72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

Back to the body adjustments.

I spent the evening heating and molding the fender flares and front spoiler with the heat gun. It actually worked very well. My original repairs from over the winter were very close to the actual body lines without ever having touched the car during the repair process. I lucked out on that one!

Though the flares and front spoiler use a rubberized welting to mask the seam where they meet the body panels, there were still large gaps in some areas.

The front spoiler was the worst. Before I started there was a 3/4" gap between the spoiler and the valance. This was due in part to the factory misalignment when they glued the rear support section to the front spoiler section. I used the heat gun and softened the rear portion and moved it forward, which then reduced the gap to 3/8 inch. After that, it was heat the edge, push with a wooden paint stirrer and then hold til the plastic cooled, then repeat along the entire edge of the part.

Here is the spoiler after I fixed the rear support and started on the driver's side, reducing the gap. You can still see that the gap is larger on the left side of the photo.



Here is the heat gun in action:



And the patented wooden paint stirrer tool holding the hot plastic til it cools:



Here is the finished front spoiler:

[njsteve]

Here's the left and right front flares. It took a bit of massaging to get them to flow properly into the spoiler. The factory transition leaves a lot to be desired, aestheticly.

[njsteve]

And the rear flares. Suprisingly, the majority of the screw holes in the flares actually lined up with the existing screw holes in the fenders and quarters. I only had to move and refill a couple, just so the flares wouldn't be under stress when they were bolted up.

[njsteve]

And the finished flares installed for final fitting:

[firstgenaddict]

Nice Steve... your detail really shows the amount of trial fitting is neccesary to get the perfect look... most guys get in a hurry at this point and end up disappointed in the final result.

[njsteve]

Spent the afternoon tuning. I changed the plugs from the black soot-covered Autolites, to a set of NGKs. I set the dwell to 30 degrees and the timing to factory spec of 10 degrees BTDC with the vacuum advance disconnected and plugged

I had a nice pleasant time setting the idle mixture the old-fashioned way with a vacuum gauge and the low rpm range tach on the Sun machine.

I pulled and plugged the vacuum lines, unscrewed the mixture screws out 2-1/2 turns (that was actually the existing setting on the carb) and set the idle to 850 rpm. I checked the vacuum reading - it was about 17 inches. After turning in the screws a half turn at a time trying to get the highest vacuum reading (and readjusting the idle speed back to 850 after each sequence) I finally got to 21 inches of vacuum before the lean stumble would appear. That ended up being about 1-1/4 turns out on each. It really made a difference in the eye-burning atmosphere in the garage. She starts right up at the first turn of the key now.

[njsteve]

I got the front end aligned today. Since the car is still minus its interior and glass, etc. I had to find all the iron weights and barbells in the house and loaded them into the car. I tossed a couple floor jacks and my 3/4 drive set in there too. I also filled the gas tank up to the top. All that was probably good for about 300 pounds of ballast.

I trailered it to an old timer in the area who retired about 30 years ago and now drives a school bus as a daily job. He works out of a local garage in his spare time.

It's amazing to watch an old skilled craftsman at work. He uses a set of bubble gauges that mount on the wheel hub that are from the late 1930s, art deco labeling and all! I had him do the alignment on my Camaro years ago and he did an awesome job.

No one today at the chain store, tire shops has any idea how to align "old" cars with the upper A-arm shims, let alone have the extra shims in stock. If it doesn't involve a computer, "laser beams" and a cam to turn, they have no clue whatsoever.

This guy even had all the specs memorized. When I told him I was going to be using bias ply tires instead of radials he told me he would adjust the specs accordingly since the bias plies need a little different tweak to the aligment to prevent the twitchy-ness that people associate with those repro tires.

This guy was a pleasure to deal with. And he charged $50 for 2 hours work!

While I was there, the owner of the old garage wanted to know if I could use a few old car books. Look what he gave me! Original 1960s, 70's and 80's Chilton hourly rate books with all the OEM part numbers and prices.







After I got the T/A home, I took her out for a little drive up and down the block just to blow out all the body work dust in the ventilation system. I felt like a WW1 Flying Ace - I should have worn , though!

[mockingbird812]

Nice score Mac!

[olredalert]

------Steve,,,Im guessing he just knows a good guy when he sees one, and knows the books will actually get used. Im also guessing that he is thinking that he got lucky finding someone who could appreciate what he was offering. It probably good for all concerned........Bill S

[njsteve]

Thanks.

If anyone needs any tuning specs, part numbers or prices out of these books, feel free to ask.

I checked, and a 426 Hemi crankshaft was a whopping $48.25 in the 1968 edition.