What Are You Doing To/With Your Car Today?

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I got the upper rad hose that I cut too short replaced. Plenty of clearance now. I also got smarter about draining the rad without making a mess.

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Polishing up the sides of the avatar car so the stripe package can be installed.

Hmmm...should I put the 340 emblems on it.....
 
I've had the car up on jack stands going over the underneath detailing. Having a shiny painted undercarriage looks great when it's clean especially black. But what a P.I.A. LOL
Finally put the car on the ground last night , checked all the fluids and fired it up!!! Everything went smooth , fluids all topped off ready to roll.
Tonight it's time to dust it off and polish.

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Was tired of having the straight plug wires going into the distributor, i had the taylor thundervolt wires that were pre made but there was excessive slack and the plug wires would stick up above the air cleaner. Made the swap from the female socket distributor cap to the Summit Racing HEI style cap for the chrysler distributor and also got new moroso ultra 8.6mm cut to length plug wires. I ended up getting the left bank done and the coil wire, routing plug wires are one of those things i find relaxing and nerve racking at the same time lol. Plan on doing the right bank tomorrow


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Worlds shortest coil wire lol

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Looks great, I usually like most things stock appearing, but the way those wires run are beautiful!
Was tired of having the straight plug wires going into the distributor, i had the taylor thundervolt wires that were pre made but there was excessive slack and the plug wires would stick up above the air cleaner. Made the swap from the female socket distributor cap to the Summit Racing HEI style cap for the chrysler distributor and also got new moroso ultra 8.6mm cut to length plug wires. I ended up getting the left bank done and the coil wire, routing plug wires are one of those things i find relaxing and nerve racking at the same time lol. Plan on doing the right bank tomorrow


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Worlds shortest coil wire lol

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Looks great, I usually like most things stock appearing, but the way those wires run are beautiful!

Yeah i didnt mind the stock appearance of the straight plug wires but i figure wouldnt hurt to clean it up some, its so tight back there the straight wires are all over the place lol. Also dont mind my #1 being off one terminal, iirc the distributor i had originally put in had to be clocked that way to clear the vacuum canister, i have since switched to a distributor from trailbeast and put it back how the old one was and forgot about putting the orientation right. Nevertheless the distributor doesnt care as long as the order is right lol
 
Trying to set up dual carb linkage on the blower. It’s very tedious. Maybe I should be doing this drunk I’d have more patients.

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Today there was a cruise-in in Willow Springs (about 30 miles door-to-door). So I got the Dart out of the garage for the first time since last fall... amazing how dirty a car can get in a closed garage. Anyway I spent two hours cleaning the interior (and the silt from our dirt roads out of the trunk) and hand-washing it too. Looked pretty good afterwards.

It was a perfect day for a cruise - warm and sunny. They had a DJ, a 50/50 raffle (the guy who bought tickets right before me won $147!) and a cupcake truck. I brought 3 home for my SO ;)

The Dart ran fine too, and even with evaporation since last fall, I still averaged 10.7 mpg. (I can get 11 and tenths if I keep it below 65 on the highway). On the uphill ramp from the Willow Springs interchange onto US 60/63 I finally floored it all the way in 3rd gear starting at the bottom of the powerband (~3000 rpm)... holy crap. :steering: I was going 75+ before I knew it, and short-shifted at only 5000 into 4th, too. AFR was a good rich 12.5 when I glanced at the gauge. I'm still afraid to go wide-open in the first two gears after 1300 road miles! And that's before I add another 80 hp with the PRH-ported Speedmasters that are still sitting in the boxes, going on 3 years... something more important always seems to come up in the off-season.
I may start the head swap tomorrow, and hope I can get it back together before the next car event on the 29th... pushrod clearance and length are the big questions. These heads are supposed to be a bolt-on, but we all know how that goes :rolleyes:

My '72 Dart in the foreground :thumbsup:
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The only other Mopar at the entire event, a '49(?) Dodge pickup.
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This Mini Countryman now has a Mercury Mountaineer drivetrain :)
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Brake work today. Finally the old single pot master is history. I love working on desert cars. A quick shot of penetrating oil and all of the 57 year old brake fittings came right out. I will be reusing the existing distribution block. The original inlet with the tube attached will be blocked and the line for the front disc brakes will feed the two existing lines. The rear line will be run direct, through an adjustable proportioning valve.

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I'm finally starting the head swap (hand-ported iron to PRH Stage 1 Speedmasters that flow 293 cfm with new valves). I bought them during a sale and had them drop-shipped to Dwayne at least 2, maybe 3 years ago!

Today I got the old heads off, which was an exercise in frustration trying to work around the Hedman 78030 (B-body) headers! They could be moved further if I didn't have a Lakewood bellhousing. I may have to remove the torsion bars to move them far enough to be able to torque the bottom rows of head bolts... Hoping that just jacking up the engine and moving it as necessary will work instead. I have an AR motor plate so I only have to remove two bolts.

I have a new set of the proper ARP bolts, new head gaskets, valve seals and retainers to match the new valves, and plan to reuse my Comp 953 valve springs. They only have 1300 easy street miles on them and have never seen over 5000 rpm ;)

The remaining question is the pushrod length and clearance. Hope I don't have to do any grinding... will be close.
 
Got the "Golden Oldie" out of hibernation today. Checked all the fluid levels and tire pressures. Fired it up and went for a cruise around my subdivision, then over to the local high school for a few pictures. The high school allows some budding artists to enhance some parking spaces (no, I don't know Lexi).

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Took mine on a little cruise around town, then stopped at Steak and Shake for dinner and shakes. Went through the drive thru and didn't get pics.

It couldn't have been a nicer day.
 
Got the "Golden Oldie" out of hibernation today. Checked all the fluid levels and tire pressures. Fired it up and went for a cruise around my subdivision, then over to the local high school for a few pictures. The high school allows some budding artists to enhance some parking spaces (no, I don't know Lexi).

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Nice! We’ve had over 2” of rain fall here over the past two days so I envy that blue sky.
 
We’ve had over 2” of rain fall here over the past two days

We had over 2" yesterday and a couple inches a few days before that. Crazy amount. That what made it so nice taking my Barracuda for a drive!!
 
Went to Summit to get fittings to finish my efi fuel line. Earl's Vapor Guard. Now I have to connect the flexible efi line to the hard line pictured, then vent the tank so I get this thing installed.

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Got Vixen's oil and filter changed. I switched brands and grades. We'll see how it works.
 
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