[marks73ta]

"Slip slidin' away----oh slip slidin' away----

That sound like a familiar song??? Heh.

Mark

[BruceWilkie]

Originally Posted by marks73ta

"Slip slidin' away----oh slip slidin' away----

That sound like a familiar song??? Heh.

Mark

Wrong song Mark! its "time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin into the future"

Get back to work! Your slowing progress. (you dont want me to catch up do you? )

You're coming along nicely though.





I'm wrestling with wiring... all the engine bay sensor wires, including power and ground leads were hacked off by whoever kept the motor and cpu. I wont use most of them anyway, but rest are in quite good shape and getting sorted/tested/labeled.
No sense replacing entire harness. I got lights, wiper, hatch release, power windows and locks, coil power and starter solenoid,fuel pump relay, cooling fan relay, neutral safety, back up lights, radio power, heater blower, even the V.A.T.s. module functions(security light now goes off, but I bypassed everything it shuts down just in case). Damn headlight doors and horn arent cooperating yet.

[marks73ta]

Ha! Hell I'm going so slow, the guy in front of me---is me!!!

Mark

[marks73ta]

Just some additional pics of the dash. These are with the tachometer mounted on the left roll bar and the dash top/cover installed but not yet upholstered







I'm upholstering it right now and am almost done but I stupidly got some old masking tape adhesive smeared on the new upholstery and stained the damn top area. Damn it. I tried adhesive removers and cleaners and only made it worse. I don't want to have to strip it off and start over again. I'm going to look for some fabric paint and see if that will hide it??? Damn.

Mark

[Engine-Ear]

The turn signal lever is a nice touch, Mark!

[marks73ta]

Like that huh? Ha!. Just the original '63 lever covered in tape. I guess I'll have to take that off sometime???

Mark

[Engine-Ear]

Originally Posted by marks73ta

Like that huh? Ha!. Just the original '63 lever covered in tape. I guess I'll have to take that off sometime???

Mark

...either that or make the right turn signal flash whenever the car is running just to aggravate others!

[Jack Gifford]

Have you tried acetone yet? Need to try it on carpet scrap, to see if it "eats" the nap.

[marks73ta]

Hey Jack. Thanks for the suggestion. I tried acetone after seeing your post. It just worsened the fabric although it did remove more of the "stain", it left more damage to the material. The damage is dulling of the fabric in that spot where the rest of the fabric has an ever so slight sheen. So, I just licked my wounds (since it was a self inflicted wound) (dumb arse at work here) went out and bought more material, stripped the old completely off of the piece and will start all over again. I learned a few things in the original application that I can correct by starting all over again. So, in the long run, it may turn out to be a blessing. I guess the old saying about "you never know how good if feels to stop beating your head against the wall, until you stop beating your head against the wall", works in this instance.

Mark

[marks73ta]

Just a quick update. I pulled the plug and sold the blow thru carbs. Going EFI. Found twin 4500 throttle bodies, drilled and installed the injector bungs in the manifold, did a full porting of the manifold runners, now that it's only moving air, found a gentleman on the board here and we swapped the tunnel ram tops. My twin 4150 top for his twin 4500 top. Thank you Paul and PY. My son found an unbelievable deal on a full Megasquirt 3 system for near free, which allowed me to buy 2000cc injectors.
My twin 4150 top for his twin 4500 top.
Ported manifold, rails and injectors.



Throttle bodies and dominator top.



Notice the valve covers. Bought them from a fellow Pontiac racer down here. They are covers for the mid '80's Pontiac Super Duty 4 banger. He welded them to plates so they fit the regular Pontiac head pattern. There are only two sets and I have one of them. He still has the other.
This is a straight on shot.



Ran the battery cable from the trunk to a lug on the frame in the front. Another short cable from the lug to the starter. Built a battery tray in the trunk. Bought a battery so I can start wiring the car, and started laying out the wiring kit loom so I can identify all the wires.
I indexed the distributor, installed all the ignition wires and installed the coil on the frame before all of the EFI happened. But now the Megasquirt has the ability to run coil on plug so all of the work I put into building the front mount distributor may be for naught. Coil on plug is still to be determined.



I'm dragging my feet on the wiring but I have to start soon.

Mark

[charlie66]

That looks great Mark! Good luck!

[433lemans]

I'd like to jump in here for the first time and say GREAT project Mark, and I think those valve covers are amazing! Makes it look like you have a...wait for it...BIG BLOCK! lol

[BruceWilkie]

Nice Mark!
Two 4500 throttle bodies ought to be quite responsive once efi is dialed in.

Hear you on wiring... at least you're starting fresh. I'm working on fixing someone elses rewire on a 39 Chevy street rod. I'd rather have started from scratch. What a hazard, surprised he hasnt had a fire.

With EFI I suggest a master grounding plate and running ALL grounds to it.(Actually any wiring job) Not a bad idea to run positive sources to master terminal blocks. One for direct one for switched power. (switch to master power relay(s)). Pulsed wires that need to run close to each other its a good idea to sheild and braid. LS truck coils if you go C.O.P. Even if you go with distributor for now pre wire for them and tuck away so if you decide to convert later it will be easier.

AVOID crimp only connections wherever you can. If done right they are fine with weatherpack connectors, but a dab of solder if you can do it without issue is much better insurance.

[marks73ta]

Hey Bruce. All good suggestions. Especially the common ground plate/terminal. I have to look to the Megasquirt to make sure it will run C.O.P. But I'm pretty certain it does. My son picked up a truck 5.3 a couple of years ago and I think it might have had coils on it. It may be another freebee?? If I do run C.O.P. I will be removing the front distributor but I hat eto lose it after all the fun I had making it. BUT! It will allow me to run that Hilborn pump off of the front cover again like I originally planned, I just have to make sure it will make approx. 43 lb pressure at idle rpm. I have a big Magnafuel 500 pump that I planned to use but it could become a supply pump for the Hilborn. I can build a bypass at the Hilborn to let the Magnafuel push fuel past it for startup, then shut the bypass off once the Hilborn has created the pressure. Anywho. So far so good. The Megasquirt will replace the Accel ignition system you sold me so I'll regret never using it. Thanks for the replies guys.

Mark

[twooldgoats]

You're really going to town, Mark. Glad to see it. As far as getting good grounds, I welded five or six 3/8" studs to my tube chassis in various places and ran every ground wire to one or the other of them. Personally, I've had excellent luck over the years using crimp-only connections. I never liked to solder, in part because of the heat and the tight areas where the wires are often run.

Jim

[marks73ta]

Hey Jim. Good to see your name pop up. You can never have enough grounds. I still have the Catalina body on the old rubber body bushings, although several spots do contact between the body and the frame. I'm going to use ground straps between the body and frame in several spots as well.

Mark

[60man]

Hey Mark. Was wondering how things were going.
Good o see!! I would love to go EFI myself but doesn't fit my classes. Carry on Sir. 👍

[marks73ta]

Hey Troy, good to see your name pop up too. LOL, I can run the EFI because I have no class---literally--I have no class. I started the wiring today. Mounted the fuse box, ran the rear lighting loom through the car and spliced all the appropriate (I hope???) wire together. Tomorrow I'm going to run the rest of the looms around the car so I know what I need such as power boxes etc. And, buy my Brad Pit break in oil tomorrow. We are still figuring out the Megasquirt, especially so I know what I need to hook it all up.

Mark

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by marks73ta

... And, buy my Brad Pit break in oil tomorrow...

I admit that it's easier for us right-coasters to remember that the 'good' oil comes from Bradford Pennsylvania- same refinery and formula that Kendall used for its GT-1 for many decades.

[Tom Vaught]

You should be able to make a lot of HP and never worry about blowing up the intake (as Larry's manifold is built like a Sherman Tank).

Tom V.