Got the front end alignment done today and the first little shakedown run is now in the books. The car drives great and you immediately get the sense it really wants to be unleashed, but I haven't even put a light on it just yet. No leaks after the first few heat cycles over the past couple days, and not a drip of anything after taking it out for it's first 20 minute run tonight. Brakes work fantastic, the steering is absolutely great, and the bias ply tires don't feel bad at all...even on our county roads. On the exhaust front, the car is still plenty loud, but remains somewhat tolerable for now. The airbags did prevent access to bend up some factory tail pipes so I might pull those back out and that will give me the needed room the install the rear sections later on.
Mechanically, once I have the Muncie broken in with some miles on this rear end, I'll change all the fluids and will start banging out some launches on it. Over the next few days there will be plenty of shakedown runs to get everything dialed in right, but first it needs a tune and some carb adjustments as it's running pretty rich as it sits. I have an Innovator box to check the AFR and might try that out in the next few days to get a baseline air fuel reading at idle, and some cruise samplings as well as WOT. Tomorrow AM I plan to spend an hour or two under the car while adjusting and torquing down the suspension, adjusting the shift rods, and simply going over everything on the car one more time.
One thing is for sure, it's gets a lot of attention wherever it goes. That and it leaves a big ol' grin on my face everytime I crawl out from behind the wheel. I twisted good on it while coming down my home stretch here tonight and my son had a real serious grin that you couldn't wipe from his face if you tried. That alone makes this all worthwhile.
More to come...