EnduroDriver

I think the big advantage of the group 51 battery is you now have access to superior battery technologies like AGM or Lithium. I was always puzzled by why the 3EE battery has such mediocre performance numbers for its size.

I wouldn't recommend removing the insulation, part of its job is reducing the impact of heat on the hood and paint. Fiberglass is a terrible choice for a hood for that reason but that's what we have to work with. The two things I'd recommend are switch to EFI, the idea being fuel the car more efficiently to simply generate less heat in the first place. And install an electric fan on the radiator. The factory fan is cute and simple but pretty much useless for moving air. Especially at low speed. Install something that can move air and carry that heat away.

If reproductions are acceptable Coker is producing new 6.70 Firestones in several styles. https://www.cokertire.com/tires/15-6_70-firestone_1.html?network=g

Using a group 51 Honda battery as an example I think you could fit two in the space of a 3EE, obviously would require a custom hold-down but that's not to complicated to sort out. The depth dimension of the group 51 is slightly bigger. That said a group 51 AGM battery has more cranking amps and more reserve capacity then a flooded 3EE so not a ton of reason to do it. My car already has a group 65 in the trunk wired in parallel with the 3EE, installed by the previous owner and it's pretty well done. My plan is to covert to a group 51 AGM under the hood and replace the group 65 in the trunk with an AGM and maintain the parallel configuration. Leaving batteries connected in parallel full time can be tricky so it's important they at least be of similar age and identical chemistry.

Appreciate all the advice. I definitely want to rebuild the power steering system, just the timing isn't right at the moment. Really just being able to move the car around the shop, maybe take it to the dyno for some tuning before digging in. I do have a steering arm off a Lark, not sure if it's for the Ross box or not, it was just available so I grabbed it on the chance it was the right one.

I'm in the process of digging through my lengthy list on the R1. The previous owner, bless his heart, was shall we say very creative regarding repairs. Anyway getting started on a complete makeover on the ignition and fuel systems while repairing some under-hood wiring butchery. My question is actually about the power steering, it leaks, it leaks from everywhere it could leak from, it leaks from places it can't possibly leak from, it's quite the spectacle really. It's on my list to pull all the components and send them out for rebuild but I want to kick that can down the road a bit while I work on getting it running and driving properly. 1) Is it safe for the steering control valve if I just disconnect the belt on the pump and disable the system? I don't know if the valve can be damaged if hydraulic pressure being delivered to it while driving. 2) Is there an off the shelf pitman arm that I could install to convert it to manual steering temporally while working out the other kinks.