elacruze '68 resto thread (Heavy photos)

[elacruze]

Changed up to underhood yesterday. Got the Throttle bodies mounted, cables run. I had to trim the air cleaner studs down to the minimum to get nuts on-I have about 1/2" of hood clearance. To check, I put some prussian blue on a rubber body plug and put the plug on top of the assembled air cleaner nut, and pushed on the closed hood above it to compress it as much as possible. No contact, so I'm clear.
I need to make a throttle cable bracket to suit. I also have to get serious about plumbing the fuel lines and return.

[The70RT]

Looks great 

[68RT4ME]

Hey Eric, any updates on your build?

[elacruze]

Two steps forward and one back. We have the fuel and brake lines run, exhaust and driveshaft ordered, pinion bearings re-shimmed, sound deadener installed. Hopefully today the dashboard and steering column will go in. We'll have the ammeter bypass wiring completed today. Not much that's picture-worthy. I had to take the idle air control distribution block back to the machinist to have some clearance relieved (again, due to inadequate measurement) The engine wiring is in, I'm wiring the starter and hopefully hanging the EFI boxes today too. I'll post pics of anything worthy.

[elacruze]

Dashboard is in, ammeter bypass is done, fuel lines done. The woodgrain steering wheel is turning out very nicely. Sadly I didn't take any photos of 'before' but the spokes were getting very rusty on the backside, and ugly in front. A few days soaking each spoke in Evapo-Rust has made it excellent from an arms length, and getting better with every soak.
I have to mount the fuel pump now, I'll be reviewing other threads and moparts to look for good ideas.

[elacruze]

Moving fast again. Moved the car back to Lane's Trim Shop to have the top and interior installed, hopefully over the weekend. Laid out the chrome, started polishing it up. Cleaned and painted the taillamps and installed. Fuel pump is installed, although it's higher than the tank...we'll see how that works out, at least temporarily.

[FlatbackFanatic]

Your 68 is looking Great!!! Your doing a great job .

[firefighter3931]

Your 68 is looking Great!!! Your doing a great job .

That Blue interior with the Silver paint is awesome ! 

What fuel pump are you using Eric ? I don't see the mounting location as a problem 



Ron

[elacruze]

Your 68 is looking Great!!! Your doing a great job .

That Blue interior with the Silver paint is awesome ! 

What fuel pump are you using Eric ? I don't see the mounting location as a problem 



Ron

The pump is a Walbro GSL394, 190lph. It should be enough to run this engine on the TBI-but I'd think it to be marginal for bonneville...I'll have to monitor the fuel pressure on some long dyno pulls to be certain it's up to capacity.

[elacruze]

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 We had to use, without touching the inside of the fender...

[twodko]

Outstanding!

[elacruze]

Just in-

I haven't been to the car today but this came.

[tan top]

 

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Looks awesome! Can't wait for my stripes and roof to get finished

[bill440rt]

Holy smokes, that is looking awesome!!! 

Really impressive, top notch work you're doing there. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[bull]

Nice, very nice. I wish I was as far along as you but the money doesn't seem to come in as fast as I want to spend it.

[elacruze]

Nice, very nice. I wish I was as far along as you but the money doesn't seem to come in as fast as I want to spend it.

Now add a $42,000 garage that Florida insurance demands, and see how your hiney feels. (I could have just a door on the carport for technical service of insurance, but can't build a non-garage). I'm not going into debt but I sure won't have as much invested as I expected. I'll just wax the car and play Xbox in the man-cave.

I ran the battery cable to the trunk today, got the parking brake cables run through the frame connector, and picked up the brake drums from the machine shop. Tomorrow should be connecting the power and installing the fuel pump relay, and if lucky getting power to the fuel controller.

[hemi68charger]

Hey Eric..
Car's looking great.. Andy told me about your thread... Looks great. I feel your pain with the corssmember for the GearVendor. As you may or may not know, I put one in my Daytona. I too had to modify the crossmember support, but not to the extent you needed to. Also, your speedometer cable adpator looks like it has less clearance than my Daytona, but both cars have the same floorpan. I just got back from a photoshoot at Texas Motor Speedway and the GV performed flawlessly. I took the car to nearly 125 mph and, what seemed to be, much more....

[CDN72SE]

Wow and wow, looks great.

[elacruze]

Ordered a few more things today, found a NHRA approved battery box the right size at Jegs. Got some trim pieces in the mail, including the headliner bow pockets so kindly sent by 68coronetGLwannabe (A ton of thanks) so this weekend will be rockin'! the headliner will go in, probably the carpet and we'll get under the dash and finalize the connections, hopefully get the harnesses installed and power up the chassis.
I spent most of the day buffing stainless trim, something that should have been done long ago but I can't stand at the buffer very long.
Also installed some more B-Quiet on the ceiling. A little more tomorrow and we'll be ready for the whole interior.

[sixty8charger]

one day my rusty roof will look like that! 

[elacruze]

I couldn't get good light and angles, but the trim turned out very nice (I could spend a lot more time buffing to perfection, but that will have to wait) and the headliner is awesome. I couldn't get the color due to the angle of the light coming in the door. Today's mission will be wiring the fuel injection and trying to make the harness look like less than a nest of snakes. 

[68RT4ME]

Looking real good. Is that your garage?

[twodko]

Polishing the trim on your car is really satisfying. The Mrs cleaned all the trim and I polished it up.....turned out great as well.
Your trim looks virtually new now!

[elacruze]

Looking real good. Is that your garage?

Not yet, that's Lane's Trim Shop in Stuart, FL. with the owner Bill Cullere. He's OCD about details.