Went for my first drive in RodeHugger

[Steve N 69 69 69]

I went for my first real drive today. I drove it for a quick trip last week, from its old home to its new home, but it was idling at 2000 rpm, on a 100* day, so I didn't get to play much. I put in a new IAC valve, and LT4 knock module today, and the idle dropped right down to 850 rpm.
So today I drove around for about an hour, up and down the Blvd. on and off a few freeway ramps.

First impression.... its LOUD and feels like a bullet, compared to the 70's truck 350 and Powerglide that I had in the car the last time I drove it. The little LT1 pulls nice.
The manual steering is pretty stiff at low speeds, but feels like a go-kart above 30MPH. very tight ( maybe too tight , twitchy) and precise.
The 4 wheel manual Wilwoods feel pretty stiff too, but I've been babying them, so I don't know how well they work yet.

On the down side, the rear left tire is rubbing on the inner fender, when I get on the gas hard, and it sounds like the pinion yoke may be hitting the top of the tunnel, at full throttle, I gotta jack it up and take a look.

Its sitting lower than I wanted, now that the tank is full and the batteries are in the trunk. I going to remove the leaf bushings to gain 1/2" . But I think I will need to raise it up more than that. I've already ground the paint off the bottom of the sub frame connectors the first time I pulled into the garage

On the plus side it ran great, pulled hard, turned,and stopped, without drama, and never leaked a drop.

Later,

[awr68]

All in all good news!! Glad you finally got to drive her!! Car looks killer BTW!!!!

[zbugger]

Your car's been sitting a while. Good to see it on the road again. Sounds like you have a tiny bit of detail work to finish up on, but I hope you're happy with it. I'm jealous.

[Steve68]

Lucky you, enjoy more seat time!!

[JSR69]

Steve

Sent you a PM.

[parsonsj]

Steve,

Congrats on the maiden voyage. Nicely done! Mine is coming up very soon.

I'm jealous about your lack of leaks. Me ... I had brake fluid leaks (sensor and master cylinder), water leaks (ghetto lower rad hose, water neck), transmission leaks (front seal), power steering leaks (hard line flare) gasoline leaks (hard line flare), and rear end leaks (bolt holes). Everything that could leak did, except for the engine. Oh wait, it leaked on the dyno, and I fixed it before bolting it in.

jp

[Rybar]

Congrats man, I really like the way you've done your car. LT1's are good motors. I was originally going to run that setup.