[bobzdar]

Originally Posted by mysticmissle

i love the coronado gold. you don happen to have an extra wire loom for the starter like what's in the dirty motor picture do you?

I just have the one that was on the motor, unfortunately.

[bobzdar]

More (slow) progress, engine and trans are in and I test fired the engine with starting fluid to make sure I didn't need to do any troubleshooting before going any further. I had some struggles like having to rotate the starter housing to fit the 4spd linkage and RA manifolds, had a bad msd blaster 2 coil and did the obligatory 180 out on the distributor, but in the end it fired up for a few seconds and sounded good. Now I have to do a bunch of cleaning/painting of the accessories and brackets, go through the fuel system and carb, and try to remember how all of the accessories go back together. I'm not going to put the AIR pump back on, but kept all of the pieces (along with the th400 and all associated parts). Hopefully it'll be moving under its own power soon.

[bobzdar]

Getting closer now - a few vacuum lines and a/c parts left to do in the engine bay.

[camerjeff]

Looking good! Keep up the good work!

[bobzdar]

I had to order a few parts so started tackling the interior - removed the seats and carpet, cleaned everything up, installed shifter, pedals, new heater core (pita), new carpets, and then hooked up all the wiring and checked basic functionality. No interior lights but have dash lights, glove box light and key works to start the engine. Gas gauge goes all the way past full so most likely will be dropping the tank. I'll finish installing the interior and then do more electrical work once the engine compartment heater box is reinstalled and blower motor is hooked up so I can test all of the electronics, but nothing concerning on that front so far.

[Fourthirteen]

Yeah, looking good. I like that deluxe interior. Seats look pretty good, just a little separation at the piping... what’s your plan for the seats? Keep us posted with plenty of photos.

[bobzdar]

Originally Posted by Fourthirteen

Yeah, looking good. I like that deluxe interior. Seats look pretty good, just a little separation at the piping... what’s your plan for the seats? Keep us posted with plenty of photos.

Haven't decided, for now I'm going to put them back in and then see if I can get them resewn later as the covers are in good shape, the stitching just separated in both sides at the shoulder. They're super easy to take out and in the car will be the most convenient place to store them while I work on the rest!

[bobzdar]

So after a ton of battling, the car finally runs again! The battle with the engine was quite difficult. First, I fired it up and it ran, so I proceeded to connect the exhaust, install most of the front clip, and added water to check for leaks....And 4 of the freeze plugs started leaking. I didn't change them as I didn't want to create a leak, damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess. After a lot of fun changing those out with the engine in the car, I put it all back together and fired it up again - and it ran like hot garbage.

Would not idle, lots of missing, even when revved, and pouring a ton of black smoke. Looking down the carb throat, lots of nozzle drip, so rebuild the carb I thought. Did that, put it back on, and same issue. Vac gauge read around 7", so it was not happy.

Next was to pull the plugs and do a compression test. And that's when I have to take a hit for being an idiot....I put the wrong plugs in. I don't know how, but I grabbed the plugs for an amc 360 from my old grand wagoneer instead of the plugs for the pontiac. They screwed in fine but were too long, so 3 of them were smashed and had no gap, one was smashed but had a gap to the side, the other 4 were ok. So it was running on 5 cylinders at best. I checked the cylinders and valves with a borescope and couldn't see any damage at all (=plugs are fairly soft) and I got extremely lucky that nothing broke off of the plugs and went into the engine, so a new set of plugs went in and it ran much better....but still not well. Some more investigation and I found one of the plugs was not firing. Grabbed an old plug (correct one) and it sparked no problem, so a bad brand new plug. Never had that happen before.

At this point I changed the oil as I could smell it had gas in it from not running right, and I was confident it was firing on all 8 cylinders so wouldn't get diluted again. Still idling rough, still getting nozzle drip, and a ton of timing to get it to idle. At least it would now actually idle and wasn't blowing black smoke, so I proceeded to break the cam in. That went without issue (luckily) so I set back to trying to tune it to get it to idle.

It wasn't having it, nothing I did worked. Pulled a plug again and looking at the spark and it was yellowing and looked weak. So, I pulled the brand new points and condensor (that I didn't remember putting in) and replaced it with a nice pertronix III. Boom, it finally sounded MUCH better. Now I could get it to easily idle on choke, but idle off choke was still a little rough and smelled rich. Pulled a vacuum plug and it smoothed right out - so running really rich. But it now starts right up, idles, and pulls around 14" of vacuum (which is ballpark for the cam). I do not think the vac advance is working and it's obviously super rich, but at least I'm fairly certain the engine isn't hurt (after the plugs I was second guessing everything I had done) and it runs smoothly with no smoke. So, time to change the oil now that the cam is broken in, see if I need a new vacuum advance, and then work on tuning the idle mixture.

Oh, and I have to drop the trans to replace the freeze plugs on the back of the block as they're leaking, too. That should be a lot of fun. Then, just maybe, I can actually drive it a bit. There are a bunch of little things left to do, but it will now run, drive and stop under it's own power. I moved it to my new garage to get some extra room to work and the clutch/trans all work and the engine felt quite peppy. I couldn't run it long as it will start spewing water out of the rear freeze plugs as soon as it gets hot, but finally looking like the end is in sight!

[turbo69bird]

If it was running correctly on choke, but not on no choke. That would seem to me to be a lean condition as choke would enrichen the mixture . But then pulling vac. Plug made it run.

Seems as when it sees more signal through the air horn (moves more air) it gets rich.
Making it rich w choke made it run and making it lean w vac open made it run.? What it would seem you did was bypass the air going through the venturies and pull that air from elsewhere making it NOT add fuel based on signal is my guess. Maybe a good carb guy will chime in .

And please don’t ever run an engine on starting fluid alone if Anyone is reading this unless you want to pound the bearings out of that engine. Alway put some fuel in or something with it, I usually start engines on fuel in a spray bottle w a little two stroke mixed in. If I’m gonna use starting fluid. Some fluid comes w lube now but still not safe IMO. Just my .02

[bobzdar]

I fill the bowl with fuel via the vent and run it on that - if it hasn't been run in a while (like it was when I first started fiddling with it) I fill it with 2 stroke to lube the cylinders. Gives a little smoke at first but makes sure I'm not washing down the cylinders (hopefully).

I think it was running with choke on due to the higher throttle position. If I manually screwed the idle position screw in to open the throttle blades it would idle but then it was open too much giving nozzle drip (or at least those are my assumptions). When running on choke, if I left it on the choke idle stop but manually opened the choke blade it would pick up on idle, indicating it is also rich with the choke on.

Anyway, I will mess with it and see what I can figure out but I had been thinking about going with the Holley spread bore FI if it will fit the ram air pans even prior to this. I think it may have a little too much throttle opening still so pulling fuel from the primaries, will see if I can get vac advance working and the idle set screw lower so it's only running on the idle circuit.

[bobzdar]

Freeze plugs are done and it's running and driving! Still some work to do, carb isn't right, rear brakes need rebuild, heater core may be leaking (which I replaced), and a few other odds and ends. Going for paint later this month, so the end (or the end of the beginning) is in sight!

[kingbuzzo]

amazing...looks badass as-is as well!

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

The freeze plug ordeal was pretty crazy.
I guess when everything inside got dried out , whatever magical chemical reaction that was keeping them from leaking before , disappeared .

Heater core fiasco could drive a person insane after the freeze plug exercises.

67's with Qjet had heat riser ports on the intake that came up in front of the primary throttle ports.
Did you plug those off ? Most folks do , with threaded plugs.
Requires a stainless steel plate from factory - between carb and intake.
Carb damage without the SS plate.
One year only feature that was dropped from production.

And guessing you used the angled oil filter adapter with the LongBranch manifolds too.

Car looks real solid.
Best wishes on your progress

[bobzdar]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

The freeze plug ordeal was pretty crazy.
I guess when everything inside got dried out , whatever magical chemical reaction that was keeping them from leaking before , disappeared .

Heater core fiasco could drive a person insane after the freeze plug exercises.

67's with Qjet had heat riser ports on the intake that came up in front of the primary throttle ports.
Did you plug those off ? Most folks do , with threaded plugs.
Requires a stainless steel plate from factory - between carb and intake.
Carb damage without the SS plate.
One year only feature that was dropped from production.

And guessing you used the angled oil filter adapter with the LongBranch manifolds too.

Car looks real solid.
Best wishes on your progress

I think I have the plate under there but I will check, that'd definitely cause issues if I don't. I did find that the vacuum advance is not working, so that could be the reason for the poor idle and nozzle drip, so a few things to look at there. I have not seen any more moisture near the heater core since, but have not gotten it hot enough to know for sure, maybe dodged a bullet there. It could have been condensation as the garage was left open over night when I had crawled under and seen some moisture.

New issue is the clutch is giving me issues, hopefully it just needs more adjustment after the trans R&R for the freeze plugs. Hasn't gone to paint yet as I want to have it fully mobile first and running without issue. Will hopefully get to those items this weekend.

[tom s]

Make sure you have 12V to the coil with the Pertronix!You need to by pass the resistor wire.If not they will drive like crap.Tom

[bobzdar]

Just about finished mechanically, figured out the nose, it was like Tetris putting it back together. Took it for a spin around the block, needs a little adjusting on the clutch still and brake pedal is way high and they are like RIGHT NOW if you hit them anything but gently, but otherwise running pretty well. Still a bunch of little electrical stuff, but it's mobile and should be able to fully road test it soon!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wqZhRuCFjizqXQWD6

[kingbuzzo]

gotta feel good after all the hrs...

[Shiny]

I suspect you were happy with that drive! Congrats on the progress

[bobzdar]

So I took it for a ride today and the front brakes are dragging. Not sure what it could be, everything except the metal lines in the front are new. It had drums but I converted to single piston discs with a new MC/booster/prop valve specced for disc/drum. I have all new hardware in the rear as well, but definitely the fronts sticking after a short (2 mile) drive - and it appears to be both wheels as both fronts were really hot. Otherwise other than desperately needing an alignment, the car ran well, but not drive-able with the brakes dragging.

Any ideas on where to start there? It feels like something in the mc as there is zero softness at the top of the pedal - I checked the pushrod length and it's actually a tad short as my brake lights are staying on, so it's not that it's too long. I disconnected it from the pedal and it does not come out at all, but it's like the mc is staying pressurized somehow.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Are they old used calipers or new ? Or reconditioned ?

I recently went through a sort of similar episode with the rear disc calipers on my dads 04 Tahoe after doing front/rear brake pads.
Rears would get Hot on test drive. Really Hot

Turned out to be the calipers had bad spots or maybe gunked up deeper up inside the bores and would not retract properly in their new positions with new thick pads.
Had been rarely driven in the past 15 years before he bought it about a year ago with only 65k miles on it. Rear pads were originals and inboard pads were really thin.

Put the old pads back on and it did fine.
He said leave it - I said NO . lol

He didn't want new calipers , so I made a compromise that worked out.
... a whole 'nother story ...