Wednesday the 28th.....
Time for some pictures!
Last week got detoured a couple of days working on a clutch job....
Those aren't DeTomaso parts!
Son's car came up with a lame clutch pressure plate...same type as used in the Goose! Couldn't find anything in terms of a smoking gun as to what failed....aargh! A new pressure plate seems to have solved the problem...but also fixed some minor naggy issues, like bending the equalizer bar to clear the shorty headers, and welded up some things that were starting to show their age!!! (and bad gas welding skills of the author....I love my MIG welder...!)
Found these exhaust flange gaskets which seem to be a perfect match to the flanges that I got with the new mufflers from Mangusta Int'l, which fit my old Hall headers. I may need to enlarge the holes to fit the pattern, but there is plenty of meat to allow this. There is a raised sealing portion and it is metal jacketed on both sides, so no messy "header" type gasket battles! About $4 each. Sorry for the crummy picture...camera just isn't what it used to be...!
Traded in my little heater hose that goes from the water pump outlet to the hose on the firewall. Fits very nicely! About $7
Installed!
Received my new lower hose which connects the water pump to the lower chassis tube. Cost $20.
Needed to do just a tad of trimming to get things to line up and not bind.
I took one inch off of the lower end. It should be noted that this hose is 1-3/4" at the top and 1-3/8" at the bottom, just what doctor DeTomaso ordered!!!! (last hose was 1.5" at the bottom and required lots of hose clamp tightening!
Tools that made the job MUCH easier!!! You physically cannot get into some of these areas to tighten up hose clamps....but these little buggers saved the day!
Here is a shot of one area where the screwdriver just wouldn't cooperate!
I won these at one of the PCNC Christmas party raffles and I am beginning to like them a lot! I had a version of Craftsman wrenches, but the gear teeth were "more coarse" where these have more teeth and offer more ratcheting for less movement! (Finer the teeth, the more work gets done in tight places!)
Glued the valve cover gaskets to the valve covers, installed the V/C studs into the heads and started working on the coolant overflow tank....which is where things went awry last night!
I was mistakenly thinking that "all I needed to do" to complete the cooling system was to slap the overflow tank in the bracket and connect two hoses....Not to be! The clamp which is supposed to secure the tank to the firewall bracket, is about 1/4" to long on each side. I had wrapped the tank in some 1/16-1/8" thick foam tape, but it was not enuf..... SO, gonna scrounge up some thin tin and make myself a new one!!! Seems to be the only option.... OR do like the PO did, and wrap it with VERY thick foam tape....which was super ugly.... I'll use tie-wraps before I do that....!
Spent tonight doing PCNC bookkeeping in prep for meeting tomorrow night. Will try and order up some material for exhaust hangers yet before I hit the rack...internet never closes!!! 
Steve
