The Biscayne Build Begins...

Discussion in 'Off-Topic' started by pleiades, Mar 29, 2017.

  1. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    I'm not knocking your original choice, but those Supremes are bad ass!
     
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  2. tangledupinblu
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    tangledupinblu Event Coordinator Staff Member

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    Excellent choice!
     
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  3. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, should've gone with these from the start. Always liked that old-school lowrider style and I really think they'll suit the car better with the direction I've been going with it.
     
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  4. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    New wheels and tires are now here, wheels look fantastic. The tires look like they'll definitely be stretched a little but I am going for a classic lowrider kind of look so they should be about perfect for that. Hoping to have them mounted sometime this week so I can get them bolted up. Planning to also spend some time tomorrow working on the car now that it's getting warm out again so if all goes as planned I'll have another update soon.
    20180316_190822.jpg 20180316_190918.jpg
     
  5. pillboy
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    pillboy Well-Known Member

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    When do the hydraulics go in?
     
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  6. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Lol, there is a slim chance that it may eventually get bagged but definitely no hydros.
     
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  7. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    Now you'll just need to swap out the solid axle in the rear for something independent so you can get that mad camber, stretched tire look...
     
  8. derp
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    derp Well-Known Member

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    You and I apparently have different definitions of 'a little'.
     
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  9. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Well, the wheels are 7" wide and the section width on a typical 175/75 should be 6.89" (the tire looks a little narrower in that photo than it really is). There will be a little stretch but I'm expecting the height and roundness of the sidewall will make bigger difference than the width.
     
  10. derp
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    derp Well-Known Member

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    my civic has 7 inch wide wheels. 215 is standard width, but I run a 225. a little stretch would be a 205. a 195 is pushing it. 175 is goatse butthole territory.

    as always, your car so your call.
     
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  11. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    Speaking from experience?
     
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  12. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Damn you derp for making me Google "goatse." It was a term I'd heard before but never bothered finding out anything more about and now wish I still hadn't...
    Anyway, I definitely wouldn't go with any kind of stretched fitment on the Subies but on the '64 I'm going for sort of a '60s-'70s-ish traditional lowrider feel (minus the crazy flaked paint and velour/muppet fur interior) and that's essentially the standard setup for that genre. With the other stuff I'm doing with it like the serape blanket seat upholstery, hood/trunk pinstriping, lowered ride height, etc I think it'll come together nicely.
    I really wouldn't mind some meatier rubber if it were more of a muscle car but on a big 4-door I felt like this was the way I wanted to go with it.
     
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  13. derp
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    derp Well-Known Member

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    I'm just gonna go ahead and sig that.
     
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  14. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    20180412_135102.jpg
    Finally got the Supremes mounted (not sure why the pic is coming up sideways), pretty happy with them and excited to see how they look on the car. You will notice there are only 3 here, 1 was a casualty of the machine we used and is awaiting a replacement. When we clamped it down the lip caught and got a nasty little bend in it. Will make a decent spare but being a steel wheel it'd start rusting and looking like crap before long.
     
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  15. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    20180412_141015.jpg
    #Goatse
     

    Attached Files:

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  16. MidnightImpreza
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    MidnightImpreza Well-Known Member

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    Those wheels and tires are sweet!
     
  17. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    20180428_180329.jpg Spent part of today on the bugeye (tidying up the JDM headlight and LED bulb install) but I did manage to give some time to the '64 and got the new wheels mounted up. Looks great (to me anyway) but just begging to be dropped a few inches.
     
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  18. tangledupinblu
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    tangledupinblu Event Coordinator Staff Member

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    Bags...that is all
     
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  19. tangledupinblu
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    tangledupinblu Event Coordinator Staff Member

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    Maybe i’m the only one that’s curious, but what is the tally on this build thus far? Any idea?
     
  20. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Kind of lost track over the course of the build so far, but I think probably around $4-5k. I want to say about half of that went into the engine/drivetrain, rest of it went to the wheels & tires, stereo, carpet & seats, few trim items, etc. Thankfully only a couple more things I'll need to buy (exhaust and a few little odds and ends) so I don't expect the total will go up by more than $500 or so.
     
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  21. pillboy
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    pillboy Well-Known Member

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    Does this work with the significant other? $h!t, I have a hard time making it work on myself with those expenses I don't want to think about.
     
  22. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Lucky for me, she's accepted that I've always had an incurable obsession with cars and doesn't complain about it. I really don't have any other hobbies (other than video games I guess), don't go out drinking, and as long as the bills are paid she doesn't seem to care what I spend my money on. Honestly, she gets more irritated when I spoil the kids than when I spend money on my cars.
     
  23. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    It also helps that her car is the only one we're making payments on and I'm almost always driving the company car so my gas expenses are almost nonexistent. So for about the same money I could be spending on another car payment and gas I'm just putting that into 2 cars I've had for a decade or so.
     
  24. tangledupinblu
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    tangledupinblu Event Coordinator Staff Member

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    $4-5k is pretty darn reasonable for a car like this imo. I think that it’s awesome!
     
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  25. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    That's what I've been telling myself, lol. I bought the car for only $650 about 12 years ago and really haven't put anything into it until now, so it really isn't that bad. Drove it for a few years and then just parked it, always intended to do something like this with it but never got around to it. I think that was mostly because I got the bugeye shortly before parking the Biscayne and I had to decide on which one I wanted to devote my resources to.
     
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  26. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    I'm kinda in the same boat. We got the 67 Dodge as a wedding present from the wife's parents 6 years ago. Got it running again and had a little fun with it. Then I got the WRX and it's way more fun to drive. Plus parts for it seem to be considerably more affordable and actually available, so the truck's been neglected and on the back burner for a few years.
     
  27. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Finally had time to put in some work on this old beast the last few days, feels good to be making progress again. Got my driveshaft bolted in and made a transmission crossmember yesterday, still haven't finished up the wiring and linkages and such but at least sorted it all out so I have a plan and know what needs to be done. Pics of the crossmember below, first just tacked together and then welded solid and ground relatively smooth. Still plan to blast the rest of it and paint it, should have a pic of the final product installed in a day or two.
    Screenshot_20180618-190207_Gallery.jpg Screenshot_20180618-190148_Gallery.jpg
     
  28. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    That crossmember was a b*tch to do, btw. Did most of it squeezed under the car with the front on jack stands and barely any working room. Started by cutting off the mounting sections of the old one that I wanted to use and bolted them up, then marked and cut the square tubing to fit. Set the pieces in place and tacked them, then unbolted the whole thing to finish it. Ended up with a few gaps to fill on the topside doing it that way but at least it was guaranteed to fit and the trans will sit where I want it to.
     
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  29. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Crossmember is bolted in and fit nicely. Still trying to get a few more things done today so hopefully another update to come shortly... Screenshot_20180624-124334_Gallery.jpg
    End of day update, pretty much just got some more electrical work out of the way. Wired up the tach, got the battery cables done, and replaced the oil pressure sensor with a 3-prong unit so I can use it to run the electric choke. Need to pick up some more hardware/supplies to get any further but I'm hoping it should go quickly from this point. No interesting photos to take of the wiring so a here's a pic of how it's sitting now that it's off the jack stands on the new tires/wheels. Looking good but still needs to be dropped at least a couple inches. Screenshot_20180624-162419_Photo Editor.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2018
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  30. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    That thing is sexy.

    Question. Can you elaborate on using the oil pressure sensor for the choke? Curiosity.
     
  31. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    The original only has one prong for the dummy light on the dash. The 3-prong's center terminal will still be used for that but the other connectors will be a fused 12v input and an output to the choke, with the circuit being normally open until the oil pressure builds. Seemed like the simplest way to run it automatically.
     
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  32. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    Sorry if this is a stupid question, but isn't the oil pressure highest when the oil is cold?
     
  33. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    I'm no expert on fluid thermodynamics so everything I'm about to say might be totally wrong, but I'd think the pressure would be low when the engine has been sitting and then would rise once it starts getting pumped through the engine. When it gets hotter and the oil thins out it would both flow more freely and expand, causing the pressure to increase. In any case, this method using an oil pressure sensor to control the choke seems to have worked well for other people so hopefully it will for me too.
     
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  34. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    That's a pretty sweet idea, nonetheless.

    I put a 600 Holley w/ electric choke on our old Dodge. It's glorious on cold starts. Pump the gas a couple times and turn the key, carb takes care of the rest.

    I remember the good ol' days of my dad's 75 Ford that had a manual choke. I'd probably have a much easier time with it now having at least a basic understanding of how it works, but man did it suck when I was little.
     
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  35. pillboy
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    pillboy Well-Known Member

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    God, I miss the good old days...
     
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  36. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Pretty sure I've got everything sorted out with the wiring now, also finished up my coolant, trans, and fuel lines. With any luck I should be able to fire it up for the first time in the next few days. Also got the interior back together, which really was just making a divider or backing piece for the rear seat and installing the seat and door trim pieces I made. To finish things up inside the trunk I gave it another coat of speckled paint with some clear over it and added some carpet.

    Interior:
    Screenshot_20180703-172501_Gallery.jpg

    Trunk before (while I was patching the rust):
    Screenshot_20180703-144033_Gallery.jpg

    And trunk after:
    Screenshot_20180703-144052_Gallery.jpg
     
  37. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    And this is how I leave it for the night. Only engine work left now is the throttle/shifter linkages, but I'll probably try filling all the fluids tomorrow and see if it fires up. Can always operate the throttle from under the hood.
    Screenshot_20180703-220035_Gallery.jpg
     
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  38. tangledupinblu
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    tangledupinblu Event Coordinator Staff Member

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    I am very excite!
     
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  39. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    Love the custom door panel bottoms.
     
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  40. derp
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    derp Well-Known Member

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    Holy sh*t that trunk looks fantastic.

    Great job so far.
     
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  41. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Well, I tried starting it up the other day but had no luck due to some wiring issues in the dash that needed to be sorted out. Wasn't getting power to the coil or accessories and had to eliminate the resistance wire that originally ran to the starter (all seemed to be related to switching it over to an external coil HEI distributor). Got that taken care of this morning with the help of my elderly master mechanic uncle and finally had it running for the first time. Carb still needs a some adjustment and it'll be pulling dirty old gas through it for a little bit, but other than that it sounded fantastic. No exhaust on it past the headers yet so very loud, but fantastic. Still plenty left to do but damn it felt great to finally hear it run.
     
  42. tangledupinblu
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    tangledupinblu Event Coordinator Staff Member

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    Wooopah!!
     
  43. pleiades
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    pleiades Well-Known Member

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    Finally got the throttle linkage worked out and started it up a few times today to test it out. Ended up using one of these bracket kits: 51To8GKjStL._SL1024_.jpg
    And made this bracket out of angle iron that extends upward from the pedal shaft: Screenshot_20180827-204516_Gallery.jpg

    The original arm goes downward from the pedal shaft and used a solid linkage so it took a little creativity to get it working, but it seems to be pretty effective. Still running some old dirty fuel through it and the carb needs to be adjusted but here's a sample of it firing up:

    Pretty rough at idle and still no exhaust past the headers, but I already like it.
     

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  44. mctenold
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    mctenold Well-Known Member

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    Very cool to see another Subaru enthusiast interested in classic cars. I recently purchased a 64 Ford Galaxie 4 door. Been slowly working on it, but not nearly as far along as you are.

    Will be following along!

    0A7EFAD3-3DCD-4246-9C86-CA6CDD0C9B53.jpeg 89A2FA4D-1CDC-454E-B42F-A855E7D8A9FD.jpeg
     
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  45. Krazylegz1485
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    Krazylegz1485 Well-Known Member

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    I've always liked the look of the 64's (in just about every car back then, actually). Especially with the tear drop hood.