elacruze '68 resto thread (Heavy photos)

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Man that looks stellar! Great work..jealous mine isn't at that stage. You must be itching to

[elacruze]

I haven't slept more than 6 hours in days...actually last night was pretty good, Thanks to my medication...
Still a lot to get done, but I'm confident we're still online for June 4 Power Tour registration. Most depends on my ability to get the EFI tuned to a state good enough to stay on the road. Cold start is good, hot idle is good, hot restart is good-but you can't know how it goes until you load it up in gear and move down the line.

Stay tuned.

[Wicked72]

Make a VID!!!    sweet ride!

[elacruze]

Make a VID!!!    sweet ride!

Camera's in the car with a full battery and a new tape! Expect lots of PT footage too.

[elacruze]

Gear Vendors day...

The GV has an activation solenoid, and a signal generator in the speedo cable which need to connect to the control module. I also needed to connect my reverse light switch...so cut a 5/8" hole in the top of the tunnel under the console and ran all three up through. The GV module nestles nicely in the console beside the driver seat, and the reverse switch was too easy-the automatic transmission wiring in this car gets the reverse lights switched by the shifter whereas the manual trans car comes up the firewall and through the bulkhead connector. I only had to add 2 feet of wires and presto! I added a jumper to the hot side of the reverse light switch harness to power the GV-the lights/radio fuse is 5amp, the GV uses a 3 amp, and the reverse lights will never be on while the GV is active...and the radio is inactive as well. All worked out great! Don't have a console harness, so looking for some generic lamp sockets that will fit the recepticles... post Power Tour details.
Tomorrow morning, drive around until something falls off or I need a break then connect vacuum lines for A/C and headlight doors, finish tach wire and schedule final A/C install with A/C shop for Thursday or Friday. Cutting it close but we're still online.

[Fred]

Awesome job Eric,     I really like the spoiler (it looks great) and am thinking of doing the same to my '68 Charger.
Is the spoiler by any chance from a '69 Camaro ? Please share your secret. It fits so well.
Cheers, Fred

[elacruze]

Awesome job Eric,     I really like the spoiler (it looks great) and am thinking of doing the same to my '68 Charger.
Is the spoiler by any chance from a '69 Camaro ? Please share your secret. It fits so well.
Cheers, Fred

Standard issue '69 Camaro spoiler. Search the forum, you'll find more than a couple other cars with them-and they all look good. I've seen two or three different types, some hard thin plastic and some thicker and more flexible. Mine is fairly forgiving, I'll install a brace in the center and maybe the sides as well, down the road sometime.

[Fred]

Awesome job Eric,     I really like the spoiler (it looks great) and am thinking of doing the same to my '68 Charger.
Is the spoiler by any chance from a '69 Camaro ? Please share your secret. It fits so well.
Cheers, Fred

Standard issue '69 Camaro spoiler. Search the forum, you'll find more than a couple other cars with them-and they all look good. I've seen two or three different types, some hard thin plastic and some thicker and more flexible. Mine is fairly forgiving, I'll install a brace in the center and maybe the sides as well, down the road sometime.

Thanks Eric. I'll post some pics once it's installed.  Fred

[bakerhillpins]

Camera's in the car with a full battery and a new tape! Expect lots of PT footage too.

New Tape?!? Wow man, looks like your going old school all the way. 

You have done an amazing job with this car. Can't wait to see the video, er tape. 

Are you going to put dog dish hubcaps on the wheels or leave the studs showing?

[dongar69]

Yesterday's project was to lay out the power window harness and see what kind of mess that will be-pretty straightforward looks like. The XV setup uses stock '80's style GM switches, which work well and in my experience last about 15 years in regular service. I'll eventually collect up the correct Mopar switches and change it over (in some years).
The bugger was that although it was talked about, nobody remembered to actually cut out the holes between the body and the doors for the wiring harness, and now the doors and fenders are hung and adjusted. Fortunately, the inner fenders are still out and there was just enough room to get in there with a custom drill rig. With some pain and patience, the holes went in and the harness boots are test fitted. Instead of removing all the motor connectors from the harness to get through the boots, I'm going to part the main harnesses in the doors below the switches and install Molex connectors so I can just pull the harness through, and separate the switch if necessary to pull the door panels off. Here's a pic of the drill I had to use, without touching the inside of the fender...

Where did you find the harness boots? I recently added power windows to mine but have yet to run the harness. Been looking for photo's and now.....here they are! Great job!

[elacruze]

Connected vacuum to headlamps. Chased reverse lights but no cigar-bad switch maybe. Tuned, drove, tuned more drove more. Probably only 20 miles or so, but every time out is massively better. I'll post up in the engine thread the ballad of the Fresh Tuner.

Debut.

[elacruze]

The initial driving impression was hard to describe-the car has no bad points in handling. Brakes are nice and balanced (not yet broken in on either end) no pull while driving or stopping. Throttle feel is linear and strong, although my fuel map is way too lean all over so not much rubber around yet.
Temp never exceeds 196. Gear Vendors needs to be clutched or you'll get a whiplash (that's a good thing) Brakes are coming in strong and smooth with linear pedal effort. No deal breakers, just good stuff today.
Flat, rigid, smooth...tight.

Youtube clip tomorrow.

[tan top]

  looks awesome out side !!  

looking forward to seeing video    

body colored steel wheels look real good 

[sixty8charger]

b.e.a.-utiful! Can't wait to get mine out there like that!!!!

[twodko]

Great build Eric!!!!

[Bob T]

Looks Fantastic, looking forward to the clip      .
And good luck and great driving on the Tour 

[TUFCAT]

Eric (elacruze) and Kelly were still in Michigan after the Power Tour and came over today.

The charger looked awesome. The paint job is super straight and the engine mods are very sweet. It's a very well sorted out car.    

My kids also enjoyed playing "driving" with Kelly. I wish I'd taken pictures 'cause it was really cute...

We had a nice afternoon. Thanks for visiting!

Btw, Paige told me I need to get a shifter for the Coronet.

[elacruze]

I'm closing out this thread now, the Tour is over and the car is waiting the next adventure...of course they're never finished right?
I'll take the car back over to the shop to have some oil leaks addressed.

Thanks to Bill and Ginger Cullere at Lane's Trim Shop for making this happen for me, and to Paul Grasso, John, Frank, Jared and Jeff at Fat City Automotive for their diligence and extra time put in to have the car ready for this year's Power Tour.

[Vainglory, Esq.]

Thanks for sharing.  This is a gem of a thread, and you should be very proud of the work you did.

[elacruze]

Never did post a photo of the car finished-Still have to get the chrome tips on the exhaust, but the rest is there.

[Finn]

Mmmmm that silver looks GOOD!

[nvrbdn]

thats one very nice 68. beautiful job.

[tan top]

looks awesome  RLH     

[Aussie R/T]

Well done the car just looks so period like just how sheldon would have seen it in his time machine had he dialed up 1969.Well done to all involved super job.

[Fred]

She's a true beauty,