Yes, lots of work, but it's fun work (mostly) and will certainly be rewarding to finally drive it again. We got it into the shop today, after a downpour and hailstorm, of course, just before we move it. Pulled the hood off and got most of the leaves and debris out of it. It's going to take a while to dry out so may be firing the wood stove tonight to speed it along. I want to start it tomorrow so we can move it around and in and out of the shop, so when it's sunny it can be outside drying. I turned it over by hand and everything feels good, I may pull the distributor and rig up a rod for the oil pump and at least pressurize the oil system.
That blue color had been on 4 of my cars over the years...it's a '74 Cadillac color "Royal Mist Metallic" Centari # 42821A2, but ya can't buy Centari anymore. The interior is black. I'm probably going to paint it blue again, something similar.
I know this is an old post but if someone reading this has a '68 with a standard interior having the remote mirror and the bezel mounted in the stock location, I need the length of the two chrome strips that the bezel sits between. Going to try and modify an old strip and see if I can make it work. Thanks in advance!
67 wiring diagram shows a pink power wire from the fusebox to the dash gauges/lights and from that terminal to the switch. Then a green wire from the switch to the rear body connector and from there to the backup lights and ground. Doesn't show that connecter though. My car, 1968, doesn't have that connector but has the hole where the connector would be. I now have a grommet in there with wires going into the under dash area. I forgot what wires I put though but could be the neutral safety and backup switch. Had neither switch when I bought the car but the TKO has both in the tranny so I wired them into the system.
Ok everyone.... I’m shopping for a floor pan.... I found one... but it’s an hour away and I don’t have a truck..... but the price is great....... ( it’s a new pan that was not used and now they trying to sell it )......my be less headache 🤕 to just Order one at full price and have it delivered to my house...... any way as far as replacing it.... can it be done with out a rotisserie......?? Also my work area is small ( I’m in one side of a two car residential garage ) As far as welding I’m looking at some good used welders vs a new welder......? I’m guessing that flux core is not the way to go.... that I need a gas welder......( hopefully they are available for 110..... ) sorry for all the questions.... just doing all my homework as I’m going to be doing all of this by myself...... so I want to be prepared........ also should I sand blast the body.....? I have a small blaster that works with my pressure washer...... and a smaller blaster that works dry...... Thank you in advance
I think the theory is that you start with a rust bucket that is complete then you move all the usable parts to the new shell including the VIN. Otherwise there are a million parts you’d need to round up.
It’s all the crappy Chinese body panels we all complain about welded together into one big collection of crappy Chinese body panels.
If you get into doing this any way other than the correct way... which it to get all those bolts set up properly you will eventually be unhappy. Some other fix may work for a short time but will likely not work for long. Especially on exhaust manifolds where you have very high heat.
I know you have been trying to avoid taking the engine out. But it isn't really that big of a deal as long as you have someone to help you and it will make this much much easier. Then you can do it right. And you can get a good look at all kinds of other things very easily while its out. If nothing else to some good cleaning and lubing. I think you will be happy you did. You can probably rent a lift and an engine stand is not expensive. And you an sell it when your done.
Yeah, there should be 6 threaded holes to mount the reinforcement x-brace. If those aren’t there you my be SOL. Not sure how critical that is. Mine was gone when I got the car but I added it back. Makes running the exhaust more difficult. I always wondered if that was something that was added to stiffen up the body in a crash.
Here's a pic of the accumulator cover, some numbers on the side, and the partial vin on tranny is correct for my VIN. The pan decodes from a 1970, so i don't know if the first years had em ('69 was the first year). My PHS docs show it was customer ordered with TH350. Question is: is this the correct pump?
Hooked radio up to battery, speaker and antenna and when I turn the radio on and off the speaker cone bounces and with volume all the way up and turning the dial you can barely hear music but it drifts off right away. So I guess what I am saying is the radio kind of works which is better than not at all.
I think it may be time to give up my bird sanctuary. I have 3 1968 Firebirds and associated parts I am seeing if there is interest. I don't need to sell but it would be nice to see them go to a new custodian.
first car original owner (my family) 350 coupe 1970 400 RA III short block .030 over 1968 16 heads RA IV cam w/ Rhodes lifters 9794234 intake manifold Quadajet carb TH400 12 bolt posi 3.31 ratio Hooker headers 3" full exhaust Hotchis suspension Koni shocks power disc brakes power steering rally gauges tilt console w/ clock runs and drives perfect needs paint and interior work
second car 1968 350 convertible 1968 400 fresh rebuild fully correct for1968 ( a 400 coupe I parted out many years ago) M20 rebuilt BOP 10 bolt posi 3.08 ratio rebuilt stock exhaust stock suspension rebuilt manual disc brakes power steering rally gauges custom sport wheel power top newer interior great looking driver
third car 1968 400HO coupe numbers matching engine, trans and diff. all original, one repaint M20 3.36 posi power steering manual drum brakes custom interior fold down rear seat PHS docs
Well, after re-evaluating my set-up and pulling my hair out over things that didn't make sense I forgot to look at the obvious. My timing light. That piece of $100 crap I just bought turns out to be off by 10 degrees! So using my older timing light, which I know works and is accurate I now have the timing tweaked at 35 total and 18 initial which would leave 17 degrees of mechanical. Still need to check vacuum advance and total everything up. She drives good, still need more testing before locking everything down.
Probably worth it just for the time savings of not having to clean all those bolts and nuts. Not to mention the fuel savings running back and forth to the hardware store.
Depends on where you mount your prop valve. If you can bias the front to back braking you're probably good to go. Although the two pice brake line that runs front to back is much easier to install than the one piece unless the cars apart already.
The interior is black. I'm probably going to paint it blue again, something similar.
