The New, Newer Project: Part Tres...

[njsteve]

And the driver's side:

[njsteve]

Here's something interesting. I have never seen this bracket on the cross member the purpose of which is to retain the speedometer cable.



This clip is on the driver's side inner frame rail:



This bracket is on the driver's side inner frame rail below the steering column:

[67 442]

Has the exhaust system been replaced?

[njsteve]

No, that is the original exhaust system, including muffler. The SD455s had a unique system made of multiple tubes that were welded together to make the long sections.

[njsteve]

Started tinkering yesterday. The original master cylinder was leaking badly at the rear seal by the booster. Brake fluid was running down onto the subframe. Luckily I still had the reproduction master cylinder left over from the black 72. So I installed that one as a stuntman for the original one while I send this one out to Whitepost.

From sitting for 40 years with the same brake fluid, the bottom of the reservoir was filled to about 1/4 inch with rusty colored goo. It was a bear to get the inner far piston out. That same rusty goo was in the bore area as well and not only pitted the bore but devoured the valve itself:

You can see that these master cylinders were painted a flat black originally. Not a lot of the paint remains but it is there in places.









Here is the reproduction bleeder style master cylinder in place with the original cap and bail on it.

[njsteve]

And after driving it 75 miles or so in the past week I noticed that the car runs at 205 degrees on the temp gauge. I confirmed this with the infrared heat gun (so the gauge is actually accurate!). The temp would never rise above that, even when sitting in traffic or under throttle - very stable, just hotter than I would like.

Since the thermostat housing was leaking I decided to check the thermostat. Looks like it was the original thermostat with a Delco stamp and a 195 rating.

The unique "LS2" ID stamp on the SD455 intake, and the leaky thermostat housing:



"DELCO" on the top side:



"195" rating on the bottom side:



Since I had a spare 160 thermostat on the workbench, I threw that in, replaced the gasket and tightened everything back up. While I was there I used a little Windex and gently cleaned the area surrounding the housing. With the 160 thermostat in it, the car runs much cooler now - like 160 or so - barely hitting the first notch on the gauge on a 75 degree day today.

[njsteve]

While under the car yesterday I noticed both valve covers were leaking oil. Not wanting to open the top of the engine I looked closely at the valve cover bolts and noticed that oil was seeping out from under them. When I shut the car off I could see a little bubble of oil oozing out from underneath one of them by the main leak trail. I went to tighten it and it was barely finger tight. So, one at a time I removed each valve cover bolt, wiped it off, applied a bit of sealer on the thread and tightened them down. Hopefully that will stop the leak(s).

As you can see, the wire retainer brackets were on the engines when they were painted:



And the unique SD455 valve cover warning label:



The SD455-only oil filler cap with the PCV within it. The PCV's on the SD455s were relocated to a valve cover oil cap from the intake manifold due to the increased internal pressures in the intake valley where the regular engines have them mounted.



The stenciled hose for the PCV filler cap.

[SS427]

Totally awesome. Thanks for sharing some of the photos. I see the backing plates were also painted with the wheel cylinders and bleeders in palce which I commonly see though most (including me) restore them in natural finish and natural bolts. Do you see any black paint on the rearend brake lines?

[njsteve]

Brake lines are natural. No paint on them at all.

[njsteve]

Here's another interesting thing. The hood torsion spring has a rubberized green end on it. And the radiator support is date coded.



Original A-6 compressor decal:



And date coded POA valve:



Timing/Emissions decal:



Date coded antifreeze decal: