Strangely, the handbrake appears to work quite well and Kevin uses it
routinely; it held the car just fine on my gently sloped driveway.
I hopped into the driver�s seat (the 1971 seats are more comfortable than the
1972, and 1973-74 seats, at least in my opinion) and Kevin joined me, and I
took the car for a test drive. All gauges worked and were in happy spots--no
signs of overheating or low oil pressure. The car is fitted with aesthetically
challenged Hall Big Bore exhausts, which are apparently sealing just fine
(the stock exhaust system comes with the car, and if it were mine I would keep
the headers and re-install the stock tailpipes).
The car idles nice and smooth, and once underway, the distinctive noise of
solid lifters could be heard--not offensive by any means, but certainly it would
indicate problems if the car didn�t have a solid-lifter cam!
The car pulls very smoothly and cleanly, with no evidence of smoke visible in
the rear-view mirror. The 600 cfm carb is arguably too small for the car,
but does make it very pleasant to drive. The engine pulls very strongly and
evenly, with power picking up noticeably around 3000 rpm (the intake manifold is
probably biased towards the top end). The clutch feels very even and smooth
with no chatter, but the gearshift lever feels like it�s sticking out of a
bucket of rapidly drying cement. The linkage is passing through the stock
trunnion bearing which is probably packed with the original grease, which has turned
to stone. The linkage needs to be thoroughly de-gunked and smoothed out.
The gearbox shifts just fine, with no synchro crunch in any gears. There is
a bit of ring-and-pinion noise, but certainly well within the �normal� range.I drove the car along country roads, stomping on the gas and lifting off,
listening for any evidence of exhaust leaks (there were none). I then turned
into an industrial park, boasting a very wide and very empty street (they have
yet to build any buildings there), romped on the gas, then performed a brake
check.
The pedal is a bit spongy but the brakes haul the car down well enough.
However, it is quite apparent the wheel alignment (specifically the toe) is way
out of whack; under braking the nose would dive, the front wheels would toe out,
and the car would very noticeably and rapidly weave from side-to-side, enough
so that I didn�t feel comfortable performing that maneuver on a narrow road.
Clearly the steering rack and wheel alignment need to be sorted, but the
brakes themselves seem fine. |
