Road Runner Nest

So I got the wiper pivots and linkage all cleaned up and painted. Now its time to install the bushing.
Here's the frontside.

Here's the backside. Now to flare the bushing in the vise. Now put it all back together.

I had time today to see if my LEDs that I installed will work.
Hooked up a battery and grounded the dash.
Without LEDs. And with LED's

So now that I'm waiting for the dash pad to arrive (arrival date is Sept. 5th) I'm going to regasket the engine.
I pull off the oil pan and I find this inside the sump. It didn't feel gritty when I rubbed it between my fingertips.

I showed this to my friend that dyno'd the engine. He said to pull the lifters and have a look.
So I did.
Here they are.. If you look closely, there are 3 lifters that were not turning in their bores.
The upper right one - the 5th one down on the right column and the 6th one down on the left column.

My engine guy came over and had a look.
His verdict - change the cam and lifters.....
This solid cam and lifters are from Hughes engines.

So, a bit of a setback for now as I start looking for another cam.
This one will be an Isky cam.
I prefer them as they are USA made and they have a long history behind them.
The new cam will still be a solid cam - I love the sound of them.

Since I'm in a bit of limbo waiting for the new cam and lifters to arrive I might as well get the engine ready for final paint.
The cylinder heads up till now have still been in bare casting, so its time to put some primer on them.

Next, I put the front of the engine pieces back on without gaskets. Finally lets put the oil pan in place - that way everything will get final paint all together. Don't worry, I will mask off the crank snout area when the time comes - I'm waiting for my timing cover oil seal to arrive from Rock Auto.

Yesterday I had some time to paint the engine. I used the OER orange paint. I think more paint got on the outside of the can than on the engine..... But it turned out good after 2 cans.

Earlier today I was able to put the final finish coat of paint using the Mopar orange. No issues with the can this time...

Looking great!!!

Thanks Scott.
So I just received an e-mail from Summit saying that they can not get the Mopar Performance solid lifters anymore and have refunded my money...WTF!
They had my order for at least 2 weeks and then now they tell me this?
Anyway, I get on the phone with Crower Cams.
Talked to their tech guy Louie who said he'll have a set of solid lifters that are lightened and have the EDM hole on the face made in 2 to 3 weeks.
I ordered a set right then and there.

In the meantime, I cleared all the crap off my bench and unearthed my 4 speed that's been sitting there waiting patiently.
Here's the clean-up. Now to get it ready for primer. And here's the first coat of primer.

And now, my next issue.
I find my bellhousing and decided to see if I have the correct bearing retainer......NOT. Does any one know if I can machine the o.d. of the bearing retainer down or open up the hole in the bell housing?

So I ended up ordering a new bearing retainer thru a local Mopar distributor up here.
Here it is beside the bigger one. But look at where the retainer originates from..... Next, I was able to get a 3 speed wiper motor bought and have restored.
Here's the final product. And here it is installed. Finally, my new lifters have also arrived. Now I just need the cam to come in, as well as the dash pad.

So after a bit of a hiatus and still waiting for my dash pad to come in I decided to install the headlight harness.
But first I installed the splash shield, the long ones that go up front.
Here's the passenger side. And the drivers side. Installed the new headlight wiring harness from M&H thru year One. I also dug out the headlight relay kit I bought off of E-Bay. I didn't know about the kit that for A-bodies only member crackedback had at the time or I would have bought his kit.

I hid the relays up behind the drivers side headlight area. Once I purchase actual headlights I will plug everything in and run power from the starter relay.
For now I ran the wire across the rad support and zip tied it to the new harness.

I was able to find a set of low/high beam halogen headlights. As I went to install them, they were not lining up properly with the headlight buckets.
Upon closer inspection I find that I had put the headlight buckets in the wrong locations after painting them.
Apparently they are actually marked for where they are suppose to go. So after rearranging them in their proper locations I could install the headlights and buckets together. Here's the finished product. I have the high beam headlights on back order from Amazon.