[tom s]

Stock cover will fit without a spacer if the aftermarket thick gaskets are used,other wise you might have to stack 2 or 3 to clear.Tom

[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by tom s

Stock cover will fit without a spacer if the aftermarket thick gaskets are used,other wise you might have to stack 2 or 3 to clear.Tom

That's good because I'm not a fan of tall covers. I've got the Felpro gasket set that has the cork gasket. Doesn't seem to be very thick thou. I'm gonna bolt them on and turn it by hand to see what happens.

[johnta1]

Using the covers in the other pics?


The corners of the rocker closest to the bolt bosses may need clearancing?


As Tom S said, double gasket may be needed also.

[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Using the covers in the other pics?


The corners of the rocker closest to the bolt bosses may need clearancing?


As Tom S said, double gasket may be needed also.

I have original covers for it. I used those old finned covers for paint.

I’m hoping a thicker gasket will do the trick.


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[tom s]

With the stock felpro you might not like the look of your covers!You will need at leat 2 maybe 3 of them.Order the thick ones and do it right the first time.JMO,Tom

[JMB36TA]

It was a frustrating but exciting day yesterday! I dropped the motor in. It was frustrating because I usually have help and drop it from the front of the car. Well, I couldn't get any help and really didn't want to wait any more so I tackled it alone. It went pretty good considering I had to drop it from the side which made lining up the transmission a little difficult. I had to loosed the trans and raise it a little to meet the motor and try to align them that way. They finally lined up and the pins popped into place. The hard part is over, all that's left is to plug in the wiring, install the starter, power steering pump, alternator, radiator, and battery.

[JMB36TA]

Getting close to the finish line. I found that I have one more part to order, a water pump pulley. My new pump is longer than the old one so I need the deeper pulley. Other than that I still have to hook up the power steering lines, install the new throttle cable when it comes in, bolt down the valve covers when the thick gaskets come in, and reinstall the headers. I'm thinking of painting them with a high temp aluminum paint to give a little "pop" to the engine bay. They're black now. I'm also considering RA IV manifolds down the line for a more original look. Anxiety is setting in!!

[azbirds]

RA-IV exhaust manifolds will not work, you will need the RA-III long branches instead. You will also need the filter angle adapter for those manifolds. I look forward to seeing your car at Pontiac Heaven. We can get some side by side pictures.

[tom s]

The dist is not a good look,were you able to find a open face alt houseing?Tom

[tom s]

AZ is right,you will need the first gen long branch with the correct oil filter adapter.Tom

[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by tom s

The dist is not a good look,were you able to find a open face alt houseing?Tom

I haven’t looked into the distributor or alternator. I can do that down the line a bit. I plan on looking into the ignition system at some point.


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[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by azbirds

RA-IV exhaust manifolds will not work, you will need the RA-III long branches instead. You will also need the filter angle adapter for those manifolds. I look forward to seeing your car at Pontiac Heaven. We can get some side by side pictures.

I’ll look at those when the time comes. Thanks for the info. Not sure about Pontiac Heaven. I’d love to make it but I might not be able to get away for the weekend because I take care of my 96 yr old grandmother. It’s hard enough making car shows in Tucson.


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[JMB36TA]

Getting closer to turning the key. The wheels are on the ground! I’m going to static time the motor tonight, bolt on the new water pump pulley and put the belts on.


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[JMB36TA]

I ran into a little issue with the battery last night. It keeps draining when I hook it up. It had a nice charge when I put it back in and it drained over night. I charged it and it did the same thing last night when I was getting ready to turn the key. I'm gonna try again tonight but I'm not going to hook it up until I'm ready to turn the key so it has enough power to turn over. I'm not sure if it's a bad battery or if there's something draining it. Not sure what would be draining it since I didn't have this problem before.

[tom s]

Has to be something in the Ing switch or battery wiring.Tom

[JMB36TA]

I found what was causing the battery drain. I closed the garage door and turned the lights off last night and noticed the tail lights were on, actually turned out to be the brake lights. I pulled the switch off for now.

On the good side, I fired it up over the weekend. I had a vacuum leak somewhere and had some coolant leaks. One bolt on the thermostat housing was loose and I forgot to put the distributor gasket in. Oops. At least they were easy fixes. When I fixed those issues she ran pretty good. The carb will need some fine tuning since I changed the jets and down tubes, but other than that it's really close to being ready for a test drive.

[JMB36TA]

Here's some video. I didn't even notice the brake lights when I took it...lol
Sounds good to me!

[JMB36TA]

So I spent a little time checking out some wiring and found that the brake light switch pulled out of the bracket a little bit and wasn't making contact with the brake peddle. And I also found that the display on my radio was on so I unplugged it from the fuse box. I can't find anything with the wiring. The only wiring I had was the alternator and the starter. The wire on the S terminal of the starter isn't contacting the battery terminal so I'm leaning towards the ignition switch. I left the battery connected overnight and there was still power to turn it over this morning so there's no more drain.

[maxepr]

Try the horn relay,

[JMB36TA]

I double checked my wiring and plugged the power lead back into the BATT terminal on the fuse box and everything is working fine again. Not sure what the issue was but it's gone now.

I was ready to take my first drive yesterday but forgot to bleed the power steering. I spent a lot of time turning the wheel with the wheels off the ground and can't seem to get all the air out of the system. I had the cap off the reservoir and didn't have the car running. Sounds like the air is in the box, I heard that loosening the belt and turning the pump ccw should help.