Updating the '76

[plwindish]

You have a pretty thumping engine there! More than enough to get you into trouble! My '69 Corvette 427 is rated at 435 hp and 460 ft/lbs of torque. It feels like it can pull tree stumps and your're getting that kind of torque from a small block. That shop's doing a nice job.

Thanks Gunslinger. That power should make my drives to Springfield MO in June and Gettysburg in July interesting. Its amazing to me that the guys at the shop could take a "smogger" like the 400, clean up air flow through the heads, add a mild cam, new pistons, intake and carb to "merely" double the original rated 180 horsepower. Now if after the 200 R4 is put in and I'm able to get north of 20 MPG, I will think I've died and gone to heaven. Best of luck in getting your repairs to door done in time for Gettysburg. I'll look forward to meeting you and hopefully your car.

[Gunslinger]

I'm hoping the car will be done by Gettysburg...the damage is worse than I thought. The car was taken to the shop that rebuilt it a few years ago and they looked it over. It needs a front quarter panel which I expected. It also needs a new drivers door as the one on the car split and jacked it and the window mechanism out of shape. The bulkhead that the hinges bolt to is still an unknown as far as whether it's out of line. The front panel is available as a reproduction piece from Studebaker International...a door will have to be located as a used part but I think one can be found.

The whole car will need to be clear coated again. The way the shop manager explained it is that it's due to the one piece body...no natural place to blend in the clear coat without leaving a line. He said even if the line isn't immediately visible, it will be eventually and he wants to makes the car right. The estimator from the insurance company is supposed to see the car at the body shop and if he comes up with a different repair estimate, they can argue it out on the spot. The shop manager can show him all the invoices and work done when they rebuilt the car several years and can make the case it's no daily driver but was in far better condition than that. That's also obvious when seeing the car other than the damaged areas.

My biggest concern is if the estimate for repairs comes too close to market value and they want to declare the car totaled and pay me off. The shop manager doesn't believe that will be the case as he feels the repairs will come nowhere close to the insured value. But...the idea of that still concerns me.

What a bummer!

Regardless...it looks like your car is coming right along and should be a fun car when it's all done.

[plwindish]

Now your Avanti has something in common with the earlier Avantis, door hinge issues. My round headlighted '64 Avanti had 5k on it when I bought it in April ' 66. The front edge of the driver's door was out a good 1/4 " from the back edge of the left front fender. I believe it had been repaired some time before I had got it and I heard later that there were a lot of door fit and hinge issues with the earlier Avantis. At high speeds, I had a whistling air leak by the wing window front support. It sounds like you have a top quality body shop that should be able to correct the problem though.

[plwindish]

It won't be long now! The newly revitalized 400 is back in the car. New motor mounts did move the pulley up about 3/8" off the steering. Everything needs to be hooked up on the motor yet. The gas tank is back from being cleaned, coated, soldered and tested with the new sending unit installed. Here's a bit of trivia - 56 spot welds hold the baffles in place. My radiator guy soldered each one to make sure it wouldn't leak at some time in the future. Some surgery is needed on the exhaust pipes joining the new headers since the headers dump a little lower than the cast iron headers did. With the exhaust work, gauges hook up, gas tank install and the rest of the motor work, hopefully it will be ready by Thursday night. The 200 R-4 tranny is ready and waiting for the car to get to the trans shop after all the motor work is done.