Your LS has perimeter bolts? I never knew they made them but I just did a google search to take a look. It really didn't go to bad, I got a Saturday into making them and getting them mounted.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hotrod46
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Your LS has perimeter bolts? I never knew they made them but I just did a google search to take a look. It really didn't go to bad, I got a Saturday into making them and getting them mounted.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hotrod46
Yeah, my original plan was to change the heads out to better later model parts with center bolt valve covers. I would have relocated the coils and used finned aluminum valve covers. Then I stumbled across another set of perimeter heads that had been CNC ported. The hotrodder in me couldn't resist buying the ported heads, so I was back to the older style valve covers.
It looks nice Seth!
I finally moved over to the gas tank to figure out what I'm going to do for sure for the fuel pump sump. I bit the bullet and went ahead and welded an 8 inch bowl to the bottom of the tank, that will be best. I'm waiting to cap it off till I get my sending unit back from Speed Hut so I can weld the retaining nuts in the right place on the inside of the tank instead of squeezing my arm through the fuel pump hole to start them. When it's all welded up I'm going to take some light sheet metal and cover the bottom side of the tank so it will look good from behind vs a weird circle sticking out. It's getting to be crunch time, the goal is to take Rita out this weekend **)
Are you done yet? :LOL:
I don't understand, I'm unfamiliar with that term.Quote:
Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe
I got he cap put on the bowl and put 5 gal of water in to check for leaks, I had 3 small ones that were easily fixed. I used one of my donor furnace panels for the sheet metal for the cover and got it to fit pretty decent. I got some more welding and smoothing to do and I think I'll paint in black this time. I originally was going to plug weld it to the tank but now it's going to be more like a slip on cover.
That's looking nice Seth! We're having great cruising weather now. Aside from the Gail force winds but i'll take it. :LOL:
Same here, It always seems like it's windy as ever when we take Rita out. I gotta work Sat morning so it may or may not be ready by Sunday. Fastenall forgot to order my 1 inch split clamps to hold the rear sway from going side to side and I haven't gotten the oil changed yet which isn't so serious. It still has last years bugs on it too.Quote:
Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe
You guys are a week, maybe 10 days ahead of us.. I haven't even thought of "unwrapping" the coupe. Will have to replace the battery this year I think, I pulled it out to use it in the International for snow plow duty.
Recent conversation with local Fastenal:Quote:
Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5
Me - Did the shims I ordered on Friday come in?
Them - What shims?
Me - The 5/8" x 1/8" slotted shims?
Them - I guess we forgot to order them.
Been there - Done that.
Hurry hurry, there's not much weekend left!
I'm so far ahead of schedule, I'm not sure what to do :LOL: I backed Rita out about 3:00 and took it for a drive. The sway bar stiffened up the suspension quite a bit, the radio is working good, the driveshaft is running smooth, fuel pump is quiet and not sucking air. The only hiccup was it developed a miss on the engine and I unpluged the injectors and plugged them back in and that went away for now. I think it's the dirtiest it's ever been and then the gravel roads are like powder from all the farm machinery. We were going to take it out tonight and go for ice cream but we've both been running non stop all day so the couch sounded better.
Looks like a great place where you live! The biggest downside of living out in the country for me is that I'm a "clean tire/wheel fanatic":whacked::whacked::CRY::LOL:
Where we live, our wheels are definitely Dusty most of the time. When we take Rita out we usually hit the local car wash first and do a quick spot-free rinse.
I'm sure it is a dust bowl where you live. Right now I'm really hating that I haven't finished the exhaust on the 72. It dumps straight to the ground before the rear axle. well, it stirs up duet really bad. Makes it real fun backing a trailer into the wind. :LOL: But, we might actually get some much needed RAIN this week. (It's in bold because it shouldn't be snow for a change. :LOL:
We broke some untested ground with Rita on Saturday, we took it to Sioux Falls and on the way home we decided to take it on the interstate for the first time. I never could to it before because the driveshaft would vibrate over 65 mph. The SD speed limit is 80 mph and it passed the test with flying colors, even thought it was just a 10 mile stretch it cruised just fine at 80.**)
Very cool, it feels good to get the bugs worked out.
It is good to get some of these things off the list. Of course with speed comes more air noise, I think I need to install my outer door seals now. I notice a lot of air noise inside the door itself and I'm pretty sure it's going in through the door hinge holes and entering the inside of the door. I have the seals but never got around to putting them on because I never noticed it much before, but it sure seemed kinda noisy then.
I'm just setting here purely amazed that you've had 2 different engines in it and yet to drive it on the freeway at freeway speeds.................. :LOL:
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Yep, 3,000 miles and no interstate :) I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. We like to take black tops and hi ways ( unless it's Nebraska or New Mexico ) :LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe
It was time to add cruise to Rita. I don't know what the deal is but my ankle gets real mad at me if I use the gas pedal longer that an hour at a time. I ordered a Rostra universal kit with an early style turn signal control. It only took about a Saturday morning to install it and It works great! I dread it every time I got to add some wiring under the dash:CRY: It's pretty busy under there.
Kool. How much have you been driving Rita this summer?
Not as much as last year, only about 1600 so far. Last year we had 3k on before we put it away but we got about a month and a half of good weather left yet so hopefully we get some more on it. I told my wife I would like 20K on it before we head out to Washington state with it in a few years, I want to make sure it's reliable. We are hoping to be in your state this coming Memorial day week. I don't know if we'll be close enough to visit though, we are thinking of staying in the Pensacola area. We'll have a Dodge and not Rita :LOL:
Hey, at least you've been driving it! This summer has been weird for weather. This fall should be good driving like you said. Now if those pesky mosquitoes would just go away! I may have to come up to your area to have the Camaro dyno tuned. If it happens on a weekend I'll let you know.
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There's a couple wheel dynos buy me. There's one in Tea South Dakota which is right by Sioux Falls, and Schwanke Motors in Minnesota has one. They do a lot of Ls Motors. And an update on how much I drove Rita this year, turns out I only put a thousand on so far, the odometer reads 4200
I'll be taking it to Excessive Autosports in Sioux Falls, SD. I have some friends that have taken their cars their and he knows what he's doing. I've heard too many bad things about the ones local and they charge way too much.
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That's the one I was thinking of by Tea, I thought they would have a Tea address because they are right across the interstate from there. It's kinda ironic because I talked to them about if it was a good idea or possible to build a reliable 5.3 to 400 hp at the rear wheels. I used to own a 71 RS that I was going to do an LS swap in :LOL: He was super helpful and not a rush to get me off the phone answering any questions I had.Quote:
Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe
Well, sometime we'll see what a 5.3 with a BTR stage 3 truck cam and a 4 speed will do. :LOL: In trucks with autos they seem to be around 340hp or so to the rear tires.
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There's also a guy in Watertown who does some really exceptional dyno tuning, mostly on Ford stuff, but he does do other brands.Quote:
Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5
If you end up taking the car to Tea, let me know. That's only about 50 miles from me.Quote:
Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe
Dave, will do. I haven't scheduled it yet. Once I hear it run I can try to schedule the time/trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
Exciting build
I had to put an outside antenna back on Rita. I filled the original hole when I was doing the body work on it thinking it was the dumbest place possible that anyone could put an antenna. Little did I know then that it really is the only spot where you can put one because the hood will break it off when it opens if it's any further forward and if it's on the passenger side, it will be in the way of the rear side mirror. I learned that the hidden antenna is a joke and I mounted one underneath the pickup and it was better but still awful. I found a template on where to drill the hole and when I was just about done drilling I heard my backing plate that I used to weld up the hole fall down. I got the hole in the exact same place as the original so I was happy, and I can pick up stations like XM Radio now!
A couple more pics, It's about as close to the hood as you would want to get!
Dressed up Rita's engine compartment a bit today. I took the old Thriftmaster 235 sticker they used on the 54 Chevys and went in a different route with it. He made the stickers maybe a little bit larger than I thought they would be but I still like it.
Nice! Great color choice.
Thanks, I think it was about the only option I had :)Quote:
Originally Posted by falconvan
Engine looks very clean.
:eek::eek:Looks SO MUCH better than a Fiat!!!! :eek::eek::LOL::LOL::LOL::3dSMILE::3dSMILE::D:D