Drove the '66 on the highway tonight for the first time in many years

[toddwallace]

After years of restoration and a final overheating problem, I got to drive the '66 Fastback home from Fort Worth, Texas to Colleyville, TX which is about 30 miles on the highway. The car is a Hipo 289 with a Paxton Supercharger. I took the car to Southwest Mustang to address the overheating problem. I have to start with Keith at Southwest Mustang is VERY knowledgeable with Mustangs and does great work. The overheating problem turned out to be a lot of little things versus anything big. First was a head gasket on backwards..second was a bad gauge, third was a fan issue, fourth was the pulley system I had to run an aircompressor and supercharger. Fifth was removing the electric fan and going back with a stock fan..He got it all cleaned up and road worth... Getting it on the road opened a whole new can of worms.. The car ran good at speed (60 -65), but shut down when I can to a stop in traffic. Pulling off the side of the road, I could smell gas.. Got Keith out there, we determined that I had way to much carb on the car and it was flooding. This ended up happening twice on the way home. Letting the car sit for 20 minutes or so, allowed it to start back up. This is the theory.. The older style paxton pushes a lot of boost at speed and the Demon I have installed is to much carb. coming to a stop from speed left the carb full of gas, flooding it. Wife driving behind me said it was smoking all the way home and could smell the exhause driving behind me. When I got home and shut it down, the car back fired. Keith suggested an eldebrock 600 or so for the car and really thought I would be happier without the supercharger as it is really to much for the car..It would be more "driveable" without all the mess... Thoughts?

Someother suggests were to take my manual Total Control Rack off and go back with a steering box.. The steering wheel has a tad bit of slop in it allowing it to wander a bit... I think the car still has a lot of tuning to get it a bit more road worth, but I was pleased to get it home without any overheating (like it was before). I have to get the trim all cleaned up and the interior finished and it should be in the home stretch to completion.

[MarkStang]

Did it feel nice and responsive?
Did you get thumbs ups?
Did people drive right next to you for a look?

[toddwallace]

yep
yep
and yep

[MarkStang]

Wow, what a great day!

[toddwallace]

Defintely would have been much better if it had not died twice...

[hivewax]

I'd keep the supercharger on... Maybe put smaller jets on that Demon carb. I'd hate to switch to a cheaper carb.

[Fast68back]

Can't wait to see it on the streets, I've had mine in colleyville 3 times this week!

[B67FSTB]

Must be awesome feeling to drive your car again.
Enjoy it !!!

[stump]

Pictures?

[hivewax]

Pictures?

http://www.thevintagecar.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/4/post/new/fbb_session_id/563a154e463ceb0695799c6b30a5933c/#NEW

[tarafied1]

cool pics, and I bet it felt great while being a bit nervous too. I would hope you can keep the blower. I know they make carbs just for blown engines like the Paxton blow thru set-up. I don't know anything about the rack...

[toddwallace]

My boy in that picture is now 13 years old...  That one is a favorite of mine..  That pic was at my uncle's house when we were doing body work...

[toddwallace]

I'd keep the supercharger on... Maybe put smaller jets on that Demon carb. I'd hate to switch to a cheaper carb.

Definitely going to try smaller Jets... 

[toddwallace]

Must be awesome feeling to drive your car again.
Enjoy it !!!

I'm off Hall-Johnson and Pool before you get to HWY 26...

[toddwallace]

Thanks for posting the links to my pic's.  That's my personal web site I was trying to build to accumulate all my links and how to's...  It never got any traction, but is a good place to post pics..

[tarafied1]

My boy in that picture is now 13 years old...  That one is a favorite of mine..  That pic was at my uncle's house when we were doing body work...

I love those kind of pics, great memories. I have some like that too! I've been working on my car for 20 years now.

[Fast68back]

I'm off Hall-Johnson and Pool before you get to HWY 26...

Your in my sons moms neighborhood, she lives on kenshire court

[toddwallace]

Yep..right around the corner for me..same neighborhood..

[stump]

I love those kind of pics, great memories. I have some like that too! I've been working on my car for 20 years now.

Makes me feel better about the 12 years on the coupe...

[mach514]

I'd keep the blower and work through the debugging, sometimes it takes awile but worth every minute in the long run. Thats a sweet set up you won't regret it.

[toddwallace]

I will definely try and figure out the setup to see I can make it work..

[1497]

Can't wait to see it on the streets, I've had mine in colleyville 3 times this week!

And you didn't stop to visit?

[1497]

Glad to see you got it sorted out. I've got a friend with a blow through Paxton on his Shelby and know he's using a Demon. I'll find out the specifics on how it's setup.

[RyanG85]

Glad you got to finally drive car. Nice looking ride. Like others said, stick with the paxton, you can make it work. They are way too cool to give up on.

Someother suggests were to take my manual Total Control Rack off and go back with a steering box.. The steering wheel has a tad bit of slop in it allowing it to wander a bit...

Care to explain this in a little more detail? I'm about to buy a TCP manual rack for my 65. I thought a rack would tighten the steering more than anything. Is it aligned?

[toddwallace]

I was told...that....  the Total Control Rack reduced the turning radius because of how it sits in the car.  Basically the spindles hits the rack itself reducing how far the rack would turn the car..