FeSo4man

Mission success. Worked flawlessly, got about a 30 foot burnout in front of the church without touching the brakes, and boy did it look great in pictures. Dad got to drive it to the reception and said it’s “cooler than the day he got it”. So glad to have it ready and rolling for another special moment. The “post-wedding” list of work will be next month’s project… I’m ready for a little car break 🙂

Night before the night before… and things are looking bright. Didn’t have time to get the car home from the body shop after they took it to get glass in, so we went and worked there during the day and night (hence the 2:30 post time). Interior flew in, trim on, and it’s looking amazing! There’s a few small pieces missing here and there but for a 2-month turn around, I couldn’t be happier with where this thing is at. Going to clean a few things up in the morning then it’s time for a test drive! Still haven’t resolved the turn signal issue. Tried different relays, bulbs etc- got it to not stay on with key off but still just gives constant illumination. Also found that the side markers are also getting constant power- I’m not sure if this is a switch issue or power back feeding somewhere. It’ll work for what I need Saturday but can’t wait to track down that problem… @Scott S. was correct again on the tach issue. Did some digging and I need an MSD tach converter/a resistor like what is pictured above. None in stock anywhere close to me, so I’ll just roll without tach this weekend. I’ll try to give an update after the test drive tomorrow. Thanks everyone for helping get it to this point, couldn’t have done it without you!

T-5 days to wedding- we’re so close you can smell it! (or is that a garage full of exhaust?) The car’s finally looking like a Monte, and we got fluids in with only a couple minor leaks! The engine ran like a top with the extended run period, and everything worked as it should with the rear on jackstands when shifting. Also got the headliner in before glass- honestly for amateur work it turned out 10x better than I was expecting. The last critical piece left is hooking up the brake booster and bleeding the brakes. Does anyone know what size fitting I need for the vacuum line on the intake? (Edelbrock Performer 2.0) Body shop guy is picking up the car today to install glass, get the doors/windows set with the weatherstrips and install some trim after final buff. If y’all are wondering, I’ll be calling him twice a day until he gets it back- this is one deadline he can’t miss. Hoping to get the car back by Tuesday night to button things up. As far as electrical gremlins- @Scott S. nailed it, figured out that the instrument panel wasn’t getting good ground. Also had to disassemble and clean up the light switch, and replaced both the hazard and flasher relays with LED 2 pins. Issues that remain: -Still not getting anything from the tach. I’m a little puzzled with what the issue is here, the wire out of the fuse block goes directly to the MSD. Is there some change that needs to be made when using this style of plug rather than going into the distributor? -Instead of remaining open with the signal lever on like before, the signal lights in the dash now stay on constant, even with key off. (LED 2 pin relay, LED lights in instrument cluster) Could this be because the turn signals aren’t installed on the front of the car, or is this a relay problem? -Electric clutch- I thought the coil would be an easy jump for keyed power to the electric clutch. Installed it there, and for some reason it killed spark to the engine. Easy fix for right now is just running without the electric clutch, but I’m not sure why jumping off the pos side of the coil would do that- assuming I just need to find somewhere else to pull key power from? -Alternator doesn’t appear to be charging. I’m running a jumper from the pos side of the alt to the F plug to excite the field. What am I missing here? This alternator was on the car before disassembly and worked at that time. (Ground and jumper from pos were installed after this pic) Last question- what should be here for the headlight bezel screws to go into? I’m assuming the body guys took off a clip and didn’t put it back on… Overall after taking a step back and looking at this thing and thinking about what it looked like in May, it’s amazing how much can get done in 2 months with the help of some good friends, sleepless nights, Coors Banquet and folks with some Monte Carlo knowledge. Barring anything crazy happening the next few days, it’s going to make it to the wedding. I have a new relation to all the yelling they do on the TV car shows doing a build up against some outrageous deadline!

Got the schematic out and this is the culprit wire. On there it says it’s to a circuit breaker that’s only on convertibles and wagons? I was also incorrect, it has power regardless of key position. Not sure where this thing was or where it goes. I tested the horn relay and it worked as it should, so I’m just going to disconnect this wire and can always put it back on if I end up needing hot for something else. Now to figure out why the tach/ammeter aren’t working…

T-12 days to wedding with a BIG update- it runs!! After getting the timing worked out I was very pleased with how it ran for the short time we had it going. And it’s LOUD in that garage coming straight off the headers! IMG_9120.mov As far as the fillers for the fender wells, I haven’t been able to find them anywhere online so I have a call out to a guy in our area with some parts Montes- hoping I can pull a set off one of those. Some electrical bugs to get worked out after hooking the battery up- This black wire from the horn relay is constant hot with the key on. I’ve looked at the schematic and if I’m reading it right, I can’t figure out why that one would be getting constant ACC power- any ideas? Other bug, the BATT plug on the fuse block is giving me constant 12v power, but neither the ACC or IGN plugs have power in any condition (key on, off, crank). Am I missing something there? Other issue is the tach I installed with the SS tach conversion wasn’t working, but I didn’t have time to put the multimeter on it yesterday to dig deeper. It’s plugged into the MSD box tach output- has anyone with MSD had to change anything from factory wiring to make that functional? Unit is a 6A analog. Thanks for all the help thus far y’all, hearing it run was a big morale boost for all involved and we wouldn’t have been nearly this far along without the quick responses and wealth of knowledge this group brings to the table!

Inner Fenderwell/battery tray question- Am I missing a piece that should come off the radiator support for the Fenderwell to bolt to, and is there no other support on the right side of the battery tray? When aligned with the rest of the holes the wells don’t reach the core support, and it sure seems like there should be something more holding the weight of the battery than one bolt on the support and the plastic Fenderwell… Note: These busted up original Fenderwells are getting replaced, the set I ordered in February from OPGI are still back ordered so these ones are going on to get us through the wedding.

Soft launched the dash last night! Everything is hooked up and ready for a function test once I throw a battery on it. The AAA HVAC box interfered with the glove box side bracket on test fit, so here’s to hoping there’s a way I can rig that up without too much trouble when I bolt it back up… Wish me luck, hopefully by the end of this weekend I’ll have a video of a running car for y’all. And no doubt everything will work on the first try 😂

T-17 days to wedding- we have progress! Thanks for the pics; heating system is all hooked up, ignition is (almost) spark ready, and just need to bend a hard line to be ready for AC charge. Goal is to get the dash in tonight and be ready to function-check/fire this baby up by the end of this weekend! I’m mentally preparing myself to punt the interior work till after the wedding and just bolt the seats in. If this thing runs, drives and has glass in by July 12th it’s making the trip. Anything more will just be a bonus.

It's been a couple weeks of air install and wiring... I think the Classic Auto Air kit will be sweet in the end, but man it is eating some precious time! I would've loved to put it off till after the wedding since it's not "operation mandatory" but I just couldn't pass up getting it in while the dash is all the way out. Starting to get nervous on making the deadline, fingers crossed that things will "throw together" quickly from here on out and a few more phone-a-friend assistance calls work out. On a bright note I was able to get the power steering pump cleaned up, new low bracket order and installed. A LWP question- all of the diagrams I've seen for the return line from heater core -> water pump show an inlet on the driver side of the pump. I don't have an inlet there, but there is a port blocked off (like this when I bought the engine) right next to the bypass line on the top of the water pump. Is that heater hose supposed to be routed there, or does it need to go directly to the radiator?

Yep it is factory AC. Overall the instructions are better than some, but there are some things that are very vague and steps that are out of order. For example, according to the order of instructions both making clearance for the drain tube and attaching the sensing coil come AFTER mounting the evap... It's impossible to mount without first clearing the drain tube, and I'm glad I read ahead to see the sensing coil part because there's absolutely no way I could've done that with the evap already bolted in. I ended up calling them and they advised that I use the block off plate as a template and cut out the bottom of the opening to fit the drain tube. Ended up drilling as much as I could, using a cut off wheel to open it up and cleaning it all up with the Dremel, also had to bend the flange around the opening to give the nut clearance and drilled the bolt hole a 1/64 larger to get it to go in right. They could've easily put the drain tube on the same template as everything else but it's not even mentioned other than "match drilling". Again, could be a lot worse but I've had to do a lot more extra steps and mcguyvering than I would've hoped for a "drop in kit", and I haven't even started on mounting the condenser 🤦‍♂️

Calling them tomorrow but posting here as well since I know several members have done this install- I’m adding the Classic Auto Air kit and am to the step of mounting the evap/heater box. When lined up with the mounting hole I drilled via the template, the drain tube doesn’t clear the bottom of the evap opening. The box is already as high as it can go before hitting the top of the firewall, and any lower and it will be on the firewall flange. What am I supposed to do here? The instructions mention “match drilling the drain tube” but doesn’t say what to drill (firewall or cover plate) and says it well after the evap installation steps.

Update for proof of progress- after a couple weeks of staying up way too late every night after work, the soon-to-be FIL coming down for a weekend and lots of help from friends, changes are starting to be noticeable. I’m gonna owe a lot of joy rides when this thing is done. Most recently got the wiring side of the SS gauge conversion put in (thanks for the instructions @MCfan) and based on several reviews here, my Classic Auto Air system arrived Friday to get the firewall to-do list buttoned up and get the dash reinstalled/harnesses re-taped. Here’s to hoping it’s as drop-in as possible 🤞🏼 One thing that has me puzzled- I have a JEGS high flow fuel pump installed that calls out the inlets as 1/4 NPT. I’ve tried about 5 fittings at this point, the last of which was straight from JEGS, and it can’t just be the parts guy giving me the wrong fitting at this point. The 1/4 just don’t fit except for one port, which I believe is the outlet. (The farthest right port as pictured) Anyone have any idea what I should be using? (I have also tried MNPT)

@jft69z good call, thanks; It does appear to fit, by the skin of its teeth. Not much clearance but the bolt holes line up without touching the valve cover. Dipstick access might get hairy around the hose but it is past the housing. To me it looks like a bit more clearance on the brake booster side, but I’ll have to confirm when the booster gets back from getting cleaned up. IMG_0055.HEIC IMG_0054.HEIC IMG_0056.HEIC

BIG update… The car is HOME! We had to tweak the color code to get it right but I’m very happy with the result. Problem is, we are T-50 days until wedding and all I have to do is rebuild a whole car… I really don’t know how I will get it all done, but I’m gonna try and hopefully my mechanically inclined friends will be willing to help. First major issue ran into: are SB and BB firewalls different for factory AC? I was planning to rebuild the factory system but I don’t see how the EVAP could possibly fit in here. (SBC factory AC car, 454 in it now) I really didn’t want to go vintage air route but might be forced to.

Thanks for all the responses everyone! Work has continued on anything I can do! Recently that's going through the engine-side harness. All the old tape off and harness opened up, wires traced/ labeled, and deleted all the TCS junk. At this point I'm going to test fit the harness/function check everything and add the SS gauge changes in then wrap afterwards. I did end up testing and wrapping the rear-end harness. Also checked in on the car Friday and it's itching to break out of body shop jail- final prime is done and the car's looking smooth. I did get a surprise today when I got the last picture from the body guy... I had them replacing the body bushings and they had to cut in to get a couple off as the tacked nut was loose. He says with only 15 more minutes to take the body off the frame he decided to just do it- he's going to blast it and get a coat of paint on, supposedly free of charge- I guess it's a frame-off now! They're still about 2 weeks behind when they initially tell me they'll have a step done but hopefully undercoat and putting the engine and trans in happens this week so they're spraying paint next week. Found the PPG code for Cottonwood Green on here and they were told by PPG that they no longer make the toners for that specific code, but got one that was a "guaranteed visual match" from a Ford code from the 90s-sprayed test panels and it looked pretty close but seemed pretty pale compared to the original parts that are left. We tried a couple different panels with a darker final prime and I'm partial to the darkest, but going to run it by dad and see which one he thinks looks closest. The pictures don't do the flop justice. Hopefully this thing makes its way back to my garage soon, there's a lot of work to do between now and July 12th!