The Real Deal

It's been quite a while now since the '66 has been reassembled after paint, but I never had installed any side mirrors. Frankly, I couldn't find any that I really liked. I felt the stock variations on the market weren't sporty enough for the "Restomod" look, and the sportier ones on the market seemed either cheap or had too much chromed bling...

So I just ordered a pair of Talbot mirrors from Aardvark International. These are the real deal Shelby mirrors from the 60's. I went with the Talbot Junior, which not surprisingly is a bit smaller than the Talbot Senior. I thought the Junior size would fit the coupe better. I ordered a flat lens for the driver's side and convex for the passenger's. Unlike the Talbot in the photo above (supplied by Gunther at Aardvark), I went with a brushed aluminum housing (actually spun on a lathe and then cleared for durability.) I thought this would look pretty good, and should match the Vintage Wheel Works wheel centers. Each mirror ran just under $200 shipped, which might be inexpensive depending on your point of view. :-) They should arrive next week...

Of course this means I need to drill holes in the tops of my side doors to install these mirrors—not looking forward to that part!

Back to the Dyno!

I had a great time getting the Bullitt tuned on the dyno at Fastlane Motorsports last week. So I decided to bring the '66 today. It went well and the car didn't need any tuning at all: the carb and the timing appeared spot on. I was surprised! (I will adjust the valve lash sometime this summer though, since it has been about 2,500 miles since the last adjustment.) The numbers were 349HP/370TQ and the A/F ratio looked good too.

Here's a video of the second pull:

Lap Belts in the Rear

I recently bought a pair of lap belts for the rear seats in the '66. I bought them from Rich Design out of Canada. I had bought custom front lap belts from him a couple years ago, and just decided to install a matching pair in the rear.

These new ones are just a bit shorter than the front belts. All four have a retro aircraft-style look to them, which I like.

Dyno Day!

I visited Fastlane Motorsports in Benson, NC. The Bullitt spent a couple hours on the dyno getting tuned this afternoon, and the second and final tune was good for a stout 494HP/466TQ. This was with an outside temperature of about 80 degrees. (In fact, just the "house tune" for my car's particular combo, which we started off with, was already good for 453HP.) Base timing is at 14 degrees, which is safe for 93 and even 91 octane. I wanted to not have to worry about using 91 octane if needed on a trip or something.

I learned a lot about how the car's onboard computer works, and it's way more advanced than I realized. For instance, the computer can pull timing if the Inlet Air Temp gets too high, so there's a margin for safety there even with a supercharged car (if the probe has been installed in the correct location.)

I've decided I'm bringing in the '66 for a pull or two next week! :-)

Here's a video of the 494 pull: