Last Updates for 2024

 I've been delinquent and has forgot to post some stuff so here it is.  I forgot to post that I have the fuel tank, the horseshoe shifter, and the engine is being prepared to start.  According to my schedule I'm supposed to start the engine next week.  Well, I think I'm ahead of schedule because I'm going to do it this week...I think.  More on that later.

So, the fuel tank is finished.  Its a beauty.  Please try to keep it nice and clean.  I cut a hole in the truck floor so the fuel pump and sender can be accessed without removing the fuel pump.  Lesson learned from my truck.

Here's the hole.  Cover to be attached after trunk painting is done.

The horseshoe shifter is really cool.  Wish I put that in my car but I have an electronic transmission and it wouldn't work right.  It was a little difficult trying to figure out exactly where to place it on the floor because when the floor was replaced all of the factory punches where the holes go were not in the new floor.  I did this very carefully and I think I got it right.

On the side you can see the cable that goes from the shifter and through the floor down to the transmission.  This is whats at the other end of that cable.

The cable connects to the transmission shift lever at the bottom.  On the top I have installed a little silver box that you can see is attached to the upper portion of the shift lever.  When the shifter moves this little box sends a signal to the dash board that tells what gear to display.  This gear display is in addition to the display right under the horseshoe.

To start the engine I need to get the radiator installed and hooked up, attach the hearter hoses, install the spark plug wires, fill all the fluids in the engine and transmission, complete the power steering hookup and a bunch of other small things in addition to mocking up the EFI computer.  The computer is a Holley Terminator X, similar to whats in my Chevelle.

Heres the radiator,

There is a black support cover on top of the radiator that had to be painted first.  I did this along with painting some other black parts that go in front of the radiator support.  Once you need to paint something you paint all you can because setting up the paint gun is a pain in the butt.  We don't use rattlecan paint on the car.  Well there is some but it cannot be used for finish work.

Here is the power steering gear and plumbing.

The plumbing goes from the power steering pump on the accessory system to the power steering gear and up to the remote resevior which is the black can you see in the lower left.  This is where you add fluid.

Then I got all the battery wires connected.

Looks a jumble but thats because there are extra wires there to support the mockup of the EFI system needed to start the engine.  Once its started and runs these will all be removed and reinstalled later when after painting and final assembly.

The computer consists of two black boxes mounted to the board.  Then there is a display panel in the middle used for monitoring and programming.  Then on the lower part of the board there is a starter switch I mocked up to provide a way to start the engine until the push button system can be setup later.

So the only things left to do before starting are to complete the spark plug wires and connect the radiator hose you see thats not hooked up.  Waiting for parts that will arrive today for both of those.  Plus its too frikken cold out there today to work on this!

So there, I'm all caught up.  And ahead of the plan....so far.