65 Barracuda daily driver

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So on Saturday I went to Spring Fling in Woodley Park, Van Nuys, CA - the longest distance I've driven the car with the small block so far. This is unfortunately the only photo I took. I took it to send it to my buddy to tell him that I parked near his '74 Charger (the one on the right). Jay Leno walked by and looked at my car for about 2 seconds before he was approached by some folks who wanted to take a photo with him haha.

The car ran well, but there are still some issues. One is that the exhaust still made contact with the suspension and so there are some noises and vibration. I was able to shim the engine a bit more yesterday, moved some stuff around and it now seams to clear everything, but haven't started the engine yet to test. In part, because I still have the holy trifecta of leaks. The exhaust stud still leaks coolant pretty badly and it drips down on the starter which can't be good. There is a massive transmission fluid leak that I haven't been able to locate. The passenger side exhaust pipe was touching the transmission pan (not anymore), so that could have been the culprit. We'll see. And then there is an oil leak at the fuel pump. When I was bolting the engine back together after painting it and replacing all gaskets (except head gasket) that the bolt hole that goes into the timing cover was kinda stripped. I was hoping it was good enough and forgot about it. I will probably put a helicoil in there,but I wish I had done that when the radiator was out of the car last week. Oh well.

There is also a little lifter tick or pinging when you step on the gas. I haven't messed with the carburetor at all yet and it's still simply rebuilt to stock specs. I'm sure ignition timing will still need some adjustments.

First I need to take care of those damn leaks!