huh?

 

Yeah, that's the way it came, so I guess I will stick with it for now.

 

after running the engine, a lot of times the smoke is paint burning off I am a search and repair person and I would pull the dash and use a test light to check out the dash, you may have done some damage when pulling the amp meter gauge with the first battery hook up

 

I'm getting down to smaller issues now. To resolve the heat issue, my buddy made a couple of heat shields out of aluminum diamond plate and we mounted them above the mufflers under the car. To top it off, I also installed a foil/jute underlayment (foil side down) against the floor and then the carpet over that. Between those two things, the heat issue appears to be solved. For the headlight issue (headlights would only work on high beam, one headlight not working), I replaced one high headlight, and we found a wire off the dimmer switch which we put back on. Now all the headlight issues are solved. Where the leak between the thermostat housing and the water pump housing was giving some trouble (tried multiple housings and gaskets) we filed the bottom section flat and used some quick drying compound to fill in the pits in the metal and give a good flat surface to mount the thermostat housing to. So far, that and tightening the crap out of the bolts seems to be working, so that issue is resolved for the moment.

I still need to have the dash instrument cluster looked at, but I have enough guages to safely drive it until I can get done. Also, got some new horns installed. Anyway, got some of the issues resolved that are keeping me from driving the car. I have a few more to work on, but I am hoping I can wrap up most of then this next weekend. Here are some pics of my underlayment work.