[njsteve]

Took Gramma's car out for some mileage. I have 100 miles on the 455 now! Got caught in a freak, one-minute long, snow storm on Sunday. I stopped at a traffic light. All of sudden the clouds blocked out the sun and snowflakes started fluttering all over the place. The light turned green, the snow stopped, the sun came out and I continued back home. Very bizarre to say the least.

Maybe it was the odometer reading 797797 ?




And safely back at the ranch.

[rexs73gto]

Steve the one thing I had a little bit of concern with when i installed the RA exhaust manifolds on my 73 T/A was on the left side , the manifold was just a bit to thick & when I set the engine back down on the motor mount the manifold was resting on one of the bolt heads that held the frame mount on the frame. It was the top front bolt only. It just barely touched the manifold so that it was rubbing on it enough to make marks on it. I had to remove the manifold & use a die grinder to grind the top of the head of the bolt down so it was only about half the thickness of the head that it started out to be. But that wasn't enough as when I would hit the gas & the engine would rock back & forth when it came back to rest where it would normally be it would again just touch the head of the bolt. I had to remove the manifold again & grind the head almost all the way off, & I didn't feel safe that way so I went a head & welded the frame mount to the frame with the bolt head just being very thin It was still there if you were looking at it but it was thin. The motor mounts were new , but the new manifolds were cast just enough thicker to touch & I had to do some mods to make it work. So I guess what I'm saying is when you install the new manifolds take a close look at them to make sure they don't hit the bolt heads & cause some problems for you to. You may not but it's always better to be safe.

[njsteve]

Today I went to my buddy's garage to use the lift and over the course of several hours, we installed the B&M Shift Improver kit. This is the one that gives you two options: heavy duty or street/strip. We went with the street/strip option. It made an unbelievable improvement in the transmission's operation.

Before, it felt like there was no discernable shifting from second to third - just a mysterious melange of engine and transmission movement/noise that would last for several seconds. It was way too buffered and smooth - like they designed it for a Cadillac not a Pontiac.

Now the thing shifts quickly and firmly like it should, from first to second and second to third. Downshifts are much crisper and firmer, too. Best $95 I've spent so far. We also installed the Summit Racing one-piece, reusable, rubber and steel backed pan gasket. Excellent piece and doesn't leak like the OEM cork gasket.

And what did we find in the filter? Well, anyone with a Jack Russell knows how those critters shed. I found one of his white dog hairs in the filter! What the heck he was doing in the transmission pan, I have no idea. But he has been known to drive the car now and then...


The filter. Note the hair in the orange circle:



The rest of the internals looked pretty clean for 79,000 miles:




The little hairball, caught in the act...

[rexs73gto]

Any time you can make the trans shift a little harder makes it last a little longer. When a trans shifts easy it means it's slipping, & slipping is damage to the clutches inside the trans. If you can feel it now it will last a lot longer ,,,,, thats is if your not hitting it hard all the time. LOL. Hard to do when you have such a nice car.

[The Boss]

Great pic of the dog there Steve! Did the take the little rascal for a ride?

[njsteve]

Oh yeah. He knows what the word "Schoolbus" means. When my son was in middle school doggy would go nuts if he heard that word, demanding to get in the car and wait for the bus to arrive. He would sit there with his paws on the steering wheel like he was supervising the bus pick up, every morning.

[njsteve]

Took the car for a ride today. Working on the carb tuning. The car actually chirped second gear for the first time in 40 years! :-)

Here is theR45TSX plug. I might need to try a slightly richer primary rod. Currently 74 jets and 44 rods.

[ta man]

What gap on the plugs>.040 to .045?Nice thread by the way...

[njsteve]

Factory spec at .060 actually.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Factory spec at .060 actually.

Yes, IIRC wasn't part of the "TSX" in the R45TSX spark plug PN indication of "extended, or extra wide" gap? Hence the .060? something to do w "emissions?"

[Formulabruce]

With the alcohol in the fuel, a 44 heat range plug will do the job. At 60 the gap will only increase with hotter plugs, faster. WE always knocked the gap back to .050 on these at the dealer so they wouldn't burn out or ping on garbage gas.

[njsteve]

For the past week or so I have been chasing this annoying bog when I try to floor the pedal off idle. I tried different timing, plugs, secondary spirng tension adjustments, swapped out with different carbs several times, checked on torque converter stall... yada, yada, yada. Still it bogged.

I have querying all the Jedi Masters about possible solutions and I found it today. Cliff Ruggles mentioned in an email that he had seen this sort of thing happen in aftermarket air cleaners when the lid was too close to the top of the carburetor. All this time I had been thinking it can't be that simple...well it was.

I have a reproduction ram air filter unit and the lid was so close to the base that it was restricting the air flow at full throttle. Today I was adjusting the timing and I tried the car without the air filter and no bog appeared. So I thought: "Great, it was timing afterall!"

So I put the air filter unit back on and attached the lid - the bog appeared full force. So that confirmed it: It was the lid and the short filter!

So I installed an old, taller element from a shaker unit - (it makes the lid stick up a 1/4 inch above sealing with the base), and tried it. No bog!

So let that be a lesson to you all. Sometimes it's the stupid little stuff that will drive you crazy.


THANK YOU CLIFF RUGGLES!


Here is the old filter and the new one. Only a 3/8" difference made all the difference.





Here's the before video with the bog:



and the after, without the bog:

[Formulabruce]

I had this issue after I took off my original to get it back on my old F455 car a Member now own and its getting restored. After running the skinny element you first told me to, I had a bog, but also didnt like the huge amount of air cleaner stud sticking out, soooo. Here's my set up. I run four( yes 4) of the 4 inch air cleaner to air horn base gaskets, then the repop air cleaner ( which is thinner than original), then I run the thicker than stock replacement Lid seal on the lid. (sold for the lid which is bare) This gives me room for the STOCK Element A366C , 2.75" thick ..I can run the A212CW as well if needed which is slightly thicker... Just an FYI Glad its working well!

[njsteve]

Who makes the lid seal?

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Who makes the lid seal?

Greg ordered me mine from the same place as the air cleaner, I think its Parts place. Its thick but you cant see it once installed, FB
EDIT: The Peal off seal is long enough for the air cleaner and then some

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by njsteve

We also installed the Summit Racing one-piece, reusable, rubber and steel backed pan gasket. Excellent piece and doesn't leak like the OEM cork gasket.

These are GOLD IMHO.. I need to see about one for my 2004R . My 4L80's have them and they dont leak and have been off a few times. Thanks for the reminder!

[njsteve]

BTW, all this launching and bouncing around - my fuel tank sender just pooped out and is reading 3 o'clock. If I disconnect the electrical connection and ground the wire in the trunk, the gauge works again. I guess that means it's the sender...Oh, and they don't seem to make them for 1975 Firebirds. Only 1976 and newer or 74 and older. Ugh.

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by njsteve

BTW, all this launching and bouncing around - my fuel tank sender just pooped out and is reading 3 o'clock. If I disconnect the electrical connection and ground the wire in the trunk, the gauge works again. I guess that means it's the sender...Oh, and they don't seem to make them for 1975 Firebirds. Only 1976 and newer or 74 and older. Ugh.

http://www.forums.maxperformanceinc....d.php?t=779232

[njsteve]

Thanks! Since we have to pull the tank to do any of the diagnosis, I ordered a new Canadian made GM203 fuel tank and 1976 and up, sender. The Camaro guys have the same problem with the lack of a reproduced sending unit for the 74-75 cars. Several threads indicate you can cut the 1976 line just before the extra 90 degree turn, reflare them and use it as is. (This is if my sender isn't fixable).

And since the tank has been in use for 40 years in the northeast and looks a little crusty around teh edges, I figured I would probably find some scary stuff inside it when we pulled it down. I only want to do the tank drop tango one time...not two.

Stay tuned!

[njsteve]

BTW, I was over at my buddy's garage yesterday and he was tuning a friend's 440-powered 1970 Challenger R/T. I was the chase vehicle....Gramma's car took him every time!

Go Granny Go!