fast minivans but nothing quite as bubbly since this:
Could you leave the floor cut out and do giant sucker Chaparral-like sucker fans like that one challenge vette? Then it really would be the dustbuster.
Keep up the progress!
Oh gawd. The want is strong!
Keep up the good work kind sir.
Hnnngg.
Ok. Let's fill in the blanks between these last couple of pictures. Last Friday I finished clearancing the G6 by removing the front bumper and core support.
Then on Saturday my Dad came over to help. We talked over the 3D puzzle that is this project and determined the last cuts that I needed to do on the van. It was just trimming back the front wheel wells and thinning out the A-pillars below the window line.
Then my Dad and I started lifting the van body up in the air. We used the chain hoist in the back and and engine lift in the front on the core support.
The gantry system worked well and the safety chains made it much more stable. We then got out the lawn mower and pulled the G6 out of the garage. Thankfully (for this job anyways) my driveway slopes towards the garage. We were able to just push it back into the garage underneath the body. It took a couple tries as the gantry was only about 2-3" wider than the car.
Eventually we got the car all the way back under the van body.
Then we started dropping the van back down. A little at the front,
and then a little at the back,
We had to do some more trimming along the way on both vehicles. But we made a lot of progress. I can't thank my Dad enough. He came back Monday afternoon and we managed to get the front end even closer to its final position. It needs to be a few inches lower yet.
And that brings us up to now. Tonight I need to remove the fuel filler neck as it's about to interfere with the rear window frame. You can see it sticking up on the passenger side in the back window. I also need to shrink the front cowl a bit so that it will clear the engine. Until next time.
That is incredibly awesome...
Truly epic.
Thanks guys. It is pretty epic. 
It will be more so once I finally finish it. I made most of the progress that I wanted to tonight. The cowl is almost cut back to where it needs to be. And the fuel filler door is no longer in my way.
You can see the next interference though, just in front of the fender. The metal holding the sliding door's rear latch is going to hit the rear fender. I think I'm just going to notch the fender out of the way for that. My small metal scraps pile is getting larger.
The van body is no lower than it was before tonight, but I'm about ready to drop it that last little bit. Until next time.
Awesome. 
Don't leave us "hanging"
Oh, you're punny 
Oh, so close! I got more trimmed away at all of the conflict points, dropped the body down, and I'm still an inch and a half too tall.
But man does it ever look cool I mocked up the front bumper cover and fender to get a feel for the placement of the front wheels.
It looks like I need to work on the longitudinal placement of the body some more. The front wheels are forward:
And the back wheels are far back:
I knew that this was going to happen from the beginning. The G6's wheelbase is almost 2" longer than the van's. I may just space out the front fenders and move them forward a bit. I'll need to do some of that just to get the front wheels to steer. Oh, well. I'll figure it out. Until next time 
You win the build threads for the week. Maybe for the month.
Awesome!!
cut the fenders and add some ebay abs flares to get the wheel clearance you need.
Loving every update. Please work on this more.
Any chance you could give up distractions like eating, sleeping, working and family time so that you can get this done? I mean, having Dad help is like family time right?
What about a really small OD set of tires for passing tech?
Thanks guys
AngryCorvair said: What about a really small OD set of tires for passing tech?
That would work, but I've already gotten tires. I can make it work though, no worries. Much progress was made this weekend. My father in law came by and we got the body dropped down to its final position. "How do I know that body is in its final position?" I hear you asking...
...because the first tack weld between the the white van and black car is in! Woo! More welding progress to happen this week. Hopefully I can breakdown the gantries (shelves) by Saturday. Until next time.
Wow....cool! I've been following this one with interest...great work so far, love to see the frequent updates as the build continues!
Looking forward to seeing this creation at the Challenge!
No going back now! Feels great when you pull down the gantry.
In reply to ShawneeCreek:
I am absolutely amazed at the talent and energy that has gone into this project. I don't know how you did it. But then I realize you're only 26. When I was 26 i did big projects. But nothing like this!
Great job.
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