Yesterday I (temporarily) installed a spare dash and continued testing and troubleshooting the electrical system. Found that the following items didn’t work properly: Low Fuel Lamp (coil on the relay reads open), Tilt - away vacuum solenoid(has power), and the heater blower motor switch. Everything else works.
Today I took my GT-E to three muffler shops to see about getting the pipes between the H pipe and the muffler reproduced in 2 1/2" aluminized tubing. First I went to the nearby Midas location. They informed me that they could do it next week, but until then they were only installing pre - bent off the shelf pipes. The guy who still knows how to operate the tubing bender was on vacation.
Next I went to the Meinike Muffler across the street. They said they only installed pre - bent pipes and did not even own a custom pipe bender. Sad.
So I went to a local mom and pop muffler shop that has been in business for decades. They got my GT-E up on the rack and knocked out the two pipes in about 20 minutes. Cost: $80 for the pair.
The exhaust pipe picture shows me working on trimming them to length. They were intentionally too long.
This car is going to be mostly concours correct. The exhaust system is going to look factory but be a little bit better than stock. This is my first idea on making the mufflers work with the factory hangars. This ended up being ground off in favor of another idea that worked better. This was going to work OK but there would be studs and nuts securing the mufflers to the hangars. I found long threaded receptacles at the hardware store today, so those will be used so we can also use the factory hardware to support the mufflers at the hangars.
The mufflers are 2 1/2" in and out, turbo mufflers sold by Magnaflow. The new pipes wouldn’t quite fit so I had to use the muffler pipe expander. After the first one I decided to try an impact wrench. Much faster than the 14" Crescent wrench.
Impact is the only way to go on the expanders(as long as it’s a good one) I tried mine by hand and quickly gave up and grabbed the gun.
I worry about finding a good exhaust shop too. We have a mix of prebent parts hangers and down right hack jobs locally. I really need to tailpipes on mine.
Yep I seen those, It is hard to beat. I actually have a set of 2.25" summit branded(still made in the usa) tailpipes here to better match the stock manifold and h-pipes. I did not have the driver side hanger at the time so it ended up just getting dumped at the muffler. I have since acquired a matching pair of hangers So I plan to try and make these tailpipes work in the interm.
End goal is to install headers and have an exhaust shop bend pipe from header back to get a clean install.
Got the engine pretty well wrapped up. Have to get some turn downs to make the exhaust not heat up the rear axle and it will be ready for fire up and camshaft break in.
Came out to the garage yesterday and there was about 1/2 cup of coolant on the floor. It turns out that one of the reproduction wire bale clamps stapled to a new lower radiator hose at the water pump was made too long and wouldn’t tighten enough to stop leaking. Had to install a stainless strap style clamp to fix the leak for now.
Had to down jack the car to get ready for a vinyl top installation today.
Today Phil Childers came over to help me put the second vinyl top on. We got maybe 80% done. Still a lot of trimming needed, installing moldings and such. But it is looking fabulous compared to the previous try. Thanks Phil!
Adjusting my steering box a 1/4 turn made a decent difference, but still a bit of slop.
Would you mind sharing a approximate cost in what chockostang charges to rebuild box and ram, and time to perform? He seems to have an excellent reputation, so I was looking to do the same over the winter.
Royce - last weekend I struggled to figure out the same problem with my driver side rear light.s on my 67 GT that is near the finish line. Read your post and determined I had exact same problem. Replace one nut with the old nut and I am in business. Thanks for posting this and everything you do for the community. Without your post I would still be wandering around the garage aimlessly.
It seemed like a lot more folks would be having this problem since the reproduction fasteners (while very nice) are not made exactly like the originals.
I have a problem today with no spark. Looking like a bad (brand new) reproduction coil.
Hi Royce
Following your build very closely and loving it,you are doing a fantastic job.
I am after some of your expertise.
When painting the satin black on the pinch welds and side rocker panels,how far up the rocker panel do you mask?
Also are the rear quarter lower pinch welds painted black?
Thank you
Will take some pictures and post them here. The paint covers the lower surface of the rocker. I don’t really mask the body, I do it like the factory and just hold a 24" piece of cardboard even with the lower edge of the roll on the rocker as I spray. It leaves a real fuzzy edge like the original was.
Some detail shots as the vinyl top was installed. The AMK fasteners for the vinyl top trim come with rubber gaskets to prevent water from entering the body around the holes. The holes for the top lower trim and the XR-7 emblems on the sail panels were trimmed out with an X-Acto knife. After the trim was in place the lower edge of the top was trimmed using a series of fresh razor blades held to the material as the top is pulled away.
