Still working away at the Nova, though working in the unheated shop limits how much at a time, because I hate working with gloves on, and then my fingers get cold and numb.
I got the exhaust all on, finally. And of course, therein lies a story. I installed the system back to and including the mufflers, and wanted to put on a pair of tailpipes I had gotten a while back that ran out the rear under the bumper, instead of dumping out behind the rear wheels. Pulled the pipes out and saw that they were too long where they attached to the muffler and went up over the axle. I would have to pull the mufflers and X pipe off and shorten the pipe ahead of the mufflers about 4 inches, and then the muffler hangers that came with the system wouldn't work and I'd have to use some others. But, there was enough pipe to cut off the swedge and re-swedge the pipe, and then it would fit just like the other pipes. So, I cut the swedge off, pulled out my shiny new exhaust pipe expander and was able to expand it enough that it almost fit, put it back on and then I got a little carried away. Now the swedge is way to big to be able to get it clamped down on the muffler pipe.
I was cold and pissed off, so I decided to put the original pipes on until I decide how to fix that screwup. The left side fit fine, but the right side interfered with the fuel line and it's frame bracket. After some looking at the situation, I pulled the fuel line off, shortened it up about 6", re-bent it to come back to to meet the hose from the fuel filter. The braided hose had a 45° fitting where it connected to the fuel line, and I was able to change that to a straight fitting and it connected up just fine. Another kink ironed out.
This afternoon, I decided to put the steering wheel on, so I found the wheel and mounting parts and hopped in the car to install it. After an hour fiddling around with it, I couldn't figure out how it went together, so I gave up and did a few other things in the shop. I put the steering wheel, a Grant 969 3 spoke wheel, on before I tore the care apart to restore it, and I don't have the instruction sheet, or at least I can't find it. I tried to find the instructions online, but haven't been able to. I did see other adapter kits the gave me an idea of how it goes together, so I'll give it another go tomorrow.
I went online to two shops that make driveshafts a couple of weeks ago, and filled out their forms to request a quote for a driveshaft, but have not heard back from either one so far. I remembered there is a shop in South Bend, Kaley's Motor Service, that we used to use to make and repair truck driveshafts back in the 70s and 80s, so I gave them a call. The guy that does the driveline work there said to bring the transmission yoke over and he could have a shaft built in a couple of days, so tomorrow I'm going to go over there and give them the yoke and dimensions to have them make one up. They are cheaper that what I've seen quoted for the online shops, too.
They guy I worked for at a freight brokerage in the 80s and early 90s stopped by this afternoon. He's an old gearhead too, and I had build up a Ford Windsor engine, a 400 inch stroker if I remember correctly, back then for a 70s Ford short bed pickup he had. It turned out pretty strong and he burned up a fair amount of rubber on the back of that old Ford. He said he hadn't seen the car in a while and was there to do an inspection to make sure my work was up the his standards.
After a half hour looking it over, he said it looks okay to him, but once it's running and driving, he'll need a ride in it to give it his full approval. I said I could arrange that.
Once I get the steering wheel on, I'm going to get the radiator support installed, then the fenders and inner fenders. On the inner fenders, I'm going to have to figure out how to staple the rubber mud guards to them like they were from the factory, so that will be another interesting little task. The factory used a staple gun that punched right through the metal and rubber, but I don't have a tool like that.
More later on, stay tuned!
