Burn the heretic! Hotrodding a silver shadow
Discussion
Okay, before you all start to get the wood together for the traditional burning, I've had my shadow for a good few years now and I simply don't want to part with it. I've got another roller so I rarely use her but I want to...
As in Houston there is pretty much absolutely no point in owning a sportscar (crap driving/ pot holes/ etc.) and the modding scene is huge here, I'm seriously thinking of rodding my old(er) rolls. I don't mean something hideous but nice wheels, good paint job (one colour, no flames!), newly trimmed interior, etc. annnnnd a new crate engine/ gearbox. The current engine is the original 30 year old unit and so drowned in ancilliaries I want to get back to a simple engine and cut down on a lot of extraneous 'stuff'. The hydraulic suspension will also have to go.
My question is this: does anyone have some information on the chassis? Is it a separate unit or unibody (I think its unibody). If its a ladder chassis I'm wandering whether I could buy a running rod chassis (they're easily bought here) with say a 454 CU Chevy and (providing the wheelbase and track fit) swap one for the other.
Anyone know of anyone else having done this before? My 'model' for what I'm thinking of is my old truck I owned for a while (1972 body on a rod chassis, 489 cu engine
) and the chevy bel airs restoro-mods I seem to see everywhere.
Like I say, I don't want to produce something hideous but a restoro-mod that looks stunning (as shadows always do) and sounds like thunder.
As in Houston there is pretty much absolutely no point in owning a sportscar (crap driving/ pot holes/ etc.) and the modding scene is huge here, I'm seriously thinking of rodding my old(er) rolls. I don't mean something hideous but nice wheels, good paint job (one colour, no flames!), newly trimmed interior, etc. annnnnd a new crate engine/ gearbox. The current engine is the original 30 year old unit and so drowned in ancilliaries I want to get back to a simple engine and cut down on a lot of extraneous 'stuff'. The hydraulic suspension will also have to go.
My question is this: does anyone have some information on the chassis? Is it a separate unit or unibody (I think its unibody). If its a ladder chassis I'm wandering whether I could buy a running rod chassis (they're easily bought here) with say a 454 CU Chevy and (providing the wheelbase and track fit) swap one for the other.
Anyone know of anyone else having done this before? My 'model' for what I'm thinking of is my old truck I owned for a while (1972 body on a rod chassis, 489 cu engine
) and the chevy bel airs restoro-mods I seem to see everywhere.Like I say, I don't want to produce something hideous but a restoro-mod that looks stunning (as shadows always do) and sounds like thunder.
MarsellusWallace said:
I've always wondered if it would be feasable to modify a shadow to take Arnage T running gear-those brakes would need some uprating though!I think it would be quite nice to have a mint shadow,keep it as standard looking as possible,but with 500bhp
Yeah, that's what I thought. Mint, minimal mods but something more beefy under the bonnet.
delta037 said:
The Silver Shadow in 1965 was the first unibody Rolls Royce. If memory serves correctly bodies were made at Pressed Steel Fisher in Swindon then shipped to Crewe.
Thanks - I thought that might be the case. Just found a site that sells workshop manuals so I'm doing to get one to see what's involved.rudecherub said:
fatbutt said:
The hydraulic suspension will also have to go.
if you've a bad road surface surely you should be looking at smart suspension?if not hydraulic why not air.
fatbutt said:
delta037 said:
The Silver Shadow in 1965 was the first unibody Rolls Royce. If memory serves correctly bodies were made at Pressed Steel Fisher in Swindon then shipped to Crewe.
Thanks - I thought that might be the case. Just found a site that sells workshop manuals so I'm doing to get one to see what's involved.http://rrtechnical.info/
Good luck.
ecurie said:
fatbutt said:
delta037 said:
The Silver Shadow in 1965 was the first unibody Rolls Royce. If memory serves correctly bodies were made at Pressed Steel Fisher in Swindon then shipped to Crewe.
Thanks - I thought that might be the case. Just found a site that sells workshop manuals so I'm doing to get one to see what's involved.http://rrtechnical.info/
Good luck.
There is a place in the US that provide backbone chassis that you fit beneath unibody cars (you cut the floor out and weld the chassis in place). $8K for chassis, steering, brakes and suspension.
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