Finally was able to take about a 10 mile road test in the SD yesterday. Longest "trip" it's been on since 1978. The transmission is a solid A- now. No leaks and the shift timing seems to be normal. The 1-2 shift feel still needs a little tweaking. The 2-3 shift feels good. Car drives excellent. Tracks straight, brakes are fantastic, and the Mickey Thompson Sportsman radials are very smooth to 70 MPH. That's as fast as I have had it so far.
This was the first drive with the hood on it. Speaking of the hood, what a nightmare to fit perfectly. Now I really understand why so many 70-73 Firebird hoods don't fit the greatest. Very complicated fitment and adjustments. How in the world did they build these cars in less than 1 minute coming off the line? It took three of us, with considerable experience 7 hours over 2 days to get the hood to fit just right. But we got it. Opens and closes perfectly and the gaps are as good as I have seen on one of these cars.
I will post some finished pics and some driving video in the next week or so. Thanks for hanging with this thread through some ups and downs getting it on the road again. Plan is to put some local miles on it the next few weeks and if I am confident enough in it, drive it to Norwalk next month. That will be about a 450 mile or so round trip.
Things left to do, The grilles need some minor attention and installation. Transmission needs some tuning and a working detent switch. General detailing before the trip.
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