So I had been experiencing a number of issues as is common with older technology... My steering went funky one day when I was pulling into a parking spot, the wheel jerked left(and hard), so I grabbed it and muscled it back straight. Managed to get it home with the help of some friends, but didn't have access to a floor jack or anything to actually get under there and see what the issue was.

So like any frustrated person, I gave myself a minute(a week) to get some perspective on the issue(and to rustle up a floor jack). Last night I went and fired up the car to listen to the engine, and I went about playing with the steering wheel like any half bored person would do. After a good bit of manhandling the wheel, I hear a pop and the play of the wheel is free and clear! Somehow I guess whatever was wrong popped back into place...

So I went out for a test drive, and victory lap around the neighborhood. After a good six miles or so I brought it back home, and was sitting in it while it was idling(passing time till I'd pick up my girlfriend.) I got the go ahead to move, put the car in gear and... BANG! The car backfired and died. Not totally crazy for me, I'm still fighting some timing issues and I had this sneaking suspicion that the triangle of death air cleaner had something to do with things.

After a couple seconds, I see some smoke coming from the hood. I have an exhaust leak, so that's not too terribly disconcerting, I found where it was earlier that day. The smoke keeps coming, and I'm confused. Why would I have more smoke the longer it's been off? I rack open the hood as fast as possible(catching a bit of a warm leg on my way out of the seat), and the picture below shows ya what I saw(someone walking by snapped the shot as I ran for stuff to take care of the issue.)

Well, I guess I needed an excuse for some work!

What should be coming out of this...

-Looking into some headers to go to my sidepipes(still have some manifolds on the engine, and that's where the exhaust leak is coming from.)

-Time to install the L-88 High Rise hood I bought from Ecklers... (picture attached, laid it over the existing hood to get an idea of the lines.)

-Time to install the new Edelbrock 1221 air filter(14"). Couldn't fit it under the stock hood, with the aftermarket intake of the P.O.

-New paint job? I mean, having that white gelcoat on the steel cities gray might look a little funky... (Anyone have any suggestions in the Tacoma, WA area? 2, 3ish hour drive would be as far as I'd honestly like to go...)

-Might have to look into a chin spoiler, to really compliment a more aggressive, bulkier look. (Any recommendations?)

Edit 1: Also, would it be viable to duct from the chin spoiler, to vent the air from it(the chin spoiler), and the radiator out the front valley of the L-88 hood? It might be a bit far back, but I was hoping that maybe that could aid in keeping the front end down, and that maybe it wouldn't interfere with the cowl induction that I'll be working in once I get the hood on.

 

Man that first photo is one frightening sight ! More so on a fiberglass car.

 

Many years ago I purchased one of those air filters as I liked the look. After getting it I heard about all the fires. It's still sitting on a shelf somewhere, will never go on one of my cars.

 

Pro-flo!

Same thing happened to me. I was going to use it as a quick air cleaner to use for carb testing. Sent a picture of it to one of my friends after I bought it and then I found out about all the fires...

 

Thanks for reminding me to get a new fire extinguisher for the car and the garage!

 

For paint, I would check out J-Rod and Custom in Auburn. They've done stuff for my '72 LeMans, my 16 year old son's 328i and my dad's '57 Chevy, 300 SRT8, and Fox body Mustang drag car. They won an award from GM at last year's SEMA show for a '67 Nova they built. They do great work.

 

That is one frightening sight when opening the hood. Did it do any damage to the original hood. I cant see because you have the L88 hood in its place.

glad you got the fire out quickly.

kdf

 

Keep the ole Cable chokes and one of the girlfriends or wives good bathroom hand towels at the ready!

I would probably wait out the rest of the plagues (Locust, the first born thing) before continuing on with the plan.

My cars only have mystery ailments when i am within the Bermuda triangle of Southern California which is Huntington Beach, Irvine and Placentia.

 

Update time!

So I grabbed a couple buddies and we had a down and dirty in taking off the old small block hood, and put the high rise L-88 on. Everything went pretty well, all said.

The old hood came off easily with no complaints, very clean removal. Looked at it a little bit closer, and the black paint/cover on the underside of the hood was smoothed a bit where the fire was, but it doesn't look bad at all. No damage on the paint side of the hood from the fire.

The new hood came on pretty easy. The hinge went on easy as pie, the bracket support went on like a dream. I added a paint-diagram to better help describe this...

The central horizontal orange bar is the support that runs under the back of the cowl(closest to the windshield wiper door). The stock hood has three anchor points(blue dots), however the L88 one only has the center one. Anchored the driver's side hood opening/locking mechanism with no issues. Sunk the bolts in easily and let 'em hang loose. The passenger side opening/locking mechanism holes(the four blue dots) didn't seem to match up as well. The top left, and bottom right sunk in okay. The top right and bottom left however, were way off. Thinking it was fine, I pocketed the two bolts and enjoyed the sight of my new hood on my car. (Didn't put on the air filter because I hadn't grabbed/fabbed some air filter risers to keep the base of the air cleaner out of the way of the fuel line.)

So... now my hood isn't opening. D'oh. I pull on the hood release lever, and I still hear a click... but nothing.

Ideas?

 

Can you send me a link to the ecklers ad for that hood , it doesnt look like ecklers L-88 to me...

 

Got a couple pictures to show off...

Showing the orange horizontal bar from the previous diagram, it only has one hood release fastener there instead of the three the stock hood had. Tight time hacks, gotta go!

 

So what caused the steering issue

 

Honestly? I have no clue. The symptoms were odd. It was instant onset, I was turning into a parking spot and the wheel jerked in the direction of the turn(drivers side, so left). Had to absolutely man handle the wheel and hold it straight so that the wheel didn't continue turning left. Turned the car off, and the pressure on the wheel(forcing the car left) stopped as well.

So, I guess something with the power steering? I had just done a brake replacement, brake fluid replacement, etc, etc... So it might've snuck in somewhere in there, but it was odd.

It... fixed itself? I turned it toward the passenger side to test the play and if the car would turn the wheel back to the left and then while turning it right, something popped, and the steering has felt back to normal.

Does that answer your question?

 

So, does anyone happen to have a snazzy link about getting hoods off? The main linkage seems to work fine(from the pull handle in the cockpit of the car), but for whatever reason the two side... pieces, aren't letting go?

 

The Steel Cities Gray is an awesome color

 

Update:

Had issues with the hood not releasing when the latch was pulled. So after about three hours of concentrated effort, help from a friend, dumb luck, we managed to get it open. Lubed up the components, slide the spacer, and air filter back on, put the hood down and started it up!

Took it out for a spin, in the rain no less! I was thinking these wider rear tires would've helped me grip the road a little better, but it was still pretty easy to kick the rear end out in the wet during a turn... So, smiles all around!

 

On your steering issue, does the car have power steering? As you stated the problem went away after the car set for a while, it sounds like something weird is going on with your power steering cylinder. Replace it, there reasonably cheap as you do not want this to happen while driving on a freeway somewhere. While your at it, might want to rebuild your steering box as well. I was amazed at the crud that came out of mine and its a pretty simple job. Hard part is getting the box out.
Good luck and post up what you find.