Wow, I have not posted this often in a year. Today was a light day for working on the truck. I had to stop for a few hours for the wife and I to go to the Dead Man's Curve car show nearby. It was nice, and my friend who brought his 73 Challenger to the show had extra wristbands which saved me $30, which is even nicer.
I am getting closer to the goal of starting the engine...
First, I rotated the engine so the rotor would point in the right direction and the engine would be at TDC.
Then I painted the radiator support. I ran out of paint, so I'll be finishing it up on Monday.
I then tried to fit the brand new power steering hoses I bought from Autozone about 2 years ago, maybe more. I am not sure if I am routing them properly. Looked at pics on this forum and online; it's hard to find good information on it.
While doing that I realized I should probably install the exhaust header first, which means I need to get new bolts for it. I got the header and painted some spots on it that needed touching up. Fortunately the one I found was for the drivers side; hope I can find the other one.
My evening ended with a trip to Advance Auto, Autozone, and finally Lowe's which actually had everything I needed except the header stud kit I got at Advance Auto. Apparently Advance and Autozone are no longer selling Rustoleum paints.
I decided to try using the header studs to solve my problem about the support brace not reaching the engine. Seems to fit.
Last night I also got one of my prior questions answered - whether to weld or bolt the lower radiator retainer. I forgot that I bought a Service Manual for the truck at the Rhinebeck Car Show a couple years ago.
The image in the book shows it using a bolt, so that's what I am going with. I purchased a grade 8 bolt, but am thinking of switching to stainless steel since it is in an area that will get wet.
Last, but not least I have to remove the coil on the HEI distributor to install the plug wires. Of course, this can't be too easy. The allen screws are very rusted - I almost stripped one of them. I'll test out Lowe's and see if they carry this type of screw.
The to-do list for Monday is:
- finish painting radiator support.
- install drivers side header and look for other header.
- install power steering hoses.
- install plug wires.
- secure a/c support rod.
- install radiator support and radiator if I am lucky.