Starting to get some parts in. I was told the heads would be done Monday or Tuesday so hopefully will get those in soon. I am strongly considering taking the case and all the parts I bought to McMark at Original Customs and just have him tear it down and rebuild it. That way I know it will be done correctly the first time. Also he will know if something doesn't look right and can fix it right away.

Also started to clean up and paint some parts to get those ready. The engine tins (as well as many other parts) are painted the original color of the car, 51P Olympic Blue to pay tribute to what it was originally

Dropped the motor off with McMark at Original Customs today. Happy to know it'll be done correctly. Chomping at the bit to get it back. Will post updates once it's done and back in the car.

Got the motor back from McMark a couple weeks ago. This weekend I got around to putting it all together and getting it in the car. Was able to get it started and ran for a bit. Then out of no where it died and couldn't get it to restart.

First thought I had/do have a fuel pump problem. The fuel pump sometimes wouldn't prime but when you wiggle the relay it does. I will buy a new relay in hopes of fixing this but jumped the pump just to get the motor running again. However it wouldn't fire. Upon inspection one carb is not squirting fuel and not sure why, while the other works. I suspect a stuck needle and seat I'll take the carb off the car and tear into to to see if I can see one.

Really kinda bummed cause I thought I would be driving it again this weekend.

Update. Put the new relay in and fuel pump seemed to work great. Hopefully that fixed that issue.

Took the carb off and found out that the roll pin came out of the cam and was not lifting the lifter. Therefore as a result it was not squirting fuel. Put a new roll pin in there and it fixed that issue. Then got the car running and pretty well. Adjusted the timing and everything seemed to be running good but then....

Went to turn the car around on the lift so the back was facing the garage door so we could run the car for a while to dial in the carbs. While driving up, the external oil cooler drain bolt hit the lift and cracked the housing and oil started to leak everywhere. Honestly my grandpa had all of the external oil cooler lines run pretty poorly so I will now have to redo all of them. Below is a pic.

Now I Need Help!
1) I need to know where does the oil temp sender wire plugs into under the battery? I looked everywhere and couldn't find it. The wiring is not stock so I'm sure that doesn't help

2) At idle the volts is just under 12 and then when you hit the brakes or turn signal it drops to under 10. Is this normal? If not, what should it be and how do I tell if the alternator is bad or something else? If something else, where to start?

Today was a great day. Got the oil cooler lines all fixed and figured out the charging issue. Just forgot to reconnect a plug after we installed the motor. Once we plugged it in, it started charging right away.

650 days from when it got delivered to my parents house in Chicago, I finally got to drive the car home. There are still things to work on like the temp gauge and getting breather hoses hooked up but it drives!!

Been two months since I brought the car home. I drive it about once a week and so far it has been very reliable and so much fun to drive. Love to see people stare at it, or the the thumbs up or nice care. There are some issues/questions.

Issues
1) I do have oil leaking out of the taco plate, actually quite a bit where I had to put more oil in it. McMark sent me a new seal. I now need to get the copper crush washers for it. I will address this at it's first oil change since all oil will be drained when I remove the taco plate.

2) I have trans fluid seeping out of where the speedo drive goes into the transmission. I have bought the new part from 914 rubber with the 2 o-rings in hopes that will fix this leak. I will address this along with the taco plate.

Questions

1) Should the turn signal automatically turn off after you make a turn? My stalk currently does not.

2) Just recently the parking brake does not hold in the up position. I can pull the lever up and hear it ratchet up but then it doesn't hold at least all the time. Any idea why not?

3) As the trans warms up it gets harder to shift in and out of 4th and out of 5th. Is this a sign of a issues with the trans or is this just a characteristic of these transmission.

Your turn signal switch is probably broken or worn out, or the cancelling plate on the back of the steering wheel isn't in the right attitude.

You probably need to adjust the e-brake cables, and easy job.

The rear rotors might need to be adjusted/re-vented, a little trickier.

Your car looks SICK!!!!!

Unfortunately the car has been put away for the winter
My plans over this winter are to fix up the interior. Redo the seats & center console. Fix both windows and they are stuck. Adjust the windows for proper sealing as they leak badly even with new seals. Upgrade stereo and lights, etc. I'll keep this updated on that process.

However now I got a question for you guys.
When I put it up on the lift to store, was looking underneath the motor and see a lot of oil leaking out. It appears to be leaking from a couple of the push rod tubes, valve covers and taco place. The motor was just rebuilt by McMark with all brand new Victor Reinz seals (expect for the sender grommet coming out of the taco plate which has been ordered from 914rubber). Are these motors known for leaking out of the push tubes and valve covers? Is there anything tricks or tips to prevent the leaks?

Got the interior torn apart. Now I need some help so please educate me. I was going to send my gauges off to @timothy_nd28 to get LED's put into them. Do the LED's plug directly into where the old light bulb plugged into? If not what do I do with the old light bulbs?

Here is a couple of pics

Yes, the old light bulbs are not used anymore when you do my LED conversion. Each gauge has its own LED strip, and a connector at the rear of the gauge. A small wiring harness connects each gauge together, which leads back to a hidden controller. I did a few write ups for people that want to do this themselves.

I've been out of the game for a few years, and wow how these RGB LED's have changed! In addition to that, this forum has also changed. I received a PM from a member, and it had a embedded picture! When did that happen? lol

Trying to keep up with these new style LED's, I'm experimenting with RGB+CCT LED's on another members car. This new LED has the original RGB function, but with two extra white LED's. Consequently going from 4 wire to 6 wire LEDs, which changes my setup quite a bit.

Quick update. The interior is at the shop. Seats, dash, arm rest, center console and arm rest are getting wrapped in leather with blue stitching. Will post pictures once it get it back.

Researching head unit, speakers, sub and amp now. Hope to get those purchased soon.

Was going to send my gauges to @timothy_nd28 but he is experimenting with a new setup and wasn't taking on more work until he perfected that. I wasn't real sure I wanted to open up the gauges or splice into the wiring so I ordered the LED bulbs from carmagic.us. The package just arrived today. The shipping speed and communication was top notch!! Will post pics once it's all back together

Just picked this up from the interior guy today. Think it turned out well. Now time to put a sub in it. Can't wait for the rest of the pieces to get done.

Had some goodies arrive. Got a new Bluetooth head unit, subwoofer and the brake, rear turn signals and reverse LEDs from Spoke. Hope to start installing them soon. Will post pictures once installed.

Got to spend some time on the car today. Got the LEDs from Spoke installed and wow what a difference. Very happy I went with them. Also installed the LED headlights from 914Rubber and those look to be great as well. Then cut the center console and put in the sub. Hope to hook up all and everything next weekend. It's slowly coming together.

Dash is done. And here a little teaser if the seats. This is going to look amazing

Seats are done. What a difference. Start to put the interior back together tomorrow

Good news and bad news.

Good news is got the interior all done. The seats, dash, center stack, console, arm rest, back pad and (914rubber)speaker pods are all covered in new leather and what a difference it has made. Stereo sounds so much better, no concert hall by any means but 1000x better than stock. The sub adds just enough thump without overpowering or rattling the car apart.





Now time for the bad news.
The car will not start. Determined it does not have spark. I has a Crane Cams XR700 ignition on it that is about 30 years old. It has power to the coil. it has power to the module and all grounds are good, clean and tight. My dad seems to think the optical pickup went bad so I bought a new XR700 ignition praying that fixes it. If you have any other thoughts please let me know.