| |
 |
November/December
2006: Nothing going on with the GTX right now, it's
winterized for storage, sitting on jackstands under the
car cover. I have a few things to do on the Packard
before turning my attention to the GTX.
Prior to putting the
GTX up on stands, I got busy and finished installing a
45,000 btu Modine Hot-Dawg furnace. It's going to be
nice to have a cozy garage this winter.
|
|
September/October 2006: Since the weather is still
pretty decent, there's still some opportunities for an
occasional Sunday drive. Before long it will be time to
put the GTX away for the winter.
I finally jumped on the
YouTube bandwagon and posted a video that one of the
guys from Moparts created using content from this
website. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so
myself! Take a look...
|
|
|
 |
August
2006: What the heck happened to summer? Not much happening
in August, the White Bear Dodge car show was fun, so was the
weekly North St. Paul cruise. One night I bumped into friend and
neighbor we call "409 Bob". He was hurtin' badly
from being hit hard while driving his work vehicle. Since we
live so close to each other, Bob asked me to follow him home
when I was ready to go. We cranked 'em up and rolled out
of North St. Paul via Hwy 36, taking it easy because Bob didn't
feel well. |
| The
cars were running very well in the cool evening air and I was
lost in the moment until Bob motioned for me to pull up along
side him at a light near home. He asked me to pull into a nearby
parking lot, I thought maybe something was wrong so when we
stopped I got out to see if he was OK. Bob was sitting
there smiling. We've often joked about how his big block
Chevelle and my GTX are "twin sons from different
mothers". The reason for Bobs smile was because all the way
home our cars seemed almost perfectly synchronized. To
really understand, I guess you had to be there... |
|
July 2006: I spent
most of my free time after Mopars in the Park getting an old '37
Packard up and running for "Back to the 50's" weekend
in June. As a result, the GTX has been neglected for almost a
month. I was feeling sort of guilty so I dusted it off and
headed for Porky's. The following Friday we hit North St.
Paul for their weekly cruise. And of course, the "Car Craft
Summer Nationals" is in July. Scattered showers on Friday
morning wasted a weeks worth of cleaning and detailing. Weather
for the remainder of the weekend was awesome.
|
 |
|
Clear
sky and an open road...
|
June
2006: "Mopars in the Park" was held during the
first weekend in June. Unlike last year, the weather was
clear and dry. En route to the show we caught up with my
friend Warren driving this '67 Barracuda. Behind Warren
is his recently completed Mopar project being piloted by
another friend. |
 |
| During
the 20-25 minute drive to Shakopee not a single car
would pass us. |
|
| May
2006: The picture above is the GTX , all shined up,
tuned up and ready for the Summer cruisin' season. The
radial tires have been bolted on and do they ever make a
difference in ride quality. No more following the ruts
in the road or flat spotting after being parked for a
week or two. I should have put radials on the car in the
first place.
In addition to the new
rolling stock, a few minor detail items needed
attention. To replace the generic aftermarket PCV valve,
I picked up a correct original '69 style PCV valve from
Bill Allphin at A+M
High Tech Auto. Bill offers a large variety of
correct detail items for Mopar musclecars. Give him a
call next time you need detail items for your ride.
Ever since I got the
GTX together it's been sporting the steering wheel from
my first Mopar, a '70 Charger SE. After missing a couple
of hard to find Plymouth steering wheel emblems on EBay,
Moparts.com member JericoGTX scored one on a junkyard
expedition and sent it to me at no charge.
|
Thanks
Jeff, I owe you a cold one!
|
|
|
|
|
|
| March/April
2006: Winter's almost over and I haven't pulled the
cover off for months except to trial fit some new
rolling stock. Due to the poor handling and ride quality
of the bias ply Mickeys, the GTX will be wearing a new
set of wheels and radial tires when it comes out of
storage. |
| The fronts
will be 235/70R15 BFG Radial T/A's mounted on new 15 x
6's. Out back, 295/65R15 Mickey Thompson drag radials on
new 15 x 10's with 5½ backspacing. The steelies are Wheel
Vintiques model 63's purchased through Summit
Racing. After test fitting the rears, I had all the
wheels powder coated gloss black by New
Image Coatings. |
 |
| To help cope
with the extra bite afforded by the drag radials, a
custom set of Dutchman
axles were ordered form Moparts.com
member DrDiff. They came with 3" screw in studs and
"Green" bearings installed. They were also
machined slightly shorter so the axles wouldn't butt up
against the thrust button in the differential, causing
preload on the ball bearings.
In case anyone is
wondering, the stock dog dish hub caps still fit, even
with the long wheel studs.
|
 |
|
|
