65 Barracuda daily driver
Here's a little video of the exhaust - conveniently the camera was knocked over by the H-pipe to offer a different view haha. I was able to get the oil filter adapter bolt tightened a bit more, which seems to have stopped the oil leak. The damaged transmission cooler line fitting is leaking badly as you can see in the video. Jegs told me the radiator is back ordered, but I figured out that only the black version is sold out, but the regular aluminum one is in stock. I'll just paint it myself - better than waiting who knows how long. It does look much better in black for sure!
I drove the car around the neighborhood yesterday, washed it, got gas and put air in the tires. I noticed some issues, but they appear to be fixable.
-When the car is idling in drive, it sounds like the exhaust is touching the body or suspension, so I might have to shim the engine a bit more.
-I must have not sealed one of the driver side exhaust studs enough, so coolant is coming out. I think I might be able to get the stud out without removing the entire manifold.
-The paint on the passenger side manifold, which was not sandblasted, is already starting to bubble. I had applied some naval jelly and wire wheeled it and thought it was good enough, but I will have to take it off and get it blasted and paint it. I have a spare and might use that one. It has a different part number, but the geometry should be identical.
-The shift cable needs to be adjusted a bit more. Sometimes it goes into gear and sometimes you have to wiggle it a bit until it does.
-I still need to get an alignment. The Barracuda already had a rake before the swap, but you can see the added weight of the small block vs the slant and I assume the weight distribution is different as well.
-The Dynomax Super Turbo Mufflers are pretty loud and droney when you step on it, so in the long run I might swap them for something a bit quieter. I plan on daily driving the car again soon and go on road trips and it would be nice if one could talk while driving haha.
I hope to get most of this figured out soon, so I can start painting the "new" fenders, hood and deck lid, bolt them on, and make "Salma" look pretty again.
Here's a little video of the exhaust - conveniently the camera was knocked over by the H-pipe to offer a different view haha. I was able to get the oil filter adapter bolt tightened a bit more, which seems to have stopped the oil leak. The damaged transmission cooler line fitting is leaking badly as you can see in the video. Jegs told me the radiator is back ordered, but I figured out that only the black version is sold out, but the regular aluminum one is in stock. I'll just paint it myself - better than waiting who knows how long. It does look much better in black for sure!
I drove the car around the neighborhood yesterday, washed it, got gas and put air in the tires. I noticed some issues, but they appear to be fixable.
-When the car is idling in drive, it sounds like the exhaust is touching the body or suspension, so I might have to shim the engine a bit more.
-I must have not sealed one of the driver side exhaust studs enough, so coolant is coming out. I think I might be able to get the stud out without removing the entire manifold.
-The paint on the passenger side manifold, which was not sandblasted, is already starting to bubble. I had applied some naval jelly and wire wheeled it and thought it was good enough, but I will have to take it off and get it blasted and paint it. I have a spare and might use that one. It has a different part number, but the geometry should be identical.
-The shift cable needs to be adjusted a bit more. Sometimes it goes into gear and sometimes you have to wiggle it a bit until it does.
-I still need to get an alignment. The Barracuda already had a rake before the swap, but you can see the added weight of the small block vs the slant and I assume the weight distribution is different as well.
-The Dynomax Super Turbo Mufflers are pretty loud and droney when you step on it, so in the long run I might swap them for something a bit quieter. I plan on daily driving the car again soon and go on road trips and it would be nice if one could talk while driving haha.
I hope to get most of this figured out soon, so I can start painting the "new" fenders, hood and deck lid, bolt them on, and make "Salma" look pretty again.
