#21  
Old 05-22-2020, 01:10 AM
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73LeMans 73LeMans is offline
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Default 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:





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.



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.









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!

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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
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So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread

Last edited by 73LeMans; 05-22-2020 at 01:31 AM. Reason: effect
  #22  
Old 05-22-2020, 03:17 AM
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Brian Baker Brian Baker is offline
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Default

Keep it coming. Enjoying the story line and pictures.

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  #23  
Old 05-23-2020, 01:08 AM
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Default 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:



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.



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.



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:



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:



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 -




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.

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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
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So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #24  
Old 05-23-2020, 09:54 AM
Grand73Am Grand73Am is offline
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Default

Glad you mentioned that. It's something I'll look for when I do mine. Thanks!

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  #25  
Old 05-24-2020, 01:49 AM
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Default 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!!!


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.









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!



The firewall only took two rounds of paint with a wet sand (400) in between to get good. I guess that's progress??






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....

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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
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So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #26  
Old 05-26-2020, 02:43 AM
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73LeMans 73LeMans is offline
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Default someone told me this would be fun - it isnt.

With the painting it done, its time to figure out where all this stuff goes -



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.



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?)

.

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.



Man, this internet thing makes things go together real fast!!



Rumor has it these calipers get sticky. I guess ill find out.



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





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.



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-



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 -



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.




Plan B - New control arm! Same problem.(at least now I knew it wasn't the arm)



I had some drastic Ideas - cut, move, weld?



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.



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 -



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






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!!


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Mark S
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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
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So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #27  
Old 05-30-2020, 12:58 AM
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Default 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.




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 -



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!





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.





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.



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".


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.

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Mark S
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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #28  
Old 05-30-2020, 01:25 AM
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Default misc

New fuel gauge almost looks factory in its stock location.



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.



I'm hoping this helps me tune the carb a bit easier. Its either this, or a handheld with O2s.

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Mark S
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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #29  
Old 05-30-2020, 02:32 AM
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Brian Baker Brian Baker is offline
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Those front brake lines look a tad long. Looks like they might kink when the spindle is turned into them.

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  #30  
Old 05-30-2020, 07:31 AM
cdrookie cdrookie is offline
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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.

  #31  
Old 06-02-2020, 09:44 PM
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Baker View Post
Those front brake lines look a tad long. Looks like they might kink when the spindle is turned into them.
I thought the exact same thing when I put it all back together but have been using these same lines since 2011 with no issue. I checked full lock when I mounted the wheels. There was was no concern that I could see. Now that we are seeing the same thing, I'm thinking I likely swapped sides on the reassembly. I suck at 50/50s. Casinos love me. I will keep an eye on them for abnormal wear.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cdrookie View Post
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.
Thanks man. AM radio deal is very cool. As I continue with this car, I find I like the stock looking parts a bit more than I used to. If I could hide those lights behind one of the fraudulent A/C vents, it would be even better. I just gotta make a mount for them.

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Mark S
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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #32  
Old 06-02-2020, 10:45 PM
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Default 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!)



Check out the bolt -


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.



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.



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.....



Seem to fit OK to me -



Debut of new trans cooler in this shot -



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.)))


__________________
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Mark S
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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread

Last edited by 73LeMans; 06-02-2020 at 10:53 PM.
  #33  
Old 06-02-2020, 11:45 PM
1965gp 1965gp is offline
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This thread has me rolling because it’s all too familiar!!

  #34  
Old 06-03-2020, 02:10 AM
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73LeMans 73LeMans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1965gp View Post
This thread has me rolling because it’s all too familiar!!
Rock on! Its exactly what I'm going for!

__________________
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Mark S
.
Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #35  
Old 06-03-2020, 06:35 AM
cdrookie cdrookie is offline
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Speed up the posts! This better not take 5 years to finish this thread, suspense is killing me!

  #36  
Old 06-03-2020, 10:44 AM
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73LeMans 73LeMans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdrookie View Post
Speed up the posts! This better not take 5 years to finish this thread, suspense is killing me!
lol. If I had to suffer through all of this pain, you all have to suffer though all of this pain. Does that make me a bad person? Like a prison sentence, these things take time!

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!

__________________
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Mark S
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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #37  
Old 06-03-2020, 11:38 AM
cdrookie cdrookie is offline
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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.

  #38  
Old 06-03-2020, 03:36 PM
1965gp 1965gp is offline
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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

  #39  
Old 06-03-2020, 07:57 PM
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73LeMans 73LeMans is offline
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Default 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 -



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 -



...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



Booster side



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...



..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.



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:






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.



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.

__________________
.
Mark S
.
Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
  #40  
Old 06-04-2020, 08:22 PM
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73LeMans 73LeMans is offline
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Default 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:



And I love this idea -


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.



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 -



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!



Now all that is needed is a way to mount it.

Through the magic of the interweb, I present you bracket 2.0.1:






It sure is ugly, but with some paint and a few bolts, this is what it looks like in use - solid as a rock



And you can barely see the test filter from the side of the car -




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.





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.

__________________
.
Mark S
.
Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
.
So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
>>My 73 Build thread
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