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R32rennsport's Amazon Thread



Front end body work, cooling and electrical coming together this week. Really annoyed at all the aftermarket application specific radiator hoses, either one end fits and the other doesn't or both are too loose. I'll see if I can find a generic 90 degree that is 1 inch ID to trim to fit.
The front nose from the '63 going onto the '66 sheet metal played nice on the passenger side but had to take some persuasion and new holes to fit properly on the driver side. Worked on freshening up the headlamp buckets, new paint and lubed the adjusters, as well as cleaning up the chrome. The indicators got polished and I lined the reflectors with foil tape (Ron Kwas idea I believe). I'll probably fit the front bumpers this week and then move back onto engine electrical.

As a side note I acquired a brand new aftermarket Lockheed style single circuit brake booster for a great price through a friend, typically used on British cars with a 1:1.9 ratio. This should work great to give me a little more bite with the new power increase and 205 section tires.
 
Seems I've opened up a can of worms over on the Facebook Amazon page with this one. Bottom line is I was going for period looks and performance with this OE upgrade of a 140 series similar to the VCS fan. Yes, I know there are all the electric fan upgrades out there but I feel this is plenty for my needs at this time. It's lighter, stronger and pushes more air then the stock metal 4 blade. Will it be noisier? Probably. Will it take a bit more engine power to spin? Probably. Will it cool less then factory 4 blade? Probably not. Besides this was around a $100 new and a full electric conversion when done properly with quality parts would be 3x that at least and aesthetically ads more complexity to the engine bay then I care for. Best part, direct fitment, 4 bolts and 10 minutes of my time to swap.



 
Forward lighting and electrical just about wrapped up, need to make up the horn and driving light harnesses tonight as well as throw on the front bumper. With the front fascia being done I'm going to move back to the engine bay and start taking care of the additions to the wiring harness so I can get the intake and exhaust on and then... crosses fingers... time to fire this puppy up! Brap Brap!

 
Frontend facia and lighting all dialed in.
OK, I'm pretty sure you didn't actually mount subwoofers behind your front grille? :lol: so maybe they're bad-ass horns? (UFO collectors? Radar jammers? Hey, may as well be creative, as long as I'm guessing in the dark.)

Love the finish you're getting, making it look all brand new. It's too soon to know, but I'll be curious if you ever look back on the Rustoleum decision and wish you had sprung for the POR-15 instead. After all this time spent on labor, a few extra $ might not be as significant as it feels now? for something that reportedly lasts pretty much forever. I've seen it hold up remarkably well in a tough environment (near the ocean), though I've no personal experience with long-term automotive use. Yet.

Don't worry about how long a project takes. Some guys can crank out this type of work in a few weeks, while others of us balance play/work/family in different proportions. As you take your time making it exactly the way you want it, you are in good company. Besides, you're doing more car stuff than I am right now? I'm envious that you have workshop space! (Beats needing to move a project every other week for street sweeping, eh?)

Cheers!
 
Just some random stuff from the past week. Simons exhaust showed up, test fit the header again with the Simons in place, white is so pretty but I know it will stay that way for about two seconds, hooked up clutch hydraulics. Keeping my eyes out for a stock dual outlet manifold, liking the idea of a header less and less for a variety of reasons, it's just what I had laying around though. In the last picture you can see how I changed the routing on the factory fuel and brake lines to tuck up above the trans mount. This build is too dang clean, can't wait to get some dirt on it, haha.





 
OK, I'm pretty sure you didn't actually mount subwoofers behind your front grille? :lol: so maybe they're bad-ass horns? (UFO collectors? Radar jammers? Hey, may as well be creative, as long as I'm guessing in the dark.)

Love the finish you're getting, making it look all brand new. It's too soon to know, but I'll be curious if you ever look back on the Rustoleum decision and wish you had sprung for the POR-15 instead. After all this time spent on labor, a few extra $ might not be as significant as it feels now? for something that reportedly lasts pretty much forever. I've seen it hold up remarkably well in a tough environment (near the ocean), though I've no personal experience with long-term automotive use. Yet.

Don't worry about how long a project takes. Some guys can crank out this type of work in a few weeks, while others of us balance play/work/family in different proportions. As you take your time making it exactly the way you want it, you are in good company. Besides, you're doing more car stuff than I am right now? I'm envious that you have workshop space! (Beats needing to move a project every other week for street sweeping, eh?)

Cheers!

Just some Hella Supertones ;-)

The POR15 versus Rustoleum question is a good one. What it comes down to was this was a budget build and POR15 is fairly more expensive and requires more preparation then I'm willing to go through. Long term durability wasn't a top priority either as this car should really get rear pans and a complete paint job if I still have this in another 10 years. Besides, reapplying top coats out of a rattle can literally takes minutes and with very little preparation.

This whole build was never intentional to begin with, it all started with a failed head gasket and quickly spiraled out of control to the point where I was asking myself if I should just ditch it or get it professionally repaired and painted... I ended up taking the middle road of garage DIY, I like to call it my rattle can restoration, which obviously it's gone a little beyond that over the past nearly 3 years. It's good enough for me at the moment but if I ever am in a position to buy a properly restored one, especially a wagon, I'll probably have to think twice about keeping this one. Though as a side note I did date my wife, got married and went on our honeymoon in this car and both my girls love playing in the empty cabin ;-)
 
Looks good! My parts car underwent a similar restoration to what you did before it's untimely demise and it blows people's minds. Only a few people would ever notice and even less of them would care. Imo it's better to get the car shiny and running than anguish over it for years. To each his own, I'm just more apt to do what you're doing.

My header is white as well and I love it. I did wrap it with DEI wrap and paint over that with their white paint. They advertise the paint as a sealer for the wrap more than a bare metal coating. It's held up really well considering it's white.
 
Besides, reapplying top coats out of a rattle can literally takes minutes and with very little preparation.
Except for the time and effort to take everything apart and... oh, never mind, that doesn't seem to bug you. :rofl:

it all started with a failed head gasket and quickly spiraled out of control
Never had that problem. Don't even know what it means. That wouldn't even begin to apply to my repair of that soft spot in the kitchen floor which has escalated to removing all cabinets and plumbing...

if I ever am in a position to buy a properly restored one, especially a wagon,
Wait, "buy" a restored one? No way. You like the process too much, not to mention the pride in your work. Unless you won the lottery (and maybe even if you did), you'd no sooner spend money on that than I would. :) 'Tis nice to dream, though.
 
Wait, "buy" a restored one? No way. You like the process too much, not to mention the pride in your work. Unless you won the lottery (and maybe even if you did), you'd no sooner spend money on that than I would. :) 'Tis nice to dream, though.

You're right, even if I bought one already "done" I'd still end up pulling something apart and modifying it. The old adage to each their own applies here I suppose. ;-)
 
Bringing out the guns for mock up. Measuring filter clearance for the single large ITG filter. Also checking routing for the top mount cable center pull setup (instead of the traditional linkage) and fuel lines/regulator. Should have some really nice torque from the long runners and long air horns. Even with the filter I'll have over an inch of internal clearance from the top of the horns to the filter. Should make some pretty music!

 
One of the best sets of carbs to run on those engines! Why cable vs traditional linkage ? Looks or performance ?
 
One of the best sets of carbs to run on those engines! Why cable vs traditional linkage ? Looks or performance ?

I agree!

If you have every driven an old car with both setups (I have) the drivability is night and day, especially under rough or spirited driven the throttle isn't upset nearly as much by imperfections in the road or by the torque of the engine. Also setup is a breeze and virtually never need to be adjusted even when the carbs have to come off. The hardest part about this setup is coming up with a cable retaining bracket above the gas pedal and a cable attachment to the gas pedal, but nothing terribly difficult to engineer.

It honestly goes against the classic look I'm going for but from the beginning I knew I was going this route. Less moving parts to deal with means less to adjust which means more time driving! ;-)
 
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