Author Archives: Tabitha

Overhaulit Part 84
Preparing to drive

Overview

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Description

After the Corvette has been apart for six months, what are the odds it will all work when it’s put back together?
Well, you can’t just get in and drive it, now can you.
As we’re heading for the final assembly of the ’63 Corvette Sting Ray project, it’s beginning to hit home that we have no clue if it will actually drive.

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Overhaulit Part 85
No-paint show paint

Overview

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Description

If you could save $10,000 and six months, wouldn’t you do it? Granted, looking for good paint makes us much fussier in our search for a ‘1970-’73 Plymouth Barracuda, but there are new contenders arriving on Ebay every day, so we’ll wait it out to find the right car.
One of the best lessons our ’65 Mustang taught us is that you can take even just-OK paint and make it turn heads.

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Overhaulit Part 86
Cubic dollars

Overview

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Description

As good as 1,100 horsepower is, this is how we could have done better and saved money. I am living proof that stubbornness is expensive.
Whenever someone asks how much power our 1970 Plymouth makes, they’re eyes widen. Eleven hundred horses sounds like a lot. And it is.

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Overhaulit Part 87
Time to shine

Overview

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Description

The paint is on and the sanding is done, which means the best part is yet to come. This is an utter mess. And it has been that way for days. The 1963 Corvette has been covered in some sort of soupy goop ever since it left the paint booth. Everyone thinks when you lay down the final coat that you just take off the masking tape and drive off. Not so much for a show car.

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Overhaulit Part 88
Tune it! (Or torch it!)

Overview

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Description

Bolting on the parts is the easy part. Now it’s time to make it all work. Just drop in a new engine and drive off into the sunset, right? Or, take the new carpet kit out of the box, put it in and relax by the pool?
This is what some glossy magazines would have you believe about restoration and modification. “Ten easy steps to painting your car in your garage.”

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Overhaulit Part 89
Fit for the finish

Overview

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Description

In what has turned out to be a rather massive – by backyard-mechanic standards, anyway – engineering project, something has been neglected: the bodywork on our 1970 Plymouth.
Yes, we’ve been so busy trying to build engines and install suspension parts and brakes that we’ve been remiss in reporting on something as fundamental as the car itself.

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Overhaulit Part 90
A little insurance

Overview

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Description

Then there was a stubborn overheating problem that was eventually traced back to a faulty water pump.
And then there was the fire.
A fire is not really the way to find out that we’re $47,000 underinsured.

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Overhaulit Part 91
What’s the diff?

Overview

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Description

There wasn’t really anything wrong with the old rear axle in the 1965 Mustang.
If there were, we wouldn’t have spent all that time and money putting in new springs, a rear anti-roll bar and giving it a fresh coat of paint.
But when we just couldn’t get enough clearance for the exhaust system and the tire width once the car was at the desired ride height, we knew we were going to have to go with a clean-sheet suspension design, which meant a new rear axle.

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Overhaulit Part 92
Paneless

Overview

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Description

It has to be the last thing that anyone cares about when it comes to a project car: the glass. Before reproduction glass came along, we had to make do with cleaning up what we had or trying to find a better used part. Recently, we managed to find a new back window on Ebay for $170 plus shipping. Done. A whole eight-piece kit to do the car runs about $1,300.

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Overhaulit Part 93
Avoiding the wrong person for the job

Overview

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Description

Well, everyone has their specialty . . . Perhaps anyone can install all this stuff, be we would rather have someone who knows what they’re doing complete the task. You’ll need to know all the parts and components necessary so that you can properly converse with your people and know what costs are involved so you can make the tough decisions.

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