Building a car for road trips...

I am planning on taking several long roadtrips in the 49' Fleetline when its done. Anyone have any ideas on things I can do to make its long distance cruisability better? Any ideas on making it more repairable in BF nowhere? This is already going to be a daily driver, but the body won't be getting more than a cursory repair this year...just fixing the holes for now.

Its already riding on the S10 frame and running gear, has a holley carb'd 262 six in it with an HEI, TH700-4R trans with a big cooler, 3.42 geared rear, 24 gallon fuel tank, power steering and brakes, etc.

I am planning on using bedliner to seal the entire floor and adding sound deadener before carpeting it, then adding my spare CD player in a hidden location.

Can anyone think of anything else that are one of those "how did I live without it" things for a road trip?

 

It may not be so traditional, but if you are going anywhere real hot, adding A/C will make the drive much nicer. New rubber to seal the wind noise will be a big help, if that is not already in the works.

Since your engine is not exactly the most popular, take a few key spares, such as fuel pump and distributor parts. Otherwise your plan seems pretty good to me.

 

water, oil, heater byp*** hose, rad hoses, clamps, fuel line. and some funyons. yeah.

 

sounds like a cool smooth ride, post some pics...

 

A Small Block Chevy

 

Im the market for sound deading as well, I wonder how well the bedliner stuff will work , and will the dynomat stuff stick to it ok?

A few years ago I was looking at buying a 63 galaxie ambulance and I had dreams of making it a road trip car, with a new big block ford and an over drive and an extended back seat are more like a limo, with a huge stereo and lots of window tint. It would be cool to do if you had a fleet of cars for every occation.

 

My main rule for long trips in the A

Visa card and cell phone

Also a good thing to have is like the NSRA's fellow pages that has home #s of rodders all over the USA.

Does the HAMB have anything like that? It would be great to be able to find HAMB members fast anywhere in the country.

 

If running an HEI take an extra modulator...as far as bedliner for sound deadener...forget it...spend some money and get some good stuff...Lizardskin is the best there is...and there's another product out there that is similar...I know nothing of it...but it's got to be better than cheap ***ed bedliner...PM me if you want details.

A/C would be an important thing on a cross-country trip...so would heat and defroster...killing all the wind noise would be optimum if you want to listen to a stereo...and wipers might be needed in certain parts of the country.

Otherwise, stay off the Interstates and enjoy seeing the country from a hot rod.

R-

 

I keep a list of part numbers in the toolbox. Helps when you need a part, even when it's just a fan belt. Prevents some of the dumb questions by counter staff

 

sounds like you are on your way.. (as long as the motor is rebuilt and strong..(can run for hrs and hrs on end). may sure you have a spare tire and basic tools.. my 53 chevy wagon was a road trip veteran.. it saw a majority of the states and gone coast to coast...

A comfy seat and tilt column are really nice. also, highly recommend you built a arm rest on the door panel that is comfortable. you want to be able to rest your arm either on the window seal (when window is down) or on the arm rest and drive with one arm.. I also like to have a center armrest (can be padded foam with material over it or a CD case, just something you can lean against when tired or just wanting to change seating position. Also a cup holder is nice to have, even if its one of those $2.99 plastic center consoles Ithat sit on the ****** tunnel or bench seat) you get from Walmart.. you can sit the soda down and not worry about it, plus yu can put other junk in the center cavity (keys, frenchfrys, change for tolls etc..

 

I like the idea of a SBC instead of your 6... Sure, the 6 would be fine, but I have a method to my madness. I'd pull it out, swap in a torquey 350, and swap to an even lower numeric ge****t. Get something around 3.0ish, and with the high gearing, overdrive, and low end torque motor it would be a blast to drive at highway speeds. Cruise near 2000 RPM, and set the engine for an idle to 4000 RPM powerband. Something like that would get great gas mileage, be able to easily p***/go up hills without kicking down, and cheap (who WANTS high gears? You could probably get a set for free). I know when I used to take my Mach 1 on long trips, I'd swap my 3.89 chunk out for my 2.79 and even with a 3 speed it would cruise nice and low.

The armrest is a great idea, it's something I always miss in a car without one on a long trip. Make sure your gauges are good and bright too, on later Fords they used these ****py little green covers on clear bulbs that made them real dim, take 'em off, you lose the green gauges but they're a hell of alot easier to read. Dunno if you have something like that, but I hated trying to read dim gauges at night. Take care to get your headlights even and aimed right too, that makes a big difference.

 

go buy you a brand new chevy impallai, or other family car. take your body off and put on it. that way you have a/c, cruise, fuel injection, disc brakes etc.

 

I tried to use as many O/E parts as I could.Electric fuel pump/fuel tank from stock GM,so I could buy replacement anywhere.Used HEI(less wear/moving parts),sound deadener,comfy seating position/tilt column.I also over built/over secured everything so to elimiate breakage,and rattles after some miles were piled on.More time driving,less time fixing!

 

What kind of tires are you running? I love bias-plys but if you blow one in the middle of nowhere, your going to have a hard time finding a replacement.
Concider Radials.

 

you're so fired.

 

Please don't beat me but get an audiovox cruise control.
your foot will thank you.
Russ

 

I'd add a Mojave heater (that 49's replacement runs one! ), a good radio/stereo system, windshield wipers (and washers), a spare tire, some basic spare parts, a toolbox and a comfortable seat.

The 700r4 would scare me a little...they work great...until they DON'T, which often happens with little or no warning! I'd feel better if it had a TH-350 between that V6 and the drivesahft...but aside from that, I believe you're on the right track!!

Ha Ha...that car will FOREVER be bent-six powered...it's called DESTINY!!

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing....about $100 saves a lot of leg cramps especially with 4-500 mile cruising range!

 

Hi Guys,

A little tip, really cheep but very very effective sound deadening material can be had from electronic/audio stores.

Danny

 

Sounds like a great combo to me. My 48 was built for daily driving and long hauls. It has a lot of the same stuff you have...700r4, 3.50 gears, 30 gallon tank.
Clark

 

I purchased some sound deadening material off ebay from a Stereo Supply place It was OK...... I pretty much did 100% of the interior panels... I then bought some Dynamat Extreme for some aluminum trunk panels I made. That stuff is unbelievable. Expensive but well worth it and you don't need 100% coverage (50-75% goes along ways). I ended up getting more for the quarters, doors and in some areas over the cheaper stuff I put down.

It will make your trips much more enjoyable.....May even want to consider XM or Sirius then!

I never have brought tools or spare parts. May want to consider a back-up for anything wierd that you cannot get at a normal parts store.
If your going to rack up a lot of miles stick to the basic parts.
I had a new aftermarket accel dist, start failing randomly, It would always start after cooling down, so at every gas stop I would have to send my buddies on and then drive like hell to catch up. After several tech calls they finally replaced it. (with a Mallory Unilite). Now I think I should stash a module, maybe an extra ballast resistor, my water pump is reverse rotation, etc etc.

 

audiovox makes a cruise control too? does it cut out as bad as their radios?

 

Excellent advice so far.

My experience is to keep the number of exotic parts to the bare minimum, and build the setup based on durability and ease of maintainability. Being able to find suitable replacement parts at a good NAPA store is a real plus. Not needing to replace parts at all because you chose to use reliable stuff is even better.

Seeming unimportant details done for appearance can also bite you in the **** sometimes. Example: having all the hose clamps turned so that the screw mechanism is hidden on the underside is very cool looking, but will sabotage your efforts to make an expedient repair on the side of the road. It might be even worse if the clamp was installed before other adjacent items, so they need to be moved before you can get to the screw adjuster. I guess my point is that when you are screwing the thing together, design for maintainability as much as you can.

 

I ward off evil "breakdown devils" by carrying a fresh unused Auto Club card.

 

I have been fighting the urge to make it trick and using as many stock parts as possible. Its nice since its so cheap and easy compared to making a killer motor and having to re-engineer stuff to work.

The 262 is better known as a 4.3L V6. Its 3/4's of a 350 chevy, and 90% of the parts are interchangable. I am using a long waterpump and V-belt setup from an early 80's camaro, just to keep things as simple as possible. I tossed the fuel injection and have gone to an carb, using a holley q-jet replacement. I am still looking for the factory bracket for the TV cable from an 85' truck or astrovan. Haven't looked to hard though. I currently have a marine points distributor in there but picked up a used HEI for a 4.3. I am reusing the stock manifolds and tin on the engine. The only annoying part is that this engine doesn't have a boss for the mechanical fuel pump so I am running an aftermarket electric one that came with the car. I am going to pick up a spare and keep it with the car. The engine sits in the stock S10 mounts so its all factory engineered drivetrain angles. Should be no vibration issues.

The trans is freshly rebuilt and I am going to setup the TV cable using the pressure port on the trans to make sure its adjusted correctly. Last thing I want is for the trans to take a dump in the middle of nowhere.

I had the 56' olds rearend that was in the car when I got it in the car, but am swapping that to a stock 4x4 S10 rear with 3.42 gears I picked up. This gives me a posi, easy to get brake parts, and 1 bolt pattern on the car.

The fuel tank is complete overkill - an ex NASCAR ATL Fuelsafe cell, and I am working on a way to fill it from the stock filler. I am getting a fuel sender setup for the stock fuel guage from ATL. It has two pickups so I was thinking of plumbing two pumps and just have them on rocker switches, unpowered unless the switch is on and the key is in the run postion. Run a couple of solinoids at the rear. If one ****s out, just flip a switch to startup the other.

Still trying to work out the windshield wipers. I am thinking of adaping the leftover S10 motor to drive the original rocker system. RainX is my friend also

No AC for this car...I will look into a cruise control setup. I am going to bedliner the interior under the carpet so it doesn't rust, then put sound deadener over it, then the carpet. I think the wind noise will be the biggest pain the get rid of. Those wing windows usually make noise.


I am basically going to be custom building the interior so the arnrest is a good idea also. I want to drive this ****er to Mokan next year...on my way back from cali.

 

Did you replace the floor? If so, then bedliner between the steel and carpet is unneccesary. If your worried about stoppping rust that is already there from spreading THEN you need a product like Rust Bullet which is brushed or sprayed on very easily like paint and nurtrualizes the rust.

 

Well without ac your gonna have the windows down, so who cares about noise! Por-15 is an alternative to the bedliner stuff, a little lighter in weight. I agree with the radials and a good set of gauges. Wipers and a fan for the windshield are pretty important think about rain and how a fogged up windshield can make it pretty hard to see. If the rubber is leaky I'd replace that as well, from experience, getting the inside all wet isn't much fun...
Let us know how it goes, I'm trying to build my 51 in the same mindset....

 

Wind noise isn't really an issue with that car, and when you flip them vent windows all the way around on a 100 degree day, it's all the air conditioning I ever needed at about 50mph!!

Ironically, I had that throttle cable/TV bracket you mentioned...I took it off a 4.3 V6 with a Quadrajet that came out of an 85 Astro van! I think Bryan (DIRTYT) may have ended up with that bracket, but I'll poke around the garage tomoorw and see if it's still here by chance. If it is, it's all yours, of course.

That fuel pump is an excellent Carter street pump, and was brand new when I put it on. It's only got a few thousand miles on it, so it should be good for a long time to come. The Holley regulator on the car was one of their lower pressure models, and I had it dialed down to about 4psi. You may want a little bit more with a bigger engine and a four barrel, but you will DEFFINITELY want to run a regulator. Put a gauge on the outlet side of the pump WITHOUT a regulator and you'll see why! It pulses wildly between 5 and 8 psi! With the regulator, the pressure delivered to the carb is a smooth, steady 4psi (or whatever you set it at). A typical Holley carb CAN handle the max pressure that pump provides in most cases, but having the pressure constantly fluctuating and 'beating' against the needle and seat is inviting trouble. A good regulator is cheap insurance!

That Olds rear axle got all new brakes...wheel cylinders, shoes, hardware, etc, and the ratio was probably in the same general area as your S10 rear, but it DID require funky 5 on 5 wheels, and the threads on the driver's side were reversed like a Mopar! Running the S10 rear means you only nead to carry ONE spare tire with ya!

You should be all set on tunes, though...that 8-track player ROCKS!! Ha Ha!!

Have fun on your trip...and takes lotsa pictures!!

 

Lots of good suggestions here. The plastic console is really nice as you can take it out when you don't need it. But make sure it doesn't slide around, I made two metal straps for mine that more closely match the floor contour. One at the front, one in the rear and they screw to the console bottom. When I first had it in it would slide with the slightest turn, not cool when you've got a drink sitting in it. I see your using an aftermarket electric fuel pump, I'd carry a spare. I know they can last a long time but the opposite is also true. My son a couple of years ago had 2 that never made it a mile. That could be a problem some dark night in BFI. One of the best ideas is don't make things exotic just cause it's cool, the KISS theory applies here. As far as the 700R4 I've got over 30,000 trouble free mi. on mine backing a 454. Get it set right and it'll be fine

 

I didn't so much as replace the floor, as I added a floor to the car!
There wasn't much left, and the 6" channel required it all to come out. The trunk floor is actually even with the trunk lip on this car now.

I already have treated the raw sheetmetal floor with a rust prep, and just want it so it will never rust. The bedliner is pretty much bulletproof and cheap. I will do the inside with that, and undercoat the bottom. That should keep it from rusting out anytime soon. If it adds some measure of noise dampening, thats good too.

I am going to bring the car out this year, and its going to look exactly like it did when Fathack had it except for a much lower stance, and some nicer rims on it! He even gave me a can of paint to color match the body repairs when they are done