[shutyomouf]

It has been a while and we pretty much completed our plan, which was to get it running and driving.

The badass pose down



Thats how it ended today. We put a new brake booster and master cylinder on and took it out for a spin. The tires are very old and wobbley so we didn't go too fast, but they did lay down two nice little black patches The last thing we did was polish a small section of the front bumper just to see it shine.






The past month we have been stuck in first gear, figuring out why the tranny wouldn't shift. Did some reading, consulted the elders and tried a few things only to find out that the detent solenoid was bad. Replaced that and too much brand new tranny fluid

I would say that we have it running pretty decent but we are most likely going to take it somewhere for a fine tuning. We also have to go through all the wires, hoses and lines to ensure we don't have anything rubbing.


I want to hit it with a scrub brush real soon, I think it will look nice cleaned up. The respray it has is so bad though but paint will come later.

We pretty much ignored some of the emissions BS because figuring it out and getting it right is such a PITA. How crucial is it that we have that stuff hooked up?


*I'm not sure how to edit posts. I moved my pictures around thats why those pics are broken. I can fix them if I can edit*

[Brian Baker]

Good luck finding a place that can "fine tune" a 35 year old engine with a carb and points ignition. My suggestion would be...do it yourself. There's plenty of help here if you need it and there's really not much to making what the factory gave you run well.

Clean up those exhaust tips too with something that won't damage the chrome...they aren't being reproduced and original NOS ones (if you can find them) are big money.

[77 Canamman]

Looks great. I agree with Brian. You got it this far. Tuning that engine is easy.

[shutyomouf]

Whats a good way to make adjustments on the carb? I'm not really sure what to adjust for what effect and also we left out a lot of emissions crap. Does that affect how the car will run?

We put new shocks and springs on the back this weekend.



That was the good and we found two bads which turned out to be a very good find.

A hole in the exhaust, which really doesn't matter as a new system was in the plan anyways.


Dad said that he was smelling gas and thought there was a hole in the gas tank. That was confirmed while we were putting the springs in. We were going to slap some filler on the hole and that was that but there was already filler on it and the hole was much larger than thought. So a new tank is on order.

The best part about the bad tank was the build sheets on top of it
I'll post them up as soon as I can.

Is there any rear disc brake swaps out there, I wouldn't mind getting rid of those drums. We need all the stopping power we can get to corral those 230 horses

[77 Canamman]

Externally, the adjustments that can be made to the carb are idle mixture, secondary air valve spring tension, secondary rod/hangar selection, choke pull-off, choke spring tension, and linkage adjustment. The 1973 service manual has great step-by-step instructions on how to do them. Also, I highly recommend Cliff Ruggles book on modifying and building Q-Jets. More in depth tuning such as primary jet/metering rod replacement, and float level can be done with the air horn removed. The 1973 carbs are very lean as supplied from Pontiac, and should be richened up for optimum performance. As for the ignition, make sure the point dwell is set at 30 degrees, and adjust the total timing (initial plus centrifugal) to 36 degrees all in by 2600 rpm, with the vacuum advance disconnected. Your centrifugal advance springs/weights might need to be changed to achieve this.

[Brian Baker]

A note on setting the dwell on the points...do it BEFORE you set the timing. If you set the timing first, and then the dwell, you will have to go back and reset the timing again.

[shutyomouf]

Thanks for the info guys!
The gas tank came in this week so we put that in today


The only bad thing is the filler neck. Its about 6 inches shorter than the old one and is tucked way under the car.

My hand behind the bumper


another view




We looked and it was the right tank and didn't see anything special about filler neck lengths. Anyone seen this before?

We also put front pads and rotors on and the rear brakes are coming up soon.

[Grand73Am]

It can't really be the right tank if the filler neck is 6" shorter than your original one. Someone sent you the wrong one in my opinion. Many 73-77 GM a-bodys use the same size tank, but the filler neck is what makes the difference and will be different lengths and angles based on the make and model.

[77 Canamman]

It is probably what is considered an "acceptable substitute". It will work, but will not be an exact reproduction. This was done so it will fit all 1973 models. Originally, the Pontiac tanks had the longest filler necks. I also used a Spectra tank in my '76 LeMans. The neck on that one was about two inches shorter than the original one, but it is not any issue to put gas in the tank. The rest of the tank is very high quality. A radiator repair shop will be able to swap necks for you. However, there is quite a procedure to get the old tank prepped to get the old neck off without causing an explosion.

[Brian Baker]

Take the old tank and douche it out with soapy water...several times. Let it air dry, and repeat. When the smell of gasoline is gone, take both tanks to a radiator repair shop and they can transfer the filler neck from old to new.

Regarding the sending unit install in the one pic...you've got it facing the wrong way...the lines should be facing forward.

[77 Canamman]

Take the old tank and douche it out with soapy water...several times.

[Brian Baker]

I took mine to a self serve high pressure wash...then I brought it home and filled it up with the garden hose several times. Was good enough to allow a sump kit to be welded to the bottom of it.