Tuesday, September 19, 2023

in the past 4 years, due to getting a pinhole in the radiator, and not being able to waste money on 7 dollar a gallon 100 octane, I only drove my 69 R/T 134 miles. That's probably going to change when it's upgraded

 

I only know how many miles it's been driven, because every couple of years, I get a mileage verification request from the insurance company, and it makes it real easy to do the math

The car will get the heads, headers, suspension, steering, braking, and new tires and rims in about the next 3 weeks. Yes, this will hit the credit card hard... about 1/2 the cost of the upgrade is all on the card. But, it's either that, or waste another 20 years with the car in the garage not getting driven much because of the exhaust leak from the rusted out header, ridiculously bad stop distance due to 4 wheel drum brakes and small old tires... 

When complete, in total, the MSD ignition system is only 3 years, and 100 miles old, the radiator is one year and 30 miles old. New high tech QA1 front end, Wilwood disk brakes all around, new 18x10 wheels all around, new bigger headers wrapped, aluminum heads port and polished, gasket matched, Hella high beams, and a NIB 8 track player that I installed about 5 years ago. 

Plans after that? Fiberglass 440 six pack hood, chin spoiler, get the read end double checked for bearing and leaks, rebuild the trans, and sound deadener noise mat. The engine rebuild is years off still. It just costs too damn much have an engine rebuilt right. That's some machine shop work and expensive parts. 

5 comments:

  1. Are you doing the work yourself? If so' I'd love to see some progress pictures as you do it!

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    1. I posted the photos of the radiator replacement, and 8 track install, and brake test under the link https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/mine%20R%2FT

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    2. I won't be doing the front end and all that, because I do not have a lift. It would be very cool if in the USA, or even in car clubs, we had a community car lift and garage to work on stuff, but that's just a dream I have of making a very nice thing for car people to use free of charge. It seems to me that no matter what a person is doing, it's just nicer when you've got a friendly ol goofball like me to either help, fetch tools and parts, or shoot the breeze and make the time fly by while you're working on a car.
      So, why not, maybe, someday, get an old gas station with or without lifts, roll up the doors, and load in my tools n garage stuff, and hang out an "open for helping" sign. What the hell else is a person got to do in retirement that is so enjoyable as that?

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    3. anyway, without a lift, I can't get the car over, up, and out of the way of the k member replacement, front suspension work, brake, header and heads replacement. So, since all that, and whatever shows up as a problem is likely to simply be more than I can handle, I'm outsourcing it to a local shop that came recommended.
      Replacing heads and headers isn't too bad, but, since the rest of the stuff needs done too, I am just taking my lumps, throwing down the credit card, and getting ALL of it done at once by a shop that can weld, lift, and innovate beyond my tools, and skills. Plus, after the whole suspension gets replaced, it's going to need to be checked for alignment, and dialed in. Hell, I could take a swing at that, but, it might as well be a pro who knows what they are doing, and recommended by a long long time mechanic friend.

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  2. Sounds like you've got a solid plan! As Larry the cable guy always said "get er done"

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