Busy Weekend!

[67AvantiTom]

Hello all,  since the forum is pretty slow, I thought I'd post what's been going on with my Avanti!

Been pretty busy on it since I picked it up late last year.  Last weekend a friend of mine - another car nut too - came up to lend a hand with my last few remaining projects / issues.  Together we got done.....

Discovered rear wheel scraping while cornering sound - backing plate on right rear wheel was slightly bent, rubbing on the brake drum

Installed replacement power window riser mech I picked up from a good soul here on this forum.  Had some issues getting it all together and working but got it all done. Worked 3 hours on it Saturday, and 1 hour on Sunday - don't ask.  It was a job I hope I never have to do again, but now I have two working power windows. Cleaned and lubed the passenger door window as well so it's a bit smoother now too.

Reinstalled the door panels that have been off since last October!

Changed the 700R4 pan to a aluminum unit with a drain plug. In process of flushing the old fluid out and replacing with Redline ATF.

Pulled out 2 of the 4 coil spring expanders to get that front end down a bit lower. Has a very nice front downward rake to it.  I LIKE it!

Lubed all of the door latches, hinges, etc that had been neglected for 20 years.

Installed a headlight relay kit to power the lights from the battery directly. So now, the overhead switch has very little load on it, using it to switch the relays only, not power the lights. Nice kit.

 

A couple weeks ago, I flushed the cooling system. It was NASTY!  Took a dozen fill and flushes before it finally ran clear.  Got lots of old muck and rust out. Car runs nice and cool now - so far.

Installed a new 700R4 TV cable bracket and kit.  Prior bracket had the cable geometry off so far it resembled a lazy Z.  Still adjusting it all. Still have some shifting issues but I'm sure they'll get worked out. It's slowly getting better.

Put new emblems on the car.

Things left to do:

Reinstall radio and make sure that works still.

Want to replace the Dynaflo mufflers with some Flowmaster 40's.  Love the sound of those things.  Also replace the exhaust tips. Old ones are pretty ratty.

Continue to adjust the transmission shifting.

Someday I'd like to replace the carb with a FITech TBI Fuel injection kit.  Those setups look pretty awesome.  That might be a new winter project late this year.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.  A very busy, and productive weekend!   Looking forward to being able to cruz and show it this year at:

www.koolaprilnites.com

Thanks for the help and advice:

 

Tom

 

[Mike Sal]

I've seen mention of this headlight relay project before.....where can I get the details so I can do the same thing to my '70?

thanks,

Mike S

[PackardV8]

Congrats on keeping up with the little stuff.  That makes for a much more pleasant ride and a better sell when that time comes.  FWIW, I'm always put off when a seller excuses a myriad of problems with "Easy fixes" or "Easy restoration"  If it's so easy, WTF didn't he do it?  Answer: It's not easy.  It's time-consuming if the the owner does the fixing and very expensive if a shop does the fixing.

jack vines

[67AvantiTom]

12 hours ago, Mike Sal said:

I've seen mention of this headlight relay project before.....where can I get the details so I can do the same thing to my '70?

thanks,

Mike S

Hi Mike,  Here's a link to the kit I bought:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-Relay-Harness-Wire-Halogen-Ceramic-Controller-Socket-Plugs-Kit-For-Headlight-/182509724768?hash=item2a7e6d6460:g:yZYAAOSwhQhY3atO&vxp=mtr

 

or just search "Headlight Relay Kit" on ebay.  Kit was pretty nice. Had to splice the length to the passenger side light - kit wasn't quite long enough the way I routed the wires.  Overall a pretty nice kit. My only complaint was I thought the wire was a bit on the 'light' side but it seems to work well so far.

Tom

 

[67AvantiTom]

6 minutes ago, PackardV8 said:

Congrats on keeping up with the little stuff.  That makes for a much more pleasant ride and a better sell when that time comes.  FWIW, I'm always put off when a seller excuses a myriad of problems with "Easy fixes" or "Easy restoration"  If it's so easy, WTF didn't he do it?  Answer: It's not easy.  It's time-consuming if the the owner does the fixing and very expensive if a shop does the fixing.

jack vines

Thank you Jack!   Yes, I agree.  Overall the car was really nice just needed some TLC to bring it back to being a nice driver.  Already had a pretty nice paint job, nice redone interior, new crate engine and 700R4 transmission, but suffered from a TON of small nagging problems that I've been addressing one by one over the winter. I've actually only driven the car about 20 miles since I've owned it.  Getting pretty anxious to get it out on the road and see how it behaves.

This car had fallen victim to a shop that was in my estimation a 'hack'.  I have a stack of receipts from a shop in So. Cal that worked on this car for the owner. They totally ripped the PO off. Just about everything I've gone and fixed are mentioned on his receipts. A real eye opener.  

 

Regards,

Tom

 

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