Well now that wiring is done the only thing that we got left to do is change out the mufflers so we would be deaf by the time we got to our destination. After pulling out the existing mufflers and grabbing our quieter Billy Boat Mufflers we had to do some light fab work to get them to fit and stay there. next few photos you can see the final installation.

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Well today was the big day to head north 300 miles with ol' blue. Mike was in the shop late last night finishing up the mufflers and doing some final preparation on the car to make sure nothing went wrong. After packing the bags and loading the car Mike, Brianne, Micki, Lilly, & Andy (the dog) got into the car and headed off!

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The first stop that the crew had to make was for some fuel. Mike had never really noticed what kind of mileage Ol' Blue got and was very surprised that he got about 16.5 MPG with 3.5 gears and a 4 speed. Who knew he could travel in style using the same amount of gas as the expedition!

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The second stop that they made was for a bit of lunch at the coveted La Placita in Citrus Heights, Ca (Sacramento). Mike says, "Patrick burrito, here we come!"

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After a few more hours the family finally arrives in Portola and took a quick stop at the local frosty for some icecream. I hope the kids' hands were clean getting back into the car!

Everyone on the Maier team would like to thank our friends and supporters for following the transformation of the ol' blue. To complete the trip we will be at the Good Guys Car Show in Pleasanton, Ca this weekend (Aug 23-25) and will be offering 15% off any Maier Suspension product. The offer is only valid at the show so please come by and say hi!

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JUST KIDDING!!!
Who really wants just a street car anyway?
While in Scottsdale, Az during the Goodguys Autocross Finals Mike Maier tried hard to make sure that the 302 did not come back in one piece. He needed a little more leverage for his wife, Brianne to allow him to get the Roush-Yates Nationwide motor back in Ol' Blue. Luckily for Mike, something in the motor was causing the water temp to sky rocket between runs. Maybe it was just a head gasket but... Wink wink nod nod we are sure it was catastrophic and there was no fixing it, so the big motor was of coarse the only realistic option. Right? Well at least that is what he told his wife.
While the motor is out you just gotta do some safety things like a Wilwood hanging pedal assembly. Every safe grocery getter has a cool.. I mean safe Wilwood pedal assembly. So we are in the process of changing a bit of the firewall so we can mount aluminum billet firewall plate. Beyond the safety aspect, this is gonna be awesome. Just saying!

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:thumbsup: :lmao:

Pretty cool.:thumbsup:

Kool! Because it needed a little more (okay - A LOT) more motor...


It did sound pretty "rattley" at Scottsdale.... So glad this decision was made. :thumbsup:

I like the "excuses I mean reasons" for the change. Cant say I havent done that before myself.

Cool.

What kind of support did you add to the upper control arm mounting that allowed you to remove that lower portion of the shock tower? I need to do the same.

Sweet!

GrabberGT. If I remember correctly there is a 1/4 inch plate stitch welded to the top of the frame rail, 1/2 plate to mount the control arms that have gussets at the ends. It also has the same extensions that convertibles have towards the top of the fender coming off the firewall.

Call the shop and Mike cane explain if I don't make sense.