Automedia.com - Restoration - Mechanical/Electrical Articles

Leaf Spring Resto

Everything tends to get saggy with old age, some things need repairs while others need replacement. Leaf springs, fortunately, can be repaired rather than replaced. This common type of suspension is commonly seen under various types of vehicles with straight- or live-axle rear ends. For this particular restoration, we'll focus on an older Jeep Grand Wagoneer...

1967 Firebird Handling Upgrades

The quickest way between two points is a straight line or, one might say, as the crow flies. It seems that just about every 1st generation Firebird has been set up to do just that—fly straight and fast. Most of these street/strip Birds are set up with the emphasis on strip. Drop in more cubic inches, add some gear to the rear, slap on some traction bars, a pair of slicks, and you've got yourself a potent combination for straight-line performance...

4-Speed Shifter Tech Tips

The name Hurst will forever be linked to the 4-speed transmission. Though in production prior to the 1964 introduction of the GTO, the coupling of the two validated the performance of one another. Today, the 4-speed transmission and Hurst shifter continue to dominate the drivetrains of musclecars...

A/C Housing Repair

A big part of auto restoration is deciding which parts to restore and which parts to replace. If you have a very original numbers-matching vehicle, it makes sense to redo as many of the original parts as possible. If you're restoring a car that's been modified or rebuilt with different parts, then reproduction parts are a good way to go. However, there are some parts that aren't being reproduced and are very difficult to find—at least in better condition than the parts you already have. A good example is your air conditioning housing or "suitcase" as it's commonly called. Many are made out of fiberglass and are frequently broken during the engine changing process. As soon as there's a hole in the A/C suitcase, exhaust fumes and other engine-compartment odors can be circulated through the heating/air conditioning system, making the vehicle unbearable to drive...

Aftermarket Disc Brake Install

Decades before Jim Carrey's now famous "Somebody stop me" line was uttered in the comic movie "The Mask," many drivers were probably thinking the same thing when braking their early Pontiac musclecars. In fact, not until 1967 did Pontiac even offer a front disc-brake option. Rear discs were not an option until 1979, and then only with the WS6 package. In 1964, metallic drum brakes were available on the GTO, but suffered from a malady then known as "morning sickness." In other words, until you warmed up the brakes, the car was downright dangerous to drive in a must-stop scenario...

Air Cleaner Restoration

We've been restoring a '69 Buick GS 400 convertible piece-by-piece while we continue to drive and enjoy the car. Whether you are doing a full frame-off or attacking your resto one piece at a time, you need to have a plan to be successful and to make the best use of your time. First, assess the condition of the part or parts assembly you are about to restore. Ask yourself the following questions: Is this piece salvageable? Do I have the resources to do the restoration? Would I be better off finding a replacement or even a reproduction? If you decide to restore the piece you have, then you need to organize the process: what parts you need to order, what materials you need to purchase, and what steps are required to get from start to the finish...

Anatomy of a Tri-Power Carb

If four-barrel carbs were good, then six barrels should be better! That was the thinking of automotive performance gurus in the late Fifties and Sixties. Manufacturers such as Pontiac, Chrysler, Chevrolet and Ford put the tri-power option (three two-barrel carbs) on their musclecar order sheets. While each manufacturer had subtle differences in the way the three carbs were activated, in general the process was relatively the same. Here we are using a Pontiac Tri-Power from 1965 and we'll show you the components that make it work. In this case, the only completely functional carburetor is the center unit. The carbs at each end are simply fuel-atomizing funnels to dump gas into the intake on demand. The throttle linkage on the center carb activates the other two. It's important to adjust the linkage so that all three carbs fully open when the pedal is on the metal. Other manufacturers used three completely functioning carbs with vacuum-operated linkage. Regardless of the brand, the end result was usually the same: a loud whoosh, the scream of tires and a big smile on your face...

Auto Trans Shift Kit Install

A quick way to improve your car's acceleration without modifying your engine is to add a shift kit to your automatic transmission. This upgrade makes for a crisper, more precise response when shifting. It also makes the shift from First to Second gear shorter for a better launch, but with no loss of smoothness. It also corrects, reduces, or prevents early shifts, soft shifts and stacked or late shifts...

Automatic Door Lock Replacement

We made a list of all the subsystems on our old Mustang. It's pretty long. What does this mean? More subthings to break. It's Murphy's Law of Coincidental Failure. Parts will degrade and at the most inconvenient moment they'll break. The trick is to stay ahead of what we call the "inclined degradation and breakage curve."..

Automotive Diagnostic Tool Tips

Your engine is like your body: it usually tells you when something is going wrong. We get aches and pains; your engine starts making funny noises. Squeaking, grinding, pinging, chirping and the dreaded knocking are all telltale signs of trouble. Finding the source of the noise is sometimes very difficult under the hood with the engine running. There are so many different simultaneous mechanical sounds that isolating the problem with just your hearing is virtually impossible. So, let's play doctor and get a stethoscope...

Automotive Heater/Defroster Install

Maybe it's because we're spoiled from driving our comfortable and reliable late-model vehicles, but it would be nice to have some of the creature comforts in our older, restoration project cars as well. To help make your old favorite a little cozier, here's a low-buck heater and defroster. It's fairly easy to install, works great and will fit almost any vehicle...

Battery Box Replacement

One of the first items to examine for possible damage when starting any resto project is the battery hold-down tray. That also includes the area under the tray that is inside the fender well. Years ago, all the hold-down trays were made of metal and, after years of being exposed to leaking water or battery acid, many of them have virtually disintegrated...

Battery Tray Restoration

Every vehicle has a battery tray of some kind. That heavy power source is usually secured to the tray with bolts, preventing it from shifting or falling over. The inherent problem with these trays is that they rust from water sitting in the bottom or are eaten alive by battery acid. Some trays are so far gone that the only thing holding them in the car is the weight of the battery they are suppose to support...

Bench Bleeding

Fresh air is normally a good thing, except when it's in your brake lines. Just a bit of the air that keeps us alive can cause a loss of pedal pressure when it travels through your brake hydraulic system resulting in brake failure. Anytime the system is opened, the potential for air to enter is present. Allowing the brake fluid level in the master cylinder to drop, exposing the orifices in the bottom of the reservoir(s) to the air, will allow air to enter the system. The telltale symptom is a soft or spongy brake pedal or the pedal just traveling happily to the floorboard. NEVER drive the vehicle in this condition...

Bolt Restoration

Anyone involved in a restoration project knows its progress is almost always behind schedule. The proper restoration of even the simplest vehicle can take well over a year. Now don't get us wrong; the work is half the fun. But let's be serious—the real reason to restore that classic is to be able to drive and enjoy, not scrape grease...

Building a Custom Drive Shaft

What do hot rodders, customized car builders, race shops and automobile restorers have in common? They all need to build custom-length driveshafts from time to time. Many project-car builders need specialized driveshafts if the part is out of production, or when mixing and matching oddball engine and transmission combos with non-standard chassis lengths. This also holds true for a front-engine project car with a shortened or lengthened chassis. Although you may get lucky and find a standard-length driveshaft that will fit, it is not likely to accept the heavy-duty larger-diameter U-joints that may be required to handle the power of high-performance engine upgrades...

Carburetor Classics: The Notorious Stromberg 97

From the dawn of hot rodding to the present day, one carburetor has always been synonymous with traditional hot rods—the Stromberg Model 97. Although the Stromberg Company built millions of other carburetors from the 1930s to 1974, the Model 97 stood out as the carburetor that fed the hot rod movement...

Carburetor Refinishing

You may have been rebuilding your own carburetors for years, and while they may function perfectly, they just don't have the look of a new or professionally refinished carb. Now, thanks to some innovative restoration products, getting that factory-new appearance is as easy as spray painting any other component...

Carburetor Tuning

So why should we care about a low-tech item that no one uses anymore? Well, one reason is that there are a lot of cars running today that still use this old technology. Most collectible and resto vehicles rely on a carburetor to deliver the proper amount of fuel into the engine. And since these cars are older, the carburetors likely have problems...

Changing Your Speedo Gear

Improving the overall performance of your favorite ride by changing rear-end gears is common, but it's not the only gear change required. Inside the tail housing of your manual or automatic transmission is another gear, which controls your speedometer and odometer. When you change the rear-end ratio, it throws off the gear in the transmission, so the speedo will read faster or slower until you get the correct trans gear. The various transmission gears are usually plastic and are color-coded to the ratio they correspond to. There is a great physical difference, as show here, comparing the early Super Turbine 300 Powerglide gear with a Muncie four-speed gear. Both are for 3.55:1 rear-end ratios; the four speed's is maroon and the Powerglide's is tobacco brown in color, but the shape change is dramatic...

Chassis Restoration

For certain rare cars, restoring the components exactly to original is essential to preserving the vehicle's value. For most car enthusiasts, however, modernizing a restoration project makes a lot more sense. Called a resto/mod (which also refers to modifying the car), this approach takes advantage of all the improvements in automotive technology. There's no reason you can't have contemporary performance to go with that nostalgic style. It all depends on your style. Though not everybody may want this level of performance, the '62 Corvette shown here is a good example of just how far you can take the process...

Classic Car Clock Update

Time. It seems lately that's all anyone ever talks about. The world is moving at triple-digit pace and everything is light years faster than it was even last week. And because time is such a precious commodity, every car should have a properly functioning quartz clock. Older collector cars can particularly benefit from a quartz-clock update to replace those whose small second-hands quit working within minutes of when the car was driven off the dealer's lot. Many vehicles' clocks probably haven't indicated the correct time for years. The fix is simple. Requiring no special tools, the repairs can be done in an afternoon; although, we recommend allowing a full day in order to clean behind the dash area and to spiff up the instrument cluster...

Classic GM Alternator Restoration

The alternator in your car is often the Rodney Dangerfield of the engine compartment. While we spend untold hours detailing the carburetor, air cleaner, manifolds, wiring etc., we generally just wait for the alternator to go bad so we can get a clean rebuilt unit and let the old one be an exchange as a core unit. However, if you're trying to keep your car numbers matching or just want a perfect, restored alternator ... paint it! The idea of taking apart that little electric dynamo is a daunting proposition, but it's actually not that hard. And by dismantling it, you'll get a better, detailed finish—plus you can do any tune-up work that may be needed while you've got it apart...

Compression Check-Up

At some point in the restoration process, the engine will come into question—to rebuild or not to rebuild. An engine rebuild is a lot of work, and to do it right costs a lot of money. You certainly don't want to do it if the engine is internally in good condition. That $3,000-$5,000 could go for a new paint job, new chrome or even some rare number-matching parts you may be missing. Answering the usual diagnostic questions such as "How many miles are on it? How much oil does it use? Is it down on power—" will help with the decision, but a simple 30-minute compression test can answer a lot of questions if you know what to look for...

Converting to Electronic Ignition

Restoring, driving and maintaining older vehicles can be a lot of fun. Every car enthusiast has a favorite make or model that they would like to drive and restore, or possibly modify to personalize it. We're not talking about expensive classics—just special-interest vehicles. This current trend is being called "Restification" or "Restomod," and one of the most popular modifications is to convert the antiquated breaker-point distributor to a solid-state electronically triggered distributor. This easy conversion provides a solid boost in performance, eliminates breaker-point maintenance and greatly improves spark plug life while maintaining a stock appearance...

Correct Date-Coded Plug Wires

You can have an 800-horsepower engine, but without the spark to fire it off, it's just another chunk of inanimate metal. Obviously, plug wires are an integral part of your ignition system but they can vary greatly in how efficiently they work. There are several thicknesses of wire from a measly 6mm all the way up to monster 12mm. But at some point along the way you are simply dealing with overkill...

Corvette Restoration: The Engine

When it comes to restoring a classic Corvette, making it "better than new" is not always the best approach, at least if you plan on entering a competition for the NCRS (National Corvette Restoration Society). Judges actually deduct points for an engine that's too quiet or a paint job that's smoother than the original. Imperfections such as noisy tappet valves or wavy fiberglass are hallmarks of an authentic Corvette because that's the way they came straight from the factory back in the '50s and '60s. For these and other arcane details about the world of restoration, we visited with Carlos and Sherry Vivas of C&S Corvette Restoration...

Courtesy-Lamp Lens Replacement

In the Fifties and Sixties, GM installed small opaque-white plastic lenses in convertible rear-armrest courtesy lights. These lenses have a tendency to yellow from heat and age, and many times crack as well. Years of internal heat trapped behind the lens causes the plastic to dry out and become brittle, and even the slightest tap from a person entering or exiting the back seat will crack a lens in this condition...

Custom Cooling Fabrication and Tubing Bead

Hot rods, racecars and customized vehicles frequently require extended hose runs to hook the cooling system components together. Often the engine is set farther back, well away from the radiator, or in some cases there are a number of radiators plumbed together in series or tandem. Whatever type of cooling system, some custom fabrication is usually needed...

Custom Cooling Fabrication and Tubing Bead

Disc Brake Upgrade for GM 12-Bolt

Despite volumes written about the legendary prowess of '60s musclecars, the legends always seem to gloss over some serious engineering shortcomings of the era. Brake packages were often, in a word, terrifying. One good shot was most of what you got if you were lucky. After that it was white-knuckle time when it came to stopping fast and that was with a powerplant kicking out factory horsepower. Brake fade was the name of the game. Add a cam, some carb, headers and exhaust, and stopping becomes even more elusive. While drum brakes are great for stopping lumbering buses and dump trucks, they're no good for gas-huffing musclecars...

Drum Brake Restoration

Many restorers can only dream of taking their vehicle off the road to do a total ground-up restoration. For most it's too large a commitment of money, time and, quite frankly, the garage space to do it. A good alternative is to restore while you drive. The advantages are obvious—your favorite vehicle isn't off the road for years at a time and the drain on the family budget is more gradual. The key to being successful with the restore-as-you-drive-approach is to concentrate on one area of the vehicle at a time, prioritize the mechanical aspects to make it a safe and dependable driver first, then concentrate on the cosmetics later. Our '69 Buick GS 400 is a perfect example. It badly needed new universal joints so we removed the driveshaft, fully cleaned and painted it, installed new U-joints and put it back in the car. A couple of paychecks later we removed the trailing arms, cleaned and painted them, installed new bushings and hung them on a totally "ugly" rear end housing. In this installment we will clean, detail and rebuild the rear drum brakes, which leaves only the axle tubes and differential housing to clean and paint. By then, the entire rear end and driveshaft assembly will be restored and the car will have been off the road only one day at a time...

Electronic Ignition Install Without Points

Over the years manufacturers have made a number of changes to the basic internal combustion engine. One of the most important advancements by far was doing away with the contact points and going to electronic ignition. Just as when carburetors were replaced with electronic fuel injection, going to a digital ignition improves drivability and eliminates maintenance...

Engine Rebuild and Refurbish

Anybody who's done a comprehensive resto project knows that it doesn't always follow a straight line, nor a precise timetable. You might thrash on it for several weekends in a row and then let it sit idle for months in a sort of automotive limbo-land. That's where Larry Weiner's '65 GTO has been up until recently, but now he's getting busy with it again...

Engine Rebuilding: Cylinder Heads

Most engine rebuilds for restoration projects fall short when it comes to cylinder head preparation. That's okay if you don't plan to put on many miles and peak engine performance is not important. Show cars or cars that will sit in a collection are perfect examples. A simple "quick and dirty" rebuilder special will do just fine...

Engine Rebuilding: Rods Pistons

Think about it: At 6,000 rpm, a piston accelerates, comes to a complete stop, and repeats the cycle more than a 100 times per second! We're not talking about an electrical process here where a sensor samples info 100 times per second—we're describing a mechanical process where a 3-pound piston/rod assembly is trying to launch into orbit 100 times per second. The forces on the piston, wrist pin, connecting rod and crankshaft are scary. It's amazing that an engine can keep from literally exploding at those speeds. All the more reason to get it right when installing rods and pistons in the engine YOU'RE rebuilding. The magazine articles make it look simple, but if this is your first attempt at building an engine, installing rods and pistons may seem overwhelming. We will outline a few basic steps here to guide you through the process...

Engine Rebuilding: The Camshaft

In spite of all the talk these days about engine management of the electronic kind, the camshaft is still calling most of the shots. Virtually every parameter such as peak torque, a usable power band, peak horsepower, manifold vacuum, fuel mileage and more are determined by the cam's timing specifications. No other single modification can produce as much horsepower per dollar. No other single modification can cost you as much power, efficiency and driveability if you select the wrong cam...

Engine Rebuilding: The Crankshaft

In Engine Rebuilding: The Preparation, we discussed various ways to rebuild your engine and how to find a competent machine shop to help you in the process. Part 2 will deal with the first step in putting it all back together—installing the crankshaft in the cylinder block...

Engine Rebuilding: The Preparation

Rebuilding the engine in your restoration project is a big commitment of time, energy and money. It can also be one of the most satisfying parts of the restoration process. Nothing beats knowing that the engine has been put together right and will be dependable for another 100,000 miles...

Exhaust Hanger Replacement

Most General Motors musclecar exhaust systems are secured to the underside of the vehicle with exhaust hangers. These metal brackets are attached to pieces of rubber, which flex and allow the pipe to move. Like all rubber items, smog, heat, cold, salt and constant movement wear these parts at an alarming rate. With GM's "over the rear axle" exhaust-tubing design, a loose exhaust pipe can contact several undercarriage spots, resulting in an annoying rattle or occasional bang (as experienced after driving over a serious pothole)...

Exhaust Manifold Restoration

For years restorers were at a loss about what to do with cast-iron exhaust manifolds. A few restorers of large, expensive classic cars would send their manifolds out to be coated with porcelain. Although they looked great all smooth and glossy, the porcelain was prone to chipping and, frankly, didn't look factory correct. Many others took the budget approach and simply painted their manifolds with high-temp spray paint. However, the colors never looked natural and the paint didn't last long before the rust started to show through...

Exhaust System Insulation

It can get pretty warm under the hood of a car. The engine gets plenty hot, and the radiator gives off heat as well. If you have performance equipment like a supercharger or a turbo, you're in for some extreme temperatures. This heat causes many problems, like drying out gaskets and premature leaks in coolant and vacuum systems. Heat also "cooks" sensors and electrical equipment, and can cause discoloration and peeling of metal and painted surfaces. Not to mention burned hands from groping around for dropped tools!..

EZ Tachometer Install

It's interesting to see how things come full circle. Back in the 1960s and '70s, very few, if any, cars came from the factory with a tach. Only the dragsters and serious quarter-mile racers invested in a tach. It was considered "cool" to mount your accessory tachometer on the dash so everyone could see it. Or you could mount it on the steering column so you could see it (without the glare)...

Fuel Brake Line Installation

The 1964-72 GM Chevelle, GTO, Skylark (GS) and Cutlass (4-4-2) A-body vehicles contain basically the same undercarriage. The early versions had the fuel and brake lines running down the driver's side, and the later cars added fuel-return and emissions lines running down either and sometimes both sides of the frame rails. After years of abuse from rust and road debris, these lines should be replaced for safety, particularly if you're doing a major restoration on the car. There are several prominent aftermarket suppliers of pre-bent steel or stainless-steel replacement lines with the correct color-coded end fittings for the discriminating restorer. Here we will look at the basics of installing new fuel and brake lines down the driver's side frame rail on an early A-body. If you have lines on both sides, the process will be almost identical...

Fuel Pressure Gauge Upgrade

Basic law of hot-rodding: the more you choose to modify, the more you have to modify. Build a 400-horse EFI 302 and you're going to need to update the five-speed, the radiator, the clutch, the diff, (perhaps the axles), motor mounts, fuel, ignition, computer mapping, hoses, etc. What else? Surely we've forgotten something. Okay, you'll need a fuel pressure gauge...

Gas Tank Fuel Line Replacement

Whether you're building a restoration down to the last date-coded radiator hose, or a budget street-strip weekend warrior, the one thing to take into account above all else is that these babies rolled off the assembly line almost 40 years ago. That's almost 40 years of winter and summer corrosion, wear and tear, and collected road grime bolted to those four wheels. One area of particular concern is the fuel supply system. That old stamped steel gas tank has likely been back there under the trunk deck a long, long time. There's no telling how much rust, crud, gummy deposits, and old rags used for gas caps are floating around in there. The last thing you need to do is bolt up a crud supply line to your fresh new crate or race engine combination...

GM Gas Tank Replacement

Few of us ever dwell on the fuel we use to power our favorite ride. Except for price fluctuations and an occasional gas shortage, we pump and go. After all, the receptacle that holds that precious fluid is out of sight and out of mind. Over time, age, rust, road damage and other hazards can take a severe toll on this all-important part, and a gasoline leak is highly dangerous. At best, a regular inspection of that venerable old tank is a wise idea—don't wait till it's too late. If you smell gas in the garage, always check your tank for leaks!..

High-Performance Ignition Upgrade

Let's admit it. Nearly anyone who can identify their tools by name can install aftermarket parts on their vehicle. Be it an intake, an ignition system, or something a simple as plug wires, it really doesn't take a genius to toss out the old and install the new. The challenge, it seems, is to install the parts in such a way as to make their appearance nearly invisible. Like a good haircut, we prefer add-on aftermarket parts to go unnoticed. We like the stock look, but prefer the modified performance...

Holley 4-barrel Carburetor Rebuild

It's pretty common for those of us building project cars to wind up rebuilding a used engine as well. And many of the engines come with a Holly four-barrel carburetor, so it pays to know how to work on one. A new unit starts around $290, but most carburetors last forever and with a rebuild kit (about $35) and an hour or two on the workbench, you will have a unit that perhaps runs even better than new...

How To Install Urethane Swaybar Bushings

Restification and Restomod are a couple of popular terms flying around the restoration industry for the past couple of years. These custom word contractions come from melding the terms restoration and modification together. And while they seem to be oxymorons in terms of language, in practice they fit together quite well...

How to keep Drum Brakes cool

When disc brakes first began to appear on racing cars in the early 1950s, there was intense speculation as to whether they would ever be as effective as drum brakes. Drum brakes had been refined until they were pretty efficient binders, even for big-bore road racers, hot rods and stock cars. Today, the brake battle is over, with discs emerging as the easy winner in terms of stopping power, longevity and weight. However, restorers, vintage racers and nostalgia rodders are still getting amazing results with drum brakes, using a mix of period technology and modern materials...

How to Make Trim Pieces

Since the dawn of the automotive age a century ago, gauges have been required to monitor the condition of an auto engine. Even the simplest internal combustion or steam engine needs a watchdog. Mechanical gauges were the first type used, and they were usually driven by the part they were relegated to check. For instance, early speedometers were driven at the hub of a front wheel on some powered buggies. Water temperature or steam pressure was monitored at the radiator with a Manometer (a water thermometer) or a direct-sight steam gauge at the boiler...

Independent Rear Suspension Install

In Ford's four decades of producing Mustangs, nearly all of them have come equipped with a live-axle rear end. Not that there's anything wrong with a straight axle—it's sturdy, inexpensive, and hooks up better in straight-line acceleration. So why even consider switching to an independent rear suspension (IRS)?..

Installing Oxygen Sensors

A number of hot rod and street rod builders are beginning to use engines with modern electronic fuel injection (EFI), largely because it offers improved drivability and requires less maintenance than a carburetor. The only downside is that EFI requires installing an oxygen sensor in the exhaust system. It's a fairly simple procedure, though, as shown here...

Manual and Electric Trunk Access

Sometime in the early Sixties a Detroit whiz kid came up with the idea of offering a remote trunk opening gizmo—a device that would allow you to unlatch the trunk without getting out of the car. The implications were enormous, particularly during the days when the box boy at the market would bring the groceries out to your car. Drive up, pop the trunk and you're gone! WOW, what a concept!..

Oil Pump Restoration

Most high-production engine rebuilders simply replace the oil pump when rebuilding an engine. Reason? Oil pumps are relatively inexpensive, and for most popular engines, high-pressure and high-volume pumps are readily available. But for those rebuilding a less popular "fringe" engine, you will have to restore—or more accurately "blueprint"—the existing pump. Although it sounds technical, the actual process is relatively easy and requires only a set of feeler gauges, a flat surface and some sandpaper. Best of all, it should only cost you a couple of bucks for materials...

Pedal Box Restoration

A number of street rod companies offer fiberglass bodies and kits at various levels of completion. Many of the bare-bones basic kits don't come with all the parts needed to complete the car. That's where swap meets, salvage yards and want ads come in. For many of us, collecting the parts is half the fun. Of course, a bit of elbow grease is necessary as well, along with some custom fabrication. One of the more common projects involves making and installing a box for the throttle, brake and clutch pedals...

Port Matching Your Intake Manifold

Nearly every performance car guy has made an intake swap in the quest for better breathing and improved performance. The problem is that after spending a couple of hours making the swap, sometimes little if any gain is achieved. You scratch your head, yell at the dog, and are downright mad about investing your good time and money for relatively no performance gain. You wonder why...

Positraction Install

Ford's 8.8-inch differential is a strong and popular rear end for retrofitting classic or older cars. It can readily handle the power and torque of a modified 302- or 351-cubic inch Ford small block V8. And Positraction, or Posi for short, is easy to obtain because it came stock in the later-model Mustangs and many other late-model Ford cars and trucks. Positraction is Eaton's trade name for the company's limited slip differential. It was first introduced in 1961 and gained notoriety during the musclecar era as a strong, reliable unit...

Pumping Iron

Many owners restoring their classic cars, street rods, or older vehicles want to in the process add modern features such as power steering. This type of project, often called a "restomod," since it includes restoration and modifications and/or modernizing, may also include improving the output and reliability of the engine...

Radiator Caps Restoration

One of the earliest pioneers of engine cooling was Carl Benz who, in the mid-1880s, devised what is called the Thermo-Siphoning system of cooling. No water pump was used, as the system utilized the principal that hot water, being less dense than cool water, will rise in a non-vented cooling system. This hot water will cool as it rises through the radiator and then gravity-feeds back into the engine. Primitive, but effective, for the low-performance engines of the time...

Rekindling Side Marker Lights

While the restoration parts industry is booming for Chevy parts, the other three GM brands (Buick, Olds and Pontiac) sometimes suffer due to the small number of vehicles originally manufactured. Tooling to make repro parts is expensive, and if the sales numbers don't justify the expense, owners of these vehicles are simply out of luck for replacements. These side marker lights from a 1969 Buick GS convertible are original and in salvageable condition. The bare metal retaining brackets are covered in surface rust, but after light sandblasting, they'll be as good as new. The plastic lenses are mildly cracked and will polish out with a little elbow grease. The biggest problem is the surround bezels on the plastic lenses. Sometime in the dim past, probably during a repaint, some cretin with a sanding block scuffed the metal trim pieces. We'll attempt to restore all these items—no replacements are available from the restoration aftermarket. While we are dealing here with Buick lights, the basic resto techniques will work for most manufacturers...

Relocating a Battery

Think of your battery as a 60-pound lead weight—because that's exactly what it is. In most vehicles, it's mounted far forward and just low enough to clear the hood for easy access and maintenance. Performance enthusiasts and hardcore drag racers discovered that relocating this massive weight to the trunk improved the static weight distribution for better traction. OE auto manufacturers such as BMW place the battery under the rear seat to improve weight distribution and cornering capabilities. The mass of a battery doesn't sound like much compared to the overall 4,000 pounds of vehicle mass, but when you think of that 60 pounds out on the end of a 15-foot lever, its location takes on more significance...

Replacing Coil Springs

Just as gravity makes the human body sag over time, it can also cause our cars to droop. More specifically, routine wear and tear causes metal parts to fatigue; and, suspension components eventually tire of absorbing road impact while also supporting the weight of the car's body. New springs can restore the vehicle to its original height and ride quality. The focus of this story is how to replace old coil springs on vehicles that have independent A-arm suspensions...

Restoring a Classic Suspension

In the last article (Keeping You In Suspension) we discussed how to improve the deteriorating handling characteristics of an aging car. Let's start out by summing up what the repairs and restoration may involve...

Shift Enhancements for Your Automatic

The term "slushbox" was coined to describe the less-than-optimum shift characteristics of factory automatic transmission. All major manufacturers between the '50s and '70s offered mushy-shifting two- and three-speed automatics. To increase performance for non-standard uses such as towing or racing, automatics often received internal adjustments, machining and other refinements...

Single Wire Ignition Upgrade

If your classic GM V8 is throwing a spark across a set of points, then you've either become proficient at adjusting and replacing those points or have paid out a fortune over the years to a mechanic to maintain the spark in your classic. Well, toss out your dwell meter because M&H Electric Fabricators has an electronic ignition upgrade conversion that is so easy to install you'll be shocked...

Speedometer Cable Replacement

If your speedometer has been acting weird—the needle jerking wildly or not moving at all—chances are that its cable is bad. Like most other automobile parts, speedo cables eventually wear out and need to be replaced. Throughout the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, many vehicles came with completely mechanical cables that run from the speedometer in the dash directly to the transmission. The smaller end of the cable attaches to the back of the speedometer, and the larger fitting screws onto a housing on the transmission or transfer case...

Steering Joint Upgrade

Wear on your steering system may not show up all at once. You just adapt to it until one day you realize you've got a whole lot of play in the steering wheel; or, worse yet, too much play in the wheels...

Steering Wheel RR

Although I've worked on cars for more than 35 years, I've never removed a steering wheel—not that I shouldn't have. Some of the cars I've owned have had horns that didn't blow and signal lights that didn't cancel. And more than one of my resto projects needed to have the cracks in the wheel rim repaired and painted to finish off the project. If I had known how easy it was to remove and replace the steering wheel and hub assembly, I would have done it a lot sooner...

Swapping Rear-End Gears

In early September 1964, a southern Californian who loved the styling of the new 1965 GTO checked all the right boxes on the dealer order form except one: the rear gearing. This musclecar was delivered with a 3.23:1 non-positraction rear end, and it stayed that way until a recent horsepower upgrade and transmission rebuild demanded more low-end performance. The decision was made to yank the one-legger and install 3.55:1 gears and a posi...

Taillight Housing Resto

Safety should always be the primary concern while driving your car, particularly at night. Bright, functional turn signals and taillights play a key role in that safety. Especially with older muscle cars, the taillights don't shine as brightly as when new. Here is some illuminating information that every car restorer should know...

Thread Repairs 101

With all of the reproduction parts available, vehicle restoration has become an R&R (remove and replace) operation. By contrast, old-time restorers of rare and early vehicles have always restored vehicles by refinishing the worn, tattered and crumpled parts that came on the vehicle. While most modern day restoration enthusiasts don't have the equipment and the skills to renew everything, repairing a part with stripped or crossed threads or a part with a broken bolt is a fairly easy. And although new reproduction parts may look inviting, the more original parts you have on your car, the more desirable it is...

Traction Bars

Traction bars have been around for a long time. They are great for reducing or preventing wheel hop and spring wrap-up on cars with rear leaf springs, especially in drag racing situations. Not only do they add to the performance aspect of the car, but also these chrome traction bars look great on the car...

Transmission Cooler Line Resto

Automatic transmission cooler lines will probably never make the top of the list when planning a restoration. They're just there—virtually hidden from view—and they don't attract any attention unless they leak. However, there are a couple of scenarios that will focus your attention on finding or making suitable replacements. Scenario #1: You go to remove the radiator and the first thing that happens is you round off the cooler line nuts (even with a line wrench) when you try to loosen them, leaving you with an ugly solution—Vise-Grips. Or, scenario #2: The last hack artist who did an engine rebuild on your car couldn't remember where the cooler lines were routed and just re-bent them to fit into a new location...

U Joints - Installing New Universal Joints

Most rear-wheel-drive cars and trucks will need the universal joints replaced at least once during their service life and possibly more often if it's a high-performance vehicle or equipped with a manual transmission. U-joint life can be extended with periodic maintenance by greasing the zerk fittings (if so equipped), but general abuse such as popping the clutch and full-throttle power shifts will shorten U-joint life considerably...

Unusual Angles and Sine Plate Calculation

If you are making a custom part for your vehicle, in most cases it will not be shaped like a simple rectangle. Take a quick peek under the hood of even the simplest vehicle and you will find complex angles and curves due to the complex jobs that the parts accomplish. Most of us however, do not have access to a full machine shop with the most capable (and expensive) machines and computers. The equipment discussed below is the kind that you might find in a home machine shop, and will not completely break your budget...

Upgrading Torque Converters

If your vehicle is pre-'90s and has an automatic transmission, chances are it could really benefit from a modern performance torque converter. In its quest for more efficiency and performance, the auto industry has put an incredible amount of research and development into torque converters. The result is torque converters that provide much more torque multiplication (more on that later) and higher efficiency. These benefits are available for your older vehicle and will literally transform the way it drives and performs...

Upgrading Your Bushings

We all know what it's like to suffer from sore joints. Even if you're in good physical condition, without enough cushioning between your bones, ordinary motions can be difficult. Now, apply that same concept to the suspension on your old car or truck. The bushings found on the control arms, leaf springs and various mounts are like the cartilage between your joints. The manufacturer normally equips a vehicle with rubber bushings, which provide a soft ride. Over time, however, the rubber begins to wear from oil and other contaminants under your vehicle, and the suspension components start to bind. That's when the automotive equivalent of arthritis sets in, and your vehicle's performance suffers (not to mention your own level of ride and handling comfort). Worn bushings are one of the major reasons for road wander. Rubber bushings may crush down before the suspension can respond to a bumpy road, allowing for play or wobble...