1969 Custom/10 clean up

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

until 2 weeks ago, where it would fire up, but as soon as I hit the street, it would loose 2 cylinders. I bought new sparks, plugs HEI parts..but my gut is telling me that i need to measure compression. so hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow. back online and keeping you posted. but the biggest news is still to come because we found a new project...all I'll say is keep a lookout for a new thread with "Viking" in the title

First of all the compression turned out good, not as high as one might expect, but at least equal on all 8.
changed the sparkplugs, wires and HEI distributor and it fired right up

Now suddenly the damn thing won't turn over due to some weird electrical problem. gotta check the fuseable link, but it's cold outside and early dark, so I'll wait for the weekend.

secondly check out our new project:
1958 Chevrolet 60 Viking

[RockinKees]

You’ll sort that out, no problem!

[Steve-W]

Sorry for the late update.
the problem turned out the be the fusible link.
I have the entire wiring harness in shrink wrap, to pull it apart is a female dog.
what I did instead is put in a by-pass with a starter button, yes with a fuse.
since November I've driven about 600 miles without any hassle!.

Question: How do I find where the fusible link breaks, heads up: this is an EZ wire 12 harness.

[RockinKees]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

Sorry for the late update.
the problem turned out the be the fusible link.

Question: How do I find where the fusible link breaks, heads up: this is an EZ wire 12 harness.

What I mostly found with the fusible links are, that they “burn” inside giving a very bad contact or none at all. As if a normal fuse is blown.
Also had a bad contact once where the link was attached to the wiring of the car, but then we bad contact, sometimes contact, sometimes not. This was hard to find. Just after striping the insulation and measuring resistance we found the problem.
Maybe you can point it out with an Ohm-meter, just measure the wires one by one.
Succes!

[Steve-W]

situation 1) having driven my truck lately without any noticeable issues I put it on the lift because of some rumbling sound at a certain speed. turned out my center driveshaft bearing was busted, so ordered a new one from Rockauto, but didn't check any further. So the new bearing comes and when taking off the old one I notice the play is not so much in the bearing as it is in between the bearing and the driveshaft.. so the seat(?) where the bearing mounts is all worn out.
what to do? get a new driveshaft or have it welded up and then machined to the required thickness?

situation 2) I have the tendency to buy stuff in the spur of the moment, which lead me to buy the 10 bolt G30 rearend a while back. I thought the axles would fit my GM 12 Bolt wanting to convert from 6 bolt to 5 bolt. Alas.. they are a tad longer, but the drums on the 10 bolt are wider as well. I guess I have 3 options here:
a) use the axels from the 10 bolt and transfer the wider brake shoes and drums etc
b) install the complete 10 bolt instead of the 12 bolt, and countering the gear ratio disadvantage by putting in a 700R4 (which I just bought last week)
c) order 2x USA STANDARD GEAR USA21629 1541H Alloy Axle; 30 spline; 30-3/4" long; 5 lug from rockauto. (and still get the 700R4 in for lower RPM at 65MPH)

what's the sensible thing to do fella's?

[Steve-W]

Seeing I didn't get any responds on my previous post, I'll tell you I bought the rockauto axles with a bearing set and they bolted straight in.
so I'm now rocking 17" Jeep steelies, I just had to modify the center gap.

and now instead of 55 at 3500rpm, I get 65 at 3500 rpm.
Thus I decided to put in the 700r4 I had laying around, which bolted straight in, because my th350 was a long tail, so no modification needed at the driveshaft.
the 700r came with the correct tv cable and converter.
Now I've run into a snag, but that you can read here at the engine thread.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=808844
anyhow, the reason for putting in the 700r4 is because I'll be driving the truck to Poland for the summer where we visit family from my wifes side.
it's only a 1600Mi roundtrip, but 99% highway hence the tranny swap.

with the tranny off, I got a good look of the engine from behind and realised just how oily it was, turned out my valve cover bolts were just hanging on by the last thread, so I got some cleaning to do. In the meantime I have a question. what should be connected to this pipe?


while changing the valve cover gaskets, I also proceded to change my plugs.
which with the car on a 4 column lift isn't easy when you're 5,6"


and I just have to ask.. do you have any differental ****ting type bird in the US?


what do you think of my 4yo..she wanted the keys!

[68Gold/white]

That pipe is a connection to the crank case. Originally there was a hose that hooked to it, for a draft tube (early days) for crank case ventilation. Later, and most usually, that has a hose on it that connects to an in line PCV valve, other end hooks to carb or intake vacuum source...

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

That pipe is a connection to the crank case. Originally there was a hose that hooked to it, for a draft tube (early days) for crank case ventilation. Later, and most usually, that has a hose on it that connects to an in line PCV valve, other end hooks to carb or intake vacuum source...

I have breathers on either valve cover, so can I just close that pipe?

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

I have breathers on either valve cover, so can I just close that pipe?

You can block that pipe, but you DO need to have a PCV valve, in some shape or form. THe PCV valve pulls the vapors out of the crank case and burns them in the combustion process. It IS a needed thing. Without a PCv system, oil life is very short, and the oil becomes acrid, attacking bearing metals, ruining engines.
You need one breather and a PCV valve somewhere in the crank case. THe breather allows fresh air into the crankcase, the PCV pulls that air through the crank case along with the crappy vapors produced inside the engine, and burns them in the combustion process...

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

You can block that pipe, but you DO need to have a PCV valve, in some shape or form. THe PCV valve pulls the vapors out of the crank case and burns them in the combustion process. It IS a needed thing. Without a PCv system, oil life is very short, and the oil becomes acrid, attacking bearing metals, ruining engines.
You need one breather and a PCV valve somewhere in the crank case. THe breather allows fresh air into the crankcase, the PCV pulls that air through the crank case along with the crappy vapors produced inside the engine, and burns them in the combustion process...

here's on old picture where you see the 2 breathers on the valve covers.
I do not recirculate any engine fumes


besides..the engine is pretty tired and next year I'll pull it out and rebuild it.
But the road draft tube as I now know it's called is probable the cause of the oil laying on top of the transmission I'll put a tube on it an run it to the side, so I can see how much oil leaks from there

[siggyfreud]

I'd second running a pcv into vacuum. Helps remove the positive pressure in the engine (hence positive crankcase ventilation), fighting everything mentioned above.

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by Steve-W

here's on old picture where you see the 2 breathers on the valve covers.
I do not recirculate any engine fumes


besides..the engine is pretty tired and next year I'll pull it out and rebuild it.
But the road draft tube as I now know it's called is probable the cause of the oil laying on top of the transmission I'll put a tube on it an run it to the side, so I can see how much oil leaks from there

You can put a freeze plug in that hole, I do not know what size though...My 67 283 form my first car (67 Bel Air) has a freeze plug in it, but is buried in the garage

[Steve-W]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

You can put a freeze plug in that hole

I decided just to run a tube from it to the side of the frame, I don't have any posibillities to attach it to my air filter or the manifold. But I'll sort that out later.

in the meantime I found out what the sudden oil leak was, which I asked about in the other thread Help unidentified oil leak and it turned out to be the missing center bolt for the oilfilter plate. (I thought tightening the oilfilter would be enough, but not so much. So I found a bolt that fitted, but it was to thick, so I cut it through the middle and now no more oil leak.

Being all happy I mounted the 700R4, replaced my radiator so I could use the internal oil cooling with new lines....and I found out the 700R4 is a lemon....
(also after getting rid of the old radiator with the external oilcooler ziptied to it, I found out everybody advises to use an external cooler


No second gear and manually it's an extra neutral.. so I played around with the TV cable and such, but no improvements. I then decided to pull the oilpan and to my disgust the oil was sparkly from metal sediments and running my finger through it, it felt like sand grains..


Tonight I'll put back the TH350 and the roadtrip to poland will be my daily Audi instead of the truck.

[68Gold/white]

I'd just plug that pipe, until you get situated, your breathers will get-by for now... You could get more oil fumes out of it, by just venting it, than you want, especially venting it into the air. THe PCV valves for 67 and earlier were inline valves. You could use it for the PCV, when that day comes, and just leave the breathers in place, you have now...just a thought.

Have fun in Poland!!!!