SHE RUNNNNSSSSSSSS

i am smiling so much!

got out to my dad's late friday night. me and cassy stopped at in n out and got loaded on so cal goodness. we woke up saturday and got to work!

as you can see below we got the radiator back in, and the hoses on. we also got the transmission cooler mounted:







we cut a hole for our transmission lines to run through:



next we ran copper line in for the oil pressure gauge:





i also hooked up the gas pedal as you can see.

my dad ran the copper line through a clear plastic tube for protection:



next we started playing around with the fuel lines:



we custom bent a bit of brake line for a fuel line (not sure how well this is going to work, as it leaked later on):





we also bent up some more brake line for a vacuum tube to our modulator from the back of the carburetor





more pictures of the fuel lines:







i got all the spark plug wires out and ran everything:



that night we spent FOREVER trying to figure out a good way to run our transmission lines:





we ran them pretty close to the block all the way back. actually getting them in was a bit of a pain.

we used a right angle bend on the forward line, and went into a 90 fitting for the rear, for anyone wondering:





hooked up!





my dad pulled a TON of wiring apart that night, and we ended up going to bed around midnight, this is how we left the car:



the next morning we pulled the transmission pan, and put in a fitting so we could mount a temp gauge. we got a rubber gasket, which ended up leaking later (SUCKED), but oh well.



i also picked up a few things, and took a picture of some 289 emblems my dad got:



performance sway bar ends?



289 emblems to make the car look even funnier.

now here is where we MESSED UP. turns out you are supposed to install the oil pump shaft when you assemble the motor. well ours didn't have one installed, so we really sort of forgot about it until now. we had to pop the collar off of it, and drop it down the hole VERY carefully. we luckily got it into the pump using some hose to hold it, and a rod to push the hose off. this was a pain in the ass, but it is very nice we got it done.



there is my dad concentrating very hard.

now i don't have much pictures from here, but this is where the night got INTENSE:



wiring the motor up (hot wiring i should say). my dad put a toggle switch in so we could kill the coil at any time, in case the motor was running wide open/etc...



wiring the distributor up.



wiring finished!

now here's how the rest went. we got everything wire up, and fired the motor a few times without spark to build some oil pressure. once we felt like we had oil pressure (our gauge inside wasn't reading for some reason), we hooked up the spark, tossed some gas inside the carb, and crossed our fingers!

she ran! of course it was only for a few seconds each time we threw gas in, and it was moderately rough at first, but it was GLORIOUS. now we got a bit concerned because we weren't seeing any oil pressure on our gauge. so this prompted us to take off the distributor very carefully, and hand run the pump. we didn't see any pressure at first, but due to being zealous and making mistakes, i completely forgot that the oil guage probably had a lot of air in the tube, and it was preventing oil from reaching the gauge (after all, it's an oil pressure gauge, not an air pressure!). well after i unhooked the gauge to let the air bleed out (as well as a little oil on my carpet, doh!), we saw we were getting 75-80 lbs of pressure, not bad, and i think compliments of our high performance (high pressure, high volume) really helped that.

we ended up rehooking up the fuel pump to a gas can via a line, and got the motor running/idling for around 15 seconds! very steady oil pressure, and SO nice. with the open headers, it obviously sounds VERY loud, and i cannot begin to describe how i felt. biggest smile on my face, you have no idea.

after that we really just tidied up and i went home. i can't wait for next weekend!

slow weekend

i just got back from another crappy weekend. lots of misty rain, and really bad wind! we got some good stuff done, didn't get it fired up though, with the bad wind, i decided to avoid running lines/etc... plus my dad had to leave for a funeral up in nor cal at noon on sunday.

we ran out saturday morning, and picked up some trans fluid/header bolts (3/8"s so that we can get the box end on them if need be).





b&m trick shift. because blue is better. 70 dollars for all of these.



new header bolts, 10 bucks. got these on the headers when i got back.



plumbed up heater hoses



fan clearance on radiator





driveshaft hooked up



leaf spring perches/shocks hooked up.



headers/transmission mount/b&m shift cable coming down (still need to secure this better)

we got the coil mounted on the intake manifold. this was actually pretty rough, our mount had a really crappy bolt, so we welded our own bolt on:



we drilled a few holes to run our gauges and put some grommets in.



we also drilled the hole for our throttle bracket:







we built a new gauge cluster and started running the gauges. the reason we built our own out of aluminum is because i wanted an extra gauge for transmission temperature.

my dad also welded a mount onto our trans dipstick tube. came out pretty slick! saved 70 dollars (didnt have to buy the lokar).

we also went out and picked up new tie rod ends to get the steering linkage all hooked up. good news is it all works now we think, bad news is we got one tie rod end that was bad, and have to wait for the new one to get delivered to auto zone. oh well!



i got the carb, throttle linkage bracket and air cleaner on as well. i guess i did get a lot hooked up?



good picture of the drivetrain.

here's to next weekend. should be driving by then, i hope. i also finished hooking up the b&m shifter, and we spent 127 at autozone picking up:

new radiator hoses
hose clamps
trans cooler lines
fuel line
vacuum line

and many other various and sundry.

quick update

yesterday i went out to my dads and i unfortunately have pretty much no pictures to show for it but we accomplished the following:

- fixed transmission crossmember to allow our ebrake cable to be used with the headers we have
- modified some steering linkage pieces to not rub on the headers/painted them/reinstalled them
- installed rear pads for the rear end, these are what the shocks and ubolts attach to and hold the rear end in with
- installed drive shaft (which fit damn near perfect!)
- re ran some rubber padding for the radiator to sit in
- installed the fan
- played around with the coil and ballast resistor for mounting
- installed most of the pieces for the b&m shift cable (one last thing to hook up)



hard to see in that picture but thats with the radiator and fan/etc.... in the car.

we are looking like this will fire up this weekend (i know i've said that before but i actually mean it now!). so stoked.

on the way home, a tire blew out on my friends car, AGAIN. i am ridiculously tired as a result.

last weekend

rupdate!

i went out to my dads last friday with julie. weather was bad the whole weekend so not much was accomplished but heres goes:

saturday morning we went out getting parts (as usual) and i took some pictures of them as well as my new driveshaft.





my dad taking out the u joints from the driveshaft



mount my dad made for the gas pedal to mount to the firewall (it's adjustable as you can see to 5 different heights. thanks dad!)



sitting with the motor in her!



o no dey be takin my motor!





new u joints, 24 dollars



new brake lines, 20 dollars?



brake line fittings, 30 dollars



bolts/new taps, 10 dollars?

now before we could do much to the motor, we had to fix the steering box. a few weeks ago i turned the wheel and noticed the steering box end cap popped out as well as bearings, so we pulled it out and began to work on it







me taking it out, i think

no pictures of the work, but we added a new bearing, and readjusted it, as well as regreased it, etc...





back in the car!

next we put the new u joints in my new driveshaft. i painted the driveshaft as well (nice new gray color!) note that this work is occurring on sunday (this weekend was such a waste due to crappy weather:











voila!

this is just a funny picture of me:



this is me trying to reinstall the steering column:





my dad started working on the master cylinder and this is how i spend most of my time:



we eventually got the brake lines all bent for the front end, and the master cylinder installed as well.

we dropped the motor back in and started installing the headers towards the end of the night (once it stopped raining, FINALLY):









the west coast, are you a blood or are you a crip?







headers in!



that was pretty much the end of the night, we drove home and a tire blew out on my way. it SUCKED. i was for once glad that i had metric tools. tomorrow i am going to potentially do some more work when i drop julie off at the airport. update more then!