We've had a decent spell of weather for November (Temps generally in the 40's) and I've made decent progress on the 74 Avanti. In fact enough to drive it into the fall sunshine.
About 4 years ago, I brought home this 1974 350? (yup 350) powered 4-speed that has had better days. Hog troughs gone, rusty frame, paint totally bad, reeking of smoke-mold-mothballs but it was a dream to have a 4-speed SBC powered Dayton Yellow painted "muscle car" for the last time.
It spent about a year on the hoist to replace the hog troughs, repair the frame and rebuild the rear end with a 3:55 posi.
It was then rolled into the pole barn to start engine work and prep for paint. My initial plan was to have a 400 SBC built and just rebuild the 4-speed until a T-56 fell into my hands from Craigslist. The engine plans changed when a friend bought a Firebird for the body because the PO had installed a 383 stroker motor and couldn't get it to run right. He bought it cheap as the PO just wanted it gone and I got the engine for a song.
The paint took ages to scrape of by hand, the sanding and filling took more time and finally I sprayed the paint and installed engine and T-56 with a complete new universal wiring harness installed. The interior was upgraded in a lot of ways. All the changes and installs are documented in posts on the forum.
Today she rolled out of the pole barn under her own power. My intent was to terrorize the neighborhood but a bubble must have formed in the brake lines as the peddle was to low to trust.
The good news - it fired right up, heated up to about 200 and the fan kicked on and cycled it between 190-200 deg. All the safety switches worked, gauges read out except the fuel gauge (I missed on guessing the resistance of the sender but that's just a switch) and the alternator must be bad as the voltage is to low for it to be charging.
Bad news - as above brakes, alternator and gas guage.
Let's look
I can put her to bed now as the weather is turning to winter with the excitement of adding the lights and bumpers in the spring and repairing the minor issues I found today.
Avanti, Bob
About 4 years ago, I brought home this 1974 350? (yup 350) powered 4-speed that has had better days. Hog troughs gone, rusty frame, paint totally bad, reeking of smoke-mold-mothballs but it was a dream to have a 4-speed SBC powered Dayton Yellow painted "muscle car" for the last time.
It spent about a year on the hoist to replace the hog troughs, repair the frame and rebuild the rear end with a 3:55 posi.
It was then rolled into the pole barn to start engine work and prep for paint. My initial plan was to have a 400 SBC built and just rebuild the 4-speed until a T-56 fell into my hands from Craigslist. The engine plans changed when a friend bought a Firebird for the body because the PO had installed a 383 stroker motor and couldn't get it to run right. He bought it cheap as the PO just wanted it gone and I got the engine for a song.
The paint took ages to scrape of by hand, the sanding and filling took more time and finally I sprayed the paint and installed engine and T-56 with a complete new universal wiring harness installed. The interior was upgraded in a lot of ways. All the changes and installs are documented in posts on the forum.
Today she rolled out of the pole barn under her own power. My intent was to terrorize the neighborhood but a bubble must have formed in the brake lines as the peddle was to low to trust.
The good news - it fired right up, heated up to about 200 and the fan kicked on and cycled it between 190-200 deg. All the safety switches worked, gauges read out except the fuel gauge (I missed on guessing the resistance of the sender but that's just a switch) and the alternator must be bad as the voltage is to low for it to be charging.
Bad news - as above brakes, alternator and gas guage.
Let's look
I can put her to bed now as the weather is turning to winter with the excitement of adding the lights and bumpers in the spring and repairing the minor issues I found today.
Avanti, Bob
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