1969 Galaxie 500 - high school/college kid budget build

BigBlockRanger wrote:He wanted to use the HEI distributor (for simplicity) and it is a tall sucker.  He put a 2" spacer under the car and a flat base air filter to clear the distributor.  We might be able to wiggle stuff around and get a shorter spacer and a drop base in there.  We didn't think it would be an issue, but it doesn't have to have a hood to start up and drive!

Be very careful of those drop base air filters....I've seen too many instances where the throttle gets stuck wide open under the drop base, and cannot return, even with dual return springs!
You need to check for clearance when opening and closing the throttle.

We got a lot of stuff marked off the list this weekend.

Main stuff that is left:
Vacuum modulator vacuum line
Fix battery tray - in progress
Connect oil pressure and water temp gauges
Heater hoses
Plug wires and spark plugs
Install Radiator
Radiator hoses
Install fan

Upper hose fit great. Judd welded up a new battery box because the stock battery area is pretty much gone.




Disaster. Lower hose showed up and it is not correct. I figured it out though. For some reason everyone shows the part number for the hose that fits a tbird or Mark 3 that use the shorty water pump. The outlet on those point to the 3 oclock position, whereas a normal BBF pump points to more like a 4:30 position. The hoses are scarce, but I ordered the correct one from Jegs. Fingers crossed.

BigBlockRanger wrote:Upper hose fit great.  Judd welded up a new battery box because the stock battery area is pretty much gone.




Disaster. Lower hose showed up and it is not correct. I figured it out though. For some reason everyone shows the part number for the hose that fits a tbird or Mark 3 that use the shorty water pump. The outlet on those point to the 3 oclock position, whereas a normal BBF pump points to more like a 4:30 position. The hoses are scarce, but I ordered the correct one from Jegs. Fingers crossed.

FWIW i've had the best luck getting the right radiator hoses for the 429-460 engines at Oreillys Auto Parts!!

Found a hose. One of the sites I looked at cross referenced a lower hose for a Jaguar XJS (78-92 V12). Ok. Whatever. None were available locally but Autozone.com showed they could have it here by Thursday, so I went ahead and ordered it. It showed up today (a day early) and wonder of wonders, it fits.

We are literally two transmission hoses and fluids away from firing this sucker up. The hang up is the fact Judd is out of town for a week!! The suspense is killing me!

It works.  Carb is a bit wonky.  I think the rear float is stuck because fuel is coming out of the booster all the time.

I tried everything to get the fuel to quit dripping from the booster today. Then I though maybe it just has too much fuel pressure. Checked and it bounces over 9psi when running. I have a reg but we ran out of time today.

BigBlockRanger wrote:It works.  Carb is a bit wonky.  I think the rear float is stuck because fuel is coming out of the booster all the time.

https://youtu.be/c-U1zKWNINA

Sounds pretty good and the best part is the smile on your sons face when it fired up!! What cam did you end up going with?

Yeah, I wanted to make sure I got his face in the vid.

Judd picked a Lunati Voodoo 10340704

Hyd Flat Tappet
233/244 @ 50
.564/.582
110 LSA

BigBlockRanger wrote:Yeah, I wanted to make sure I got his face in the vid.    

Judd picked a Lunati Voodoo 10340704

Hyd Flat Tappet
233/244 @ 50
.564/.582
110 LSA

It would be great to see this at the Big Block Ford Reunion Race in Paducah.

I wish we could, but Judd has to report to the Air Force Academy June 23 for basic cadet training. He won't get to come home until Thanksgiving. Gonna miss that guy.

BigBlockRanger wrote:Yeah, I wanted to make sure I got his face in the vid.    

Judd picked a Lunati Voodoo 10340704

Hyd Flat Tappet
233/244 @ 50
.564/.582
110 LSA

4.11 Gears right?Sounds like that cam will need a Stall Converter For Sure!!

Yes 4.11's. The converter is the one I used to run in the red Mustang. I bet it will flash to 3800-4000 off the line. It might be a little on the loose side, but it's prob the best fit out of the ones we had on hand.

Whaaaahooo!!!



Hood fits, doesn't get hot, oil pressure is good, new front wheels and tires on!

Good times with Judd!! No burnout because the rear tires are suuuuper duper sketchy and because I think the trans is low on fluid.

Need to monkey with the carb a little, check trans fluid and adjust brakes.

That is sooooo cool! Congratulations!

Awesome build guys !!

This car was last on the road in 2002. One year before Judd was born. Last night it made it's first passes down a dragstrip. We fought issues with carb and ignition all evening but we had a blast anyway. Judd worked his butt off on this thing and it was good to get to finally enjoy it.

I was worried about the trans and converter, but they really worked great! Car was cutting 2.00 60 foot times. I was pretty happy with that considering this thing prob weighs 4200 at the line.

Man, this car is rad.
https://youtu.be/uL3tIBgRO0s

look good going down the track it did look like it was flooding a little when he left the line was that him or the chevy busting up on top end looked like the truck got him off the line, but it looked like he ran him down and passed him

I know he is a very happy young man

That was him breaking up. He monkeyed with it and never got it to make a clean pass. He didn't care though. He was just happy to be there with a car he bought 6 months ago and worked so hard on.

BigBlockRanger wrote:This car was last on the road in 2002. One year before Judd was born. Last night it made it's first passes down a dragstrip. We fought issues with carb and ignition all evening but we had a blast anyway. Judd worked his butt off on this thing and it was good to get to finally enjoy it.

I was worried about the trans and converter, but they really worked great! Car was cutting 2.00 60 foot times. I was pretty happy with that considering this thing prob weighs 4200 at the line.

Man, this car is rad.
https://youtu.be/uL3tIBgRO0s

Very Very Cool i know the car was breaking up but what were the best times?

BigBlockRanger wrote:That was him breaking up.  He monkeyed with it and never got it to make a clean pass.  He didn't care though. He was just happy to be there with a car he bought 6 months ago and worked so hard on.  

It sounded like not enough amperage getting to the ignition.

He never made a full pass.  The first pass was a 15.88 but he backed off as soon as it started popping and just motored on to the finish.  It went downhill from there. Haha. Add to it being 95 degrees and our DA is usually 6000+ feet here.

This was his only chance to tnt it before he leaves for USAFA. I have some other ignition options we may try out.  

I wanted to use that HEI because it was proven and I was 99.9% sure it would fire right off when we were breaking in the cam.  We might ditch it and go with a more traditional Ford setup.  We have plenty of time to fiddle with that now. Once sorted I think it will run really good.

Also I can't BELIEVE the trans works as good as it does. It was disgusting on the outside and I am not sure it has ever been rebuilt. It was in the F250 when I bought it. We just opened it up and Judd put a shift improver kit in it and crossed our fingers. Haha.

BigBlockRanger wrote:He never made a full pass.  The first pass was a 15.88 but he backed off as soon as it started popping and just motored on to the finish.  It went downhill from there. Haha.  Add to it being 95 degrees and our DA is usually 6000+ feet here.    

I wanted to use that HEI because it was proven and I was 99.9% sure it would fire right off when we were breaking in the cam.  We might ditch it and go with a more traditional Ford setup.  We have plenty of time to fiddle with that now. Once sorted I think it will run really good.

The H.E.I. does work when using an ignition 20A relay using full battery power to the ignition with a #12 or larger wire.
I say that because I have been there with a customer vehicle.
Part throttle does not need near as much amperage as under a load at higher RPM full throttle.

Thanks Randy! That is something we will look into. We might be a little light on wire size feeding the distributor.

The current setup is power off an underhood fuse block that we added, to a heavy duty toggle switch and then out to the distributor. Judd wanted it simple so we made it simple. Haha.