Hey guys. Ok, first off…everything you all wrote here was spot on !
I have never worked on a car before, so its all new to me. I took pictures as I went, but admittedly not as many as I would have liked – once I got working I had to remind myself to take a photo and by that time 5 steps took place !
Long story short – the engine is out and on a stand. I also pulled the transmission since its leaking, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to replace the seals. It took me and my brother 6 hours to get it all done, but I was also being rather meticulous with cataloging the nuts and bolts I was removing. Plus once I got the block out the power steering pump toppled over and left me a decent mess to clean up on the floor.
Bumps and bruises, beer and scotch and 6 hours….not bad :-)
Now on to the rebuild. I am picked up a set of Vortek heads and a Comp Cam (thumper) – the cam has a max lift of .479 and the heads .475 so I dropped the heads off at a machine shop yesterday along with the fly wheel to be cut. I found that I need to replace the clutch as well. Installing an RPM airgap intake and reusing the edelbrock 650 carb. Between the machine work, Easter and the Masters I think its going to be a few more weeks yet – but I’ll keep ya’s posted.
Anyone have experience with replacing the steering column ? my 68 has a 69 column in it and I actually found (after a long search) a 68 specific column – but I am not sure what’s involved with the install? I can see a couple bolts at the rag joint (which I plan to rebuild) two bolts at the fire wall and after that I am at a loss….is this a job I can tackle ?
Cthulha – thank you for the link, I am going to call that gentleman and see what he has to say. I am not certain if this column needs to be rebuilt or not, it seems to be in tact and functioning. Rraider1 – this is actually very helpful, that looks nearly identical to mine and certainly gives me an idea of what to expect. I figured the benefit is removing the old and then reverse engineering the new – its just venturing into the unknown that worries me….so thank you.
Anips – this was my concern as well, prior to starting the project I removed my carb and measured my current intake. The air gap will actually be lower than the current, plus the old one had a 1 inch adapter under the carb which I will not be requiring. There is always the chance that I screwed up the measurement – in which case I will purchase the 427 hood which I really love.
Cthulha – thank you for the link, I am going to call that gentleman and see what he has to say. I am not certain if this column needs to be rebuilt or not, it seems to be in tact and functioning. Rraider1 – this is actually very helpful, that looks nearly identical to mine and certainly gives me an idea of what to expect. I figured the benefit is removing the old and then reverse engineering the new – its just venturing into the unknown that worries me….so thank you.