What the deal with solenoids. On old cars they seem to go out all the time. I just don’t understand how after all these years they haven’t figured out how to make one that doesn’t break it it gets too hot? Retarded.

There’s not too many things I trust myself to do when it comes to working on a car. However swapping a solenoid it pretty basic. So, After a week of “jumpping” it by hand I took a liitle time out of the weekend to change it out.

Here’s the old piece of crap. By old I mean like a month or two. Lame!

Here’s where to find it if you’re like me and weren’t born with the knowledge.

Off to Kragan! I swear this store really appeals to the white trash in me. I just love looking at all this stuff.

Back home with the 10 dollar replacement part. It has a lifetime warranty. I’m sure I’ve already lost the receipt. Anyway, I pulled the old one out and replaced it with the new one. Man that was so easy! It’s almost like I know what I’m doing.

Oh wait, I don’t know what I’m doing. I forgot to connect these guys. The car won’t start without’em. Oooops.

Success! Now I can look forward to another month or two of starting my car!

Man, it’s hot as hell in the valley. 100+ on most days in the Summer and Bestsy is not dealing with it well. This is my temp after a sit in a little traffic on the way home. SCARY! She has a 302 bored .030 over with a giant Holly 4 barrel. There’s a 4 row radiator _trying_ to cool things down. Stock was a 2 row but that was for an unmodified 289. But even the 4 row radiator isn’t enough to simmer things down. I guess I’ll try an alimuinum radiator and maybe an electric fan. Jorge fixed the leak we had but that didn’t do much.

She puked the other day after the commute to work. This sucks.

Next week I’m taking Besty in for a few little tweaks.

This is how hot I’m running right now. Today it was 107 degrees out but still it’s too hot. It’s like this most days on the freeway to work.

The radiator is leaking. I tried a new cap but it still spraying coolant from the top and subsequently all over my engine.

Also right where she had all the body work done it looks like there’s a problem with the paint. Jorge is gonna hook me up next weekend. Thanks dude.

Also, a side note. if you look into closely at the photo of the rear-quarter panel you see a reflection of my crotch. Enjoy.

Gabe bought a new car. It’s old school vs new-school. My car may be slower but it’s louder! That’s good right?

After 15 years of driving Besty I FINALLY got a radio put in. Gabe gave me his old Kenwood. I bought a couple of these to go with it. This is some basic shit to most people I know but to have tunes in Besty is a weird thing after all these years. Many people are aware at how cheap I can be. For years I had a crappy one speaker boom box with no antenna.

So there’s this whole school of thought that you shouldn’t cut the dash. I don’t belong that that school. I just didn’t think it would be safe having a radio in my glove box. You know I like to change the channel every five minutes—ask my wife

However, while I watched this dude cut up my car I have to say it was a little unnerving as there’s no going back.

Crappy picture but look at the pretty lights in the 38 year old car!

Man, it’s been a long wait but it was worth it. Just about everything on the car has been replaced with modern parts. The one exception is the old Cragars which are still holding up pretty well after some detailing. It’s pretty amazing to drive now. The new steering, disc brakes, and suspension make it feel like a completly different car. Before I had to use 2 feet to spot the car and it would pull to the right. Now it stops on a dim like it was a Honda Civic. I’m still getting to know the new Betsy but really I just can’t believe it’s my car.

Wow, it’s been almost 3 months since my last post. Time flies when you’re busy as hell. I can’t even get all the way into it but in a nutshell I moved, the garage moved, and then we had the holidays. Everything seems to be tracking again. Betsy has been moved to and “undisclosed location”. I have a rebuilt 302 with all kinds of doo dads to pimp it out. The transmission is rebuilt. The paint is on and is now being color sanded. It’s starting to look like a car again. In theory I’ll be driving it in 3 weeks. Jorge, it’s looking good man. I seriously can’t wait…

This photo does not do it justice. This engine is so beautiful in person.

My Edelbrock intake and Holly 4 barrel. So, gas is going to come down in price now that we took over liberated Iraq, right?

So the body is to primer now. There’s still a couple details left but it’s pretty much done. The undercarriage is getting sprayed with a acid wash to clean things up.

Also George found me a virgin 302 roller. Currently it’s getting bored out to .030 over and should be ready for the rebuild by some time next week.

This was the scene today. The engine and transmission were dangling on a cherry picker. The exhaust system sat on the garage floor in a tangled mess looking appropriately…exhausted. It was sort of big day as we were going to see if the engine was going to be re-buildable.

The guys had a good laugh at the “work” that had been done before. “Whatever happens, at least when we’re done taking it apart we won’t be short on washers.” I don’t know what was going on with the last guy who worked on this car. I guess he ran out of short bolts but he had a few long ones and about 75 washers sittin’ in the toolbox.

I was pretty funny to see them pull off parts on my engine and then throw them DIRECTLY in the trash.

This was the moment we were all waiting for—a good look at the block.

Bad news: it’s not the original engine. Good news: it’s a 302! Bad news: the block has already been rebuilt twic, making it useless. Looks like what I had was a rebuilt 302 bored to 60 over with 289 heads. Now at least I know why Betsy was always so hot. Boring out the cylinders this wide makes the walls of the block thinner, which in turn makes the engine run hotter. Plus, when you throw on the smaller heads you increase compression and again you have more heat. The guys were wondering how it even ran. I can tell you it did, just not very well.

Here George points to where I had a dead cylinder.

Here you can see “060″ stamped on the piston showing that it’s 0.060 over standard.

The last of the blood and guts. Hats off…

I think he’s going to save the crankshaft.

The good news on the transmission is that it’s in solid shape. Pete thought it had recently been rebuilt but it’s at least 10 years old as that’s how long I’ve had the car.

Also it’s a Type A C4 which is a little better than the C4’s that they dropped in the ‘65, ‘66, and some of the ’67’s. A small bonus. I’ll take it.

Betsy was my Grandfather’s car. He bought it new in ‘67—the year I was born. My Mom sent me this photo. I think this is the late 70’s in Marina Del Rey. Thanks Mom!