Creeping ever closer...

["Tony Sims" <simstony@domain.elided>]

... to being fully road ready.  Dropped the GTV at Portland Muffler this
morning to have the exhaust done.  Picked it up about 4:00, it looks great,
and sounds great too.  2.5" system, has a nice big Magnaflow where the stock
2nd can sits (just fore of the rear axle) and a glass pack between the tank
and the spare well.  Ends with a nice polished stainless baloney slice.  They
flanged it at the downpipe and just after the main muffler, just like the
stock setup, so it will be easy to drop the exhaust if needed for driveline or
rear axle work.

They also made very nice brackets to pick up the stock hangars, including the
support at the back of the trans.  It's very quiet at an idle -- and not very
quiet any other time, which is exactly what I wanted!  Actually, the intake
noise with the K&N filters is still louder than anything else.  I think it
will be nice to get the stock airbox installed.

Went for about a 1/2 hour drive after the exhaust was done.  So far, the
electric fan seems to be the "coolest" mod I made while the car was off the
road.  It's very quiet (you cannot hear it over the engine, even at idle), and
it keeps the temp right in the middle of the gauge.  I've yet to see the temp
read higher than 190, even when sitting in traffic today (afternoon temp was
about 75).  It's wired so it always has power, so when I shut the car off it
will keep running for a short time to help the cooling continue.  The first
time I shut the car off and heard it I thought the fuel pump was still
running, it will take some getting used to.

The speedo seems to be pretty seriously wrong -- on the low side.  My wife
informed me that as we were driving to the exhaust shop this morning she was
going 70 and I was pulling away -- and I was seeing 65 on the speedo.  This
afternoon I made a couple blasts up to what was probably 80 (judging from the
cars I was passing on the freeway), and the speedo seems to just run out of
wind at about 65...  For this I need a cure.

I've yet to check the timing or the Spica adjustments.  The car idles at about
750 rpm warm, seems to have good power through the rev range, and is not
pinging with its new 10.4:1 pistons (running pump premium).  It does bark a
little on deceleration, but it did even worse before the engine rebuild, so it
could just have a bad decel switch.  It will be interesting to see where the
timing is when I put the strobe on it, I must have the best dumb luck on the
planet to have come this close just by eyeballing the position of the dist
with the engine at TDC...

Tomorrow it's alignment time!

Tony
Portland, OR
74 GTV 2000
70 2800CS
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