He does about that same there as he does here, he reads, but doesn't post. But yes he knows of the site and frequents it often. We met up with some of those guys a few months back and did a convoy from an offroad park in College Station to the Museum of the American GI for their annual event. It was AWESOME!! We were one of two 5 tons in the convoy. There were 10 vehicles total. And since I believe convoy's are actually illegal, we were all legal like. We had a 4 car police escort. I attached a picture I took of all the trucks at the museum. The 2 5 tons are in the middle of the picture, Don's is on the right. We were a little out of place since the event was all WWII stuff, but it was cool none the less.
Well it's been a while since I posted here. Haven't gotten a whole lot accomplished on the car since the suspension was done. Just small minor details here and there. Changed over the headlights to halogens so I can see where I am going at night, and replaced the headlight switch with one I purchased from Lectric Limited. Was a great piece, looks to be very well made and almost identical to the original I pulled out of the car. My birthday was this past weekend and the family hooked me up with a couple great presents. One for the car and one for my Polaris Ranger. Mom got me a set of Rigid Industries lights for the Ranger and my little brother picked up a new set gauges for me to put under the dash. These should look great. There is an older set of Sunpro's under the dash right now, but I am not real fond of them. These new Autometer's should do the trick. I'll post a pic of them in the car once I get them installed over this next week or so.
Thanks for the update. I just put new Auto Meter cobalt gauges in to replace old worn out ones too. They're nice.
Well I haven't got the gauges in yet, but I did do a little tinkering under the hood today and gave her a much need bath. Finished up at dark so no pictures right now unfortunately. I pulled a few of the spark plugs the other day to check their condition. The 3 I pulled didn't look horrible, but they looked a little tired. They are what came in the car when i bought it. Lots of grit around them so they must have been in there a while. They were a set of Autolite 85's. There were 2 or 3 that didn't look good when I pulled them all today, so glad I changed them. After a little research I decided to give a set of the NGK V-Power plugs a try. Kinda sacrilegious putting a Japanese plug into an all American car, but good parts are good parts. People have been reporting good things about them. The part# I used was NGK Stock# 3332. It is there XR5 plug. So far so good. Car sounded good with the fresh set of plugs. Sounded a little more throaty and she was a little more responsive on the street. Can't wait to get the Q-Jet on her and dialed in. Had some punk kid pull up next to me in a late model Mustang GT. He tried showing off a little bit to lure me in, if the car was running the way it should I might have taken him up on it and shown him what real muscle is all about. Unfortunately right now everything isn't running the way it should. The AFB causes the car to fall on its face and then the trans issues don't help with no kickdown. So a it's not all that impressive rolling at 45 and putting your foot in it. It pulls, but not near like it should. We are making progress though, one step at a time. She will be tearing up the streets before too long. And with her Earl Sheib paint job peeling and fading away all the punk kids and even many adults think its a clunker anyway. People are highly visual this day in age and think if it doesn't look pristine then it can't be fast. Wrong again! haha.
Let us know how the NGK's work out - I use Bosch's myself, and I like them. I also prefer the Q-Jet over the AFB - it SEEMS to be good for about .2 tenths over the AFB, but since I'm always making more than one change at once it's difficult to tell... one day I'll do a back to back test.. Make the tranny function a priority - it'll turn that into a whole new car with proper kickdown and SP working. No lie, you'll be amazed. Why isnt it working? Do you need parts?
I'll keep you posted on the NGK's. So far so good. I'm about to order a new set of wires too, while working on the spark plugs I found the silicone had been nicked off in a few places on some of the wires. Probably because the Yahoo that installed them used a pre-cut set so they are way too long. They also neglected to install the wire holders, so I need to find a set of those as well. I need the actual bracket that you bolt to the valve covers to hold the wires in place. I plan to rebuild the transmission in the near furture. The Uncle is helping me make a shopping list of all the parts I need and were to get them. I found out a while back after taking a good look under the hood that the kickdown switch was not hooked to the carb linkage. In addition to that, the microswitch on the throttle linkage isn't adjusted properly. And to top that off, the wire harness that runs from the kickdown switch to the trans case is missing. Apparently the previous owner had no idea what he was dealing with. I need to crawl under the car and see if the solenoids are still good in the trans or not, just haven't done that yet. Was going to Saturday but ran out of time. So outside of things just not being connected, there is the slipping issue coming out of high into low were it gets "hung" between gears for a few seconds. This in intermittent.
Russ Martin repo's the wire holders in chrome: http://nailheadbuick.com/ignitions Another option for a cleaner look is to use 90 degree wire boots to run the plug wires straight back without going over the valve covers, like this:
Thanks for the tips Walt. That does look good under the hood layed back like that. Might consider doing that. Is that one of your several GS's in that picture? While I am thinking about it Walt, do you by chance have a video with some good audio of your QJet car running? I'm curious to know what the 091 cam sounds like for sure. The cars on YouTube you really can never tell if that is what you are listening to or not unless they have it listed out. And rarely do they unless they have installed a bigger TA cam or a Thumper or something.
Johnny, This might be the harness to the trans you need http://www.ebay.com/itm/121100752348?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Yes, that's the red GS I did a few years ago. Basically a dashboard-forward resto.... removed front end, blasted frame rails and suspension parts, correctly painted/detailed everything, but added a few mods like Q-jet, disk brakes, bigger swaybar, fast-ratio steering, and a Richmond 5 speed. Engine is a rebuilt spare with a Poston NH400 cam. Car still needs the interior finished and a paint job, but my goal was to get it on the road, not a full-blown resto (yet)! The (real) Q-jet car is still in 'project' condition. It's complete and runs, but is stored in the back of the garage.... won't be out this season.
Nice! I have some ideas for mine, but nothing set in stone yet. I want to keep it visually as close to stock as I can under the hood. Minor cosmetic changes will be fine to make anything safer or more visually appealing. Hopefully this next year, maybe the year after, I will be able to pull the engine and rebuild it with a little more pep, but nothing over the top. Maybe shave the deck a little to give her some more squeeze, 091 cam (if I can find one NOS or numbers close enough to have one custom ground), maybe a little flowbench work here and there, and add on the QJet. Plan to change out the single master cylinder to a double. Am thinking about going to a larger sway bar and quicker ratio steering as well. Not real high on my priority list right now, but definitely been giving it some thought.
Did a little work on the car this afternoon. I had already planned on changing out the spark plug wires from the overly long set the previous owner had on the car. They were red and looked horrible under the hood. While I was at it I took Walts suggestion and picked up a set of with 90* boots so I didn't need to go over the valve covers. Looks WAAAAYYYYYYY better. I don't think I did too bad at my first attempt at making a custom set of wires.
Thanks! Yeah it was an adventure going to get it. A possible once in a life time thing. I've been really enjoying it so far. Still some kinks that need to be worked out, but it will get there.
Found some correct '66 Aluminum Valve Covers on Evil Bay the other day. Got lucky and got them at the starting bid price when no one else bid on them. Santa that drives the big brown truck dropped them off this evening. Got a few normal nicks and scratches in them and are a little dirty. Nothing a little time in the blast cabinet and a rub down with some 4-0 steel wool can't fix. I'm just happy there doesn't appear to be any surprises that I didn't notice in the pictures on the add. No cracks or anything, the Winters snow flakes and the correct part numbers. All good stuff. Came with a new breather and a new Stant oil filler cap. They should work fine for the time being until I come across some NOS pieces. Need to pick up some new valve cover gaskets and give the passenger side cover a test fit to see if rear AC bracket is going to clear. Hopefully since it is a '66 it will work, that has been the general consensus so hope it works. Love me some finned valve covers on a Nailhead. It's just SEXY!
Nice find! The condition of the glass bead blast media will affect how the finish looks. Fine, broken down stuff will clean nicely, but leave a dull finish. New, larger diameter beads will leave a nice shiny, metallic finish, but not clean as well. Ultra fine sandpaper and polish on the rib and letter tops will give a nice shine. :bglasses:
Johnny, You sound like a kid on Christmas morning with the excitement of opening a wrapped gift. Congrats on the valve cover score. Figure out a polishing routine and then I'll bring you mine. Or we can both send them to Walt since he appears to know his stuff about getting the look. I also need the breather cap, filler cap so keep an eye out for two of them. And I'll do the same.
I will be using Don's blast cabinet. I know his media has been used quite a bit, but it's not worn out yet. I saw something he blasted not too long ago and it gave a nice finish. A little on the dull nice, but still bright. I think it will be a good starting point. The steel wool should brighten it up a bit and give it a little more of a polished look, similar to a real fine sandpaper, but without having to worry much about scratches. I don't really want a high polish on the letters and ribs like you see on the aftermarket finned covers. I want them to look similar to what they would have looked like from the factory. Dressed up, but not too flashy. Hahaha. There is bound to be a happy medium somewhere. I am exactly like a kid on Christmas when parts come in. Especially when they come from evil bay, cause you never 'really' know what you are getting. You just have to keep your fingers crossed and hope the pictures weren't deceiving. I'll let you know how they come out once I can get back out to Don's to work on them. I haven't seen Don in a couple months. Between deer season and his work, things just haven't panned out lately. We need to keep a look out for 3 breathers. Don needs a new one for his latest '66 as well. But if I come across some I'll keep you posted as well.
