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What I did on my Summer vacation.....for 5 years straight.
A few folks have asked me to post the progress of my 73''s partial rebuild here on the board. I don't normally engage in all of this, (how else does one keep post count under 700 in 18 years?) but then I thought about everyone's posts on which I lurk, and how they inspired me to get in the garage when I was less than motivated to do so. I can't say this thread will do that for you, but you can give it a shot and let me know.
Its no Boosted Bandit Build thread (that is going to be awesome!) but its a walk-through of a decent street car that will see the strip a few times a year. Over the next bunch of days, weeks, etc, I'll post the progress shots of the work I've done and discuss the issues encountered along the way. I'm not one to take a ton of pictures, but hopefully there are enough to keep it interesting. At the very least, you might be able to use this a guide of what NOT to do. Lets get started - Back in 2014, I learned roller lifters have a life expectancy. Behold the genesis of their untimely demise: ================================================== ==== https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZgVmKz5tX4 ================================================== ==== Tip #1 don't do that ^^^ That Summer was the last of any seat time for me. Two weeks later, I heard the engine pop, power went down, and while I was happy to make it the 5 miles back home, the car was not. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6F...hMU=w1720-h880 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XV...uM=w1920-h1080 Yeah, that bearing took some heat, huh? Wish I had more pics of the wreckage. The cam was ruined - while lifters gave up all their needles to the bottom end, the rollers were left to grind up the cam. The oil pump was blue in some areas and the windage tray had evidence of getting extremely warm in the pump area. Hard to say if it root cause was lack of spring pressure or if the lifters were just in past their prime. Guess it doesn't much matter. Since the engine was coming out, this would be the best time to make more power. Early 2015, heads and intake went out to increase overall flow, (mainly exhaust), new cam was selected (4/7 swap), and CR was to increase to 12.5:1. Unfortunately, it was 6 months before those pieces made their way back to me. That put me the end of the Summer for that year. More on those later. Trying to work in parallel, I turned my attention to the block. Cylinder walls weren't as bad as the pistons, and no major pieces were gobbled up by the bottom end. Re-bearing, turn crank and get new pump - right? Yeah, no. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2S...AFk=w1320-h480 This was documented in a previous post of mine. Number 3 main cap. Its fracture is not a part of the lifter failure, builder error (me) when putting it on. It happened when I was checking clearances on the bearings. Tip # 2. Dont put main caps on backwards Funny thing about those clearances too....they were tighter in the middle of the block (mains 2,3) than they were on the rest. My new engine builder (circle track guy) said its common for Pontiacs to slightly cave in on themselves over time. He said I'd be fine since I wasn't spinning a lot of RPM for any great length of time. It was likely this way for some time as well, perhaps the previous build or longer. Me though? I knew I wouldn't be able to put my foot in without second guessing my decision here. So with the cracked cap and tight clearances, I made the decision to go ProGram 4 bolt splayed mains. I'll leave you with the pics from the machine shop for now. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/RE...i0o=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mC...evs=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xq...l7k=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fg...fCc=w1320-h480 |
Finally... I need some motivation:(
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Wow pretty epic post and good that you can laugh about it. Don't think I could wait 5yrs, personally. Good luck!
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While the block work was being done, I sent the crankshaft to Shaftech to have it nitrided and cut. When the block work finished and all pieces were finally back in my possession, I got ready for reassembly.
- I polished and reused the same JE pistons with new Total Seal rings. - The Eagle 6.8 rods were also reused with new ARP 2000 bolts. Rods were appropriately resized. New Comp solid roller is a tad different than the previous stick - - Lobe lift .4400” I & 4410”E (old cam was .400" I+E) - Gross valve lift is .704 int .705 exh w1.6 rocker (old cam was .660"I+E - w1.65) - Duration @.050 lift is 272 int 280 exh (old cam was 265 I 270 E) - Lobe Separation: 112 (old cam was 106) This is a 4/7 swap configuration. - The Rollmaster timing chain was also reused. All in all, the bottom end went together well. Everything spun smoothly and clearances were all dead on. Shame I didn't think about that dipstick earlier though.... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qI...cCc=w1320-h480 ================================================== ============================ Moving onward, the next step was to get a head mounted. I needed to check piston to valve clearance, as well as get started on installing the lifter brace. This however, is where I ran into problems. With the head mounted, torqued down and using the same gasket Ive always run (FelPro 1016), I wasn't able to rotate the engine over. I feared there was valve contact with the piston. (The block was zero decked in 2010) Upon closer inspection, the push rod and rocker arm were at war with each other. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/X7...hW0=w1320-h480 Hard to tell in that pic (only one I got) but that rocker is trying to push that rod out of the pocket. Perhaps the extra lobe lift was causing a problem? Maybe the previously used push rods were too long? The witness marks on the valve tips looked excellent so I wasn't really buying the push rod theory and the rockers were the ones used previously. In retrospect, it was likely both items conspiring against me as I solved the issue with a better rocker and a shorter p-rod. Crower - and a Ford piece no less - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mv...O6U=w1120-h280 Here is what makes up the rest of the valve train - Crower Solid lifters (no offset) Crower Push rods 9.450 3/8s .080 wall Ferrea 5000 series valves - 2.19 intake 1.66 exhaust Howard Springs -98644 solid roller valve springs setup at 1.860-1.865" Int. 1.870-1.875" exh installed height Isky adjustable guide plates KRE Stud girdle With the binding issue behind me, I was finally able to get the SD Mega Brace installed. I forget exactly where the recommendation to use SplashZone to seal it all up came from, but I think I turned out pretty good. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bn...jaY=w1320-h480 I cleaned up the casting flash of the valley on my last build in 2010, so I could get straight to installing here. Hats off to Dave @ SD - the Mega Brace is a nice piece of equipment. Now, with that done I can put the heads on for good and lock it down. Shame to cover all this up, don't you think? https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ih...CYQ=w1320-h480 ^^^^Adjustable guide plates. Even years later I get chills thinking about them. They a PITA to get right!!^^^^ https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Bh...m1o=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/B8...4-U=w1320-h480 Onward to the fuel system next time. |
Insert Fuel pun here...
I ran the old fuel system in my car for 18 years. It consisted of a Mallory 140 pump/filter/regulator, -8 lines, Jaz fuel cell, all deadheaded at the carb. This was fine for running 11.55 with my old iron #16s, and surprisingly, it was also fine pushing my 3700#+ barge to 10.67s when I switched to aluminum heads/solid roller in 2010. I knew I was close to maxing out this system though, so when the inevitable "next time" came when I wanted more power, the fuel system would make the top of the list.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2C...5nI=w1320-h480 The only constant "issue" I ever dealt with was the line routing to the carb. Initially the regulator draped over the open passenger wheel (no well) and ran legs up to the carb. Never a problem with that configuration, it was just ugly and potentially dangerous if a tire were to let go. I moved it to the back corner of the firewall, and while a tad bit safer, still ugly. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jn...V6Q=w1320-h480 The problems came when I wanted a cleaner and safer solution. To achieve it, I ran the fuel line up the front of the block, under the Victor, out the side and up to a carb mounted regulator. The tight spacing required some tight, but doable, turns to be made. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zy...xDA=w1320-h480 Clean setup, but this proved later to be taking on too much heat (and likely causing a dangerously lean condition) any time I drove the car for good periods of time (45 minutes?) which was rare. I discovered the issue on a trip to a not-so-local car show where the only viable option to get there was a stretch of 65mph highway for 25 minutes. When I got to the show, the car had no idle, it died as I pulled in and didn't re-fire. It took some doing, but I managed to get it home. Safely? Who knows...did I lean it out to the point where I shortened the lifespan of a critical part? Probably. Tip #3 - don't take a woefully under-prepared, 4.10 geared, 3800 stalled 3 spd drag car out on the highway for 25 minutes straight. As good as that old system was, I knew I needed to rectify the issues or else forfeit this engine. I needed to fix the heat problem, as well as keep the fuel moving. For now, the fix was to only take the car to local shows 30 minutes or closer, mandating back roads to get there. Not ideal, but for a car that saw only an average of 500 miles a year, it wasn't too big of a sacrifice. Funny too - I never had a fuel line rot or ever had to replace the filter. Of course Id check the filter constantly, but it was spotless every time. I replaced it once just because, but kept the old element because it was a good backup. I know its unpopular, but there is something to be said for not running pump gas! The whole point of this rambling was to make it absolutely clear that my next system would be overkill for any power I planned on making. This should suffice. Behold the Aeromotive A1000 awesomnessnessness. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zS...7lo=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kK...UBw=w1520-h680 Now the old trunk was never worthy of taking any picture of, so I wasn't about to start now. It was rattle can flat black, dingy and last touched in 1997. You can use your imagination, but I'm sure it was worse. Booo trunk space. The JAZ cell strapped direct to the floor and sat flat because the I cut out the original hump for the OEM tank fuel lines. This tank was bigger than the JAZ by 8 gallons, and I wanted to make sure the filler was accessible for quick refills at the track. This meant the cell needed to sit more toward the back of the car. This presented a problem as youll see in the upcoming photos. So, instead of cutting up the trunk floor again, I decided to fab up some mounts and raise the cell off the floor. I had to replace some trunk floor to get good weld penetration but this method solved two issues - leveling off the tank, and giving the tank a way to be fastened to the floor. The tabs on the cell were done by my welder. (no TIG here). Finished it all with some store bought rattle can splatter paint. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ht...KLY=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IK...2WI=w1320-h480 One of my near-future purchases will be the Aeromotive pump speed controller. If I waited a tad longer..about a year.. I could have gotten the brushless pump with the controller built in, but I had no way of knowing. The A1000 moves A LOT of fuel, but its pretty loud. Almost makes me miss my Mallory....almost. |
Electrical
I've always dealt with a slow crank/hot start electrical issues with this car. To get by, I either fixed it just enough, or bypassed it when possible. (Think alligator clips) Its been ongoing since the car was stock and driven to high school as well through all stages in the decades since. The issue was no doubt changing (along with the car) and that made it difficult to narrow down. Its also no coincidence that electricity is my weakest skill here, and that's saying something, because my welding is friggin terrible. The root cause however, was likely to have been a myriad of factors over time. Time to solve ohm. (It gets better)
Since I was going through all the systems for this rebuild, I wanted to rectify this. Figuring, but not really knowing, the 48 year old wiring in the column to be the main culprit, (nothing else seemed to work and this was common to most of the issues) I decided I would no longer start the car from the column. I was also tired of multiple switches all over the place (fuel, fans, dumps etc) and wanted to consolidate. This is the route I chose. All the cool guys on Street Outlaws have something similar, so I had to get it: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Gp...Rpc=w1320-h480 This would do no good if i didn't first start with good size cable for the heavy loads. I had done so in the past (so I thought), but in reality only the starter cable from the remote solenoid to the starter was duly rated for its load. As the car evolved to require a cutoff switch and remote charging lugs, lesser gauge wiring was introduced into the system, likely a result of dealing with time constraints and taking whatever Summit or local NAPAs had on hand. Regardless why, a hodgepodge of various gauge was in play. I was revolted. (nailed it) For my chance to correct this, all of the heavy duty work for starting/charging/grounding had to be decently sized. This should do it, don't joule think? (I kill me) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kw...-Fg=w1320-h480 All lugs were to be heavy duty. All ends were be soldered and shrink wrapped. You know, the basics of good wiring. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wB...ph0=w1120-h280 This effort also meant the small auxiliary fuse panel I used for high powered items for the previous 20 years bought from a stereo place, (top of this photo) had to go. And finally, I would incorporate some quality relays for the high draw components. (If ohm being honest, fuel pump and fan were directly wired prior - bad, I know). Here was the mock up for the new board - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rJ...8M=w13920-h480 Here is the "current" board in action. (I can do this all night) The new fuse panel is from Blue Sea products. Its a Split Bus Fuse Block that allows one side to be hot all the time and the other to be key on powered. Wicked joule. The whole panel is mounted on the interior firewall above the passenger foot well. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Yu...B7c=w1320-h480 Not bad for a battery from 2006 and sitting for the past 5 years. Didn't take too much of a charge to get there, and it held. I was "shocked". (This is some of my best stuff folks) Gotta love Optima. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mu...CJM=w1220-h380 Too bad I melted it a few months later when I forget to disconnect the charger one night. It Hertz to look. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Jg...txk=w1320-h480 Tip#4 - Don't use a 30 year old dumb, non AGM battery charger on high for 12 hours straight on an AGM battery. Pretty embarrassed about this one. I may not know electricity, but I know better than to do this. I actually only noticed the meltdown when the top of the battery box showed signs of corrosion. Hard to believe those were brand new terminals. Nasty stuff those battery thingys. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xv...-gE=w1320-h480 |
radiator
Since 1997 when the car was first built to any level, I've wanted an aluminum radiator. Being 24 at the time, without a lot of extra money to spend, (plus any rad that would fit this chassis would need to be custom) I continued to go with the tried & true copper/brass 3 core from the local radiator supply house.
An opportunity presented itself in 2005 when I punched a hole in that 8 year old radiator trying to bolt it the car, but sadly, my surgery with a cutting wheel and solder proved to be too awesome and it lasted the next 11 years. (plus it was seriously hard to argue replacing a $100 part that worked with a $700 part that worked) In addition to that ugliness, I had also picked up a 16" junkyard fan in 97, off some 4 cylinder a (Saturn I think it was) for about $15 IIRC. Believe it or not, that has been on the car the entire time. Never replaced a motor even. Fastened with zip ties, but it never let me down. This time around, that wasn't going to cut it so C&R got the call. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Pv...3i0=w1320-h480 I had to think about how I was going to hold on to it. (This hotrodding stuff is hard) The old radiator just used it own weight to hold the isolaters in place, then I bolted the top to the core support. You can see that in this Don Keefe kick ass pic taken at the 2006 VMP Pavement Pounders Shootout. (you can see the ziptie for the fan too, if you look closely) Man that was a great time! (dont even get me started on that hideous master cylinder) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aU...UlI=w1320-h480 I could use the stock rubber isolators, recage them and weld to the core support, but this radiator was so fat compared to the old one, I thought it more prudent to use a fatter type of support so I went with the one on the far left. I caged it better and lined it with 1/4" rubber mat I cut up instead of the foam you see here. I wont show you them on the car. The welds were ugly. Like real ugly. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Wk...gw8k=w920-h280 On top had to be something better that some muffler hanger and bolts to hold it in place, so I designed these out of cardboard. They made contact with existing threaded holes in the core, and then reached out and leaned over the rad to keep it from falling over. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rz...CjU=w1320-h480 I scraped this idea very quickly. Way too much work, and they were so thin where the bolts were going to go, they likely wouldn't have held up to much abuse. I say we go with something more traditional, and easier to bend - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qm...ROw=w1320-h480 Now doesn't that look a lot better? A couple of fancy screws and now it looks like something Chip Foose might have made...or maybe his cousin...distant, long lost cousin. Cousin's friend maybe. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jD...0LE=w1020-h480 I really didn't want a piece of polished aluminum in the bay to be honest. My goal was to make a lot of the shiny pieces appears like carbon fiber this time around. Since I knew I wasn't going to paint the radiator, or the heads, or the valley pan, or scuff up my brandy new valve covers for the wrap to stick, I decided I'd leave it as is. |
shifter pedestal
This always having been a column shifted car, mounting a good looking shifter on the floor always presented a challenge when it came to reach. I originally put the ProStick directly on the tunnel but when harnessed in, I could never manipulate the reverse lockout. Time to make it a fix! (I heard an old Italian F1 mechanic say that once... Once.)
Starting with an educated guess in rise, I made a cardboard template, borrowed a brake and bent this up. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rd...icY=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gZ...cDs=w1320-h480 Instead of bolts through the tunnel this time, which if ever loosened were next impossible to tighten, I put thread-serts in the floor. Man I love thread-serts. But, make sure you don't drill too big of a hole, and make sure when you do drill, its on a flat plane and the drill is straight. Otherwise, youll have to weld the thread-sert in place. Stupid thread-serts. Next time I think Id rather weld a mount off the floorboard brace and bolt the shifter to that. But thats next time. Back to the parallelogram. Mmmm.....ooooh, ahhh. Dimple dies. So cool. And a little bit of shiny paint. And one more for Jenny and the wimp. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WB...ml0=w1320-h480 I didn't want the shifter mount to look brand new. Under any of the Rustoleum black I typically spray, I lay down Rustoleum's Rusty Metal Primer as what else? A primer. This was no exception and would prove a good contrast for my experiment in patinanessness. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rp..._sc=w1320-h480 The reality is I likely used the wrong gauge steel for this piece. At the very least, it needed some cross bracing. it was pretty flimsy. I was hoping the dimple took care of that, and while slightly better, not rock solid like a mount needs to be. At the very least, the simple fix below added back some strength. We'll see what a season of driving does to it all. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cs...HjI=w1320-h480 Finished product with the satin clear....minus one pin, plus one finger. (Fear not, that cable takes a better path now!) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/U0...XAo=w1320-h680 I mocked up the seat and love where the shifter sits now. So comfortable and easy to operate. |
Polished aluminum... thread serts... dimple dies,,, OH MY!!!! I thought I was reading the wrong build thread till the Rustoleum rusty metal primer brought it back to reality. That shifter mount does look pretty badass though. I'd love to have that rad and fan set up, looks so clean.
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This is awesome. I appreciate your documentation of these things! The willingness to admit mistakes is also greatly appreciated as I've more than made my share as well and seeing someone else admit to them makes me feel better about mine.
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Oil Pan
Had to do something about that dipstick situation. This was it. Behold its sexiness! Too bad it covers up that Butler Pro series pump I have no pictures of.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Yz...iwo=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LZ...SLg=w1320-h480 Tight fit - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dP..._KQ=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BX...py4=w1220-h480 The dip stick provision is in the passenger kickout and uses a compression type fitting. The plan was to use the stick only for reading when the car wasnt running. Id pull out the whole tube and plug the provision so the vacuum pump got a good seal, but rumor has it, that may not be necessary. Time will tell. To further mitigate the leakage potential, I chose the twist lock, Moroso dipstick. I'm not sure what they were thinking with their crappy little mounting hardware, so I made this to actually work with my valve cover. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zk...nuo=w1720-h880 The fit and finish of the Canton pan was excellent IMO. Good thick level rail and virtually no gap at the timing cover with gasket in place. Speaking of gaskets, I'm using the BOP one piece oil pan gasket. Ive used it in the past and wouldn't have it any other way. Rounded it out with ARP bolts for the pan. I'll leave with a tip - Tip#6 If you are going to use a magnet in your oil pan with trap doors, say like a FilterMag TM360, make sure the magnet isn't so strong it holds any of the trap doors open. |
Front end tear down
Back in 1995 when life was easy, I blasted (with actual play sand) the engine bay, cowl, frame, suspension, interior fenders and and steering components with a 50lb Sears plastic sandblaster outside in my parents driveway. It looked just the one in this pic I stole off the interwebs.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fn...azg=w1120-h380 I did it with a 2hp Sears compressor that definitely was NOT rated for that type of work. (Sorry Dad!) Took three straight weeks of after work hours and sand in my ears to get it all done. My girlfriend was furious. (that's a lot of Friday nights to miss when you're 22) I repainted the bare metal with reduced Rustoleum yellow zinc chromate primer and then shot it with Rustoleum Satin Black using a cheap JC Whitney paint gun. Don't ask how I was able to accomplish all of that and have the paint actually stick for 20 years, but that's exactly what it did. I never had any adhesion issues or rust. The only problem I had (if you can call it that) was the bay was now so vast, with the fender wells and HVAC box/heater core deleted, I thought all that black would be waaaaaay too boring to stare at. Add to that dilemma my immense dislike of any OEM Pontiac engine color and you may start to understand why I have a Plum Crazy engine block...and transmission....and firewall...and control arms etc. Fun fact - GM had a purple they were painting their cars in 1996. I wanted to stay GM and use that color until I saw the cost. Local Allied suggested the Plum instead, so I went with it. Fast forward. 2016. I'm tired of seeing it. Plus there was something to the effect of 456,971 chips (give or take 3) allowing the zinc chromate to show through just about everywhere. Time to clean this pig up. Keep in mind, I blasted the front end in '96, painted the car this gray/black in '05 and then again in 2010 (fiberglass came!) and never did I ever take off the front fenders or the core support. So this look here is a first for me. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rq...HCY=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jJ...h34=w1320-h480 There is an army of fasteners to go along with all of this. Holy crap. (OK, I threw in some I had lying around, but still!) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_N...T10=w1220-h380 I've got a 6 inch wire wheel that attaches a 1200 rpm motor I lock in my vice. No tumblers, no parts washers, no blasting cabinet. This...Ive got this. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dU...htg=w1220-h380 And some wire brushes. Yeah. And some Laquer thinner. You know how long those friggin bolts took me to prep? ^%#((% $#$^ My therapist says not talking about it is best. Was all this my idea or was I being punished? I don't really remember anymore. And it seemed a bit late to turn back. |
Reading this is like dejavu...
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Engine / Trans Paint
So if I didn't like any of the OEM Pontiac engine colors and I didn't want to see the purple anymore, what color would I be painting the engine and trans? I couldn't do black. So many people do black it never has enough contrast to look "right" to me. Plus it will be in a ginormous black engine bay. More black was not the answer.
I had given some thought to using a flat finish on the engine/trans and doing it in some off color shade, like medium gray, bronze, or champagne, you know, much like the route a lot of the customizers were taking. (Think Kindig) Then I thought about how those really only look good in bays of the same color or with something else to tie it to the exterior color of the car. A theme essentially. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zq...HxY=w1220-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1H...Eek=w1320-h480 It got me thinking. Seeing how I'm very few pieces away from collecting most all of the NOS panels for this car, and knowing that some day Id lay down "real" paint once those were mounted, I gave thought to how I'd want it all to look. Would I leave it black and gray? (Fun Fact - The gray only came about as a result of mixing black and white Rustoleum quarts. Yeah, sheer brilliance, I know. My painting acumen astounds even me) Maybe I would finally choose a bolder color, like a candy copper, or perhaps the forever-awesome-no-matter-what-its-on Brandywine? Even some of the factory colors on these cars looked great on so many examples from the last few years...Ascot Silver, Valencia Gold, Mesa Tan, Golden Olive, Burma Brown etc. I knew I'd keep the paint design, and I knew the black was going to stay, so it was merely a question of what the gray would become. In a nice way to pay homage to the cars beginnings and have it come full circle to the car my Grandad bought and my Dad drove, I decided the original color was too hard to resist. That means code 24, Ditzler PPG 2523, Porcelain Blue Poly would replace the gray on the car (someday) but more importantly, be my choice for engine and trans. I wont bore you with detail on the hassles of getting the right color mixed up (This is close, and metallic so not dead on) or complain about the expense of replacing my inline desiccant dryer system, or dive into the difficulties of keeping a 3 bay garage with no dehumidifier under "optimal painting conditions" or describe the nuisance a make shift paint booth becomes when the plastic isn't secured to the floor and the line sticks to it from the over spray, or the frustration of finally getting ready to paint and having the gun leak all over the place, and I wont even complain about moving into a garage with one more bay then I'm used to but having less space than I did before, I'll just give ya the good stuff - - - - - - - - - - wait for it..... - - - - - drumroll - - - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oN...6n4=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ui...w0E=w1320-h480 Single stage urethane. I got a bit close in some areas because the lighting was poor and I didn't take the time to adjust it. Because its a metallic, the metal flake tends to bunch up and run quicker than non metallics when that happens. I was upset about it, but then realized if I was smarter, I could have avoided the mistake. Tip#7 - when spraying paint on an engine on a stand, roll the engine over so your always painting on a flat surface. This will minimize the effect of gravity on areas where the paint went on heavy Realistically, it came out just fine. Sure its got some flaws, but when bigger flaws occur elsewhere, I'll focus on those and forget all about these. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NA...DaA=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eN...f28=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_i...0rU=w1320-h480 I don't know how you painters do it, but every time I gear up to paint a big ticket item, it always takes me 62.485x longer than I imagined and am usually up until 3 am by the time the gun is finally cleaned. Is it just me? Normally not a problem, but I don't always paint on weekends! I gotta say this though, very few things are more rewarding then putting in the time with some nasty Aircraft Remover, (who can afford to have a plane, much less use remover on it?) dealing with the goo and mess of old paint, getting down to the clean natural finish clearing away years of dirt and grime, and being able to bring it all back up again. Its a lot of work, but worth it when it comes out right. (or as close to right as I care to get!) |
core support / fire wall
In a galaxy far far away, a long long time ago, I took all of the bracing the inner fenders and core support provided, and removed it. Its laughable that it was probably all about 60 lbs of weight savings, fenderwells making up the bulk @ 18lbs each, but hey, when you're coming down from 3900lbs+, every bit matters. Seems funny today with power being readily available, but back in the day, my thinking was I had to absolutely lighten it up.
While its cool to watch the front fenders shimmy in harmony with the choppy idle, and as intimidating as it can be to the random Fox body that pulls up next to ya, it does very little to keep the metal from fatiguing over time. IIRC my core support had 5 cracks in it, and don't have a single picture of any of them. The small brackets I made to tie the bottom of the fenders to the core, were also starting to split. No pics of those either. This pic is a fix of one of those cracks. You can see where I drilled a hole to stop it from going any further. I ground it out slightly then welded it up. Then I cleaned up the weld with a grinder. I only took this pic because it normally doesn't come out so good. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rM...h1U=w1320-h480 The two self tappers above are holding a bracket I made to hold my overflow can. The shot below shows the mounts for the trans cooler I made. I was tired of those crappy plastic fasteners that force you to mount the cooler to the radiator and there was no way I was going to cover up that new aluminum radiator I waited so long to buy. Screw you plastic fasteners. The mounts are square tube with threaded rod welded through them. Then I welded it all to the core. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Kq...wB4=w1320-h480 Next on the task list is to weld up all the holes I'm not using in the firewall, per NHRA rules. This picture is me now with confidence as a "fixer of metal with metal" taking out a spot on the firewall, for what exact reason I can't seem to recall. Just trust me. It needed to come out. (warped, rusty, too thin I cant recall) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nF...1B0=w1420-h580 The grounding strap and bolt, would serve as you guessed it, my ground. (The other holes already filled in were where an old fuel line was held in place going up to the isolater) I made the hole more of a shape of something I could put back in...kinda like you would a drywall patch. Spent much time shaping the perfect piece, grinding in 45s so I could get good penetration. Nice fit too! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bG...4sU=w1320-h480 Anyone see anything wrong with this picture? I certainly didn't, until my welds started burning holes in the fire wall with each touch. .023 wire, fast wire speed, low heat, gas was on. Still blew through almost every stitch. I know most blow-through is due to heat, but with this setup, I'm guessing my grounding was also a factor. I was still using the bolt in the last picture, but the POS magnets here were the only things keeping the new metal grounded, and for the life of me couldn't get a good spot to stick. (maybe a backing bar would have helped?) If I went any further, I knew end up screwing up the whole wall, so I left it in frustration. I knew the car was going to a real fabricator for headers soon, so I would just ask him to take care of it, which I dislike doing very much. @$&$ty Piece of #$&& F&*(&%(( D*(&&%^# https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fZ...OJ4=w1220-h380 |
What tech tip number are we on? I guess we don’t really need one because I might be off base but welding and magnets don’t always get along. We had to drill out some studs at work a couple months ago. We had a drill fixture plate with a mag base drill lined up on the part ready to be tack welded in place: The welder dude was having a hard time getting the stick welder to work properly. Eventually he realized the magnet was on the drill. I’ve been having the same issue with burn thru with patch panels It just dawned on me about the magnets. Of course it could be the rust I’m trying to weld to..
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Headers
Like the rest of us, Ive lost track of how many sets of headers Ive gone through over the years. To name a few -> Blackjack, Hedman, Hooker, Maddog 2x (don't even get me started on that guy). The time had come where I was finally tired of seeing very expensive pieces just crumble to rot in short order. This time around they had to be stainless.
I debated the idea, as I'm sure most of us have; make them myself or send them out? This battle raged for months in my head. - Pro - I get to buy a TIG welder - Pro - it will be cheaper to build them myself, even after buying the stainless and the welder - Pro - I learn something new. Even if its that I don't want to make my own headers - Con - drastic TIG learning curve - Con - Time - Con - dport heads - Con - expensive mistake if they suck - Con - If I fail, I still need stainless headers You know its kinda hard to get good at anything if you're not doing any of the work, so this wasn't an easy decision. The car had been down for so long at this point though, did I want to delay it another 2-3 months finding out what everyone was already telling me, that headers suck to build? Well, ultimately I listened to "those people" and leaned on a guy in CT to do the work. A few guys near me could do this, but I didn't like any of their attitudes. Those were just the ones who would actually respond. Most never bothered to return a message or pick up the phone. Strange how that is, but all too common with me and contractors it seems. Must be me. Enough about them, lets get to the good stuff. Getting headers first means the engine had to go in - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Wq...1OA=w1320-h480 and then I had to load it up - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5J...-PA=w1220-h480 And drop it off here, at JW Racing & Fabrication, 2hours and 45 minutes from home. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p_...6r0=w1320-h480 And through the magic of the interweb, and the fact that all of this was completed a long time ago - I can show you the finished product - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jM...lUE=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/e5...X5E=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NY...JF4=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Kl...FV4=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WC...thM=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xu...Eh4=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/RL...AXI=w1420-h580 Couldn't be happier with Joe @JW and his work. Hes a kickass artist and great guy to deal with. These should last a long time. The only drawback to all of this awesomeness was a remote oil filter was most definitely going to be needed. |
media day
So I've been to this blasting show once before as you know.....didn't like it. I certainly wasn't looking forward to it again, but it had to be done. The purple was real automotive paint and it wasn't coming off without a lot of mess. Either media mess, or stripper mess. Media mess is a faster route to paint, so I chose media mess. And man, does this story sound familiar.....
It starts with an undersized portable baster that a friend of mine was storing here for oh, 8 years. Its a Cyclone PT 40. Crappy thing doesn't even have wheels. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Cj...5Y=w1920-h1080 How undersized you ask? (you didn't really ask, just work with me here) • 40 lb. Capacity (smaller than the one I used in 96!!) • 8 ft. Hose • Blast hose 3/8" ID • 1/8" Ceramic nozzle Not a lot happening fast here but I wasn't about to buy my own blaster only to have it sit also around for years, so I was determined to make this work. It'll do the job, it'll just be slow. After learning a few lessons last time, here is why it will be ever so slightly better: - The compressor should handle it this time around https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/M9...KEQ=w1320-h480 - I was going to use aluminum oxide instead of sand - I bought a blasting gun that you could actually turn on and off So besides the goggles constantly fogging up because of the respirator type mask I was wearing, which was every 15 effin minutes (insert Covid-19 preparedness joke here), it didn't go too badly. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9l...YBo=w1420-h580 The plan was to keep the front end together to keep the car portable and then wire wheel/brush with a drill what I couldn't blast once in the garage and disassembled. The suspension and steering components (minus the box/pitman arm) were all going to get powder coated or replaced, so I didn't have to worry about those and the core support would be blasted separately. This physical blasting took about 12 hours. covering both a Saturday and Sunday. I was constantly stopping with goggle issues, filling up the hopper or just taking a break. Factor in time to get the car up/down/back in the garage and clean up the driveway so I'm not "that guy" in the neighborhood, and they were pretty long days. Here is the car once back in the garage with the moving parts, removed.(ha!) You can see the areas where steering and suspension parts kept me from reaching. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gp...JDM=w1320-h480 Life kinda got in the way that week. I came back to the car after work on Tuesday and started the cleanup process. Looking at the cross member however, one of the earliest of the basted pieces, it had looked like some tiny spots had been missed. So I got them with the wire wheel and the drill. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ys...RFg=w1320-h480 Then I noticed the same type of spot on the on the firewall......and the frame rails. Then it hit me, like ah, a two ton heavy thing... (what song guys. cmon?) These were not places I missed, this was rust starting to form. Well #$@, @#$^&#$#&%#* mother%$&$**$@@# So here's the thing....New England weather, unless its 20 degrees outside, is pretty humid all the friggin time apparently. So lets start off with a tip. Tip#8 - When media blasting, be prepared to protect any exposed metal as soon as you are done blasting. I may have cried here, I may have blacked out, I really don't recall. All I remember was thinking there was no way I could keep up with this. With work and other commitments, there was no way I could get this cleaned up and epoxied any time soon. It was going to take me days if I was going to do it with a drill and my drill wasn't sounding too good after the last pass with this stuff. This would all have to be blasted again. I had blasted too much area and the rust was coming in faster than I could keep up. Tip#9 - Don't take the suspension off until you are sure you don't need to move the car again #%^. OK, so not only do I get to live the blasting hell all over again, but now I need to figure a way to get this thing back outside? Hold my beer.... Solution (minus one tow strap to keep it all together): https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ee...vU8=w1320-h480 No I didn't steal it. A friend of mine gave it to me. (really!) It worked like a charm believe it or not. It rolled smoothly and the big casters allowed it to easily make back over the 1 inch lip to get back in the garage. And if I'm thinking positively about all of this, at least now I could take out the engine mounts that I left in place for some reason. Blasting was considerably quicker this time around, so it allowed time the next day to clean up any rust formations, make the booth and get to painting. Before: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E4...1tY=w1320-h480 After: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/7P...esk=w1320-h480 All dressed in Nason 491-35 DTM Primer/Sealer I must be getting better at something...this shot was NOT at 3am, (just before midnight on a Sunday) I might actually be rested for work in the morning. Wonder what that's like? I wet sanded and painted all of this two more times (320 / 400) in the coming days just because I love pain. (and to make sure I had proper coverage and enough base to stand up over time). I guess we'll see. In an effort to actually help someone, let me say I do believe sealer can go over those tiny rust formations and stop it from getting worse or ever coming through. It bonds with and seals the metal, much like the zinc chromate of yore. So yeah, I probably freaked out over nothing, but I wasn't gathering crystal clear information so in the wake of not being sure, I opted to play it safe. Probably should have asked a question here. I'm so stubborn sometimes. |
core support, again
The core support was blasted the following weekend. (no pics) and I epoxied it same as the car. (no pics) Came out fine, buts that's when I noticed the additional cracks I had mentioned in a previous post. (no pics) Small cracks, but they need to be addressed. Those are highlighted in the yellow weld-through primer shown here, but you cant really see them:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/JN...Kto=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xy...2Tc=w1320-h480 I hate weld-through primer. It never works. This time was no exception, so I cleaned it down to metal for a good weld. And yes, ya gotta grind away some of the sealer to get a good ground. I have no pics of that mess thankfully. Once complete, I wet sanded (400) the core all over again to get a good second coat of sealer on it to cover up all I took off. I'm only doing this once, and I'm not taking any shortcuts. Once dry, I wet sand it again (400) to get it ready for the color coat. Lets just focus on the positive. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A...Hgk=w1320-h480 Looks good, but the first time I painted it, I has some issues with the finish. I was using something different this time around (Martin Senour - 7243 - Chassis Black) and it came out rather rough feeling (but not looking) in many places when dry. I just chocked it up to not applying enough paint as I knew my conditions were pretty decent. (75 degrees, and humidity less than 30%) So I wet sanded it (400) and hit again with color the next night. Same thing, but less texture this time. Hmmm...maybe it was the paint? Conditions similar, and the coats were going on wet, but by the time I completed a pass, some of the finish looked like it had already dried. The core support finally got smooth after wet sanding it again and painting it a third time with more overlap and more speed. It seemed to work. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_C...C60=w1520-h680 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xh...gSo=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fe...0rM=w1520-h680 If any of sounds familiar, that's because I documented it in a previous post but with the frame rails. "OK fellow Michelangelos, what do you think is going wrong" SPOILER ALERT - painted frame rails in that post! |
Keep it coming. Enjoying the story line and pictures.
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frame
This is where any idea of a schedule just starts to fade out of sight. Not necessarily due to the nature of the fix but more from my indecision on how far I want to go with it all. We all suffer from it to some degree I'm sure.
For years now, I could lean on the drivers side front fender and get a very audible squeak from the front end. Through the course of time, I had replaced shocks and springs, but the squeak was still there. I just assumed it was a poly bushing I hadn't lubed enough. I was told they were noisier that stock, so I was resigned to live with it. Amazing what you discover when removing 20 years of history. This is the inside frame rail, behind the engine cross member, drivers side. I think I just found the source of my squeak: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wf...9ic=w1320-h480 Well, %^^/ . Add another setback to the list. So in cleaning this up, I couldn't help but be astounded how shoddy the factory weld was in such a critical location. Take a look. Do these edges have any evidence of good weld penetration? No wonder it cracked. As a matter of fact, I cant believe its not worse considering what I put this car through. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eD...acc=w1520-h680 Don't worry, I got the angle and die grinder in there to fully dig out the crack before welding it up. A little too much splatter, but this ought to hold it together. This is pass 2, over a narrower bead in pass 1. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0O...LXk=w1420-h580 Trying to control the heat so I didn't melt the paint and still get a solid weld was a balancing act. The passenger side of the cross member was almost as bad - here is the fix for that: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6p...JvU=w1420-h580 Now I wish I could say I thought to check the rest of the welded joints after this discovery, but I was so angry about being further behind schedule and scraping off sealer now in TWO friggin spots, I couldn't really see straight. The focus was getting these locations sanded, blended and resealed as quickly as possible, which I did, so I could move on to color. Then it kept gnawing at me over the week. Eating, digging and grinding away in my head - check those other welded joints. Eating breakfast; check those other welded joints... Brushing my teeth: check those other welded joints... In a meeting at work: Check those other welded joints! ME: Do I really need to? They're probably fine. They were on there for almost 50 years! ALSO ME: Just take a look at them...... ME:But setting up to weld and repaint is a royal PITA...masking, sanding, cleaning.... ALSO ME: You only want to do this once, right? ME: Maybe?? Friggin ME. Fine, I'll look at them. You tell me - good decision? Passenger side, rear lower control arm bracket: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iS...9ZE=w1420-h580 I understand for a passenger car in the 70s, this was probably fine. Heck, it stood this long, so it cant be all that bad. Did I really need to "fix" it though? Considering the hard hits on the pavement the front end may see going forward, I thought it best to put a full bead both inside and out on every suspension bracket that didn't have one, which was pretty much all of them. After - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/54...uQ8=w1420-h580 BTW, don't be concerned about that washer welded to the backside of the bracket or all that metal on the inside. That is finely crafted, precision work done by me to clean up an elongated hole in the mount from a previous transgression. Remember, this car went though the entire family before it got to me~! I don't have pictures of the other locations but they were all pretty bad. The only suspension locations that didn't need reinforcement were the upper control arm mounts, and the engine cross member to frame on the radiator side of the car. |
Glad you mentioned that. It's something I'll look for when I do mine. Thanks!
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Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
The real problem with any of these issues was only having 2 days a week to address them. Even then, those would never be full days - too much other stuff to do when you're the only one on the job. Painting issues are the worst because as anyone who ever picked up a spray can knows, they require a process each and every time to ensure a decent outcome. If you skimp, it'll show.
When it came to painting the sealer for instance, each time I could only bite off what I could complete in a reasonable time frame, and then I'd use that time to strip, clean, weld, clean again, sand, mask, clean yet again, and finally, reseal. This is why a couple of pictures could easily be the result of two weeks in time. When I look back and ask myself 'why did it take me so long', its easy to forget. Seeing these pictures brings it all back. With the sealer finally complete, I knew all of these painting issues would just fade away. <<little paint joke there for ya. Fade? If I only knew what lie ahead... ================================================== ================================================== ==================================== My goal for the front end was to look more factory 'type' in appearance. I researched this board almost exclusively for what folks were using for chassis and firewall paint and I looked at a ton of pictures. The effect I was going for wasn't necessarily what GM did in 73, just something in general to mimic the factory contrast between a shiny frame rail and a semi gloss firewall. I didn't want flat paint, and I didn't want multiple shades/sheens of black. All I needed was something that looked good, was tough, and would clean up easily. (without fender wells, dust happens just looking at it) There is a lot of paint out there for restoration and many places claim to have the correct GM sheen for any piece you may want to color up. Of course they will gladly charge you a premium for such correctness, so I decided on something a little less extravagant. Ta-dah!!! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ct...Ty0=w1320-h480 Yup. Same stuff I used on the core support. I wasn't convinced a spray can could get me the consistent results I needed for this large area, but the core did come out pretty good, so I was willing to give it another shot. I guess its nice not having a good memory sometimes, right? The pain fades, the results stay and you eventually say to yourself, "yeah, Id love to do that again!" Why does that happen? Is it a coping mechanism? I suppose without it, we'd never fall in love, trust, build another car or get back up on that proverbial horse, right? I hope you like these pictures. Took me 3 rounds of paint and wet sanding (400) to get the finish to feel smooth. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KN...-_A=w1520-h680 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iA...lFA=w1520-h680 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sd...dXM=w1520-h680 Danny LaRusso never did this much sanding, I can guarantee you that. This time around, I think it was more a lack of proper lighting than anything paint or condition related. There isn't a ton of room to get lights up and under along with me, and most of the issues I had were either on the inside, or under the rail. On to the firewall! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rB...aj8=w1320-h480 The firewall only took two rounds of paint with a wet sand (400) in between to get good. I guess that's progress?? https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4W...2ng=w1520-h680 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QK...NuM=w1520-h680 In retrospect, I wont say I wont use the MS paint again, but lets say I was fully appreciating the Rustoleum in these shots. Don't get me wrong - I love the way it came out, but over a wide range of conditions that I never gave any mind to, Rustoleum came out exactly as I planned. This stuff? I guess I need to be more of an expert to figure it out, or at least commit the proper technique to memory. OK, what technique was that again? You mean TECnique paint? Ooohhh, frame rails you say? Sure! Let me get my tools.... |
someone told me this would be fun - it isnt.
With the painting it done, its time to figure out where all this stuff goes -
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/RK...Cts=w1320-h480 In the upper right part of the table, you can see the steering box - same one I used before, just cleaned up and painted. Its a manual box, but I'll be damned if I can remember from what. Here is a better shot. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4P..._nQ=w1320-h480 Its done in a metallic oil rubbed bronze. (happy trees! Prussian Blue, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Yellow etc) I thought it would be a nice accent against the boring black. Did the tie rods, center link, and idler arm in the same color, but used these to tie the rods together. (see what I did there - tie the rods?) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tn...z-Y=w1320-h480. I wanted to replace the bushings this time around too. The polys had a good run of 23 years, but I figured its time to give the Global West Del-a-Lums a shot. That blue sure is pretty. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Gb...KJ0=w1520-h680 Man, this internet thing makes things go together real fast!! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MN...Wy4=w1420-h580 Rumor has it these calipers get sticky. I guess ill find out. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zo...Zm0=w1420-h580 The reason there are so few words to go with these pictures is because there wasn't much to tell. The passenger side was uneventful. Nothing we all haven't done a 1000 times. The problem, along with a 2 month delay, came when I tried to put the drivers side together. Grab a coffee - this might take a while. I was the one to assemble the front end when I made the switch to polyurethane bushings all those years ago. I recall the passenger side lower control arm being slightly easier to assemble than the drivers, but it all went together in the normal way - brute force and ignorance. (drift pins, some persuasion tools, and BAM, when stuff lines up, send the bolt) I remember the drivers side LCA being slightly more stubborn, but it dropped in and moved freely - it just took a bit more time to install. Fast forward to now - er, last February - and I have a problem. The LCA wont go in. Its too wide. You heard me - its not fitting in the hole. Lots of banging, lots of swearing, and it still ain't going in. Lots of paint removed, lots of scuffing to the nylon bushing, but still no dice. Its almost as if something had moved. Check it out - I've got a ton of pictures showing how far off the arm is from the pocket - not sure which ones to choose, so I'll go with these from the "I'm Sending This Car Over a Cliff" collection. Rear bracket bobs https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fA...fHQ=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/je...Plc=w1320-h480 Well, that's a bit odd, wouldn't you say? Its seems I cant even draw line through the holes in the rear frame bracket. Not sure why since the same arm came out of this slot. It an easy enough fix, I just don't understand why I have to make it. Did the bracket get tweaked when I welded it? I was very careful to control the heat. Remember, I only took off as little paint as possible. so if heat was high, melted or bubbled paint would have been a clue. There was none. Did the arm get tweaked at the powder coater? Possible, but unlikely. Regardless, moving this bracket back to where it belongs ought to make it all better, right? Yeah, no. Front bolt hole - I can get the extension through the cross member, but if you can look closely enough (pic sucks for it tho) I'm centered on the rear hole, but hitting the bottom of front hole. Translation - no bolt fitty. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/b9...pnM=w1320-h480 If I wanted to drive around with a punch acting as my LCA bolt, I can make this work! (I wouldn't recommend it though). And while I have no alignment shims present in this pic, this doesn't seem like the right ball joint path either- https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Pe...Kxw=w1320-h480 There was no way of getting front bolt to drop in. Focusing on the arm, I took a lot of measurements and everything seemed to be in factory spec. (ear angle, spacing between the bushings, center of joint to bushing etc) Maybe if I changed the angle on the ears ever so slightly, I could get it to work? Tried that in a buddy's press. No pics and worse, still no dice. May be If I change the angle of only the front ear? You can see how little it needs to go in this pic - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IZ...TsA=w1420-h580 Gotta be careful though - too much angle and the hole centers will never line up. And if I'm going to apply heat (and I am) I have to be concerned about losing the taper on the bushing cup. I know this because I lost the taper on the bushing cup. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WD...Ngk=w1420-h580 Plan B - New control arm! Same problem.(at least now I knew it wasn't the arm) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WP...hwU=w1320-h480 I had some drastic Ideas - cut, move, weld? https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kH...Wp0=w1520-h580 Ok, ok, coffee is running low, so gotta wrap this up. In full disclosure, this car had a hard life. Its been hit in this corner 5 times and in the picture below, you can see how hard the cross member on this side hit a set of railroad tracks way back in 78. My welder welded this plate on there about 10 years ago. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/h1...M3Q=w1320-h480 This has been like this for the entire time I've had the car - why would this now be a problem? The frame is straight. I know this because it was a on a rack 12 years ago, and as soon as it went up on stands for this past makeover, I bobbed and lasered all the factory frame points. This frame is within a 1/4" of factory specs. Its good. In all likelihood, this cross member certainly wasn't helping the situation, but I'm finding to hard to believe its the sole source of my problem. Regardless, on the consultation of folks with far more experience than me, the idea they had was a solution with which I was not happy - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pm...PcM=w1420-h580 That was the result of a lot of heat and a bolt with two thick giant washers on either end drawing the cross member closer. After all this, the the arm still didn't fit 100% (albeit closer). It was only after I swapped out the ZERO deflection Del-a-Lum bushing for something softer (poly) that I could work the arm into position. Then I got to experience the joy of masking off the car for paint. Again. Then I got to experience the joy of applying sealer to the cross member. Again. Then I got to experience the joy applying color to the cross member. Again. Then I got to experience the joy of being able wet sand (400) the cross member. Again. Then I got to experience the joy applying color to the cross member. Again https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6R...9Nc=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ru...JLg=w1420-h580 On the plus side - I only lost the taper for the Del bushing. The poly bushing I put in its place went in nicely and is sitting tight. We'll see what future issues that brings. AND my powder coater redid the LCA for nothing. Its the little things. Man, this internet thing makes things go together real fast!! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3j...wR8=w1420-h580 |
vacuum pump
Vacuum. One c, two u's. Got it.
On the last go 'round, under spirited driving, the valve cover breathers would always emit an oil mist that would just make a mess of everything I spent hours trying to keep clean. (no pcv system) Coupled with the factory oil dipstick making a bottle rocket out of itself at the track, I knew I needed to somehow relieve the growing crankcase pressure. Rumor has it, the cure for my woes, plus any weeping seal one might have, would be a vacuum pump. I could probably have gotten away with an exhaust scavenging system, or even tying rags to the breathers, but I never really liked the way any of that looked. Plus the vacuum pump was super shiny. Butler makes it real easy when choosing a thought out system. I had to educate myself in vacuum pump-ology, pulley ratios and pump speeds, so the last thing I wanted was to spend additional time sourcing all the right parts. Plus, I sold my previous set of Butler sheet metal covers to The Raven's brother and knew I was going to purchase the same again, sans breather holes, so why not make it all happen in one place? I made a few calls to ensure fitment with my very old balancer and bought the kit. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a0...FG8=w1320-h480 Tip#10 If you're going to put engine parts on the dining room table, make sure the wife isn't home to see it. Installation was straightforward as it uses the same lower case H pattern standoff many of us are used to. In addition, because its from a Pontiac source, it has a very well thought out adjustment arm that may or may not be on upside down in this pic, that connects to a water pump bolt - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wX...3AQ=w1420-h580 To connect it to the crank, the supplied mandrel is drilled for a stock Pontiac 4 bolt and 3 bolt Chevy pattern. I simply enlarged the 4 holes in the mandrel to accept the bolts I was using with my Fluidamper and Ram Air Restoration pulley and got to mounting it up. That did NOT go as planned. (does anything?) I'm starting to think its me. The holes in the mandrel didn't line up with the pattern on the Fluidamper. It wasn't even like a flexplate thing where they would line up a certain way (at least this you cant attempt to put on backward!), these were way off. Well %$&. Tip#11 Always check to see if parts fit before modifying them Unfortunately, this style mandrel doesn't register on the damper pilot - it relies on the bolts to get it concentric. I can't just elongate the holes and now expect it to work. So to catch you up, yeah, I just ruined an integral part of my vacuum pump kit.(in record time!) And this is where it gets good. I called Butler to ask if they had any other mandrels for the kit. Nada. They had a blank one they offered to send me, but this was the only type available. You know, I love all things Butler - except this piece. Don't get me wrong, I've dealt with the Butler family on many occasions and always received top notch service and quality parts. These guys are class acts and I'm proud they are a part of our Pontiac community. But after looking at the mandrel, knowing it was rather heavy, didn't register on the balancer , and didn't quite spin true in my drill press, I decided I had to go another route. Here the thing, and I know we didn't discuss anything technical yet, so bear with me >>> Because I had already spec'ed out the pulley sizes of this system based on the 3.5" crank pulley in this kit and am now returning it along with the mandrel, that now meant the 4.5"pulley on the GZ pump had to be swapped out, because the new supplier I found, didn't have any 3.5" pulleys. (pump speeds are important dontchya know) Here is why its good - Butler allowed me to return it all - the crank pulley, the GZ pulley, the v-belt, AND the modified mandrel I drilled. On top of that, they even changed the wording on their web site to make sure this doesn't happen again. Sure, I called them prior to all of this and they said it would fit my Fluidamper and yes, the wording was somewhat misleading, but those are mistakes and they happen. Its what they did with that mistake that makes all the difference. Class acts indeed. While dealing with all of that, I was also researching who could make me a mandrel I could deem acceptable. In order to do that, I had to figure out what I had to work with. Break out the measuring slide thingy! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/CM...GF8=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KJ...g4I=w1320-h480 I got a bunch more pictures of me taking every measurement of that damper, but I wont post them. (you're welcome) It does remind me of a tip that might actually be useful however- Tip#12 - A lot of companies are more than happy to share their technical drawings with you, should you ask. Much easier having all of the measurements in a digital format like pdf, than to transcribe all my crummy scribbling that may or may not be 100% accurate. (Some companies even supply 3D models if you're capable to handle them) Armed with the tech diagrams, I could now start to have an intelligent (at least I thought it was intelligent) conversation with the pump vendors. I talked to a handful them - Star Machine, Aerospace Components, and GZ Motorsports. I had some requirements for this mandrel - - it needed a 4 bolt, 3.3" bolt circle configuration - it needed to register on the damper pilot - The mandrel shaft size to be the racing standard, (1.000" bore / 0.125" keyway) so pulley selection would never be an issue - it needed to be long enough to allow a belt center line 3.8" off the face of the balancer (or somewhere close) to be in line with the pump. As luck would have it (Ive been sort on that lately!) the Fluidamper has a bolt pattern just like the internally balanced big block Ford. (4 bolt, 3.3" circle). Well, that will certainly broaden my search, wont it? I finally settled on Jones Racing Products. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fP...xug=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jY...4Lg=w1320-h480 As with most of these mandrels, you can put that pulley anywhere you want and as long as you have the right spacers to take up the slack, its a simple and quick method to move things around, or even add on to later. (pump bracket definitely on backwards here!) I had to open up the recess on the back just a tad so it would register on the Fluidamper, but my machinist made quick work of that on his lathe. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/R8...ba8=w1420-h580 As alluded to earlier, each spinning component has a speed at which you DONT want to spin it, so making sure each component's speed at max engine RPM (7200 for me) stays within its comfort range, can only be dictated by the pulleys in play. They are critical to get right. GZ says no more than 6K rpm with this pump, but also prefers it spin at 64% -75% of engine speed. It makes your head explode until you realize there is a useful calculator for all of this on the GZ Motorsports Tech Page. I also found this page super helpful when trying to make this information sink into my thick skull - Helpful pulley calculations All this pulley talk actually got me thinking about the alternator. What would that be spinning at peak engine RPM? I know I wont spend a lot of time at 7200, but if I want my alternator to survive, I should probably get an idea of what its going to be turning. Here is the difference between the new pulley from Jones, and the stock v-groove I was running prior. 2.6" vs the new 3.0". https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IB...XYI=w1320-h480 This brings the alternator down from almost 17K+ rpm (@7200) to 15K, which is more acceptable. It does drive the alternator a tad slower, so hopefully it still generates some voltage at idle. |
misc
New fuel gauge almost looks factory in its stock location.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VS...Yj4=w1420-h580 Green LED turn signal indicators. Red light below them is confirmation line lock is engaged. In the space where the radio once was are the old school oil pressure and shift lights. I may replace these with LEDs in the very near future and find a different spot to mount them. I'll just need a stock looking radio to fill the void. The switches on either side are obsolete now, but ran fuel pump and fans prior. I took out the 2 5/8 gauge for fuel because I needed a spot for my new wideband meter. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pS...jT0=w1320-h480 I'm hoping this helps me tune the carb a bit easier. Its either this, or a handheld with O2s. |
Those front brake lines look a tad long. Looks like they might kink when the spindle is turned into them.
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Holy nice dash! I got an old AM radio and removed some of the guts. I left stuff so the push tabs and knobs still move the dial. They're heavy suckers but it probably weighs a little under half what it did and looks somewhat cool.
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core support - last time
My biggest concern with the core support coming off the car was knowing the support bushings would just crumble once the weight was off. I wasn't wrong. I had one bolt break and as you can see, every part of them was in pretty rough shape.
I knew measuring was pointless after so many years of being deliberately forgotten about but I needed a measurement for reference to any part that might be close to fitting. When I disassembled this, I knew of no one that made these for a 73, so I was thinking I needed to get something close and modify it. (Hey! my notes on getting air out of a power steering system after rack replacement! Cool... I've been looking for those!) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SX...tvc=w1420-h580 Check out the bolt - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5-...amU=w1420-h580 Here at the top, you can see some of the new bushing. These were purchased from The Parts Place. Check out the difference in radius vs the originals in the previous pictures. I wasn't convinced they would work, but no one else was offering anything in this space and the Parts Place listed these out for specifically 73-77 BOPs. I decided to take a chance. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/86...wL0=w1420-h580 As mentioned earlier, this whole rebuild story would have been slightly cooler if I had been thinking I'd document it all from the get go. If that were the case, I'd have a ton of pictures of the new bushings. As with many of my new parts, I would have taken them on vacation and taken pictures of them on the beach next to my neighbors gnome I stole. I would have enjoyed the sunset with them and read them a bed time story. Since I didn't do any of that, the catalog pic from eBay will have to suffice. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/n_...9dI=w1320-h480 They aren't factory correct, but they work. Lets see if they hold up. I know some folks had some quality issues with items from The Parts Place, but for these, my "core" is telling me they should be fine. (I'm radiating with laughter on that one!). OK, I'll "cool" it. Now....how do these go back in exactly? Damned if I know. Where is that service manual..... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FW...zw0=w1320-h480 Seem to fit OK to me - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vZ...OBU=w1320-h480 Debut of new trans cooler in this shot - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zk...6BA=w1320-h480 and one more because no one will ever get down low enough at a car show to ever see it (with lines attached)((Correction: Didn't mean to imply they'd see it without lines attached. Of course lines will be attached.)) (((Just to be clear, they (whoever they are) will definitely see it with the lines attached. If they get down low enough. But they wont. Ever.))) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/q-...ys0=w1320-h480 |
This thread has me rolling because it’s all too familiar!!
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Speed up the posts! This better not take 5 years to finish this thread, suspense is killing me!
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Fear not my friend, we are in the home stretch. Coming up is the oiling system, the exhaust, drive line angles, panel alignment, the lower radiator hose, seat mounts, starting woes, ignition issues, leaky carburetors, fuel pump controllers... See? Short list! |
LOL, I am suffering through the same pain! I wish the abodysite was still around. I'd be searching for something and come across an old thread of mine that I forgot all about. I think I'm 19yrs into my lifetime sentence.
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My 72 TA has been like this car- I swear I’ve done everything on that car twice!
I like to see these being built. I’m still looking for a Can Am to replace mine that rusted away |
Brake Booster / MC
Many of you may have noticed the new brake booster and master cylinder conspicuously lurking about in many of the pictures posted so far. I haven't been speaking to it because its only been mounted with some lines and hasn't given me any problems. That is until now. But lets "stop" right there and start from the beginning.
In case you haven't seen the new system, lets take a closer look - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1j...0H0=w1420-h580 That is the Tuff Stuff 9" booster with Wilwoods tandem master cylinder and prop valve. I love it. You want to know the real reason for going this route? Crappy master cylinders, that's why. I have been taking the time to detail mine (ever since that HPP Shootout in '06) and I paint them up nice and take care not to ever get any fluid on it. Then the car sits. Then I drive it. Then it sits. Then I drive it. Then it sits. Then I drive it. Then it sits. As that routine is burned in, these MCs don't seem to stand up very long. The seal lets go and then you have a squishy pedal and brake fluid to contend with along with having to buy another crap shoot of a cylinder. I'm tired of replacing these store bought pieces of crapola and I'm not going to take it any more! I'm hoping the Wilwood MC serves me well for a long time. If anyone has anything bad to say about them, please don't say it to me. If I ask, please lie and tell me they are the the best thing you ever bought. I cant take anything but good news at this point in the build. The 9" booster was a easy choice. The original style 11" was always in the way with the sheet metal valve covers. I just hope the smaller booster generates enough push to allow me to feel comfortable slowing down. It should. it has more overall surface area. Plus I've got a vacuum can, so I should be OK....I hope. Needless to say, first, second and third drives will be quite pensive. The decision to even stay w/power I'm questioning in retrospect. I may switch it all out for manual brakes if it proves to be an issue. The thought of re-bending all those lines again makes my thumbs hurt, so for now, I'll just pretend everything is OK. Besides my buddy threading this adapter into the master without anti seize and us then having to carefully extract it without ruining either part - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_4...Wxg=w1420-h580 ...I had no problems with installation. That is, until I went to put fluid in. Now most guys would look at that angle of attack and instantly know the master was sitting too high. Not me. It was off this car for a long time by this point, and while there was something that kept drawing my eye to it, I couldn't put my finger on it. I just thought it was newpartawesomenessnessness. Turns out, the Wilwood MC has a hole in the divider wall, not at the top of the reservoir like the OEM style, but in the middle of the divider itself. This makes it awful difficult to pour in fluid and have any in the front reservoir actually stay there as the rear overflows. Dang. This would have been nice to know, say, 6 months prior when I bought this thing. ================================================== =============== Tip#13: Do not buy any mail order parts until you are ready to mock them up, make adjustments to surrounding pieces to fit, tear them down, clean sand and refinish the surrounding areas, and permanently remount and test all within the return period of the aforementioned mail order company. I get stuck with so many parts just trying to plan ahead and be proactive. Don't be proactive! ================================================== =============== Anyway, I spoke to Wilwood at SEMA just to confirm this is the right part for my application. Their recommendation was a simple one. Buy some angle reducing brackets and mount the booster using those. Here is the problem with that. The stock firewall mount for the booster is angled at something like 17 degrees. Thats fine for stock boosters and MCs, but not for the longer booster and longer MC combination. Wilwood needs to see this this MC come in at about 9 degrees. The problem is this is a 73, and of course, that means its different than anything else prior to it. Regular angle reducing brackets will not work without extensive modification. Allow me to explain... The stock booster bracket is a unique piece - check it out - I did not modify this in any way. Order a power booster for 73 LeMans, and you'll get this piece along with it. All I did was grind off the rivets holding it on to the booster. Firewall side https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vt...HwU=w1420-h580 Booster side https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fp...xzY=w1420-h580 As you can see, different bolt patterns on each side, and an odd pattern across the piece on the firewall side. The new brackets will definitely reduce the angle... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/py...SmA=w1420-h580 ..but they present a problem when you try and line them up with the studs coming out of the firewall. On the drivers side of the 73 firewall, there are two studs, and three holes in the firewall. You can kinda see it in this picture. The newer looking, zinc plated "stud" is just a bolt I sent through the firewall from the passenger compartment. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Us...FwU=w1420-h580 I can't use the factory top stud because the booster won't line up properly with the big hole in the firewall if I do. (I'm sticking with the "There is no way in hell I'm modifying a freshly painted firewall" attitude btw) Using the middle "stud" is not a problem until you get to the passenger side of the mount. There are only two studs over there, but they are parallel with the middle and top studs on the drivers side, not the middle and bottom like the reduced angle bracket is expecting. Sooo, not only do I need to cut the reduced angle bracket so it mimics the short run of the booster mount, I need to lengthen the other end, so I can drill a hole through it and mount it to the firewall. All while keeping the angles between the two consistent. Yeah, OK. =========================================== Solution: Pie cut the stock booster bracket. =========================================== My nephews father in law works with pumps for a large state run transportation organization. He and his team are great with welders and are very familiar working with aluminum. I am not. (no TIG recall). I told them what I needed, and this is what I got: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iS...q-c=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fj...S2w=w1420-h580 This has got to be one of the slickest parts on the car. A stock looking, reduced angle booster bracket. Check out how the booster sits now. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/G9...gTI=w1420-h580 It screws up my custom bent brake lines a tad, but it serves me right for thinking something would work the first time through. This is hot rodding after all. |
Oiling filter relocation
Lets face it, headers and oil filters don't seem to like each other much. And the more you lean toward a "race" engine, the more these two items assume the position of Russia and OPEC. Til now, I've been able to run a factory adapter with a NAPA 1258 filter on all of my builds but with this latest set of headers, my luck is just about to run out.
The idea of a remote oil filter does not intrigue me. Like 50w on a cold morning, my brain churned this slowly over for months before the header builder made any decision for me. So many things to consider by moving one simple, but well designed part - - Will there be a pressure loss? - Am I straining the pump? - Are the lines big enough? - Now that I've deleted the factory bypass, do I need another one? - Can the oil filter handle filtering 100% of the load without a bypass? - Should I get an oil filter with a bypass built in? - Will I starve my bearings if Ive made any of the wrong choices above? - Where the heck will I put it? Now that I absolutely had to do it, I needed to get thinking on how it was going to get done. After a lot of reading, careful consideration, much deliberation, careful contemplation, rumination, and cogitation, this is where I ended up - Nitemare Performance Its a decent kit, with a decent price, with all I needed, along with some proven results. (if I'm to believe the sales hype). Here my problem. They are expecting you to mount this kit on the firewall. There is still no way in hell I'm modifying my freshly painted firewall to mount an oil filter. Not just because its my firewall, I just don't think its the most attractive thing to look at. (and because its my freshly painted firewall) With all that real estate gone though, where the heck was I going to put this thing? (About now was the 439th time Ive regretted not putting in fender wells. So much easier when that metal is just begging for something to do.) With necessity being the mother of invention, (and this was a mother) I decided the only logical place this could work would be under the passenger foot well. As a result, I only bought the pieces from Nitemare that I needed, which were the adapter block and the remote filter block. There is no doubt this is quality stuff. This unit is beefy: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Hs...Ows=w1220-h380 And I love this idea - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e...NIg=w1220-h380 The only issue was the remote filter block was far bigger than I thought. Having it in my hand, I can see now it has a 0% possibility of mounting it in the space available. I thought about cutting out the passenger floor and making an alcove for this to sit, but it would present issues trying to actually get to the fittings. I had to find another way. Next! Moroso makes a remote mount that might fit a little better. It doesn't have the grooved oil ring which is a bummer, but it appeared a bit smaller in the pictures. I ordered one up and when it arrived, mocked it up into place. After some slight modification, I got it to sit up higher than the previous piece by a considerable amount, so I made a bracket to mount it to my frame. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cK...Sl0=w1220-h380 I had to shave off about 1" of material from the top port to get it to fit up tight to the floorboard. It was threaded all the way down, so it didn't hurt it any - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pg...rX4=w1220-h380 Now seems like a good time to re-post Tip 12. ================================================== ================================================== ================================================== ======== Tip#12 - A lot of companies are more than happy to share their technical drawings with you, should you ask. Much easier having all of the measurements in a digital format like pdf, than to transcribe all my crummy scribbling that may or may not be 100% accurate. (Some companies even supply 3D models if you're capable to handle them) ================================================== ================================================== ================================================== ======== Yeah, all the time making a bracket, drilling holes, making sure it could handle vibration, the lines had a good path blah blah blah... wasted. As mentioned, I did mock this up prior to doing all of this, but with the car is up on jack stands - has been for months now - it makes it difficult to really know what it will ultimately look like when its on the ground. I thought I could deal with it once it was mounted, but after a week of looking at it, staring at it, loathing it, I had to replace it. And I really like that bracket too.... Mounting it underneath the car with filter attached made it look like a diesel truck. I might as well have gotten a water separator and train horn to complete the transformation. No matter how close to the floorboard I got the bracket, the entire filter could still be seen from the side of the car. (and there was no way I was taking a picture of that ugly thing) Barring those unsightly aesthetics, the filter would also be tad too close to the ground for my liking. Any hard or unexpected landing at the track, (and they would have to be hard like, I got bigger problems than my oil filter hard) might upset this filter and drag oil all over the place. No sense in chancing it. If I'm being positive, which I'm really trying to be, the Moroso piece was Chevy designed anyway. Mounting it on the passenger side of the car, where our oil filters are of course, meant having the inlet toward the back of the vehicle. That's a lot of extra hose to run to make a nice sweep into it. Its either that or a 90 degree fitting and I refuse to use those on any fluid path. At least the Nitemare piece entered from the proper side! The only realistic option was to lay the filter on its side. Now I needed a remote filter block that passed all its fluid through the top. Do they even make those?? Enter Peterson Fluid Systems This part is definitely coming on vacation with the gnome. It might as well have just solved world peace! Check it out - Its pretty "slick". (cmon now, Ive been good so far!) It got dining room table status! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gB...lk8=w1220-h380 Now all that is needed is a way to mount it. Through the magic of the interweb, I present you bracket 2.0.1: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/e_...In8=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Iu...t9M=w1320-h480 It sure is ugly, but with some paint and a few bolts, this is what it looks like in use - solid as a rock https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Sw...4Hc=w1320-h480 And you can barely see the test filter from the side of the car - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/UF...Cgw=w1320-h480 It barely has 1/8" of an inch before it hits the xmember on the way out, but it drops out and goes up straight so there is no chance of cross threading. Some good quality DEI wrap to keep it from taking on any of that header heat, and we're in business. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...Njg=w1320-h480 The car has no official mileage on this build just yet, but startups have been many. PSI has been instant and consistent with no sign of any issue whatsoever. The biggest plus is oil changes are a breeze. Gone are the days of a messy ordeal with smokey fire ups from residual oil on the header. I've done my first oil change after break in just to get all the assembly lube out. It all went to plan. (Oil looked great btw - no glitter. I have yet to open the filter) Time will tell if all of the right moves have been made here. |
What is the benefit of the groove in the oil filter adapter?
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According to their website, "The underside of the housing, where the filter attaches, has a deep oil grove cut into the housing, right over where the filtration holes are on the oil filter, to provide superior unrestricted oil flow". |
That oil groove is needed because without it, that part of the filter would be right up against the filter housing. Very little flow. I don't think that groove is large enough personally. I would've whittled it out wider and deeper.
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exhaust
WARNING: Very exhaustive post ahead. (I'm not kiddin!)
================================================== ================================================== ==================================== Tip#14: Fitting a 3.0" inch exhaust is no picnic. To make your life easier, cut out the 47 year old sagging floor, build the exhaust, and then weld in a new floor. Its quicker in the long run. ================================================== ================================================== ==================================== Yeah, its a big car, but that's also a big pipe to get by a 9" rearend, upper control arms, coil springs, and shocks. Plus it all has to line up symmetrically when complete, not bang around on the floor or frame or leak. That's a lot to ask. I just looked through 17 years of pictures I've taken of this car and none are specifically of the exhaust. I don't even have any of the final mounted system for this build. I had to go take some. Why? Likely because I'm never really happy with it - its just something that has to be there and was just "good enough" to not annoy me. Its not the quality of the parts chosen, its the fitment. Its always a compromise. I get it, I'm asking a lot of this chassis to hide pipes it was never designed to hide, but I'm tired of compromising, so I was determined to get this fixed this time around. Most midsize car chassis are expecting their exhaust to share space in the driveshaft tunnel while the mufflers tuck up nicely into the recesses designed in the floor. That's all well and good if you're running the stock 2.25" duals. They'll fit just fine. Now get an 3" X pipe to fit by the humps of the trans cross member. It wont. Try getting two 3" pipes to share room in the trans tunnel with a 3" driveshaft. They wont. And now, because you had to pull of those pieces so far down to clear the floor, the muffler will never come close to sitting up in that recess specifically made for it. Finally, because the muffler now hangs down so low, the tailpipes are lower than the should be and don't line up with anything, except the 9" rearend, upper control arms, coil springs, and shocks. (OK I exaggerated - it clears the shocks) The domino effect is extensive, but thankfully the fix is simple. One of the key points of any good exhaust, is where the headers "dump" you. They set the tone for the X pipe to either fit up tight, or hang down low. I don't know how the header builders do it, or what rule of thumb they use, but these JW pieces set me up to sit up nice, tight, and level; just how I want it. If you ignore the trans fluid on the floor, (stupid drain plug) you can see it in this pic - the bottom of the header is almost perfectly in line with the trans pan. (The only reason it likely isn't 100% level, is the shims at the trans mount helping me achieve proper u-joint working angle) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/G8...bFw=w1320-h480 Here is a good shot too, but I'm getting ahead of myself here - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eL...qzM=w1320-h480 In case anyone needs to know, the system behind those headers will be a duplicate of what Ive run on this car ever since they started making them - Pypes 64-74 A-Body 3" Crossmember Back w/X-Change System. The mufflers are 20 inch case Magnaflows. BTW, If you like numbers, it takes 4 jack stands to level the car. Two more to hold up the X (if its connected to the header, 4 if not) and then if you're good, 1 for each muffler. (2 if you cant connect them to the X). Now try navigating around on a creeper. I built these to help me get the height I needed to roll around under the car with ease. Doesn't help with the mockup just yet, but they allowed me to get rid of the stands holding the car level. (They will prove to be useful for many things going forward.) Oh yeah, I hung some fenders. And had to put on wheels. And I ran a wiring harness. And painted me fender supports. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/A5...oZY=w1420-h580 Life is good. I wish I made these a long time ago. Now we can get back to the actual exhaust. Here is the secret sauce to all my woes. These will take all that hangs low and bring it up again. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SJ...ArE=w1320-h480 ================================================== ================== Fun (like makes you angry fun) Fact: In looking up this part number, I see Pypes now has a high tuck setup, similar to how I solved my problem. Son of..... Twas not an option when I bought. And the whole time working on this I was thinking, how can a company that sells 3' exhaust, not be thinking about how much they hang underneath these cars? At least they're paying attention. Well played Pypes Peeps. Well played. ================================================== ================== Since I didn't know where the X was officially going to end up, I asked my header builder to make an extension I could cut to length when ready. The Vband connector was mandated by me. I'll rant about 3 bolt flanges later. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/td...dhE=w1320-h480 And we gotta have some fun, right? https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_E...a_Q=w1320-h480 These QTP cutouts came highly recommend and I dig their low profile. What I don't dig is the cutout for a 3" system only has a 2.5" butterfly. WTF? Just keep that in mind if you're looking to buy. I guess it still beats carrying that 9/16 to undue the caps, right? https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/N0...TCY=w1320-h480 They also come with their own pre-wired switch and factory terminated wiring. You cannot cut the wiring to fit or you void the warranty. With the amount of wire given, I could mount the switch some where near the radiator I think. I swear, I do NOT work for this company- they just make good stuff. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/St...DQE=w1220-h380 Mix all of these pieces into a paper bag, and this is what you get. (notice how much I had to reshape the sagging floor pan to avoid having any contact) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/x1...9u4=w1320-h480 It takes a certain level of talent to get these cutouts to be parallel to the ground the way they are. Especially since each exhaust piece you cut splice and weld has an angle, and any turn from its original location, will throw everything off down the line. I do not posses such talent, so I whittled out the bolt holes on the cutout so I could clock them correctly. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/x4...TAc=w1320-h480 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kh...aww=w1420-h580 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XE...Cco=w1420-h580 If you've never done a 3" pipe in one of these cars, (or any older GM muscle for that matter) it'll be tough to appreciate the effort involved in making it work. I can show you a ton of pictures, but they'll never capture the time it takes to get those tailpipes to fit. They'll also never allow you to see how much higher this kit sits up from any of the ones I ran previously, but that's probably because I never took any pictures. There, and I even saved you a rant on 3 bolt flanges. Youre welcome. |
What rear tire and wheel size are you using, along with the backspacing? I went with the 3.5" oval X kit for the reason you stated-----> floor pan. I think I have 7" of backspace on my 10" wheels though, and there's very little room between my tire and frame. The 3" tailpipes hit the tires, so I just stopped over the axle.
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I'm running a 325/50/15 on a 10 inch rim. I'll have to measure the backspacing, but I think its 4.5. 7" of BS will really bring the wheel inboard a lot, so yeah I can see why rubbing would be an issue. I think I have a few finger widths between the tire and the frame. I;ll check later and let you know.
What exhaust did you buy? I'm thinking for my projected power level and ET goal, 3" may prove restrictive. |
I used the R.A.R.E. kit. Called and the dude said I will get it sent out... 2 months later it arrives. I also said I wanted the 3" kit, but the 3.5" kit showed up. Oh well, it matched the collectors on the OBX headers.
I THINK the backspace was 5" when I ran 325/50-15's. I know they rubbed on the lip with some junk in the trunk. When I lowered it, I just went with 275/60's on 15x10's and moved them in as far as I could. The 325/50"s MIGHT fit under there with the right backspace but I'm tired of buying things 3 times to see if it will work. Hmmmm...That seems to be the theme here. |
Lower Radiator Hose
For the sake of keeping the story line straight and all in one place, I'm going to steal what was already solved in a previous thread on the topic, for this posting if you don't mind.
Lower hose with aftermarket radiator? Basically, the OD of a stock radiator inlet for a LeMans is 1.5625" (1 9/16). The ID of the correct lower hose is 1.55" and normally, they fit together just like they are supposed to. Introduce the new, awesome aluminum, took me years to commit to buying, aftermarket radiator's 1.75" outlet and it presents a problem. (Who didn't see this coming? Anyone? Bueller?) Here is the rundown. The original style hose is the NAPA 7592: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cP...cUo=w1220-h380 I can get it over the outlet, but it stretches so badly, there is no way this wont collapse and eventually cause an issue over time. (no spring in this hose) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fo...uAY=w1320-h480 Since I know of no hose that has 1.75 on both ends, AND takes the turns this one does to tuck up and out of the way, I had to make it a fix. (Hey my Italian mechanic is back!) Enter NAPA 9733. It has 1.75 on the radiator end and is 2.0 on the water pump side. It has a straight enough section near the 1.75 end and a proper radius to make the turn to the radiator I need. I cut this hose in the middle of the straight and mounted it to the rad outlet. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gN...rQs=w1220-h380 Then I cut the stock hose replacement (NAPA 7592) at the same spot I cut the first hose - the middle of the straight - and mounted the part of this hose that fits the water pump. In between these two hoses, I used this adapter from Filler Neck Supply (P/N 3844) https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/S3...kB4=w1220-h380 Barring a few ugly clamps in the middle of the lower hose, it works. What I've found in the startups however, are the hoses want to push off until they reach the bead on either end. So, instead of it looking like I had in my picture before I started the car..... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lU...8nY=w1320-h480 ...it now shows a bit of the adapter between the hoses. Thats fine, I just need to cut the hoses a bit more. To mitigate the risk against leakage, I'm using this type of worm clamp on both sides. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ka...lRk=w1320-h480 So far, no leaks, but a drive in the heat with a few fluids cycles will be the true test. |
Just thinking out loud but aren't your rear tires mounted backwards? See the "tread".
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I have since fired my tire tech. Excuses I was thinking of coming up with instead of owning it - - Reverse burnouts are easier on the car due to the gear ratio advantage (but only one speed) - Putting on negative mileage (i.e Bueller) so the tires would last longer - Camera mirrors must have screwed up the shot - The classic 'I was playing a trick on you guys!' Keep an eye out for other blunders. I'm sure they exist. They certainly are showing up in the friggin electrical department. |
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