You were doing great until you came to the 9" center section. You need an 8" center section. I still don't understand the need for a VV carb to pass emission testing. Where are our California members to give this young new member some advice?
Well, I was also considering replacing the Leaf Springs on my car to 5 ply instead of the original 3 ply so if I did that could I get to 9" and use that center Section? and if so, do you have any Leaf Spring recommendations? I also don't know exactly why it has the VV but when I got it the seller told me that it passed smog much easier, and when I first got it smogged it didn't pass but that was because the distributor timing was off a tick and so I fixed that and then it passed.
No on both counts!!! Take your time and learn about your car. You have a good start on your first selection of parts up until you posted the 9" center section. It will not fit in your current configuration. You stated you did not have a lot of money? For a young guy without a lot of money you are certainly wanting to move ahead swiftly!
Yeah, I want to get a list compiled and slowly move forward, but I want to make something similar to a to-do list. I'll look out for the 8" center section, because I'd like to finish that and then save up for the Carb, then the intake, then maybe the Catalytic Converter if I need it, then the Leaf Springs. I'm hoping I can get all of this done by the end of the year, with job money and other sources (Holidays)
Forget about your rear springs if it rides nice now if you change the leafs it will ride like a tank and dont even think about putting air shocks on it as that is a big no no . Adding a 4 barrel wont help that much but if you want one so be it but I would go for headers and exhaust and gears and leave it alone until such a point in time that you are stable with finances
It rides alright now, the License plate cover scrapes every time I go up certain drive ways but other than that it's not too bad. And Ok, I found the headers new for 200 and I'll try to look for them at swap meets or other places for cheaper, and I found a new performance Catalytic Converter that my friend is selling, and I won't need it if I don't get the Carb but we'll see. I also seem to be having a hard time finding an 8" Third Member Assembly with 3.50 Gears, it seems that most of them are 9". Is there any way that my car can be changed from 8" to 9" or is that something that's not do-able? and what other Exhaust parts or just parts in general would you recommend?
I can find the Gears but I was looking for the center section, but If I get the gears only that would be cheaper and I'll be getting it done somewhere, so I may go through with that, thanks.
Even if a 9" did fit you absolutely do not want to use a spool on street, that's a race only or maybe off road piece...
Okay thanks guys, the Center Section there I saw but its a bit too much for me, and It'll be a bit cheaper (depending on the Labor) to get the gears, and now I know. I'll Probably get the Gears, then get those Hooker 6901 headers, and then save up for a Carb maybe, are there any other parts I should grab in the meantime?
Need to know a few things about your car, does it have a column shifter or floor shifter ? With power steering to put the headers on you will need what is called a drop bracket to lower the power steering ram, not that expensive and easy to do, then if the car is a column shifted car is were it starts to get fun because the linkage gets in the way of header routing. If you have a column shifted car you have a few choices at this point, one is to install either an after market floor shifter or find a used factory original one or you can get a different set of headers that are called shorty headers and will work without any modifications to steering or shifter linkage. The headers you would want if you go that route are Hedman 88400 . Do some research on this site----no do lots of research on this site. Where in Cali are you ? it would help me help you if I knew and perhaps there are other Maverickers close that could help you also
I am wondering if you have done any work on the brakes, bushings, suspension and steering components? All I see is in the realm of going faster; all that's secondary to having a safe to drive vehicle. Once all those issue up to par -- then it's -- "pedal-to-metal time". Unless your going to significantly increase power -- forget the 9", the 8" is capable of handling most anything you will ask of it.
It has a Column Shifter, so I'll have to get the shorty Headers. Are there any downsides to the short Headers? Would they be less useful than the normal ones? Cuz if so than I would get a floor shifter, but if not than I'd like to stick with the Column Shifter. I'll look around on this sight for the Hedman 88400, and I'll do some research on other sites too. Also I live in SoCal, L.A. County, City is West Covina.
You're right, most of this is for more power, and the only safety things I've had done was an alignment a while ago (which is more like maintenance than safety anyway) and when I had that done I also replaced the front bushings, and I had to put in a new power steering hose last week, and I just finihsed installing new seatbelts. I've had a few times where someone has pulled in front of me while I was going at speed and I've had to stomp on the brakes and they've always stopped me quick and the guy I bought the car from put on new brakes, so I know those should be good but I'll still look at them. For suspension it's usually okay, the only thing I thought of was the new leaf springs but people advised against it, I just thought it might be good because if I go through a turn slightly quick or go up certain driveways it does scrape the license plate and that's with no one in the back seat, so I wanted to raise up the back tad bit and make it a bit higher since if I was ever carrying more people I don't want to be too low, but I was advised to not get new springs because it would feel like a tank. I also know that there are the plastic parts between the body and the car above the Impact bumper, and I wanted to remove both the front and back Impact bumper and plastic cover for the look of the car because that plastic just bends and the paint is all cracked, but I was also thinking it would compromise some of the safety if I were in a crash, so I'm torn between taking them off and moving the bumper back to the body (which the seller wanted to do) and leaving it with the plastic bits as is.
