A-Body Round #2- My '76 Scamp restore...

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Probably gonna get one of the fancy valve covers, so didn't put any effort into that part. But at least the engine is one color now.

Currently fighting trying to get the steering coupler to slide down onto the MP Power to Manual steering conversion adapter... nothing is ever easy...lol...

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Finished the manual steering conversion this morning. Went with the 20:1 box from Mancini.... This wasn't a terrible job at all, but I did end up having to tear apart the coupler and rebuild it and clean the column shaft under it as it just simply wouldn't slide hardly at all... now that it is all clean underneath works perfect... It'll be interesting to see how the manual steering does as both A's I've had have been power.

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Managed to get the old fuel tank and lines out of the car without catching the house on fire, so thats a win.

Tried to get this beauty installed, but was lacking enough hands to hold it up and get the new straps bent and hardware connected. Will wait a few days until my son is here again and get his help with some extra hands.

Excited about continued forward progress.

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And the money pit continues getting deeper... Got the Dutra Duals and Gill Welding Alignment Bar today!

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EDIT - A FEW HOURS LATER....

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Well, it kinda hurt my soul a bit, but took a die grinder to that beautiful intake casting on top in order to get it to fit below the Dutra alignment bar... thankfully the ground area is all hidden under the bar and won't be visible.

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I'm in process on locking the distributor so there is no mechanical or vacuum advance, which appears to be what is necessary to work properly with the Sniper since it includes an option for timing control once I bought this special "Coil Control Module"... Hopefully finish that lockout tomorrow. Thinking I'll try to get the motor bolted back into the car this weekend. Then after that there's gonna be a bunch of wiring, fuel lines, tranny cooler lines, exhaust section from the Dutras down to where i hacked off the TTI Headpipe, etc to do... Getting closer and still have a lot to do, but pretty confident it'll be ready to go by the time Spring rolls around...
 
They must have known I was going to need this exact thing, so I'm glad to see this new offering from Gill Welding.

 
Gotta pick up a few #10 flat washers tomorrow, but aside from that I think I'm done with the lockout of the standard electronic distributor... Even managed to use the old tag that was on the distributor along with some more JB Weld to cover the hole left after removing the vacuum advance canister...

Oddly enough, even with all the stuff I'm doing in this project, getting the timing set correctly is the thing that has me the most nervous....

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Finished up the distributor lockout and got it reinstalled along with new cap, rotor, and wires. I'd hoped to get the engine bolted back in this weekend but realized I'd forgotten to get a new oil pump, and also found I needed to get the special batwing washers from Aussiespeed for the new manifolds, so got that stuff ordered. Maybe get it in next weekend instead hopefully.
 
Weekend update:
1. Got the radiator and alternator temporarily installed. Didn't realize the mechanical fan wasn't gonna work with the supercharger, so have an electric fan coming.... Also can't bring myself to leave the super crusty alternator on there when everything else is so pretty, so have one of those coming too.
2. Went ahead and installed the carb hat, elbow from S/C to it, and the blow-off valve. I'd like to get the carb hat a bit straighter, but not sure I'm gonna be able to do that and still get the elbow on... may end up trying trimming it a bit more but am hesitant since I'd have to order another Elbow if I mank it up.
3. The spot where the instructions say to put the air filter basically sets it right where the exhaust pipes need to merge after the Dutras, so I ordered a mandrel bent 180 so I can put the air filter about where the battery would normally go. Gonna relocate the battery to the trunk instead.
4. Also used a ton o' zip-ties and took all the wrap off the factory wire harness. I'll put the harness back on soon, make necessary modifications for the new stuff, and also install the headlight relay kit I got from the member here who makes them. When installing that relay kit I'll probably strip the unused stuff out of the harness so I don't end up with extra old headlight plugs just hanging around.
5. Ordered all the junk I need in order to make new fuel lines and new transmission cooler lines as well, so hopefully that all arrives this week.

Pretty happy with progress and feel halfway confident about having it ready by Spring-ish.

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Just read through the whole thread and I'm super impressed with the progress. Can't wait for you to fire up the new motor, good luck!
 
Weekend update:
1. Electric fan installed and radiator bolted fast. Still need to put in the radiator hoses.
2. New, less crusty alternator mechanically installed.
3. Cut down the length of the mandrel bend and installed the air cleaner.
4. Installed the fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator, and ran the fuel lines from tank to front as well as the few short ones in the engine bay.

Hopefully get tranny cooler lines run one night this week. Also hoping to see my Gill Welding Fat-Pipe this week in UPS.

Next weekend will hopefully be the beginning of wiring.

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mygasser said:
i'd have been tempted to fit a v8 dual exhaust system and run seperate pipes from rhe manifolds. it'd give it more burble for sure. :thumbsup:
neil.
Click to expand...

Possibly might at some point, but I'd spent a decent $ last year on the TTI Single exhaust system, so figured I'd at least try utilizing it first before swapping to duals...

Thanks for following along!
 
Weekend update:
1. Radiator hoses installed.
2. Heater hoses ran.
3. Fuel pressure gage installed.
4. Relocation of battery to trunk pretty much done except running the big wire to the front.
5. Currently in process of removing/adding stuff to factory wiring harness in order to function with all the new goodies.
6. Ordered the stuff for throttle and kickdown cables.
7. Of course my washer fluid bottle slipped out of my hand while installing and fell/cracked, so there went another $120...argh...

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Progress has been pretty slow for the last month or so... had some family and work stuff to deal with, and I'm now deep into electrical wiring, which is somewhat confusing since some stuff stays, some stuff goes, some gets replaced, etc... Also moving the battery to the trunk and swapping to the 1 wire alternator has been a big change... I did find a thread here on the forum that showed the "right" way to do the trunk mount battery by integrating a shut off switch, Ford starter solenoid, and a continuous duty relay to isolate the alternator, so I did all that too... probably overkill for a slant six car... Oh well- it's only money. I'll make more ...

Been doing a bunch more research and I believe that I also no longer need the voltage regulator (since doing the 1 wire alternator with internal regulator), the ignition control box (since the Sniper will take over that duty since I got the boost control upgrade module), and the ballast resistor (since mine is electronic ignition and I got an upgraded coil), so currently picking through the wiring updates for that.

Also figured out the Gill Welding Fat Pipe to come off the Dutras doesn't fit at all to clear the pitman arm in an A-body, so been working with them on that and expect a resolution pretty soon- they've been really good dudes to work with.

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The newly revised Gill Welding Fat Pipe showed up in the mail yesterday. They made this one a smaller overall height than the first one and only put in 1 slip joint to help reduce height. It fits! I can slip my finger between the tailpiece of it and the grease fitting on the pitman arm now, so should be good to go now. The first one was probably a good 5" or so taller. I'm excited!

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Progress continues... I have:
1. Finished the relocation of the battery to the trunk.
2. Got the disconnect switch, Ford Starter Relay, and Alternator Disconnect Relay all mounted in the trunk and wired.
3. Got the column shift linkage reconnected.
4. Awaiting a laser cut steel burnout to arrive that I'll be using to adapt the Lokar 4-barrel Sniper bracket to work with my 2-barrel Sniper instead. Expecting it early this week.
5. Identified and coiled up all the wires that I "think" can get removed from my factory wiring harness... Kinda holding off actually cutting them out and rewrapping the harness until it is running.
6. I think I determined a plan for putting the new Sniper wiring in. I've got a roughly 10" x 6" x 3.5" deep enclosure coming from Amazon that I'm hoping to locate in the engine bay. I'll run the Sniper harnesses into it, do the connections inside, and then make small harnesses that reach from the enclosure to their various destination points... I'm hopeful this works and doesn't end up looking like trash.... fingers crossed...
 
Does using this black enclosure to hide a bunch of Sniper wiring connections look too hokey? I'm not finding a better way to hide them and doing it under dash is not very desirable from a servicing standpoint. Of course I need to make a mount plate so it's not just 2 screws holding it to the fender, but just making sure my hillbilly isn't showing too much before I make it more permanent.

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Looks like a proverbial "black box" to me! Who are you trying to impress? Judges at a car show? Fellow enthusiasts? Or are you simply trying to create 'functional'? BTW, looks like a Bud Industries enclosure. Am I right??
 
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