Hawk-Rod: The Restoration

[eldubb440]

so its 4 am monday morning, got up to take a leak an hour ago now i cant sleep, wtf ............. anyway, ducks in a row at the shop; will be working on 2 70 RR's in a few hours.........and bracing for another snow event......... is it spring yet?

 

[HawkRod]

It looks like things are really starting to progress in the right direction for you with the build. It should be really sweet when you get her done! Look forward to taking a ride and having that beer. Bruce

I couldn't be happier than the day when I get to buy you a beer Bruce! I have the feeling I'll be drinking a lot of beer with car buddies - and what can be better than that?!? :VB toast:

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so its 4 am monday morning, got up to take a leak an hour ago now i cant sleep, wtf ............. anyway, ducks in a row at the shop; will be working on 2 70 RR's in a few hours.........and bracing for another snow event......... is it spring yet?

TWO Road Runners??? There is only one that matters, and that's the Green Machine!!! :icon_lol:

As far as the snow goes, I am so $#@! tired of the lousy weather. At least with a cold winter I am hoping for a longer, crisp, nice spring. With my luck, I'm not counting on it...

Spent about another grand with our friends at PST for suspension parts. They should be coming soon. Now I just need to get through the next couple of weeks. Next week we are having a major inspection at my company so I will basically live there next week. This week is crazy busy too. I plan to get back on the car seriously starting April 5th. I can't wait, because that will mean the BS at work is done too!

 

[eldubb440]

por15 inside the rails...... weldable zinc primer on the flanges........ trunk pan installed
should be repairing wheel houses and fitting quarters and on her next week

 

[Redhorse719]

Lookin' good!

 

[HawkRod]

Nice to see that even though I am unable to do any work on the car that progress is still being made! Thanks Mark for the build updates! It is exciting to see fresh metal start to be assembled back on to the car!

Speaking of fresh, check out the fresh parts that the mail brought today! I ordered front suspension parts, shocks, and a few other items from PST. Everything worked great - I ordered it on Sunday and got it today. Wow, that was fast!

I think I now have all parts I need to rebuild the front suspension. I plan on starting that on April 5th - can't wait!
(This snow BS better be done by then :angryfire

 

[HawkRod]

FI!

Fuel Injection arrived today!

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to choose - they all seem very comparable. FAST makes a drop in distributor that will work with my 383 so I figured I would go with that system. I don't have that yet, but that should be coming soon.

It will probably be awhile before I can install this, but it will be fun to do. I hope it makes for a really nice running car that can reliably handle the long drive around the country without any tuning - low land Mississippi to mile high Denver... (and this is good because I suck at carb tuning) :icon_clown:

 

[440+6]

That's awesome, drivability should be great with that, I wonder what the of gas mileage improvement you will get over a carb.
They sue are getting some work done on your car, I love watching the progress.

 

[HawkRod]

That's awesome, drivability should be great with that, I wonder what the of gas mileage improvement you will get over a carb.
They sue are getting some work done on your car, I love watching the progress.

The ultimate goal is to have an overdrive transmission too. Since the motor is a stock 383 (at least for now), it would be interesting to see what it will do. I'll be happy with whatever I get, since MPG is not the goal here, but with the price of gas I certainly will not complain if it is pretty decent. High teens on the highway and I will be thrilled...

 

[Bigbehr21]

The ultimate goal is to have an overdrive transmission too. Since the motor is a stock 383 (at least for now), it would be interesting to see what it will do. I'll be happy with whatever I get, since MPG is not the goal here, but with the price of gas I certainly will not complain if it is pretty decent. High teens on the highway and I will be thrilled...

Where are you getting the OD Tranny from? Passon?

The Behr

 

[HawkRod]

Where are you getting the OD Tranny from? Passon?

The Behr

That's the hope. I am on Passon's list for the A-855. I told Jamie that I will either be getting the A-855 or the Gear Vendors Overdrive. I said my preference was for the A-855. After hearing the reason for my timeline (my "bucket list drive" next year), Jamie said he would find a way to get me one by fall of this year - I hope he is right because I like the tranny. If Passon cannot deliver in time, then I will end up with a Gear Vendors Overdrive, which 'aint too shabby either...

Hawk

 

[Bigbehr21]

That's the hope. I am on Passon's list for the A-855. I told Jamie that I will either be getting the A-855 or the Gear Vendors Overdrive. I said my preference was for the A-855. After hearing the reason for my timeline (my "bucket list drive" next year), Jamie said he would find a way to get me one by fall of this year - I hope he is right because I like the tranny. If Passon cannot deliver in time, then I will end up with a Gear Vendors Overdrive, which 'aint too shabby either...

Hawk

I did not know that you had to pre-order them. How much lead time is required?
Behr

 

[Propwash]

Looking forward to seeing how your F.A.S.T. addition goes. Thinking of doing the same on a 340. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of coin did that run you?

 

[HawkRod]

I did not know that you had to pre-order them. How much lead time is required?
Behr

Hey Behr,

Passon introduced the transmission probably a couple of years ago, but has been working through some issues to get them off the drawing board and truly into production. Honestly, many people are quite frustrated as they feel it has been a lot of talk and promises but no action yet. Supposedly the transmissions are starting to ship.

Last I heard, the waiting list was like 400 people long. So how much lead time? Honestly the answer is I have no idea. According to Passon, the lead times will reduce quickly until they should become very small. We'll see...

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Looking forward to seeing how your F.A.S.T. addition goes. Thinking of doing the same on a 340. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of coin did that run you?

Hey Prop,

Don't mind you asking at all, but my answer depends a bit on what you will end up doing. In my case, the whole FI thing is getting quite expensive, as I am trying to go the "do it right" approach. So:
1) FAST basic kit (without fuel pump kit): ~ $2200
2) Custom B-Body fuel tank from Hot Rod City (with fuel pump and sender): ~$1000
3) FAST computer controlled distributor: ~ $350
4) Fuel pressure regulator - still need but estimate ~$100
5) I am custom bending hard lines and installing AN fittings, so maybe $50.

You can get a FAST kit with lines, fuel pump, regulator, etc. (everything you need) for about $2700.

I had to be dumb and get a custom tank...:icon_mrgreen:

 

[eldubb440]

made some good progress the last couple days........... wheelhouses and drop-offs screwed into place, ready to weld but not till quarters are fit up, minor adjustments may be necessary......... small patch was needed in drivers side rocker where quarter attaches.

notice the original lime green on the inner wheelhouses, someone covered it with undercoat when the car was painted yellow..... we washed it off with thinner and a red pad

 

[bobtile]

made some good progress the last couple days........... wheelhouses and drop-offs screwed into place, ready to weld but not till quarters are fit up, minor adjustments may be necessary......... small patch was needed in drivers side rocker where quarter attaches.

notice the original lime green on the inner wheelhouses, someone covered it with undercoat when the car was painted yellow..... we washed it off with thinner and a red pad

Wow! Cars are looking good. Looks like you're making headway.

 

[HawkRod]

More New Parts

So my custom made fuel tank came in from Hot Rod City. It looks nice. The only complaint I have is that the filler neck is not quite straight. I hope that does not cause any issues with where the gas cap ends up.

I also received the new FAST billet distributor that works with the FAST system and controls timing. Too bad it is a GM cap... :angryfire:

A couple of the tank:






And the new distributor compared to the original:

 

[GearAddict]

Awesome thread on your project...love the level of detail, the pics are great. I'm trying to go down a similar path with my project, (Right Stuff Detailing, PST kit, Dash refurb, ect...) I'm glad you are moving faster than I am so I can learn from your experiences

By the way... I second the comments on the new AC, I'm envious. It occurs to me that you might be able to mod the original heater control plate (or get another donor), strip it of the current hardware and mount the electronics from the other plate with some epoxy or other substance, then add back the knobs...presto...looks just like the original but with new functionality! of course, you could screw up a $100 part as well, not being able to see the construction, I don't know if you can easily disassemble the new control plate.

Best of luck on the project..I'll be following it for sure.

 

[HawkRod]

Hi GearAddict: When I get to the A/C installation I will look into exactly what you suggest. I will see how hard it is (and how much time I have). As we move along with the project, I know that there will be things that I have to take a shortcut with, otherwise the car will not be ready for the US Tour next year.

I visited Mark and Tom at Apex and checked out the car. The work so far looks great. We decided to order some more parts to truly do a first class job on the body. It will cost more so I will have to cut out some other budgeted items, but other items can always be added later. I want to do the bodywork on this car only ONCE!

First, a couple of pictures of the car. Here is the back end of the car.


Here are some of the "guts". As much as possible, all hidden areas are being protected from future rust...


Back at home, I separated the engine, trans and K member, and I have now started on the K-member clean up.


My car handled OK, with no goofy shakes or wobbles. But, look at the control arm pivot shaft bushings! I would never have guessed they would look like this! Good thing I ordered new ones...

 

[HawkRod]

Lower Control Arms Suck!

OK, I just got through one of the more frustrating tasks I have done for a while.

Removing the steel bushing inserts from the control arms is NOT EASY, at least not for me. The FSM states to "chisel them out" and then goes on to state that you should be careful not to damage the control arm.

RIGHT.

The steel bushing inserts are thick and pressed into the control arm. Chiseling them out is no picnic, and I really struggled. Even though I tried to be careful, I did put a couple of gouges in the control arms. By the way, how the heck are you supposed to be careful when you need to bash the sh** out of the bushing???

At any rate, I got them out and then used a Dremel to touch up the gouges and be sure the inside was smooth.

First Control Arm:


Second Control Arm:


Now to finish cleaning up the control arms. Then I will weld the stiffening plates on to them, paint and assemble them...

 

[theman440]

One way is to take the blade off your hack saw, put it thru the hole (bushing) re-attach to the handle and cut thru the sleeve. It will come right out then.