My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble

[boynton]

so what motor did you get???

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Also built myself a new heavy-duty cart. I've got about a 500 lb Christmas gift to be dropped off at the end of my driveway early next week and needed a way to get it up to my shop.

Suspense!!

[rgunlock]

I've got this one on the way. GM Performance 290 HP 350. Have everything off the old motor except bell-housing to motor bolts to make room for the new one. Just decided I have been putting lipstick on a pig considering what I've done with the rest of the truck. Draining oil I put in 2 weeks ago to get ready to pull the motor, it already had a bunch of water in it. Wasn't going to get very far on the old motor one way or the other.

http://www.jegs.com/i/GM+Performance...FZm6wAodbQMC7g

[boynton]

that will be fantastic

[y5mgisi]

Nice!

[7dee2]

Oh, that’s a big Christmas present! Good choice on making it run just as good as it looks...

[Bomp]

Worth every penny. No headaches.

[rgunlock]

Thanks guys! Hope you all had a great Christmas. Motor is supposed to arrive tomorrow afternoon so I'm pretty excited. This seems to be a good bargain for the money, and I'm so ready to get this truck running that this was just a lot easier/faster route than trying to build one. Plus it should be drop-in without any modification to existing (new) fuel system, etc.

[rgunlock]

New motor showed up, and my cart didn't collapse getting the motor into the shop - yay! I've got the old motor pulled from the truck and all of the accessories pulled from it.

[rgunlock]

I installed a new Edlebrock Performer intake, flywheel, clutch, motor mount brackets, etc. from the old motor. Cleaned and checked spark plug gaps and installed and basically installed everything I could get to that wouldn't be in the way for the install.

Spent a couple hours trying to wrestle it into place, and have it THIISSS CLOSE!!! Up and down with the motor... up and down with the tranny... rock motor left and right... turn crank to see if it will line up with tranny input... Rinse and repeat...

It wore me out, so I've come in to search the interweb for tips and tricks to try in the morning.

[MTCK]

Those motors are great bang for the buck. I've had a couple in different trucks. One trick I like to do is put a block under the trans with a floor jack so I can adjust height. Honestly don't think I've ever swapped a motor on a standard trans so may be a little trickier. I also loosen the clam shells on the truck side of the motor mounts so I can wiggle them if needed. Good luck.

[boynton]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Those motors are great bang for the buck. I've had a couple in different trucks. One trick I like to do is put a block under the trans with a floor jack so I can adjust height. Honestly don't think I've ever swapped a motor on a standard trans so may be a little trickier. I also loosen the clam shells on the truck side of the motor mounts so I can wiggle them if needed. Good luck.

I second both of those tips.

[7dee2]

Sweet! Bummer it's fighting you Rick. Make sure you've got the correct pilot bushing (input shaft OD vs pilot ID), use an alignment tool to make sure the clutch disk is centered (preferred) or leave the pressure plate a little loose to allow the disk to move slightly (much harder). Get it close and start a couple of bell housing to block bolts just for alignment no pressure or very light. Have a helper stab the clutch a few times while you wiggle the crap out of it and it should suck the two together.


Worst case you could mate everything on the shop floor and install as one unit.

[rgunlock]

I appreciate the suggestions. I do have a jack under the transmission which helped getting the engine in as far as its gone. The motor-side brackets are clearing the frame-side clamshells, but at this point a little extra wiggle room may be helpful.

I'll work at it some more today, but I'm worried that I didn't get the clutch lined up for maximum tolerance. I did use the clutch alignment tool when I installed it, but it didn't come out entirely freely - had to give it a pretty good pull. If all else fails, I'll pull the motor again and realign the clutch and then start over. I hope it doesn't come to that though!

[rgunlock]

Yahoo, it's in! I did end up pulling the motor back out of the truck and re-aligning the clutch so that the alignment tool came out easily. I'm not sure if this did the trick, or if I just managed to hold my tongue right while yanking, lifting, shoving, kicking, etc. the motor into place. This time it fell in with about 3/16" even gap between motor and bell housing. Put the bottom 2 bolts in and the gap pulled closed without resistance - yay!

Now, just have to finish bolting it in and then put all the accessories back on. But I'm stoked - I won this 2 hour wrassling match this time around!

[boynton]

fantastic

[swamp rat]

Perseverance! Good job on the install!

[7dee2]

Sahweet! You da man!

[rgunlock]

Thanks! Yesterday I got everything reinstalled on bottom, sides and front of the motor. Is it just me, or is it a common thing that exhaust manifold bolts don't want to line up in the holes worth a dang? Those manifolds took as long as everything else combined.

Today, it's fill with fluids, prime the oil pump, line up #1 on TDC and drop in new HEI distributor, plug wires and install new carburetor. Unless something conspires against it, I'm hoping to get this beast running today! Got to go back to work tomorrow so I want today to be the day.

[boynton]

We want a video when it is running!

[y5mgisi]

Well??

[cmabolt]

Congrats Rick! A collective sigh of relief for getting the motor back in. The manuals can definitely be more fun, but anything worth having is with the extra effort to have. I do put a tiny amount of grease on the alignment tool and inside the pilot bearing, but that would only have been helpful like 10 posts ago. I'm sure re-aligning with tool did the trick. Anyway, it's no longer a roller. Now it's a driver and just a matter of finishing the assembly.

Happy New Year! and enjoy this thing in 2017.
Chris

[rgunlock]

Well, not quite a driver Chris. I can get it running, but not idling without me giving it a bit of throttle. Sometimes sucks when you are figuring this stuff out as you go along rather than drawing on experience. I haven't been able to get it timed quite right and gave it up last night to grill dinner.

I put #1 cylinder at TDC by watching #1 rockers while rotating the crank clock-wise. After they'd both cycled I kept turning the crank until the mark on the balancer lined up with the pointer. I'm assuming I got that right or I probably couldn't get it running at all.

Then dropped the new distributor in with the rotor pointing more-or-less at the #1 cylinder. Dropped it far enough that the gear on the dist was engaged with the camshaft. Then turned the crank until it lined up with the oil pump shaft and the dist dropped the rest of the way into place.

Starting with that, I pointed the dist's vacuum advance at about 8:00 and was able to get it started if giving it throttle. Got it running better by turning the dist counter-clockwise until the vacuum advance hit the intake. Assumed I'd gotten the distributor a tooth off so pulled it and rotated it after making a witness mark to make sure I'd moved it. Hard to tell if it moved 1 tooth or more, but was back to having to give it throttle to keep it running. Tried this a couple times before giving it up. I hadn't thought to make sure my battery was fully charged and it wasn't up to more experimenting.

I do have a new carb that I assumed was set to a default that would run pretty decent, but that might be a bad assumption. It's tough for 1 guy to set timing while also having to apply throttle to carb linkage.

I think my next step will be to try to adjust the idle on the carb enough so that the motor will run without my hand on the throttle, then maybe I can get the timing dialed in better.

But it ran for the first time in about 6 years, and I finally got to hear my exhaust, although it would have been nice to be able to walk around the truck while it was running Anyway, I know it's close and I'll keep on it so should be soon.

[cmabolt]

Hey Rick. Well, if it's a new carb then I would also assume the floats are set to idle fine. I would crank up the throttle screw to get'r idling and deal with your timing. I usually put a screwdriver in the spark plug hole to find TDC, then drop in the distributer as you did pointing the rotor at number one cylinder. It would pop and not run if you were 180 off. Sound like you got it. How old is your fuel???? would be my next question. Then double check your firing order and wires.


I must say though, that my truck fought me like hell the last month or so when I was assembling. Nothing seemed to come together easily and kept having to stop
and buy small things.

Keep at it, soon it will all be a distant insane memory.
Chris

[rgunlock]

I did double-check the plug wire connections when I hooked them up, and new gas was put in the new tanks maybe a month or so ago. Shouldn't be too bad. I'm thinking I'm probably on the right track with the throttle and timing setting. It's good to know you didn't spot anything I'd done obviously wrong.