So far this has been a great project - Just as long as Krista doesn't throw me out of the house that is!!! My main objective is to get Candy (yeah, that's her name!) on the road with a little more power and handling than she had factory. Hopefully the motor that I am building will produce 425-475 HP with about 525 ft. pounds of torque. The 400 is being stroked to 461 CID. Candy's power plant has Eagle forged rods, pistons and stroker crank. In addition I am using Comp Cams XE274, an Edelbrock RPM intake and a Holley 750. I went with a 700R4 tranny and 3:42 posi rear-end.

Thanks for puttin up with my obession baby!

Krista

Here is my progress to date...

2009
January:
I'm not doing a full frame off and up restoration. However it feels like it! So far I have replaced the passenger side floor panel which I didn't discover until I brought the car home (OKC) from Texas where I bought it.

In addition, I have removed the surface rust from the entire floor board and painted it with KBS Rust Seal which has a kick ass finish - like glass! I then top-coated it with a rubberized sound proofing spray on.

February:
I am now working on getting the underside coated as well as the sub-frame, firewall, cross members and radiator core support. I want to get it all coated then get the sub-frame bushings installed and touch up the paint after that.

March:
I am installing polyeurothane bushings for a stiffer ride and longer wear. Once the sub-frame bushings are installed I will replace the upper & lower a-arm bushings, inner & outer tie rods ends and the sway arm bushings. I will check the front springs to see if they need to be replaced as I want to lower it about 2 inches.

I just got through installing the passenger side door and drip rail weather stripping I purchased from TAMRAZ'S. It is really quality stuff except the door trim didn't fit well near the back side of the window so they are replacing it. The product name is Super Soft Gold. I have yet to see how it will turn out, but I'll let you know!

Ok - So TAMRAZ'S got the weater strip I sent back and let me know that the part number and product are correct so they sent me a refund. Now I am looking for another set of door weather strip.

April:
The sub-frame bushings went in earlier this month however I didn't realize there are alignment holes. Now I have to loosen them and align them up properly. That should be fun because both of the "mounted" nuts that mate to the bolts broke lose when I was taking them off to replace the bushings. They are hard to get a hold of but I have faith I can do it!

I now have the a-arms back and they are ready to go back on the car. I also have the bearing kit and new rotors which is my next project. Once they are installed, and the sub-frame is alligned, I will drop it back down and pull the fuel tank for inspection and clean out the fuel lines.

I got my heads back from DJ's Custom Engines in Lexington Oklahoma where they did port and polish w/ bowl work. I then took them to my machinist/engine builder, Dale Smith of Country Auto in McCloud Oklahoma. He builds a lot of street/strip motors and dirt track motors. I can't wait till it is done!

May:
Neighbors suck! I was called in by one, or more of them, to the City. I was told I could not have a vehicle in the driveway that was not running. Ok, I admit it is a little shabby looking but the neighbors just don't get it! Most of the guys on the block always come down to see what I'm doing and how it's goint - they even throw in a hand if needed. But the old grumpy guy next door is a different story. Looks like I'm forced to put the front clip back on - And I did. However the body didn't line up as I figured... That's another story - for now it's on and the Cith has been working with me as even the inspector likes my project!

Started in on the a-arms, upper/lower ball joints and tie rod ends this month. I took the a-arms to Terry and sons front end so they could press in the new polyurethane bushings. I got them back about 4 days later and began putting them back on the vehicle. JOY! They didn't seem to be as easy to put back on as it appears the a-arms were pushed further apart than they were when I took them off. It could also be that the new bushings stuck out a little farther than the original ones... OK - DONE.

Now the springs of death... Jeez! I have replaced the springs in 3 vehicles - never used a spring compressor and now I see why I'm lucky to be alive! While using the compressor, I got the spring in place. Then started to move the lower control arm up to the mating surface. Once in place, I put a floor jack under the control arm to hold it in place as I tightened up the compressor. Well, I guess I took too much pressure off of the compressor and it let go of the spring! WOW!! it threw the car up about 5 inches and over to one side about 2 inches and just barely caught one of the jack stands or my whole car would hve been thrown to the ground. Lesson learned.

Springs, a-arms, ball joints, tie rods, spindels new bearings, calipers and new rotors are now all in place. It took about 5 days of solid work - I thought it'd be a 1 day job. But it's done. Aftr a lesson on how to bend new break lines...

The frame alignment is complete now as well. It was really a lot easier than I had anticipated . Thank you God!

June:
Candy's engine is finnaly back! She's a beauty too! I have a bit of a problem though. The machinist (Dale Smith of Country Auto in McCloud OK,) told me the intake must have been milled previously - Well I know it wasn't. Instead of him telling me what my options were he just put the motor back together without mentioning it till I picked it up. Not cool! He had to use 2 gaskets to seal the intake to heads. I asked if the heads got milled and he said no. Then I asked what compression I was going to have. I had asked for 9.75:1 - he said 10.5:1 Not what I wanted as Pontiac 400 have a problem with detonation beyond 9.75:1. So I called him and asked how he got 10.5:1 compression and he said he milled .030 off the heads... BINGO! That's why the intake didn't fit. He did not agree and now won't return a call. I'll be driving there soon! I have recently found out that the compression should be about 9.4:1 if in fact there was .030 taken off the heads... I'm ok with this if it is true but who knows - Damn it seems to me that it would have s.o.p. to give me a call none the less.

Moving on... I have decided to go with a 700R-4 transmission. Got it built at Blumenthal's - bullet proof up to 600 HP. I went with a 2600 stall. Now I have to get the drive shaft cut down about 3 inches and move the tranny mount back as well.

I have been picking up parts as I go to make the engine/tranny install as flawless as possible. So far I have the carb, fuel line from fuel pump to carb, plugs, wires, looms, all the wiring harness is cleaned up with new wrap, alternator, 2 water pumps (I'll see which one fits closest to the pump plate and use that one), starter, carb linkage, tranny kick down cable (TBI cable), tranny fluid dip stick, fuel vapor canister, battery tray and hold down, and a bunch of other little things...

Next project is the fuel tank. I ordered one out of Canada. It is a nice piece and fit well. Putting in the new fuel sending unit was easy and complete. All I have to do now is clean out the old fuel lines that run from the tank to the motor.

July:
I had 3 different body guys come look at my car to give me an estimate. 2 of the 3 said they couldn't even come close to telling me what it would cost to get the body lines straight... WOW! How long have you been doing this? I mean if the car was wrecked, they could give me an estimate, if the car was burned they could give me an astimate but noooo - too hard to tell when a car is all together and just needs body panels aligned. The range was from $400 to $1200. I went with Maaco to do the job. They are going to align the doors, fenders, hood nose piece and radiator core support. Then they will do the light body work and prime it. The front end will be complete and I will feel comfortable with moving on to drop the motor and tranny. Maaco may have a flawed name in some minds but I won't pay until I am good with what they have done.

It is kind of nice to not have the car here since we are experiencing 100+ temps! I think I'll just chill for a couple weeks and wait to see Candy!

August:
Maaco has had my car for a couple weeks - Still haven't touched it...

September:
Ok - so now Maaco has had it 7 weeks! They claim that the guy that took my car in doesn't work there anymore - So I went up there to find out what's up and they told me they didn't know what to do with it - When I told them what I had it there for they were shocked and said they wouldn't do what I had in writing they would do for the agreed upon price... Today I took my paperwork to them and showed them what was supposed to be done - They still say they won't do the fender flair... MAACO SUCKS ASS!

October:
Car is still there - I have burned up their phone, made drop ins on them and still can't get satisfaction of a finish date - WHAT SHIT HEADS!

November:
Got the car back today... I was so glad that they called me and told me it was finished that I immidately called a tow truck and had it brought to my house... BIG MISTAKE! It looks like I did the work - If I wanted it to look like that I would have done it myself!

December:
Not much time or money to drop into my bottomless pit this month... WOW 14.5" of show slows my working a bit too - since I work on it in my driveway!

HAPPY 2010!!!
January:
Ok - after further review of my car, Maaco has left out bolts (bolts they said they didn't have back in mid summer and I went and bought new ones), they didn't tighten up most bolts so when I do it will move the body parts - the whole reason I took it there was to line up the fenders, doors, hood and nose piece. Anyway - DON'T GO TO MAACO!!! I knew better - $750 later and I want to punch the pricks in the face.
On a better note I have gotten in some New Old Stock door weatherstrip from NewGMParts.net - I spoke with Mike and he was great. Thanks Mike! It seems to match up well but I haven't actually installed it yet.

Now the weather stripping is installed and all looks great. I also replaced the windshield because it first of all had a crack in it but more important it had a couple of rust spots I had to fix. I got my windshield from GlassMasters here in OKC. He came out and removed the windshield and 5 days later came and reinstalled it. Mine had the antena in it and that is what it was replaced with. The few days between gave me the time to fix the rusty spots. I also had new retaining clips installed for the windshield trim. I have put a couple videos up and hope you check 'em out.