I don't like running them more than a minute, at a low rpm at that. (Less than 2500) The initial rust fart was pretty wild. I fired it a total of 3 times last night. About 30-45 minutes apart. It starts easy enough, but it's a little rough. I think it has a bad plug. Highly likely it also has a vacuum leak,as I have all of it hooked up. At least I think I have it all!
It was a pretty exciting moment! After the engine is done the brakes are next.

 

Well sometimes it seems like you go two steps forward, three back. I really should have known how much of a pita it would be to install the shroud. So after a few good tries, off came the hood, and out came the core support. Assembled it all on the floor and reinstalled the assembly.done for today!

 

Back in my auto-crossing days, I had to pull the radiator about every 2 years to get one of the end tanks resoldered. I don't know if it was caused by stress or just poor manufacturing. I finally got tired of futzing with the fan shroud and sawed the bottom in two so I could spring it together to slide it in. There goes my Survivor award. 😉 It did quit cracking after I retired from auto-crossing however.

 

Thanks for that tidbit Shark! I have actually been thinking about auto crossing my yellow '73. We'll see how that goes, I'm pushing 60 real hard and don't have the reflexes I used to. But it certainly does sound like fun.

 

Let me know if you decide to do it and I'll pass on some things I did to improve handling and decrease the factory understeer using factory parts. It is a lot of fun. I don't know what the cost is these days but I'll bet it's a lot cheaper than tracking.

 

Real progress! Today went mostly great. We are fired up and runnable! However, while putting the hood back on I was checking my gaps and clicked it closed. Upon the attempted reopening the cable broke. Not exactly what I was trying to do. But here's the cool news, all the gauges work ( except the oil pressure, it's not hooked up yet) even the clock works! After the brakes we can start road testing. Today I did about 6 laps around the shop.

 

The beast runs, the sun is out with the top down. Good day for a cruise around the shop. Very Nice.

 

The radio even works! Got a couple more pictures before I quit for the day.

 

Got her out of the shop today, I needed to work a little bit on the burgundy '73. So while she was out I did a little more clean up. My next big adventure is probably going to be the brakes.

 

Lookin' good.