Ben\’s 1967 Pontiac Firebird 400 Rod & Restoration

It seems that everyone has a different idea about how to find the right calibration for the speedo.  My favorite so far is this one:

http://chevelleengineer.home.comcast.net/~chevelleengineer/speedo.htm

The math is simple, and it’s easy to get in the right ballpark.  After pulling the gear, it’s currently a 39 tooth brown gear.  Let’s do the math:

The car says 80, but it’s more like 55.  That’s a ROUGH estimate, but with these initial facts I can deduce that I’ve got about s 45% error.  The estimate might be wrong, but the math is right.  That means that I need to add 18 teeth.  That would mean I need a 57 tooth gear, but the biggest is 45, so I guess I’ll order that and give it a whirl.  With the crazy ass tires, who knows if I’ll ever get an accurate reading.  The good news is that they’re only $6 a pop, so it’s not a big expense if I’m wrong.  However, I hate to spend 6 bucks to get hit with $8 shipping, so I need to figure out what else I should get while I’m thinking about it.

Holy crap!  I didn’t realize how long I’d had the car on stands without finishing the tank.  It did take me a while to get around to ordering the bolts and the other hardware ($60) and a few fun add-ons, but the good news is that I got them all in today.  Yay for me.  While I was under the car, I evened out the bolts under the rear springs, so we’ll see if that makes a difference.  I also installed the big rubber bumpers on the control arms, finally.  I got a new fuel door spring while I was shopping, and it installed quick, easy, and it works perfect.

I also tore into the scooter to try and fix the electrical.  What a mess.  It’s a good thing that Gick’s coming home tomorrow, so I have someone to help figure out what I fucked up.

I’m trying to figure out what I should do next before I pull the engine out.  Obviously I’m going to drive it around a little, and I think I might buy a torque wrench tomorrow if they sell it at Menard’s or somewhere else on that side of town.  Now I just need to find the proper torque for putting on the bolts to the transmission fluid pan and I’m set.  It’s still leaking like a muther.  While I’m under there, I noticed a loose nut on the front shock, so I think I’ll tighten that up.

I believe that next, I might take the wiper motor out again and pull the transmission to see if it’s just crappy and stiff.  That might be the whole problem – i.e. the pump and motor seem to work fine until they’re attached to that thing.  I guess we’ll see.  If that’s not too tough or expensive, I might look into the speedo gearing.  In fact, I might check that out first while it’s on the blocks.  I’d love to know what gearing I need, and that might take a shitload of research.  Ug.

For now, I’m going to look a few things up and then go shower and go to bed.

(T.C. – $12310)

P.S. The NPD catalog has the info on how to figure out what size speedo gear I need, I’m going to order the correct one and install before I take the car down off the stands.  That’s first.  I also forgot that I’ve got a new shifter to install, but I think I’m going to get the car driving again before I tear into that.

So for tomorrow, it’s 1) do the equation and order the speedo gear, 2)tighten the nut on the front shock, 3)try (again) to replace the gasket on the tranny pan.  That shouldn’t take me too long.  The shopping list is 1)lock-tite, 2)torque wrench, 3)gasket goo.  Okay, bedtime.