Nick's "lvndpst" Restoration (and Slight Modification) Thread

hoopty5.0 said:

That is a big deal. I'm jealous, hopefully I wont be too far behind you. Congrats on getting it running!

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Thanks brother. My very first drive with the used clutch was constant bucking and stalling. I was so discouraged and thought the engine was just too radical and was going to need a different cam, etc. Thankfully the PCV fix made all the difference in the world and I didnt go digging into the engine to detune it. Cruising yesterday was awesome. My suspension is shot, the interior needs major cleaning and some replacement pieces, my hatch rattles, and on and on, but all that is easy restoration versus what I have accomplished now. I see the light!

My stock plastic radiator end cap literally cracked and spewed coolant pulling into my driveway yesterday, so I believe that to be true!

I ordered an SVE aluminum radiator, new door and hatch weather stripping, and striker bushings. I am completely missing the bushing on my drivers door, and my hatch rattles like a mofo. The latch gets stuck, so I am going to remove it and soak it like Alan did on his son's car they fixed up. My doors dont sag, just rattle when closed. Im hoping the bushings and weather stripping correct that. I want to cruise and get the clutch broke in so I can feel the 347 up high!

PS, I read quite a few good reviews on the SVE radiator. Anyone here have a bad experience with one?

Thanks. The good reviews have outweighed the bad tremendously so far. I may just dive in and buy my SFCs before I even install it so that its not subjected to my driveway twist.

Well, it has a bit to go before I'd say its offically driving, but its close! And yes, I will kinda be jumping around with resto projects as I notice things. I have several bits piled up for interior restoration, but I want to pull the carpet out to clean it and lay down dynamat, so I dont know if I will commit to that until maybe fall. Do it all at once. Stereo included.

I need to finish applying POR15 to the undercarriage first thing, as there is some surface rust I want to tackle. That will be nice to get done forever. But I need to install the SFCs first... So many little things to be able to say I am "finished" with certain aspects of the car.

Just to update this, and maybe provide a talking point, I have some good and bad progress to report.

The good:

The SVE radiator is in and works fantastically. No leaks, and holds temp well on an 85 degree day. I put 35 miles on the car yesterday breaking in the clutch.

I also installed new weather stripping on both door jambs and the hatch, as well as new striker bushings. That really tightened up the door, but I can tell my window tracks need a do over, as @Mustang5L5 did.

The bad:

I caved in and bought 3" Flowmaster exhaust tips rather than have a shop custom bend the exhaust I wanted. STUPID.

They dont fit worth a with my used MAC mufflers. Rather than box them up and return them like I should have, I decided to MAKE them work. STUPID.

On the passenger side I had to dent the piss out of the over the axle tube to ensure clearance of the axle and upper control arm. It just barely keeps from rubbing my gas tank tank cover, and thats after I cut off 2" of the pipe where it meets the muffler. I am not wanting to weld it all together, because I would like to be able to remove it to continue my under carriage painting. That means after spending $300 on it, I had to spend $25 more on four 3" clamps, as Flowmaster includes exactly zero clamps to fit the four pieces together, and to the mufflers...

On the driver's side, I had to cut 3" out the flow tube between the muffler and H pipe and weld it back together. That was just to get the clearance to start fitting the over the axle pipe. Its still going to need massaging to clear properly.

Moral of the story, once this is all done I truthfully need to remove my entire exhaust system, check my welds for leaks, grind them pretty and paint the whole thing with high temp paint so that it doesnt all rust apart in a year. Should have just bought a full H Pipe and Cat back versus piecing it all together. I am a RA-TARD.

Also while under the car I found that my transmission output shaft seal is leaking and splattered trans fluid on my new tunnel paint, as well as my pinion seal having a minor leak. Yay!

And no, no pics. Its ugly as fck and not finished. Just a rant.

Davedacarpainter said:

The pinion seal? That’ll be fun.......

So the new engine feels pretty nice then Nick?

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It cruises alright, but will randomly buck when in 5th gear around 1500-1600 RPM. Definitely needs a tune, but is drivable as is. I havent been able go full throttle yet, as the first clutch slipped, and I only have 45-50 miles on the new one. Im not about to burn it up! I really wanted to get the exhaust finished last night and put more miles on it, but I didnt come close.