My Daddywagon

Its one of those used car badges

 

I had to go back to look at my picture of the car... yup! It's a match.

 

Update: the starter and flywheel have been replaced. Next up is to remove the wheels, wax the wheels, paint the calipers red and drive the Daddywagon to close out the season. Aftet that I am gonna work on the park brake system and swap out the dash and console.

 

I ended up doing the starter and flywheel in the street because I couldn't push the car into the driveway.
Here you can see the broken ear on the old starter. Hopefully the new starter will fair better.
I counted the teeth on the flywheels to make sure they matched up. The old flywheel may look good on this side but on the other side of the flywheel you would see that the teeth are all chewed up.

 

what an awesome project. i didnt think i had time to go through this whole thread; i went through all 39 pages. was full steam ahead for about the first 10 pages, then it seems like life caught up to ya. i totally get it man. looks like the luster picked back up around page 30 though. its been literal years, but a great story none the less.

 

Thanks! Trust me... if I had the money and the time this would not be a multiple year project! Haha! I definitely appreciate the praise, especially since I am the only person working on this car. My daughter helped me tighten some bolts when I couldn't be inside and outside of the car at the same time, and my son helps me bleed the brakes. Oh, and I don't have access to a tire machine and balancer so credit to the tire shop.

 

cool GT40 manifold, did the 86 mustang get trashed?

 

Yes. That 1986 GT convertible is looong gone.

 

I tried to scuff up my front calipers and paint them red. Well it looks like a 5 year old painted them because the paint dried too quickly in the sun and there were brush strokes everywhere. It doesn't help that the supplied brush isn't very good.

 

The calipers still look like crap but I put them on anyway. I've been busy trying to grow a new lawn in my backyard but I finally got back to the wagon today. The Galfer brand pads that came with the Brembo calipers are brake dusting really bad. The picture is after maybe a 10 mile test drive. I have to buy ceramic or something to decrease the brake dust.

 

Those center caps are mean

 

Thanks!

 

I have been driving the Daddywagon to work quite a bit lately. It's about 30 miles each way and since my fuel gauge is inop and my speedo calibration is off I have been filling up each morning. Each fill up is about 6 gallons / $14 and change. That puts me at 10mpg. I think that is more of a reflection on how I drive the car than an accurate measure of fuel mileage.

 

“I built a monster station wagon that kills just sitting still. I can’t imagine why my mileage is crappy.”





My Olds got 7 city, 9 highway. You’re doing great.

 

Vista Cruiser 442 with the 455?

 

Naw, 1979 Toronado with a GM-employee (Grandpa was in engineering management) modification; the 350 was replaced with a 403 Rocket. It never met a gas station it didn’t like.

 

I rock that...er drive it too

 

I love those Vista Cruiser wagons. I love that glass in the roof. My dad had a Squareback, a Volare, and a Country Squire. Those are the ones I remember growing up. Sprinkled in there was a Granada a Demon and a Town Car. There is probably more if I think about it.

 

SCORE!

 

Ok... it's not a T56 Magnum but it is a T56! The current gearbox will not downshift smoothly into second and the gap from fourth to overdrive is annoying. The T56 will hopefully address both of my complaints!