1969 GTX....The T stands for tetanus

[68GTXNH]

What a day. I should have known it was going to be long when the throttle cable snapped at the carb as I was priming the motor. After some minor repairs, a lot of sweating, a weeping freeze plug, many adjustments, 2 spark plug wires caught on fire, dust shield clanking from the converter bolts, and one overheat, it is running and broke in. I still need to tune it and swap in the dual springs.



The first start up lasted only 10 minutes before it started to overheat so I shut it down. Probably due to timing and lack of thermostat. I would have got video of its' start up but my phone got smashed in my pocket somehow. The Taylor plug wires that are listed for a 440 were waaaaay too long. I had the pass side 6 and 8 laying on the fender while plugged in. You can see the two red ones as the original two were burning pretty goo (I had an extinguisher handy).
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oh hell ya man congrats. sounds mean. tune that baby in and get cruising. lol if its not one thing its always another. ya i got taylor wires for my 440 in a motorhome, WAAAAAAY too long. i prefer buying the kits where you cut them to length and crimp them. get some nice wires looms take you time and they look phenomenal. i had those kevlar nomex woven boots on a chevy 350 i had, kept melting the damn things, terrible design. chevy... whattya expect. mopars not much better but at least the angle the plugs so only a couple are close. i know its sacrilege, but thats why i like pontiac motors, plugs are on top completly out of the way of the headers. of course, the best way to keep the wires away is by getting a hemi haha

 

[threewood]

 

[threewood]

Couldn't view the video, said it was private.

Should work now.
Shroud has been on order for two weeks. I kept it cool with a hose and also by putting the thermostat back in.

 

[threewood]

I assume your garage has GFI on the AC outlets. I cringed seeing that cheap box fan in a puddle of water. Just be careful.

Thanks!. It is GFCI and I moved it off to the side after I began hosing it down. The puddle formed when water spewed out the overflow while I was in the car.

 

[69 GTX]

Sounds great!

 

[threewood]

Got some tuning done. The Innova light did not like the Ignitor III so I switched to an older, non advance light and that did the trick. I played around with base timing and settled at 16 degrees initial, idle was at 900 rpms with 12 inches of vacuum. Total is at 35 degrees, not sure where it pulls all in but I have 2 light springs in it so I would guess 2500-2800 rpms. It may be a little rich but it idles well and has good response. I need to take it on the road and see how it acts.

Transmission is very responsive and this converter feels nice up and down the driveway. I may take it around the neighborhood

Next order of business...ported or manifold vacuum for the vacuum advance? I hooked it into manifold which raised my RPMs at idle so I need to pull the curb idle down if I keep it that way. I checked the oil and it is still very clean!

 

[Billccm]

Are you drums all around?

 

[threewood]

Are you drums all around?

Yep, heavy duty drums all around. I may go with discs in the front down the road. My goal was to have it running first, then add the bonus features such as A/C, fuel injection and disc brakes. Oh and door panels, and I still need wheels and tires. I am going to let my bank account rest for now lol.

 

[Billccm]

I strongly recommend musclecarbrakes.com and keep the drums. My disc conversion was too painful.

 

[threewood]

The sure grip works just fine
I took it around the block a few times and it shifts nice and at 1/4 throttle it will rip em up! I hit a dip too hard and banged my oil pan. No leaks but I did get the first battle scars. I am going to tighted the torsion bars up a bit to raise the front end.

 

[69 GTX]

Need a skid plate for the Kmember

 

[threewood]

Need a skid plate for the Kmember

I remember you mentioning it too. I will look for one, until then I will take it easy.

 

[69 GTX]

So I managed to get a little done yesterday even though it was 95 with a 110 heat index!
I got the pan skid plate out to prep for welding on.View attachment 266053
I didn't like the looks of the welds on the outside with the extra material. So I cut that off and ground it smooth.

- - - Updated - - -

View attachment 266054
I then bead blasted it to get all the laser scale off the cut edges.

- - - Updated - - -

Then I welded the seams on the inside and reblasted the welds. I was careful to leave the drain holes open. I will prime & paint the inside before welding to the K frame. I then ran out of steam from the heat and called it a day.
View attachment 266055

You could make one pretty easy if you wanted to save 125$

 

[threewood]

You could make one pretty easy if you wanted to save 125$

Do you have pictures of one mounted up? I can get 3/16" steel.

 

[69 GTX]

There are more pictures around post 410 on my thread. I'll try to snap a picture this next week. pretty simple.

 

[moparnation74]

Looks great, sounds great and perfect throttle response....Car overall looks beautiful bro....I know your ecstatic!

 

[threewood]

Mancini Racing is on my $hit list... The $80 throttle cable didn't have enough pull to go full throttle on a stock carb throw!!!!! The ferule and the plastic sleeve were too long and binding about 3/4 throttle. It was sold for 65 to 70 B Body with after market intake. Yea, so I modified the overpriced crap so it could work. Should have went Autozone with this....so pissed and more wasted money.

And I finally received my fan shroud after the first one was damaged in transit and returned to shipper. The replacement was cracked....FML. So I superglued it because I didn't feel like waiting another 2 weeks for a $150 piece of molded plastic. And the opening is 21" and my fan is 18" so I may need to find another fan. I'll try it first but any opinions on whether the spacing is too great between the fan blades and shroud?

 

[threewood]

And if anyone is curious, here is the clearance from the hood to the wingnut (Edelbrock 3" air cleaner, Edelbrock AVS, Holley Street Dominator).

 

[jeepers007]

And if anyone is curious, here is the clearance from the hood to the wingnut (Edelbrock 3" air cleaner, Edelbrock AVS, Holley Street Dominator).
View attachment 435432 View attachment 435433

Is the air cleaner a drop base also?

 

[threewood]

Is the air cleaner a drop base also?

It is dropped .625"
Air cleaner is model 1221.