[OCMDGTO]

Good to hear you're almost on the road! For bleeding the power steering the assembly manual says " bleed system w engine running & turning wheels full left til stop for 10 seconds". I jack up the front end & turn wheel in both directions til bubbles stop while cranking(not running). Been a while for me but I remember something about a high pressure air bleed on the back of the pump that I released w a 6 penny nail. Maybe somebody else can shed light on that.

[JMB36TA]

I think I got the power steering settled. I did some work on the hood to prepare for the Ram Air IV intake. One of my biggest hesitations was cutting the underhood brace to make room for the air diaphragm and foam. I found a couple reference pictures and a small pic of a template used by the factory to make the cut. I taped it out, made the cut, and painted it black. The intake tubes are in and I'm waiting on a new upper foam piece since I trimmed the one I have to try to make it fit without cutting the brace. Once that is delivered I can install the pan and put the hood back on.

[JMB36TA]

Saturday was the day, I finally got out for a test drive! It went great. It's powerful, the throttle response is better, it shifts good with a chip of the tire going into second, and sounds killer at cruising speed. I just need to make some adjustments to the carburetor and timing. The power steering isn't working properly but it's getting better. There's still air in the somewhere and I had to add a little more fluid after the test drive.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

What cam did you use? And did you find out if the pistons were cast or forged?

Awsome car BTW
Clay

[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

What cam did you use? And did you find out if the pistons were cast or forged?

Awsome car BTW
Clay

The pistons are cast with a 14-16 cc dish.
The cam is a Lunati Voodoo hydraulic flat tappet cam, part no. #10510703, duration .05 227/233 Lift .489/.504

[JMB36TA]

So I've been having what seems to be a common problem with my mechanical advance. It won't advance to where I need it to be. I tried new springs and weights, and I tried a combination of springs with no luck. I removed the weights and set my base timing at 12. I put the middle springs in and it advanced to 25 and came down to 18 at idol. It did this with the heavy springs and all combinations that I tried. Paul Carter, who has been a great help to me, is bringing over a new distributor the weekend to give that a try. The one I have is old and probably warn out. The easiest thing to do is drop a new one in and see what happens.

[JMB36TA]

Finally got the timing down with a different distributor and the carb dialed in. Time to put the hood on and hit the streets!


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[JMB36TA]

Today I drove the car to work for the first time. I have a couple issues to iron out. It wanted to die a couple times when I stopped, it’s idling high in park and neutral but I had to turn the idle up to keep it running at stop lights, I still can’t get the power steering working, and it’s not shifting into third unless I get on it and up to 55 mph. On the plus side there’s quick throttle response and she goes!


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[johnta1]

Congrats!





Sounds like a vacuum leak somewhere with those symptoms.

[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Congrats!





Sounds like a vacuum leak somewhere with those symptoms.

Good thought. I’ll have to check that out.


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[JMB36TA]

I haven't found a vacuum leak but my divorced choke was always open. I found out that since the carb is a q-jet from an Oldsmobile that the choke coil needs to pull the linkage down instead of pushing it up like the Pontiac q-jet. My coil was pushing the linkage up which was holding the choke flap open. The linkage between the 2 carbs is different. I was able to remove and reverse the coil so I'm hoping that helps it run smoother but we'll see.

[JMB36TA]

I made a little more progress this week. I found 2 vacuum leaks. One from the transmission where the hose popped off. It was very loose so I put a hose clamp on it. I put a vacuum pump on it and it's holding now. I decided to check the other lines and found the vacuum advance wasn't holding either. I took one off an old distributor and swapped it out. So now the choke is working and there's 0 leaks. Time to fine tune the carb again since it's running a little rough now. As far as the power steering goes, I'm waiting on a replacement pump. That should just about do it.

On another note, I have the RA IV intake all hooked up and it's working. The 2 vacuum actuators on the upper pan are opening and closing with the vacuum. They're open on start up and closed when it's warm. So cool!! I let it run for about 20 minutes and the temp is running under 200 which is nice since it's been up around 230.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Was fixing vacuum leaks the only contributing factor for the temp swing?

If so, I'd have to guess the vacuum advance is hooked to a full time source.
Now if that's true, the big temp swing would indicate your base timing and mechanical advance aren't right for the combination of engine parts you're running.

That's all a 'BIG IF' run time, ambient temps, engine RPM, etc., were the same.

If base timing is too low and/or not enough mechanical advance for the RPM's...it does make engine's run hotter than they should.

Just thinking out loud
Clay

[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Was fixing vacuum leaks the only contributing factor for the temp swing?

If so, I'd have to guess the vacuum advance is hooked to a full time source.
Now if that's true, the big temp swing would indicate your base timing and mechanical advance aren't right for the combination of engine parts you're running.

That's all a 'BIG IF' run time, ambient temps, engine RPM, etc., were the same.

If base timing is too low and/or not enough mechanical advance for the RPM's...it does make engine's run hotter than they should.

Just thinking out loud
Clay

It did run cooler after I fixed the vacuum leaks and replaced the vacuum advance, so it looks like they were definitely a contributing factor. The advance is hooked up to manifold vacuum with advice from a very reliable source. Paul Carter aka "GTOFREAK" helped me with the entire recipe and machine work for the build and again with the timing and air/fuel mix. The base timing is 14 advancing to 30 I think. The mechanical was re-curved and set up without the vacuum advance hooked up although we didn't realize that the transmission hose was unplugged so the air/fuel mix and idle need some readjusting. It was just idling in the garage yesterday but last week it was idling at 230 degrees. I have to get it out on the street and check the temp to be sure.

[JMB36TA]

So I'm still having power steering issues, mainly I can't get it to work! I pulled the pump because I was going to replace it but the company I bought it from sent me the wrong style. The sent me the one with the long skinny filler neck instead of the correct wide oval neck. I asked for an exchange and they told me to destroy the one they sent and send them pictures, then they would replace it. I couldn't believe what I was hearing but I did what they asked. It was in an email so I had their instructions in writing just in case. I sent them the pictures and asked for a refund, they're going to give it to me. So now I have a new pump with a smashed reservoir neck. I'm going to take the pump from the new one and put it in my old one.


While I was waiting for their response I decided to try mine one more time. I checked the pump by spinning the shaft with my impact. It's working just fine. I put it back in the car and started turning the wheels, nothing. Then I tried to vacuum bleed it but couldn't get fluid out of the reservoir. I saw that the fluid level rose when I was turning the tires so it looks like the return line is working, but the high pressure line isn't flowing. The level rose with old fluid from the steering box returning the reservoir, but nothing is flowing back to the box. I'm going to take it back out tonight and look at the check valve, maybe it's not working. If I can't find anything then I'll replace it with the other one and keep my fingers crossed.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Did you have the engine running when you was working the wheel back and forth?

If the pump is making pressure it should push all the air out of the lines and box when you work the steering wheel.

Running setting still (no steering wheel turn) the relief valve in the pump opens up. Then turning the steering wheel opens valves and lets the pressure go through the box. Should only take a minute for the pump to push the air out while you work the steering wheel.

Clay

[JMB36TA]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Did you have the engine running when you was working the wheel back and forth?

If the pump is making pressure it should push all the air out of the lines and box when you work the steering wheel.

Running setting still (no steering wheel turn) the relief valve in the pump opens up. Then turning the steering wheel opens valves and lets the pressure go through the box. Should only take a minute for the pump to push the air out while you work the steering wheel.

Clay

I've tried it both ways, with the motor off and with it running. I'm still not getting anything. I checked inside the reservoir with the motor running and I see no fluid movement. I'm gonna take the valve out today and see of maybe I put the piston in backwards. Or I"ll replace it with the one from the new pump and see if that works.

[JMB36TA]

A lot has happened since I last posted here. The power steering is fixed. I took the new pump out of the the housing and put it in my housing. As soon as I started the car I could hear it whining. After I turned the wheel back and forth a few times it started to quiet down and eventually went away. Problem solved, finally! I'm getting a leak from the high pressure line at the pump so I don't think it's sealing. The housing was a bit chewed up around the hole and I tried to smooth it out the best I could to get a good seal. It got better but I'm still leaking.

Since I finally had steering I was able to get it out on the road and do some test driving. I had some idle issues to straighten out. This wasn't as easy as adjusting mixing screws mainly because they didn't work. I don't know how many times I pulled the carb to try to figure out why. I got some help from Cliff and he suggested opening up the pick up tubes, DCR's, and air bypass. That didn't do much. Then someone pointed out that I had holes in the throttle blades which I shouldn't have since I have the air bypass, so I ordered new blades without holes. With the little knowledge I have with Qjets I started unscrewing the blades and the screw heads all popped off and I couldn't get the rest out of the holes so they were going to have to be drilled out, tapped, and larger screws used. Or I needed a hole new assembly which didn't look like it was going to be cheap. I saw some on ebay that looked ok but I wasn't sure and didn't want to take the chance. Then I saw new ones somewhere but they were around $100! I talked to Paul Carter to see if he had any assemblies laying around. He didn't but he had 2 Qjets laying around. One service model with no numbers, and one off a 455 Pontiac. I took the Pontiac for $100 and started digging in to it to replace the old parts with the new ones from my rebuild. It was a mess inside and I'm not talking about a dirty mess, I'm talking hack job mess. 2 main issues were threads. One base plate hole on the bottom of the body was completely stripped. Someone threw some helicoil in there but put the coil in the base plate instead of the body which made no sense to me. When they tried to screw in the screw they used so much force that the coil pushed it's way into the body essentially bridging the gap between the 2 and locking them together. The same thing happened to the threads for the needle valve. There was helicoil in there that was coming apart. I noticed some wire hanging through the fuel inlet when I went to change the fitting. I grabbed my needle nose to grab it and it wouldn't come out so I took the needle valve and seat out and found the helicoil. What a mess. Paul swapped it for the service model that he had on his 428 LeMans and it worked good. I got some new jets and metering rods from Cliff, a new choke and float, and took some of the parts from my carb and threw it on last night. While all that was going on with the carb I decided to pull the plugs because I knew they would be fowled from running rich. They were covered in black soot so I cleaned them off. I found one gap was almost closed. I must have bumped it or something. Since I also rebuilt my distributor with a higher output coil I opened the gaps to 40. I started tuning it again and reset the timing at 14 base, vacuum advance advances it to 24 and total timing is around 32-34. It's idling nice and smooth at 900. It's not running rich anymore and that smell is very minimal, I don't think it will ever be completely gone with my cam but I finally got it to where it should be!

[Stripes]

looks good.