65 Barracuda daily driver
Making progress... I was gonna re-use the Champion radiator that I got new for the slant 6 about 4-5 years ago, but I realized that the lower hose has a smaller diameter and I wasn't sure if that radiator was enough to cool the 318 with the A/C (that's still waiting to be hooked up for the first time). Anyways, I ordered another Champion radiator, this time in black, because it looks a bit more stock. With shipping and tax around 270 bucks not too bad. I was thinking about getting one of the cheap ebay ones for like 150, but you never know what you get and I was very happy with my last Champion.
Anyways, the driver side exhaust manifold that I already installed in the car has a couple of bad repairs and is cracked in two spot. At the last CPW Fall Fling I got this one, but it was rusty. I wanted to get it sandblasted, but no one nearby was going to do it for a reasonable price. A friend recommended Azusa Refinishing Company and they did it for 25 bucks! If you're in SoCal, I highly recommend them. One other place quoted me $150... I painted it with VHT Flameproof Flat Aluminum and cured it in the oven. I'll have to lift the engine out a bit again to get this one in, but that will hopefully be the last time I need to move the engine.
I also found a solution to my transmission dipstick/ tube issues. I have 3 dipsticks and three tubes and none of them fit. I haven't confirmed this, but it appears the '65 V8 tube is shorter than the slant 6 one. I have a short one, but couldn't find a matching short dipstick. So I cut 2-7/8" of the top of the slant one, which doesn't fit because it hits the exhaust manifold due to a difference curvature. But adding to the top of the short one clears the manifold. I wrapped some metal from a can around the tubes and secured it with hose clamps and now it should work and give me an accurate reading.
I almost finished converting my radio to bluetooth. All I need to do is solder the light and power source to the original radio connector and add a ground.
No one ever tells you that working on cars is 90% cleaning parts... I did a lot of cleaning and refinishing over the weekend.
After the exhaust manifold the next big task is to get all the wiring adjusted to the small block and lots of soldering. Back when I didn't know better I cut of a bunch of the original connectors and replaced them with these ugly parts store connectors. Luckily I kept the original ones and now I'm going to solder them back into the harnesses. I started with the light/ turn signal/ horn harness and it was incredibly dirty... I will try to keep my engine ay a lot cleaner in the future.
Making progress... I was gonna re-use the Champion radiator that I got new for the slant 6 about 4-5 years ago, but I realized that the lower hose has a smaller diameter and I wasn't sure if that radiator was enough to cool the 318 with the A/C (that's still waiting to be hooked up for the first time). Anyways, I ordered another Champion radiator, this time in black, because it looks a bit more stock. With shipping and tax around 270 bucks not too bad. I was thinking about getting one of the cheap ebay ones for like 150, but you never know what you get and I was very happy with my last Champion.
Anyways, the driver side exhaust manifold that I already installed in the car has a couple of bad repairs and is cracked in two spot. At the last CPW Fall Fling I got this one, but it was rusty. I wanted to get it sandblasted, but no one nearby was going to do it for a reasonable price. A friend recommended Azusa Refinishing Company and they did it for 25 bucks! If you're in SoCal, I highly recommend them. One other place quoted me $150... I painted it with VHT Flameproof Flat Aluminum and cured it in the oven. I'll have to lift the engine out a bit again to get this one in, but that will hopefully be the last time I need to move the engine.
I also found a solution to my transmission dipstick/ tube issues. I have 3 dipsticks and three tubes and none of them fit. I haven't confirmed this, but it appears the '65 V8 tube is shorter than the slant 6 one. I have a short one, but couldn't find a matching short dipstick. So I cut 2-7/8" of the top of the slant one, which doesn't fit because it hits the exhaust manifold due to a difference curvature. But adding to the top of the short one clears the manifold. I wrapped some metal from a can around the tubes and secured it with hose clamps and now it should work and give me an accurate reading.
I almost finished converting my radio to bluetooth. All I need to do is solder the light and power source to the original radio connector and add a ground.
No one ever tells you that working on cars is 90% cleaning parts... I did a lot of cleaning and refinishing over the weekend.
After the exhaust manifold the next big task is to get all the wiring adjusted to the small block and lots of soldering. Back when I didn't know better I cut of a bunch of the original connectors and replaced them with these ugly parts store connectors. Luckily I kept the original ones and now I'm going to solder them back into the harnesses. I started with the light/ turn signal/ horn harness and it was incredibly dirty... I will try to keep my engine ay a lot cleaner in the future.
