I made a ton of progress this weekend on the car. I have been slightly held up because the last thing I needed to do to button up the engine install was getting the balancer bolt torqued properly. After dropping the starter on my face while under the car, we managed to get the bolt torqued down. Once that was done it was go time. I had been cleaning up parts like the core support so I can just bolt it all back together.
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I didn't take a whole lot of pictures during the re-assemby. I was busy working and it's been apart so many times that I didn't want to be redundant. Here are a few along the way.
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One thing that gave me a bunch of trouble was the driver side turning signal. The socket was corroded and the spring that kept pressure on the contacts was rusted away. So I ended up swapping sockets with another 67 turn signal and it worked out perfectly. I really wanted to keep the original 68 housings that I got at Carlisle as they were off of an original 1968 Z/28 RS in Tripoli Turquoise. There was even a little Turquoise overspray on them. Sounds dumb, but I really like having original parts on the car verse reproduction parts. Even if they aren't in the best shape. 90% of the RS parts on my car are original GM parts.
Anyway, here is the car with the front end all back together. I'm so happy with the way it turned out from the paint to panel alignment to ease of installation.
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I also installed a set of the LED switchbacks I picked up a long time ago. They are white when the lights are on, and when the turn signal is activated it turns to amber, then pauses and turns back to white when the signal is canceled. Pretty slick and they are super bright. I want to get a set for the tail lights as well.
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Another shot of the engine. It really looks like home in there. I still need to clean up some of the wiring loom, but very happy with the results.
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I also thought that I would share in a tool that I bought for crimping the Packard 56 terminals. It still needs to be slightly modified as it bents the bottom of the terminal slightly, but overall for the $15 bucks I paid it does a great job. It's a ratcheting type that has interchangeable jaws so it does a few other functions as well. Out of the box it does 90% of what I want it to do and once I modify the one jaw I'll update this thread with a perfectly crimped terminal.
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The moment that I have been waiting for since I bought this car almost 3 years ago, my first test drive. I worked all night Friday to get the car back together, then for several hours on Saturday afternoon while the kiddo was at his grandma's and the wife was jogging. It was finally close enough for me to get it out on the open road. My father-in-law stopped over and gave me a hand giving everything a once over to see if I missed anything simple that could give me an issue. He found a hose clamp and a few loose bolts. After that it was game on. I started it up and pulled it outside to let it get up to operating temperature. Once it was up to 187* I verified that the thermostat was operating and headed down the drive way.
I only got a few pictures because it was just me and I didn't want to get busy taking pictures and miss something like no oil pressure or overheating.
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My first stop was to the gas station right down the road from me. Of course it was super busy there and I had to dodge traffic with an unfamiliar car, new clutch, fresh paint, and etc. Topped it off with 5 gallons of 93 and headed over to my parent's house about 5 miles away. My mom knew I was coming over, but my dad had no idea. He knew I was close, but not that close. He was super happy for me and just kept looking at the car. I took him for a ride up the road and he was impressed with the LS power. I snapped a few pictures while I was there.
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My first impressions of the car are that it seems quite refined for having been totally stripped apart down the the bare shell. The engine and transmission worked together perfectly as it revved freely and shifted smooth and firm. I have about 40 psi oil pressure at idle and had about 60 psi around 4500 rpms. The clutch is brand new so it will likely take a few hundred miles for it to be fully broken in, but after driving it around it feels great so far. My Vaporworx modified 5th gen fuel pump was quite and provided all the fuel I needed.
The chassis was tight and I didn't notice any squeaks or other strange sounds. I did notice some sort of suspension clunking sound on the passenger side rear end. I haven't had a chance to see what it could have been, but I'm leaning towards either exhaust or possibly the caliper to shock. Hoping that it's not the second, but if so I'll need to modify it to gain clearance. The front springs are DSE 2" lowering springs, but what I didn't realize was they are designed to be used with their lower control arms as they have a drop pocket built in. So with them installed it actually raised my front ride. DSE said that I would need to cut roughly 1/4 coil for every 1/2" I want to drop the wheel. I'm going to need to cut 1 coil to drop it down 2" and see where it settles from there. Once I cut the coils I want to get it aligned as I think currently the car is toed in as it wanted to dart when driving down the road.
Overall, I couldn't be happier with a first time out. It performed flawlessly and was very fun to drive. Once I straighten out the few issues I have with the car it should be very reliable. I also noted that there were zero leaks on the car. I re-used some of the gaskets on the LS motor and figured I might have an oil leak somewhere, but I can happily report zero leaks. My buddy has a friend who does inspections and said that he could get my car in possibly this Friday so I can be 100% legal. Then I can maybe take it to one of the last cruise in car shows near me.
Cheers,
Ryan