I made a gauge pod that mounts in the factory radio spot. I used the smallest gauges I could find. The volt meter will only be half visible. I'm not sure if I'm going to like it, but I'll at least see how it turns out. I plan to mount it inside the dash, and then make a tinted lexan cover that will snap in to cover the radio hole. If it works out like I plan..... It will look like a black plate when the car isn't on, but when I'm running it, the lights in the gauges will make them visible through the lexan. We'll see.... :laugh: The worst that could happen is that I end up putting them under the dash like every other muscle car I've ever had. o No:
do you own a 67 that doesn't leak powersteering fluid Rick??? That one you sold me did remember. Looking very nice man. I am building a simular plate for my Riv except that it will replace the whole radio trim piece since its remove able and mount Oil Pressure, Coolant Temp, and Fuel Level, and either Volts or Fuel Pressure. I'll then replace the stock 5" Speedo and 5" gas guage and idiot light ring with a 5" Autometer Speedo and Tach. Let me know when ya'll have a cruise-in up there and I'll see if my budy and I are free to come up and hang out. Keep up the outstanding work Rich,
You can see the gauge pod in this pic. I'll retrofit some radio knobs to hide the bolts holding the gauge pod. I won't know if I like it or not until I get the lexan piece made. But at this point... that's a "look thing". I'm trying to stay focused on "function things" so it's going to be a few weeks before I mess with those any more. :laugh: You can also see the console with the B&M shifter fitted into it. I painted the adapter plate that I made black as you can see, but I've since taken it out and painted it silver. Silver looks stupid, so I'm going to take it back out and paint it black again. ou: I'd actually love to have it chromed! :Brow: Again... just a "look thing" ... so it'll stay silver for awhile. :laugh: PS... why does a flash always make chrome look sooooo bad??! :rant: I know my console and dash aren't anywhere near perfect.. but they look way better in person than they do in the pics. ou: Edit... LOL .. you snuck a reply in while I was typing :laugh: Sounds cool Will. Snap some pictures when you get the gauges fitted in! Are you going to Norwalk's Buick Day? I think it's June 4th. My goal is to be "done" in plenty of time for that. :3gears:
Wow... 11 days since an update. Unfortunately, I've been working alot of OT at work (16-18 hr days, including last Sat and Sun :eek2: ) ever since my last update and I haven't got to do ANYTHING to the car except last night and today. As of right now, I'm about ready for it's maiden voyage around the block. I pulled it outside to take a picture in sunlight around lunchtime today. The temporary mufflers I scabbed on it are about 1" off the ground. Kinda scary going over bumps. :laugh: The trunk and both doors now close and latch, I fixed the tranny leak and PS leak, and started messing with the windows. The grille and headlight bezels still need restored. I just threw them on to help get the bumper aligned. I hope to get it to a couple shops this coming week to get the front end aligned and the exhaust put on. I hope the DMV lets me use the 1967 plates I bought for it! :3gears:
Hi Rick Congratulations. There is nothing like driving them out of the garage for the first time! Unfortunately I have yet to do that with mine. They say the devil is in the details. With a car the devil is in the little parts. Like yesterday, I go to bleed the brakes and nothing. So I check my manual and find that my proportioning valve is shot. So now I have to wait for a new one to arrive. Anyway, enough of my sad story. Your car is looking great. Once you got started there was no stopping you! Cheers Harvey
Thanks Harvey You're definately right.. the little things will kill ya' on these things. ou: My brakes are pretty "soft" too. But I think I have a leak where one of my rubber lines hook up. I need to check into that. How do you know it's your prop valve? I don't think I've ever had one of those go bad. I didn't know they could even go bad. o No: Tonight I put my new window fuzzies in and called it a night. I need a good nights sleep for once. :laugh: I also loaded it up on the trailer tonight and plan to take it for the "out of state inspection" right after work tomorrow, and then hopefully drop it off for alignment and exhaust. Looks like I'll get tomorrow night off too. :laugh: I bought 3" collectors, 3" x-pipe, 3" summit turbo cheapie mufflers, and 2 1/2" mandrel bent tailpipes. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it back up on Wednesday and get back to work on it.
hey Rick??? Don't forget to grab a spray can of satin black to do the rear panel before you bolt the tail lamp bezel's into place. I'm sure you probably already know this, but on the 67 GS car's when you have the trunk lid open, the rear panel should be blacked out all the way across up to where the trunk bumper's sit. Don't forget to black out the rear quarter extension's around the tail lamp bezel's also. Here is a little tip I was given by another 67 owner, Most tail lamp bezel's are pitted on the underside, and if you have bumper's with nice chrome, the pit's are really visable in the reflection of the bumper chrome. The trick is to spray the underside of the bezel with black paint and it help's hide the pit's :TU: Hope this help's, and the car look's great :3gears:
Just looking great man. Keep taking little steps than pretty soon...........BOOM !!!! Let's ride. Who cares if it ain't straight ? If it's too nice to drive when you want too, I don't want it !!! And from the pix, I think it looks just fine. :TU: :TU:
Rick When I had a problem with bleeding, I checked the manual for the proper procedure. The manual says to do the same procedure as with drum brakes, except to hold in the plunger at the back of the prop valve. Well my plunger wouldn't move (I guess corroded open) and these units can't be rebuilt. So I've ordered a repop which should be here in a week or so. That's interesting about the flat black paint around the trunk opening. Sounds like you'll be on the road in a day or two. Way to go! Harvey
Good thought Tom I new that had to be black, and even thought about doing it a couple weeks ago..... but somehow forgot about it. Now I need to take my tailights back off and do some painting. I just put the new trunk seal in this weekend too. Now I'll have to tape up to it. ou: Thanks Dave. I agree... if it was tooo nice I'd be afraid to drive it too. But this one could definately stand to have turned out nicer. I'll probably have the body redone as soon as I can afford it without comprimising my tubbed project. Let me just say that it's a VERY photogenic car at this point. But... it's paid for, and it's mine. :laugh: Harvey... I've never heard of that. I wonder if you need to do that with drum/drum cars? I'm going to do some digging, because maybe mine is what's causing my soft brakes. It seems like we bled the things for about an hour and never got much of a pedal. o No: Today I drug the car to town for the "out of state inspection" and got the title switched to my name! Suprising, everything went smooth. I was expecting some type of problem at the title office since the title was notarized 3 years ago in Florida. Tomorrow I try to get the "vintage" 1967 plates registered.... :beer
Man that's lookin real good Rick !!! I can't believe the progress you've made on this car in such a short time.It's gonna be a great summer for ya !! :bglasses:
Thanks Jeff Hopefully by this weekend I'll have liscence plates and an exhaust on it so I can take it for it's maiden voyage and "true up" those rear tires! Tonight I painted the back area black as Tom mentioned earlier... I didn't need to use your trick about the tail lights though.... my tail lights are in good shape on the bottom side and my rear bumper is crap. What do you do about that? p Maybe by this winter I'll be able to afford getting my bumpers replaced or replated. But for now I'm well over budget. Tonight I got the GS & 400 emblems painted and mounted on the quarter panels and the trunk trim. I mounted the mirrors and started on the wheelwell trim too. Talk about waking up a car! Those little things really make a difference. :TU: I would have gotten more done, but a few friends stopped by and we've spent the last 4 hours consuming adult beverages and BS'ing. Time for some shuteye... 6AM is going to come quick. ou: :laugh: :beer
ricks car Hi Rick, your car looks great :beer i wish i could get mine done. always waiting for a part! where did you get the exhaust? do you have headers? i need to have mine done on my 67. i was gonna have a place do it. but,thought if i bought it,i would do it myself. i have the stock manifolds. Michael
Hi Michael Thanks! :TU: One thing about our cars (since they are so tore apart).... even though your stuck waiting for a part... I'd bet there's some other area of the car you could be working on. The downside to that is that I get too many projects going at once and get a little scatter-brained. :laugh: Regarding my exhaust.... Yes, I have headers, but my exhaust isn't a "kit". I just bought all the parts I thought I needed from SummitRacing. There's going to be some cutting and welding required. I planned to take all the parts to a muffler shop and have them do it, but I'm feeling kinda frisky and want to try it myself first. ou: :laugh: I hope to be working on exactly that tomorrow night. I believe that there ARE kits avaliable though. I think TA Performance, The Parts Place and Summit all have full kits avaliable for headers and/or manifolds. Check them out. Good luck :TU: Not much of an update for tonight. I didn't get to work on my car because I helped a friend drop a motor/tranny in his 69 Roadrunner 440 6pack car. He just got his back from the body shop 2 weeks ago and plans to be driving it by this weekend. I did get my historic plates registered today though. Everything went smooth and I'm legal to drive it as soon as I get insurance and exhaust on it. :beers
She went for her maiden voyage today! I took it to town and put $20 of gas in it. (3 or 4 gallons? ou: ) :laugh: Everything went good until the way home. No vibrations Tranny shifts nice. (1-2 is great, 2-3 is a little soft) Temp never went over 170 Oil pressure never dropped below about 15 psi (idling hot in gear) It even tracks pretty good. I must have the front end alignment somewhat close. Suspension feels good. Not too stiff, and not too "floaty". However... I was cruising at about 25-30 mph just about to leave the city limits to come home and it kinda sputtered like it was running out of gas.... I let off the throttle and it sputtered for about 3-4 more seconds before idling smooth again. I coasted for about 30-40 more feet wondering what was going on and was just about to give it some gas when it sputtered again and then POW, a VERY loud backfire through the mufflers and it stalled. :eek2: I coasted to a stop and popped the hood.... Nothing was amiss and everything seemed to be fine. The fuel pressure guage was still reading about 5psi while it was sitting there (not running) So I fired it back up and it ran great the rest of the way home. (I even got on it a little coming off a stop sign.... the posi works fine!) :3gears: :Brow: Anyways... To me it seems like I was maybe loosing power to the HEI or something. Bad connection somewhere? I fired it back up in my driveway after I got home and jiggled every wire I could get my hands on, in the engine bay and under the dash. (trying to get it to stutter again) I couldn't get it to stutter or miss at all. So I guess I have some kind of electrical gremlin that's only going to haunt me at the worst times. ou: Another thing I noticed tonight.... The brake lights had quit working. After probing around I discovered it was my turn signal cam that was screwing up the brake lights. Something is goofy in my turn signal cam area. If I jiggle the turn signal lever to the "just right" spot, the brake lights work fine. I wonder if there's a connection to my ignition problem? Doesn't seem likely, but I guess I'll start there tomorrow night. Electrical problem or not.... I'm high on life tonight since I got to drive her in to town! :beer
Thanks Dave Well.. the exhaust installation was a bust. I gave up after a few hours. I think unless you have a "kit" that actually bolts right on, you're better off to take it somewhere where they have the right equipment (and all the little things like different styles of hangers, etc.. etc..) I had the exhaust finished up and the front end aligned this week at our local "Monroe". It rides nice and sounds even nicer. :Brow: It was about a 20 minute drive each way, and it never acted up again. I don't know what happened the last time I had it out, but hopefully it won't do it again. o No: Several of my friends are also finishing up their cars so I want to get it "rainworthy" so we can do some cruising. It's currently ready to cruise... as long as it's not raining and nobody wants to ride with me. :laugh: I need to get the new top installed and the rest of the interior redone. Hopefully I'll make some progress on that stuff this weekend. :TU: PS... I just posted a "want ad" in the "parts wanted" forum... I'm just not going to be happy with this car unless I can use the Star Wars air cleaner. The Edelbrock intake and Holley carb have to go. I'm looking for a GOOD quadrajet (ready to bolt on) and cast iron intake (455) to buy outright, or possibly (preferably) trade for other 67 parts or my alum intake and holley carb. Anyone got anything? :Brow:
I got intakes man. I'll email ya. Freight will be interesting, but for you, and this car cause' it's finally done, you won't beat the purchase price. I guarantee it !!!!!!!!!!! ps, I may have a 67' intake laying around somewhere :Brow: . I'll be in touch soon.
