"Maiden" voyage

Compared to yours, mine looks like the forgotten cousin. But it runs like an outlaw.

The running characteristics were fantastic. Started right up. Much stronger than last year. The rebuild results were fantastic. Much stronger pull off idle, and much more top end. Gonna have to learn how to barefoot.

Now if I can just get the water out of the bottom, I'll be drag racing.

However, I have some remaining issues. Valve covers leak. They look great. I powdercoated them royal/navy blue, but didn't want to reef down on them so hard b/c they looked like they were bending. But they leak at the rear. Used thick Fel-Pro gaskets. Put RTV on top per instructions and they ran a constant stream of oil. Today I went back and RTV'd the head side, too, and reduced the stream to a trickle. If a little more cranking doesn't work I'll take the gasket out and try RTV alone. If that doesn't work I'm in the market for new chrome ones.

My '69 Barracuda goes in the water today. I just rebuilt the Chrysler 318 and ran it for the first time last night. This will be the first time in the water with the new motor.

Tranny's rebuilt, too, and was slipping before, so this should be a really different experience.

Wish me bon voyage!

Thomas