[79 Phoenix]

Exhaust was installed yesterday. They did a great job and fit everything in very neatly. It's a combination of mostly 2.5" but some 2 1/4" pipe. The mufflers are identical to Flowmaster 40's made in an old Flowmaster factory in Mexico. It seems that when Flowmaster moved their manufacturing to China, a Mexican company bought the factory and makes these. They call them Street Flows. Everything is stainless steel. Pipes are compression bent. Splitter tips are PYPES stainless steel.

It's a bit louder than I expected but it sounds wonderful! Has a noticable lope to it. I wish I could attach a video. Also, I wish I could show a good picture of the nice job they did on the system. I took pictures while it was up on the lift at the shop but unfortunately not enough flash. So they didn't turn out well.

In driving the car more, I see (smell) that it runs really rich and that has to change. It has a Quadrajet and according to the numbers was originally on a 1978 Chevy with manual transmission. It's 800 cfm (200/600). So probably the solution will involve rebuilding it and then figuring out how to set it up.

[Shiny]

Looks great!

[79 Phoenix]

Got some pictures from exhaust shop that show their work... For what I paid, I'm very pleased!

Adjusted the idle mixture screws yesterday. Got a max of 15 in. vacuum with slight surges up around 16-17. Not sure that's right yet but will keep working with it. Need to see where the timing is at. Don't know what cam it has. Whatever it is, it is not stock but is fairly mild. As near as I can tell, I'm guessing initial timing should be around 16-18 degrees.

Overall, the car runs good. QUESTION: On a Quadrajet, should the secondaries open when revving by hand under the hood or does there need to be load on the engine for the secondaries to open?

[79 Phoenix]

I shopped 4 sources for replacing my passenger outer wheelhouse and qtr panel skin. I found a guy who does really nice work and can do it in September or so. That's fine because I have plenty of other things I can work on.

When I first rebuilt the suspension, I felt that the front end seemed unnaturally high. I knew that ultimately, I wasn't going to be happy with it. So, last week I bit the bullet and pulled the front springs and cut them. Normally, I would disconnect the lower ball joint and lower the A arm but with drum brakes that won't work because A arm hits the backing plate and can't come down. Sooo, I checked with the shop manual and found the way to do it is to remove inner A arm bolts and lower the A arm. This actually worked very well and seemed safer than lowering the ball joint side. BUT after cutting the springs and raising the A arm up it was difficult to get the holes lined up for the two A arm bolts. Shop manual says to use a transmission jack and a special GM tool #J----. But all I have is a floor jack and a garage floor that isn't level. Anyway, got it done and finished today.

I cut about 5/8" off the springs looking to lower front ride height by an inch or so. It worked really well. Now I am happy!

Pictures below show how it looks with MOOG 5401 coils in rear and MOOG 5327 coils (shortened 5/8") in the front. Hopefully alignment will go fine.

[79 Phoenix]

Got the front end aligned two weeks ago. Castor is still a little out--alignment place had no upper A arm shims! (I guess they aren't used anymore) I will get some shims and they will get everything dialed in w/o extra charge.

Started hearing a rattling noise from the clutch when the clutch was dis-engaged. Removed the transmission a week ago and found the noise was the throw out bearing which was shot in less than 100 miles! I realized after research that I had not adjusted the clutch properly. The T/O bearing was constantly spinning on the pressure plate. In the clutches I've done before I always went by the pedal play of 1" but found in this case that was not an accurate indicator...I'm guessing because of wear there is extra play in the 54 year-old linkage and there was not enough play at clutch fork. I replaced the T/O bearing and I'm playing it safe with a little over an inch of pedal play but about 3/8-1/2 inch at the clutch fork. That should be fixed now. Took it for a test drive and seems good so far.

Also, I needed side mirrors that are adjustable... Mine were not. So, I bought a pair from a late 70's F body that are the correct angle even though they are 3/16" wider. They work well and appear identical to the originals.

Also, I have removed most of the front and rear windshield trim. Back looks not too bad --can't find any rust-through. The front driver's side has a hole rusted through. Can't find anything on front passenger side yet. Last summer when I hosed the car off, I had water trickling in the front corners of the floor...no leaks in rear.

Also, I had no idea how fast the engine was turning... So, I bought a digital tach from Intellitronix and mounted under dash. Tach works good with my HEI ignition and is just for tuning purposes.

[Shiny]

Thanks for posting the updates.

Exhaust looks great and seems they lined up the splitters well! Where did you buy the splitters and were you happy with them? Very cool!

Good warning on the shims. I did a rough alignment on mine last year with a cheap tool and some greased pie plates, but getting it done right is ahead of me. Note to self: bring shims...

I have yet to bite the bullet on the rust check around my rear window. Let's just say it has been easier not to know. Seems yours could have been a lot worse based on others' experience with these cars.

Also thanks for posting the pics of the height. Looks great! I put new ones in mine a long time ago but the rears weren't right and the car sits too high, so knowing a good Moog part number might encourage me on a do-over.

Fun to see and keeps me motivated.

Mike

[79 Phoenix]

Thanks Mike--Glad you are enjoying the posts. Hopefully it is interesting for other people and possibly help someone from what I am learning. It also helps me chronical the progress for my own later reference.

With the exhaust, I had sent pictures of examples of the splitter positioning for their reference plus I was there during the installation to give guidance in fine tuning positioning. The splitters are PYPES stainless steel that I got from AMES.

You're right about around the windows... Thankfully, they are not as bad as they could be. There has been extra sealer applied to the back driver side window at bottom. I'm guessing it was leaking there in the past because there was some rust in the trunk and lower qtr panel. But it doesn't seem to be leaking now. I am going to replace some of the clips and re-seal some of it.

On the front I need to fill the hole of the driver's side but still have no clue as to why I have water trickling in on passenger side floor. I still need to get the trim off at top of windshield. Maybe under that?? I will replace many of the front clips and reseal once it is ready for that.

Once I stop the leaks I want to put sound deadener on floor inside.

[Shiny]

Thanks for the details.

I bought a '68 Chevelle in '72 that had already sprung a leak in the rear window channel, so I recognize the design basically sucked. The channels needed drains that worked. This was in Florida, so the wet climate was a factor.

To your point, the trunk in my LeMans doesn't show signs of a leak so I'm optimistic. My car has been in CO its whole life (except for me holding it hostage in my Seattle garage for 10 yrs), so the little rain that might have collected in the channel evaporated fast.

I have to remove some ugly oversized exhaust tips on mine that basically look stupid. Being a LeMans, the rear valence is solid. I like the look of the 1-yr splitters on the GTOs and your GT37, but haven't yet decided what path to follow. I also have to replace glass-packs with mufflers so maybe I'll bite the bullet and replace the whole system and rear valence along with it.... I can dream.

Mike

[79 Phoenix]

Mike--Regarding the springs and ride height, My tire sizes are also about 1/2" diameter different front to back. (245 X 60-15 front 255 X 60-15 rear)

Yes, hopefully your back window will be okay. I had gotten some instruction from a body shop guy as to how to remove w/o cracking a window... But still a little tricky--some clips have been stubborn. I'm going to get as much rust out of the channel as possible, patch any rust holes, use a rust neutralizer, paint and the reseal with new clips where needed... We'll see.

I would have probably put an aluminized exhaust system for A bodies from JEGS and installed myself. I've had a JEGS system on my Phoenix for about 14 years and it's still fine. But for this car, being a semi-universal system, the tailpipes would be set up to come out under the valence as they would on most A bodies. I would have had to pay someone to do some bending on the tailpipes anyway to get them to exit up in the valence recesses. So, I went ahead and had someone make and install the system. It cost me a few hundred more to have someone do it...but well worth it for me because I didn't have to install it myself without a lift--no fun!

For me it was hard to get an accurate idea on which mufflers based on listening to youtube videos of Pontiacs with various mufflers, pipe diameters and engine builds... So, the exhaust shop had a Magnaflow model and these Flowmaster 40 knock-offs. They let me listen to each (although without tail pipes) and I picked the knock-offs (Street Flow). They really sound great but louder than I was expecting... Maybe too loud for a respectable 70 year old!

--Kim

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Good progress going on.
Looking like a tough car and sitting in a good stance.
Congrats man

[79 Phoenix]

Thanks for the encouragement, Baron! It's slowly shaping up!

[79 Phoenix]

My front valence was mashed in on the passenger side and also bent and twisted all out of shape everywhere when I bought the car. Plus, it was badly rusted and deeply pitted. I have a friend that was a body man from the 70's and I gave it to him to re-shape. He did a great job! Now I am working on the rest of the rust and replacing the places that were gone between the valence and fender with fiberglass resin and mesh. It's coming along well.

Also, this week I made the decision to get rid of the original 350. I tried to sell it whole but there was no interest. So, I tore it down and scrapped it. I couldn't get the distributor or cam and lifters out. I was surprised the crank and bearings looked pretty good and only very slight ridge at top of cylinder. With 190,000 on the car, the engine must have had at least rings and bearings replaced somewhere along the way. I had seriously considered at least keeping the numbers-matching block but I don't think it will make that much difference for re-sale. Space-wise it's just not feasible to store it.

[79 Phoenix]

Work on the valence continues. As you can see, even with the re-shaping and some dent removal, there is still considerable work to be done! I think it will turn out okay though.

[79 Phoenix]

Still working on the valence. I hope to adjust a little more to get it a little higher on the driver's side. I did as much as I could with it off the car but now that it's mounted am working on the ends. This was very mangled, but I think it will turn out pretty decent. Happy Easter everyone!

[79 Phoenix]

Valence isn't going to be as straight as I would like. But will look a little better than picture below. At least I have parking lights and front turn signals! Passenger side was really crunched in, to the point of bowing out the original fender and jamming it into the door. Hopefully when I am finished it will eventually look okay with shiny black paint on it!

Went for a drive the other day and the car quit on me. Turns out the carb was leaking on both sides of the top gasket. Thank God I was able to get it running and get it home safely. Rebuilding the carb was on my "list of things to do". Now it is at the top of the list. Rebuild kit ordered.

Previously I had thought the carb was off a 78 Chevy with manual transmission but had mis-read the number. It is a #17058253 which should be a 78 Olds with manual transmission-800 cfm. I have seen this same number listed for late 70's Pontiac.

I have never rebuilt a Quadrajet before so this should be another adventure!

[79 Phoenix]

Well I expected an adventure, and it was! Took the better part of 2 days to carefully rebuild the Quadrajet . I think I got everything right and was anticipating a nice running engine. Everything went well until the last step where I needed to press the shaft for the accelerator pump linkage through the top airhorn. When I attempted to carefully press the shaft through, the outer piece broke off (must have been already cracked). So, I got out my trusty JB Weld and glued it and waited 3 full days for it to cure, but it didn't hold.

I could find another parts carb to get a good airhorn but realize I would risk breaking the same part off...especially if it had not been disassembled for years. So, I ordered a rebuilt 17058253 that should be here in a few days.

Three things I learned through this whole process: 1) There was NO fuel filter in the carb! That's probably what let dirt in the caused the float to stick. 2) This carb is for an Olds 403 which they also put in late 70's Trans AM. Before mine malfunctioned, it seemed to work pretty good with my engine.3) I learned how to rebuild a Quadrajet (but unfortunately won't get to test my work).

In the meantime, I am working on dealing with surface rust and then resealing rear window.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

I was going to mention the re-assembly phase that stumps most guys on their first rodeo.
But forgot.

You don't remove the fuel pump lever at any time.
You do a fancy rotate-twist motion with the throttle baseplate to get the linkage rod unhooked from the pump lever - to get it apart in stage 1 of disassembly.
Baseplate first.

And it's the last piece in re-assembly.
Baseplate last.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Let's just presume that carb was no good anyway - no loss.
Keep on Truckin'

[79 Phoenix]

That makes total sense! If I ever do one again, that's what I'll do. The whole thing would go quicker the next time too, but I'm not anxious to do it again.

[79 Phoenix]

Good thought!