Well, I won't be making it to Norwalk tomorrow. Seems my carb is dumping fuel into my cylinders for some reason. Taking stuff apart again!

Are you using non-oxygenated gas ? If not, the floats/needles may be gummy and sticking. Probably just need a clean out and drop the float a hair. Very common issue with Holley's.

Recovered from my tach mounting faux pas...works pretty good in this location and doesn't block anything but a couple of idiot lights.
Also bolted on my 15 x 8 Cragars to verify clearances before sourcing aluminum slots and slicks for the Rat's Nest theme. These Cragars have a 4" backspace and the Pro Tracs are 9.25" tread with a 10.5" section and 27.75" diameter. With the car weight on the tire, the top of the tire is just below the wheel opening. I'm thinking I need a 15 x 10 wheel with a 3.5" to 4.0" backspace with a 10" wide slick. Anyone have a wheel/tire combo like that that can show me how it looks mounted on the car?

That looks awesome- great story!

Pre-Rat's Nest photo shoot
 

Took the car out for a photo shoot with a professional photographer (not me). I wanted to get some high quality photos of the car in its as built configuration before I do the Rat's Nest conversion (October) for the MCACN show and probably for the rest of my ownership. These few are just from my cell phone, the couple of previews of his shots look pretty incredible compared to these, but thought I would share a few. Enjoy!

Very nice, Jim! :biggthumpup:

Wow!!!!!

Got the car out for the hometown show, thought capturing a little idle video would be fun. Probably woke the neighbors up.

You've done such an incredible job restoring this car. I love the story and I love how you put all the pieces of the puzzle together. It was fun for me watching both your build and Graeme's build while I'm doing my own build.

I'm sure the open headers sound bitchin in person, this video does not do it justice. Can't wait to see the next step.

I couldn't agree more! :biggthumpup:

Here we go!
 

Headed off tomorrow to get the vinyl wrap. I'm pretty stoked to get to this milestone in the Rat's Nest conversion.

The wrap will really bring back the nostalgia feel for that car.
Next summer, you should bolt on a pair of sticky wrinkle walls and get a pic at the local strip with the front tires in the air to hang next to the original pics you have...:headbang:

Can’t wait it to see this transformation! Great idea Jim

Already in the plans.....Doug Davis who owned/created/drove Rat's Nest back in the early '70's passed away in 2006. His son Denny still drag races with Doug's old racing partner (and the guy who painted Rat's Nest back in 1970) Rick Wilkin. Those two guys will take it down the track at KilKare next season. IDK about the wheel stand thing (don't want to tear up the BE), but the slicks are in the garage waiting to be installed.:biggthumpup: Seeing those two guys take it down the track 50 years later is the #1 reason I'm doing all this.

Your car is lovely!

How is that wrap coming along now...or is that reveal being saved for Chicago?

Dying to see it. :naughty:

x2

X3

X4

'

x5 = time's up!:biggthumpup:
:beers:
~ Pete

.

I definitely appreciate the interest guys.....nothing to show yet. Wrap should be finished up Monday or Tuesday. A couple of progress pics the guy sent me shows that he is "nailing" the recreation from the vintage photos I gave him including the Rat's Nest door name. I won't hold out for an MCACN unveiling since y'all have been so helpful to me over the almost 4 years since I bought the car. I probably will wait to post pics until I get the Fentons/slicks/traction bars/speed stickers installed since a Rats Nest would look kind of dorky with XT's and dog dishes:grin: Probably some time next weekend I'm guessing. Here's a couple of the vintage pics just to remind you what the goal is.

Being completely honest...I'm totally OK waiting to see it debut at MCACN which is now only 3 weeks away. I'll totally get it if you lift the wraps off it here, but I'd still suggest you reveal it there when it's dialed in for it's big show? Whichever is the case...you've earned the accolades that go along with the cars restoration Jim.

Fantastic work on the car and kudos to you for it all being finished in time for the show.

Cheers...G

I totally agree with this. :biggthumpup:

Yep, me three....keep us in suspense for 3 more weeks. It will be even more fun at MCACN...:worship:

Weeeelllll.....keeping y'all in suspense might be what I have to do. Picked up the car tonight and the Rats Nest logo will need to be redone. The rest of the work turned out great. Bringing the car back Saturday and will spend some time at his computer with him to get it all dialed in right.
Oh well, another small setback on the project that creates a lost weekend of work. Looks like there will be a lot of late evenings of "thrashing" again.

Really appreciate the effort you are making to recreate the race car look, all too many COPO Camaros have lost all of that.

Old cars are great - aren't they? LOL

Sorry things need to be redone...but love that you'll keep everyone in suspense :)

Congratulations on being the proud creator of post number "427":headbang:

I had cleaned up and installed the set of Holley valve covers that I got with the car. I had a vintage photo of them on the car from the late 1970's. I've never been able to pin down when those were produced but it seems like a late '70's thing. So I picked up a set of Cal Customs for MCACN. Still work in progress (320 grit stage now) and picked up a pair of NOS Cal Custom breathers from Jason (SuperNovaSS) off this site. Going to look better I think:biggthumpup:

.

You are a teaser...:biggthumpup:

Made a trip to southern Ohio today to pick up a helmet to match the car. Denny and Rick used Denny's dad's original helmet as a pattern to create a duplicate using Lemans blue instead of the original ice blue. Had them both sign it too! I gave Denny the original driver's door glass out of his Dad's car for him to hang on his garage wall. It was a great day!

Very cool !!!
That's neat that you gave him the glass. Have you planned for this for some time and replaced the glass with new ?

Badass helmet. Very cool to give him the door glass. I’m sure he was happy.

The original glass had a few spots where it was hit with a sandblaster by the guy that restored the car black/gold in 1978 so I sourced an original date coded piece to replace it. Denny can now hang this on his garage wall along with hids Dad's helmet.
Seems like every time I visit these guys I get a little more info from them. The car hauler they used to haul Rat's Nest around was a silver 1969 C30 chassis truck they bought new and immediately stretched the frame on and added ramps to haul their A990 hemi car. When they got done painting Rat's Nest, they pulled the C30 in and painted it to match. Denny pulled his wallet out and showed me this tattered photo that his Dad had in his wallet when he passed away in 2006.

'

Super cool!
:headbang:
~ Pete

.

That's cool as heck! :headbang:

Mcacn 2021
 

Well, we made it! All set up just 3 cars away from Joe I. And his yellow yellow houndstooth big block!

That tattered pic is about as nostalgic as anything gets....waaaaay cool. On the hunt for a '69 C30 now ???
I was looking for one of those 10 years ago and they were hard to find then.
REALLY looking forward to being there tomorrow and putting eyes on ALL the cool cars I've been watching on this forum for the past year. Yours should be quite easy to spot.