Barn raising

[Low Elco]

Hurray! Always a good feeling. Congrats!
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[brn agn]

That's good stuff. Congrats on the milestone.

[crakarjax]

I'll never forget the first time I fired up my BB 402 in my chevelle after doing a top-end rebuild in my parent's garage when I was 17... I had just put headers on and had no exhaust pipes. That thing sounded mean! It's a great feeling to see it run after so much work.

[hgs_notes]

"It's Alive!!!" - YouTube

[truckmanloco]

Congrats on the fire up buddy now... a burnout video

[FrankieD]

The heart is always in the throat when it first fires up "congrats"

[Mike Bradbury]

Well my heart was not in my throat until this morning, I had a bit of trouble today, sadly I am not sure of the condition of my newly rebuilt 700r4. I had it rebuilt in 09 and it sat in my garage for three years while I waited for an opportunity to upgrade the transmission from the fairly reliable TH400. After I got all the fluid levels toped off I shifted the tranny into reverse to back out of my drive to take it for a lap around the block. No reverse at all, I have forward drive gears but no reverse. Bummer, I am towing it to a tranny shop on Tuesday for them to diagnose. Hopefully it is just a stuck valve but I fear that it will have more serious issues than that. I do not think I can or want to take it back to the shop that did the first rebuild because I am starting to not trust their workmanship.

[Mike Bradbury]

Hey!
I just noticed my build got a five star rating! cool thanks guys, just learning as I go.

[crakarjax]

Originally Posted by Mike Bradbury

Well my heart was not in my throat until this morning, I had a bit of trouble today, sadly I am not sure of the condition of my newly rebuilt 700r4. I had it rebuilt in 09 and it sat in my garage for three years while I waited for an opportunity to upgrade the transmission from the fairly reliable TH400. After I got all the fluid levels toped off I shifted the tranny into reverse to back out of my drive to take it for a lap around the block. No reverse at all, I have forward drive gears but no reverse. Bummer, I am towing it to a tranny shop on Tuesday for them to diagnose. Hopefully it is just a stuck valve but I fear that it will have more serious issues than that. I do not think I can or want to take it back to the shop that did the first rebuild because I am starting to not trust their workmanship.

Sounds like a pin not engaging the reverse band... hopefully an easy fix. Good luck!

[Mike Bradbury]

Ok here is a little video of my engine running (sorry it is a phone video, my wife took the video camera to palm springs for the weekend), and how the new cam sounds. Other than the annoying rattle of the stupid air cleaner half way through that sounds like a frog, I think it sounds tons better than it did a year ago.

One thing I did point out in the video for you guys smarter than me regarding engines, when I start it I get a normal oil pressure level at idle, then when I throttle up it spikes. This is a new oil pump not the old one. I did install a larger diameter braided line in the engine compartment but then it reduces to the original size when it goes through the firewall. Could that larger size be the culprit? Or could it be that there is air in the line causing the bubble to give a false read. Not sure if I should be concerned about this or not.

[hgs_notes]

Sounds good. Looks like the gauge is working normal, the line size or even air bubbles should not change the reading, it is a closed system and all parts of it will feel the same pressure. The difference may be that the output pressure of the new pump is much higher and you have a standard oil pressure gauge. There are OEM oil pressure gauges that are rated for higher pressure. I think standard is a 0-60 psi and the other is 0-80 psi. It says on the gauge if you take it out of the bezel. Most high flow or high press oil pumps will go to 80 or more, especially on a cold engine.

[Mike Bradbury]

Yeah when I put the tach in I think it was a 60 psi gauge if I remember. Maybe I will pick up a numerical gauge and see what it is pumping
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[54Caddy]

Hope its something small on your transmission man. Engine looks good. Going too see you at brothers this year for sure??

[Mike Bradbury]

Oh yeah I'm still going, but I too hope it is something small, I have spent enough on this truck already

[Mike Bradbury]

Ok,
well the damage on the stupid tranny cost me $700! trying to save money and go with a local guy to rebuild it, ended up costing me a ton of money. Turns out there was some sort of shim or bushing that was too big and was preventing the reverse from engaging. Had to yank it out and re build it again. This time a guy I trusted and came highly recommended. In the end it all worked out and it is working fine now. I took it to the local street show tonight for its maiden voyage.

On the freeway I am turning around 2000 rpm at 70 mph. I am curious to see what my gas mileage will be.

Now for you Mustang rack and pinion converts; Did you notice a loss of turning radius? I thought I was going to be ahead of the game by being able to turn faster since the Mustang rack had One less turn lock to lock. The Chevy box was 3.5 lock to lock and the stang is 2.5

Turns out it is the same ratio just one half less turn in either direction. I think that the turning arms on the spindles is shorter on the mustang so it pick up the 1/2 turn in the shorter arm. I am bummed about that to the point I might just yank the entire system out and go back to stock if this is as good as it is going to get.

[hgs_notes]

Mixed message there. Congrats on getting it back on the road. Sorry to hear the disatisfaction with the steering. I guess you could swap out the front suspension for the mustang style or maybe you can replace the rack with one that has the longer throw, like what no limits sells. Might bolt right in with the mods you made to fit this one. He might be using a variant of the chevy truck rack.

[54Caddy]

Glad too hear the beast is on the road.

[Tinkermc]

Well I just read the entire thresd, you are an awesome fabricator the work is supper. I would like to hank Josh for stepping in as the pool was turning an ugly shade of yellow. there is more todo and I will gladly watch. I do agree with other members that some of this stuff you should either make or have made to sell, I think the monetary rewards would be high and that is my 2 cents worth

[Mike Bradbury]

Thanks Tink for the kind words, I do love to fabricate but the rest of the story is my better half I think if I spend any more time on truck stuff rather than with her there is going to be mutiny.

This truck started out as a fun project that I could play around on an occasional weekend. Ha it has turned into an up at all hours fourth job. I already have three jobs that take most of my time, now that I am done with Phase II for the most part I will be making a concerted effort to focus on my "tryingtobepatient" wife. As I have said, This truck is my therapy, if I had to do it for a job it would not be very therapeutic. The better reward for me is to see you guys like an idea and copy it, I am a teacher afterall.

[Mike Bradbury]

Onto the Oil pressure issue. I have a numerical gage that I hooked up and the PSI at idle is 65-70 when I rev it is goes to 80. Now I did not leave the gage on until it warmed up I just checked it and then I had to disconnect it because I had to leave for work, and it was just and under the hood type install. I am not sure if I should be concerned about it but for now it seems to not be hurting anything.

[hgs_notes]

Might consider using thinner oil. I've got a melling high volume pump on mine and it has real high pressure also. Been using it for over 20 years, no issues with that part of my truck.

[Mike Bradbury]

Yeah the break in oil I am using is straight 30 weight oil, and once I drain that I will switch to 5w 30 to run in it from then on.

[Tinkermc]

sounds like a good plan on switching oil

[Mike Bradbury]

Apparently there is an adjustment screw on the oil pick up that regulates oil pressure. Do any of you guys know how many turns to bring it down 20psi? I have a small annoying leak in my pan gasket and I need to replace it anyway so I figured since the pan was going to be off it would be a perfect time to adjust the PSI.

[mcbassin]

Congrats on the new Motor, cool video! too bad about the tranny and steering. Keep up the hard work it is really paying off now.