2/15/03
Shown here are the new "meats" I put on today. 15x8 Magnum 500 wheels from Wheel Vintiques hold a set of Yokohama AVID S/T tires to the car. Go ahead and laugh. They cost less and scored higher ratings than Goodrich Radial T/A's! On the rear are 275/60/15's, while the fronts are sporting 245/60/15's. I'd almost rather see the fronts use a 235 or 225 profile, but I'd have to buy 15X7 or 6 wheels for it look right and I tell ya... I've spent enough cash this month!
How close is it now? To be what I consider road-worthy, it needs to have the
rear end gear ratio changed to something between 3.55 and 3.20:1. I also need to
finish tinkering with the transmission to make sure I get the leak plugged - if
there is a problem with the case itself, I'll have to remove the transmission
and swap it's internals into another case from a wrecking yard. Major hassle! I
also am currently working through the portions of the wiring harness around the
engine that I haven't checked out yet and I have a new pair of Turbo mufflers to
quiet the 3" exhaust down a few decibels. I'm just sure the prior idiots...
I mean.. owners... have some other "surprises" waiting for me,
too. Then I have to cross my fingers that the overheating problem is
cured. If all that bounces my way.... look for me to be cruising in style
this summer! 
5/7/03
It's about time for an update isn't it? As simply put as possible, I've been either lazy or working on the house. I hate it when domestic duties interfere with something as obviously important as the life of a GTX!
Today marks the completion of repairs on the engine wiring harness. Well,
most of them anyway. The wire to the "idiot light" is brittle
and lost it's li'l bootie connector but since real men use gauges, I don't care.
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Now I need to make some custom wire looms to hold the harness where I want
near the valve cover and if I can find some good bar-stock, I'm going to include
a clamp for the fuel line to make sure it doesn't flop around, too.
Grooovy baby! 
5/11/03
More to tell! Started the bad boy up last night... when I
pre-timed it, I forgot the firing order is backwards, so I set it retarded
instead of advanced. D'oh! 
No wonder it would only burble and never "lit up" ! But....
cranked it back around to about 10-13deg. advance and it ran like a brand new
top. Let it run at 2500RPM for a good while to finish cam break-in. I'm going to
give it one more blast tomorrow and change the oil. Temperature looked
great the whole time. I hope this is a sign that all the work around the
radiator is going to pay off (see the previous page's bulleted list).
5/13/03
I'm having a hard time remembering what all pictures I wanted to take! Oh well. I did take this one:
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What this shows you is the Air Grabber box that is whacking
the lid scraping paint off of it and needs a new seal, to boot... and the
fact that I have the wrong lid, too... The GTX was plain orange. The
"Coyote Duster" cartoon on the lid was for the Roadrunner
kiddies.
(Wonder how many nasty mails I'll get from Roadrunner owners for that one? hehehe) |