Beelzeburb, The Story More Than a Decade in the Making

[Beelzeburb]

Okay, so, well... let’s say I just happen to be the owner of a slightly used Holley 4010 square bore carburetor that flows 750 CFM. That should be a decent enough size for the 454 right?



The Holley owner’s manual warns not to use this carburetor with overdrive transmissions, but it shouldn’t make any difference to my COMPUSHIFT controlled one though. I only need the right cable driven Acculink TPS adapter, a low pressure FPR and it should be good to go. Anyone have recommendations for an intake manifold?

Well, while the Suburban takes a hiatus , perhaps you’d like to see some pictures of my Datsun now that it’s all together.



















Ha Ha! Just kidding about the carb. That Holley would be a step backward that I don’t want to take. I’ve been fiddling with the Suburban the whole time and there is no hiatus. Where we last left off I had been testing individual components to rule them out one-by-one.

So far:

Ignition and Voltage
I’d made sure the charging system was charging, I kept the battery fully topped up with voltage with the Battery Tender Plus, the starter worked fine, the cap and rotor were clean and the spark plugs and wires seemed okay. I’d replaced the coil because it was known to cause similar symptoms to what I had been experiencing if it failed (and it was pretty cheap). I had also replaced the ignition module because I’d accidentally fried the old one by hooking the wrong wires up to it.

Other Sensors and Motors
The 02 sensor was fully functional and I had properly expunged all exhaust leaks so that they couldn’t confuse the O2 sensor. The coolant temperature sensors all read properly, the TPS gave correct voltage output, and the A/C compressor wasn’t sending a signal when it shouldn’t have been.

Emissions
The EGR solenoid and valve both checked out properly when I tested them, the A.I.R. hardware had been removed and disconnected properly, also, the PCV valve was new. The evaporative emissions canister was hooked up correctly too. I even checked all of the vacuum lines for leaks and found none.

Fuel System
The new Walbro fuel pump was happily pumping away and remained solidly grounded to the frame. The fuel filter and flexible lines were new and I’d blown compressed air through the hard lines only to find no restriction. The new JET Performance fuel pressure regulator did it’s job properly and held around 14 psi at idle. The fuel injectors themselves sprayed in a nice, clean fan pattern and didn’t leak or drip when the engine wasn’t running. There were no fuel leaks around the throttle body, intake manifold or EGR valve.

This left very few items to check. I quickly ruled out the MAP sensor. It read the correct voltage for the altitude that I live at, and when 10 inHg was applied with a hand vacuum pump the output fell by 2V which was in spec. I set the timing again after finding the tan/black wire quick-disconnect. Next I checked the IAC motor. The pintle on them is known to build up a carbon deposit which can cause an erratic idle. The whole of the IAC motor and it’s associated passage were clean as a whistle. It didn’t make a noticeable difference to put the ECM in diagnostic mode, driving the pintle to the fully seated position and then removing the IAC plug, thereby closing off the idle air passage. I simply plugged it back in after that because the thing seemed to be doing its job.

While I had the spark plugs out to perform the compression test, I noticed that one of them was a little longer than the others (I had broken one plug on accident and bought a new replacement). AC Delco must have made a small change to their CR43TS plugs some time in the past six years. I went ahead and replaced all eight with the new style. All the new plugs were gapped to 0.035” as called for in the service manual. I also installed a new set of Crane Cams Fire Wire spark plug wires with 90° boots because I didn’t like the universal boots on the Carquest set I had been using. Still no noticeable change in performance.

At this point, the only items I could think of that hadn’t been tested or replaced were the distributor internals, the ECM/PROM and the fuel injectors themselves. If it wasn’t one of them then I was going to start retracing every single wire checking for continuity and resistance. That Holley carburetor is just an old one that my Dad had had on a shelf because he could never get it to run right. Maybe some day I’ll put it in a vehicle and sort it properly, but it won't wind up on the Suburban.

I researched, pondered and hypothesized. The distributor was a bit of a gamble, but the most likely suspect at this point. If my backwards wiring had killed an ignition module, could it have damaged the internal pickup coil too? Was my replacement ignition module slightly different than the one it had replaced? Hmmm.... I could have replaced the HEI module and pickup coil with correct AC Delco parts for roughly $70, but if I did, then would the notorious problems of the early external coil distributors finally catch up with me? Perhaps the reluctor or stator had worn out or the magnets were broken into multiple pieces? In the end I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a complete GMPP 1103952 distributor assembly even though I have rebuilt a few distributors before. It’s a drop in and comes completely assembled with cap, rotor and ignition module.



As a plus, the 1103952 doesn’t suffer from many of the problems that plagued the earlier model distributors. The price wasn't that bad either, less than $200 at the local Chevy dealership. The two distributors sure didn't look any different from the outside though.



After a little fiddling to get it lined up with the right tooth, it plunked down in place of the old dizzy. I only managed to eyeball the alignment again, but it fired up and idled at around 1300 rpm. It revved very crisply from off idle and sounded tantalizingly promising. Before the new distributor there had been some hesitation off idle and the RPMs hadn’t climbed quite as quickly with the transmission in park or neutral. Too excited to bother with getting the timing spot on, I hopped in and backed out of the driveway.

Lo and behold, there was torque. The Suburban wasn’t some limply accelerating, backfiring sputter machine anymore. It pushed me back hard in my seat, a sensation I’d never felt in such a heavy vehicle. You have to understand that when I drove the Suburban during High School, a 0-60 acceleration run lasted somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-25 seconds. I’d driven Econoline vans at a hotel that I’d worked at for two years. A couple of them were equipped with the turbo diesel engines, but the turbo lag was horrible. Even though my 240Z is fairly well modified and pushing about 100 more horsepower than it had originally, with the cam that’s in it nothing happens below 2500 rpm and the fun stuff happens above 5000 rpm. Nothing had prepared me for the immediate wave of torquey goodness that my big block could now provide. I had to come to a complete stop a few times just to feel that sensation again and again.

Since then the timing has been set once again to factory specs, 4° with the tan/black wire disconnected and it idles nicely. At WOT the O2 sensor reading is still in the correct range, and it maintains a constant 14 p.s.i. of fuel pressure at idle. It still has a problem starting without a shot of ether, but I'll figure that out eventually. I have replaced the oil pressure switch in case that was causing problems with the fuel pressure relay (the two are connected), but no change on that front yet. In the next couple of days I'll put in a noid light from the new set I ordered and make sure the injectors are getting a strong signal when the starter is cranking the motor over. I'm just happy that it finally runs right. There is no sputter, no backfiring and no hesitation whatsoever at any throttle position or RPM. It just goes. Oh, and it'll spin the tires from a dead stop on dry pavement too.

[VA72C10]

Congrats on getting it going!!!



and...nice Z!

[mosesburb]

Sweet. You had me going on the carb story as I did the same thing on my first conversion--that did not end well either.

You mention when it fired it idled at 1300. Was that the "fast idle" for a cold engine or was it that rpm for no reason?? I am wondering because a IAC can create a hard start condition very easily. Is the IAC original or have you replaced it?? On your scanner, can you check IAC counts with key on engine off?? I have had issues with IAC units that have been out of service for extended periods of time in the past. I have had issues with cold starts on one, and hot restarts on another with no obvious issues while running--just in crank mode. Grabbed one off the shelf (against my better judgement) and all was well. It might be something to look into if you have not done your characteristic thorough inspection on it already.

[babylonflyer]

nice looking z !

[Papa-J]

I miss my Datsun '79 280ZX
Your's looks great!!!

[jbclassix]

Once I get my wife a new truck (she is done with the V2500) I am definitely getting a new dizzy

[Beelzeburb]

I'll be sure to look further into the IAC motor soon mosesburb. My scanner can read counts w/o the engine running and the IAC motor itself is original as far as I know. I didn't quite get too far into the diagnostic charts yet because at the time I wasn't very concerned with idle. Right now, with the timing re-set it idles at 1000 rpm mostly. It'll race to 1500 when switching from drive to park but then eventually level out to 1000. Sometimes it'll drop further and hang out right at 700 rpm, so there's some more sleuthing to be done.

I've been busy today with modifying and mounting the auxiliary cooling fan.



It's the stock auxiliary fan from the '88 C3500 with a few new bends made to the original bracket arms. Both the power and ground wires are hooked up, so all I need now is a hot day to make sure it works. I've also been busy dealing with the local DMV office. Well, a couple weeks ago I was reading the latest issue of 4WOR and they mentioned that in Utah, one of the aspects of a law regarding vintage cars was due to change soon. Namely, cars older than 30 years could be considered 'vintage' which would surmount the 40 year standing rule. The part that really interested me was that they mentioned vintage vehicles as being exempt from yearly safety inspections. I did some further research, and sure enough, Utah Code 41-1a-205 clearly states that automobiles registered as vintage vehicles are exempt from yearly safety inspections. I own four vehicles that could easily fall under the category of "vintage" as defined in 41-21-1 of the Utah Code, so I could potentially save roughly $70 a year (okay, two of them aren't insured at the moment so more like $35) not having to pay for extraneous safety inspections. I always make sure my vehicles are up to code anyway and haven't ever had a problem passing before.

Armed with printouts of those sections and others I walked into the local DMV office yesterday. They had never heard of such a thing, so the two employees working that day didn't want to budge on the issue. The only advice they gave me was to either: A. check with the legislature or B. check with the highway patrol. They also suggested that I make sure the sections of code I was referencing were up to date. Well, I've double checked and the sections of code I had with me are in fact the most recent iterations available. I've phoned the local highway patrol and they're supposed to have the officer who knows about these sorts of issues call me back. I'll get clarification on this issue either through the highway patrol office, or I'll make sure someone in a supervisory position at the DMV straightens it out.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments on the Z guys. I had it at the Parowan car show on Saturday and it brought back memories for plenty of people who had owned or driven one back in the day. Be sure to check post #21 in this thread to see that car four years ago when I'd just bought it and had to tow the thing home.

[Beelzeburb]

My, what deep dish you have.
All the better to shove wide tires on.





Now I really want some new tires and period correct 3/4 ton hubcaps.

These showed up last week while I was out of town in Colorado. They're the OE 8 Lug wheels (82 series in their catalogue) I ordered from Wheel Vintiques. 16" x 10" with white powdercoating. The powdercoat itself was actually an extra cost option, but I wanted them to be white like the stock steelies and I wanted them powdercoated for the extra bit of weather/abrasion resistance. For the base price they can be ordered either in bare steel or painted black. I plan to run 35x12.5 tires as soon as I've got the money for them. Originally I wanted to run tall skinny treads, but only Interco sells skinny tires in 35" diameters. Every other 35" tire will not fit properly on six or seven inch wide wheels (which is why I sold my stock style 16" x 7" eight lug steelies last year). I'm actually planning on purchasing Mickey Thompson Baja ATZs of the 315/75-R16 variety. The design rim they're measured on is 8.5" wide. The Wheel Vintiques OE 8 lugs are available in 6, 7, 8 and 10 inch widths, so I decided to step up to the 10" style.

These wheels have a 5" backspacing, which seems to be exactly the same as the 16" x ?" Dodge wheels the Suburban is sporting now. No interference to be reported with the calipers or tie rod ends. The wheels themselves do stick out beyond the fenders about an inch, but I hope that won't be a problem. Depending on how far out the tire tread sits, I may or may not need slight fender flares in the front in order to meet the letter of the Utah state lift laws.

Speaking of Utah laws, I did finally get my Suburban registered as a Vintage Vehicle without having to get a safety inspection. It only took five visits to the local DMV office. The local supervisor wouldn't relent when presented with the two sections of the Utah code that state vintage vehicles are exempt from safety inspections, nor would she budge when shown a page directly from the Safety Inspectors handbook (2011/2012 year handbook) in which is printed with bold, underlined text that vintage vehicles are exempt from safety inspections. The Utah Highway Patrol officer they told me to speak with on the matter sided with me too when he returned my phone call, but the local DMV office (the ones who'd told me to contact him in the first place) discounted his experience in this matter also. I actually had to call the Salt Lake call center myself, where the employee who took my call conferred with two separate supervisors who both reiterated that vintage vehicles are exempt from safety inspections. When I went back to the local DMV office and told their supervisor that I had direct confirmation from a Lead Agent at the main office in Salt Lake City and that she should contact them if further clarification was needed, she finally relented and gave me my vintage plate with current stickers. I was ready to drive to a DMV office in another county if they wouldn't listen to reason.

[VA72C10]

Gotta love DMV....NOT!

Rims look great. Stock style caps are a great choice also!

[jbclassix]

Now I'm really jealous! I am planning on running white 82 series 16x8 with lt285's... congrats on getting registered!

[y5mgisi]

Oh DROOOL!!! Love those wheels!

[Beelzeburb]

A little something I've been working on:



This'll help keep those pesky leaves and twigs out of the cowl and kick panel vents. After a quick test fit, it still needs some tweaking and straightening before it's ready for filler and final smoothing. I also took care of a few minor annoyances. I replaced the washer fluid pump and horn hardware, so those two items are fully functional again. This week I also got a nice package from the UPS man, something I've wanted for a good while now. It's my very own redhead! Redhead Steering Gears rebuilt P/S box that is, not a mail order bride.



Got it installed in an afternoon along with replacing the missing square bushing pieces in the intermediate coupler. With everything bolted back up, the wheel rotated back and forth a few times and the power steering fluid level topped up it made a nicely noticeable difference. It tracks straight down the highway and no longer requires 1/4 turn of the wheel before any directional change commences. Since then I've been driving the Suburban all over and continuing the engine break in process.

One of the first things I did was drive it out into the dirt and make sure the transfer case shifter worked. Everything was good there, no real difficulty in shifting through all positions and the front hubs are easy to engage. I also found a couple of dirt / construction debris piles to test the suspension articulation. I was worried that perhaps the front brake lines might not be quite long enough, but they looked fine near full flex. I did find that I'll need some longer bumpstops for the rear though. When fully stuffed, the rear tires rub directly on the plywood in the wheelwell. No pictures of that though, forgot to bring my camera. After that I drove over to the nearest gas station. It was the first time in nearly a decade that I'd put more than 20 gallons of fuel into anything. 27.6 gallons of gas took a big bite out of the 'ole wallet.

After putting a few more miles on it, I noticed a new noise from the engine bay. With the Suburban parked back at home I could see that one of the bolts holding the power steering pump bracket to the block had nearly worked itself completely free. The other bolt that was supposed to be holding the pump firmly in place had had it's head snapped clean off back before I ever rebuilt this engine. It was a very tricky spot to get into, but after a few hours I finally fixed the problem, properly secured the pump and resolved that noise. Still no other weird noises or leaks to report aside from a very minor rear main seal drip. It tracks straight and true on the road, the ball joints and tie rod ends seem nice and tight. It cruises very well at 75-80 mph. Right now the tach reads approx. 2400 rpm at that speed, but it'll drop to around 2200 rpm when I install the 35” tall tires. The brakes work very well, but in panic stop situations it locks up one or two of the wheels before the others. That might be as simple as bleeding the system because I actually replaced the BMC twice recently (original master leaked, 1st reman unit leaked, 2nd reman can hold it's fluids). I finally got around to calibrating the electronic speedometer today, so sometime in the near future I can start calculating MPG. Also, some time this week I'm going to see if I can get the A/C system charged at the shop my friend works at. All in all I'm simply having a nice, pleasant time cruising around just putting some miles on it and fielding questions about the old girl at the auto parts stores.

[VA72C10]

Nice progress. Any updated pictures.....

...especially looking forward to pictures of the burb once the new wheels are on it!!!

[Beelzeburb]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Rims look great. Stock style caps are a great choice also!

Originally Posted by jbclassix

Now I'm really jealous! I am planning on running white 82 series 16x8 with lt285's.

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

Oh DROOOL!!! Love those wheels!

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Nice progress. Any updated pictures.....

...especially looking forward to pictures of the burb once the new wheels are on it!!!

Glad you guys like the wheels. I'm now able to verify that stock 3/4 ton style hubcaps do in fact fit perfectly on them. I'm going to have to cut the centers out to fit over my hubs though (and repaint them).



No updated pictures yet. Nothing's really changed on the outside anyway. Just waiting until I can get some action pictures or until I get some tires.

[VA72C10]

Those will look good.....after trimming them you could also chrome them and then paint the black in That would look sweet!

[thirdstreettito]

Sexy Sexy! I just read the entire build! Nice! Wanna trade? Ha!

[jeffg1010]

Originally Posted by Beelzeburb

Glad you guys like the wheels. I'm now able to verify that stock 3/4 ton style hubcaps do in fact fit perfectly on them. I'm going to have to cut the centers out to fit over my hubs though (and repaint them).



No updated pictures yet. Nothing's really changed on the outside anyway. Just waiting until I can get some action pictures or until I get some tires.

I've had a difficult time locating these wheels. Did you buy direct from Wheel Vintiques? I am looking for some winter rims.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Beelzeburb]

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

Sexy Sexy! I just read the entire build! Nice! Wanna trade? Ha!

Well, thank you. No trades though.

Originally Posted by jeffg1010

I've had a difficult time locating these wheels. Did you buy direct from Wheel Vintiques? I am looking for some winter rims.
Posted via Mobile Device

Yup, I called Wheel Vintiques directly and ordered straight from them.

Still no major updates, I've been out of town for quite a while. I did drive the Suburban around yesterday and managed to take it off road to torture the 12+ year old BF Goodrich tires a little. Couldn't do anything too severe yet because I still need to modify the shifter linkage to allow manual downshifting to second and first gears. It was a nice feeling knowing that ground clearance wasn't a big concern anymore. I only had my cell phone, so this is the one picture I took:



Even on a 93 degree day while moving slow over a rocky trail with next to no airflow across the radiator, I still couldn't get the engine warm enough for the auxiliary cooling fan to kick on.

[thirdstreettito]

I'm on pics and needles waiting for MPG results! I wanna know, I'm going to guess high and say 10 mpg.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Beelzeburb

Cool!! A two-tone!!

[C20-67_N_MO]

Great Build.

I've enjoyed reading thru all the pages of your build.

Hope all goes well with everything else at this point.

[Beelzeburb]

Originally Posted by mosesburb

Cool!! A two-tone!!

More like a tone of many colors. I've got rusty patina on the roof, as well as faded original green and underlying red primer up there. There's also gloss black where I scraped out the original roof seam sealer, coated it up with POR-15 and then applied new seam sealer. Then there is white around the windows, blue on the hood, primer most everywhere else and bondo/rust in some of the lower sections.

As far as updates go, I replaced the A/C condenser not too long ago. My 41 year old original had been nicked and didn't hold pressure (as I found out when I went to get the system charged). I bought a new replacement from Brothers Trucks (they aren't stocked, rather made by their supplier when the order is received) which is advertised as being more efficient. All I really cared was that the dimensions were the same as the original because my engine oil & transmission fluid coolers had been mounted to or near it. They were nice enough to contact the supplier for me and confirm all of the dimensions.



After the new part was in, I was ready to drive back into town and get the A/C system charged. Instead I haven't been driving the Suburban at all. I've been frustrated by the fact that it wouldn't start without popping the hood, removing the air cleaner, opening the throttle plates, spraying in starting fluid, climbing out of the engine bay and into the cabin, turning the key and trying to feather the throttle in hopes the engine would catch and run. If that didn't happen the first time, I'd repeat all of the above steps until it did run and then replace the air filter assembly, close the hood and drive away. Not a very convenient scenario each time you want to hop in and go somewhere.

Last week I decided to retrace and rethink the way things were wired. Before actually tracing anything in the vehicle, I determined that making a fully fledged wiring diagram would be handy for both the present and the future. I tried downloading a couple of programs meant for laying out circuit board diagrams (google's best suggestion), but they weren't populated with all the automotive symbols I'd need and they didn't seem to have color-coding capabilities. I gave up on them and decided to make mine in Illustrator. It started much the same way the real wiring job did, at the front working toward the rear. I'm still plugging away at the transmission and A/C wiring, plus I need to confirm a number of connections against the actual wiring in the vehicle, but it is pretty close to being done.



Of course, the Illustrator file is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8000 pixels wide which wouldn't fit here very well. Last night, while double checking a few items on the new diagram, it dawned on me that the Suburban might not be starting because the injectors weren't getting power with the key in the 'start' position. Checking the layout so far seemed to confirm my hypothesis. It looked like the injector circuit and the radio circuit were both pulling power from the same source. I know that in my DD the radio cuts out when I'm cranking the motor over, and it seemed that this same thing might have been happening on my Suburban, but killing power to the injectors instead.

Excitedly, this morning I started poking and prodding the fuse box with a test light while turning the key in the ignition and watching the bulb. It turns out that the both the radio wire and the fuel injectors were getting power while the key was in the 'start' position. I was a little dumbfounded for a while. Then I remembered that the ECM fuse was also in the same vicinity. Poke ECM fuse with timing light, turn key to 'on', bulb lights up, turn key to 'start' and bulb goes off. EUREKA!

After that all I had to do was pull power to the ECM from another fused source that would remain energized while the engine was cranking. Now my Suburban starts immediately with the key. None of this fiddling with starting fluid nonsense. While I've got the gauge cluster out (its easier to access my spaghetti monster this way) I've got a couple of other minor wiring related items to have a look at, but soon I'll be loggin some more miles.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Beelzeburb

Now my Suburban starts immediately with the key.

Sweeeeet!! Nice find!!

[VA72C10]

Good work! And awesome diagram! FAQ material when completed!!!

[rjsdad]

How much did those wheels set you back if you don't mind my asking? Need to get some 16's and really like those.

Jeff