Junkyard Jimmy Super Low Buck Build Thread

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

wow you are pretty good with jerry rigin!

Thanks, I think...

Originally Posted by VA72C10

nice work!

Thanks

Look! All done!

Not really, the only other thing I really got done yesterday was mounting the headers. The carb and valve covers sure makes it look more complete though.

[67chevy1series]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Thanks, I think...

Thanks

Look! All done!

Not really, the only other thing I really got done yesterday was mounting the headers. The carb and valve covers sure makes it look more complete though.

you thought correct! it was a compliment ,nice work on the engine! valve covers.....ooooohhhhhhh shiny!

[coloradosean2009]

Did you make a decision on the distributor? I would go with an HEI. The performance upgrade over points will be well worth it. You won't have to worry about setting dwell, float or wear for points; you will have a hotter spark giving you better burn and the cost increase is marginal.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by coloradosean2009

Did you make a decision on the distributor? I would go with an HEI. The performance upgrade over points will be well worth it. You won't have to worry about setting dwell, float or wear for points; you will have a hotter spark giving you better burn and the cost increase is marginal.

I never intended to keep it a points type distributor. They make adapter kits to convert them to electronic ignition, similar to HEI without the ginormous cap. But considering the price, it may be cost effective to just buy a small cap distributor with electronic ignition.

Like this one:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ACC-2010/

Or a dizzy like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

They have a matching coil for $20.

[Tynee]

Boy, wouldn't some billet valve covers look nice on there with that aluminum intake and that Edelbrock carb?

Edit:...or are those? They look chrome from here. Admittedly, I'm not very good at know the difference in photographs.

[hgs_notes]

Just cheap chrome ones, $20 from amazon.com.

[hgs_notes]

The story of a water pump.

Once upon a time, there was a nice shiny new 1972 GMC Jimmy K-5. It had a 350 V-8 engine, which was a good engine, but over the course of many years of wear, tear, use and abuse, it bit the big one and died. The owner, who dearly loved his Jimmy, replaced the engine with a nice big, somewhat used, 400 cubic inch sbc. Eventually, this engine also died. And because the years had been long and hard (hee hee, head in the gutter there), the Jimmy had seen better days. So the owner sent the Jimmy to an appropriate resting place, where maybe it's bits and pieces could be used to help other old Jimmys make their way through more years of use.

Some years later, a fool came along that was looking for parts for a Jimmy. A LOT of parts. He talked the nice (stoner) automotive rest home manager into selling hime the entire she-bang. The fool was thrilled, because he knew not what a mess he was getting into. He did manage to complete (sorta) his goal of having a running driving Jimmy for a meager amount of money. And he had a good time overall working on his Jimmy.

Another engine was installed, which had just enough life left in it to frustrate the fool. He came to learn his lesson and so built another fine engine, which he installed. He worked diligently to make the Jimmy into something better than it had been for many years. The engine was treated with nice new shiny stuff and upgrades using the newest head technology GM had for the first gen sbc.

By now, you are probably wondering what this story has to do with a water pump. Well finding a water pump is not that hard, and really isn't that expensive either. A nice shiny new water pump for a 1972 GMC Jimmy K-5 with a nice shiny new 350 cubic inch V-8 can be had for a paltry $15 at O'reilly's. Unfortunately, that pump will not work with the unknown style or vintage of alternator brackets. As it turns out, alternator brackets can be the limiting factor in many engine accessory set ups. The automotive resting homes routinely pull the engines and subsequently, the alternators and brackets as soon as a new resident is brought in. When they can be found, they can be quite expensive. So the best alternative is to have a set of brackets that work and have a water pump that allows them to be used.

Unfortunately, that pump had to be ordered and will have to wait until tomorrow.

I guess the story could have been titled, "About an alternator Bracket, Who did Not Play Well With a New Pump".

Next I can tell a story about an intake manifold vacuum hose adapter...but that's for another day.

To make a long story short, the water pump was bad, replacement not immediately available, which means waiting for the accessories to be mounted, which means no significant progress.

Thanks for reading.

[VA72C10]

sorry for the setback...but that was an entertaining read at least

[1956cameo]

Good job on fixing the oil dipstick dillema.

[Tynee]

So, what did you wind up having to go with, instead of the $15 O'reilly's special?

BTW, I have a 1YO, and a 3YO. I just printed this to read at bed time. I'm calling it, "Ode to a Water Pump and an Alternator Bracket."

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Tynee

So, what did you wind up having to go with, instead of the $15 O'reilly's special?

BTW, I have a 1YO, and a 3YO. I just printed this to read at bed time. I'm calling it, "Ode to a Water Pump and an Alternator Bracket."

Excellent! Even a 1YO would get bored with that story quickly I'm afraid.

They ordered a $20 special for me, cross referenced from the old pump I returned for a core. The O'reilly store is brand new and I had never been in it before. The manager was a young guy (early 20's), but very helpful and knew more than I had hoped.

[Tynee]

I like one of my local O'Reily's stores really well. They've got a guy who goes by the name of Mopar, seriously. It's what's embroidered on his shirt. If he's working, he know's more about auto parts than just about anybody I've ever worked with, and most of the young guys have been around a couple of years. It appears they pay more than the other local stores, because they get better help who want to stick around.

[hgs_notes]

It's been bugging me that the engine seems to be running fine, but that it's not driveable. Everytime I drop the tranny into gear, it stalls. I talked to a mechanic friend and also had a couple ideas myself. At first I thought it was timing, I double checked TDC and it was close enought. I put a new degree tape on though anyway. I set the intial timing at 10*, hooked the vacuum advance up and it jumped up as it should. I adjusted the idle mix screws, but it was running a little choppy yet. The vacuum off the carb nozzle was only about 10", which is severely low. I swapped it to the manifold vacuum connector and it was closer to 15-20, but still not good. Checked for vacuum leaks and couldn't find any.

I'm going to adjust the valves next. If I have even one intake valve out of adjustment, the vacuum will be bad. The cam install procedures say to adjust them with the engine shutdown, turning it over by hand, going cylinder to cylinder. I don't trust this style of adjustment, because it depends on the hydraulic lifters having a certain preload. I'll try it the old fashion way. Start it, pull a valve cover, loosen the nut til it clacks, tighten until it stops and give it another 1/4 turn. It always worked before.

In anycase, it was better today, but still not right, and not ready for the road. The front driver caliper is sticking. I would like to find where the tranny leak is at. And it drained the battery dry the last few days. Lots of little problems.

I got my new oil dipstick. Tubeless, which will be a problem checking the oil when it's hot, but how often do you really do that.


It tucks down in there quite a bit.


Got the front bumper on. I had to reweld a nut onto one of the little brackets. And I chased the threads to clean them out. It went together alright. I'll add the outer brackets later.


And I took this picture cause I liked the lighting. It was just the garage door opener light. But the camera flash came on and brightened it.


In closing, I think the valve adjustment will cure the low vacuum, and get it running better. Then I can do better carb tuning from there. This sure would be easier if it was warmer than single digits outside.

[swamp rat]

Do you have an automatic? I had a serious intake leak one time and the truck would fire up fine but every time i put it in gear it would run for crap and die on me at every stop.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Do you have an automatic? I had a serious intake leak one time and the truck would fire up fine but every time i put it in gear it would run for crap and die on me at every stop.

It is an automatic, but I've already checked for intake leaks and found nothing. I plan on checking again if the vacuum doesn't come up after a valve adjustment.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

It is an automatic, but I've already checked for intake leaks and found nothing. I plan on checking again if the vacuum doesn't come up after a valve adjustment.

I would go ahead and try to retorque the intake bolts and carb flange bolts to see if it they have loosened and to see if it makes it run better, if any change at all then i'd change out the gaskets, vac leak could be from in the valley where you cant spray anything.

[hgs_notes]

Just taking a little break. Progress is going well today, with just a small set back, waiting for parts again. Power steering pump this time and I'm thinking about just using the old part for now rather than spend another $55.

So far, oil pump is primed (here's a tip, make sure you hook up the pressure gage first), the water pump is on, distributor is in, power steering pump brackets cleaned up and painted, same with alternator brackets, radiator hoses replaced, vacuum lines all replaced, carb installed (though no fuel lines or throttle yet).

Time to get more done, wife is napping.

[67chevy1series]

great so you will be driving by uum ,TOMMOROW! lol

[VA72C10]

sounds like great progress....hope there are no other holdups for you...

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

great so you will be driving by uum ,TOMMOROW! lol

Originally Posted by VA72C10

sounds like great progress....hope there are no other holdups for you...

There's always something...

Pics from the day. First one shows, dizzy in, carb on, vac lines on, etc.


Brackets and such painted




Had a little trouble removing the power steering pump pully


I got the front brackets on, but I'm waiting for the power steering pump to come, the pullies paint to dry, and I need a sleeve for the alternator mounting bolt. See the long bolt holding the bottom of the alternator? If someone could tell me how long the sleeve is that goes between the alternator and head I would appreciate it.


What's left? Pullies, pump, fan, fuel line, tranny cooler lines, throttle, cap and wires, spark plugs, reconnect exhaust to headers, heater hose or bypass, fuel tank fill line, wiring, and other things I'll remember after it doesn't start up.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I got the front brackets on, but I'm waiting for the power steering pump to come, the pullies paint to dry, and I need a sleeve for the alternator mounting bolt. See the long bolt holding the bottom of the alternator? If someone could tell me how long the sleeve is that goes between the alternator and head I would appreciate it.

You have a short water pump in the other picture and normally that alternator mounts to the driver side with a bracket, did you order a long water pump?. If your going to mount the alternator with just a bolt and spacer be sure its a grade 8 bolt, regardless i don't know if its going to be able to take the abuse without bending/breaking, i don't know if GM did it without a bracket of some kind like they did on the driver side?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

You have a short water pump in the other picture and normally that alternator mounts to the driver side with a bracket, did you order a long water pump?. If your going to mount the alternator with just a bolt and spacer be sure its a grade 8 bolt, regardless i don't know if its going to be able to take the abuse without bending/breaking, i don't know if GM did it without a bracket of some kind like they did on the driver side?

I wasn't leaving it like that. I made a spacer to support it properly from some aluminum tube for now. Yes it was originally on the driver side, but thos brackets are long gone, see short story above.

The next bit of trouble came from trying to get the correct length belts, since I really don't know what combination of pulleys and brackets they match up with. One alt/fan belt was a bit short, the next a bit too long (but will work) and the store closed for the night, and tomorrow too. I'll have to see what's open tomorrow to find the in-betweener. I did get a good power steering belt on the 2nd try.

For all intents and purposes, the front accessories are done, the fuel line is done, cooling system done and mostly filled, tranny cooler lines connected, exhaust re-assembled. Probably a few more things done, but that's it for tonight.

The biggest mistake so far today? Forgot that the spark plugs I have are for old school heads and not the vortecs, which is the primary reason I'm done for today. I hope there's a parts store open tomorrow.

Pics:

[67chevy1series]

nice job !!!!!!!!!!! the power steering pullie didnt want to come on

[VA72C10]

looks like good progress....guess the pulley was a LITTLE siezed on there....

make sure to add bolting down the valve covers to the list

[Tynee]

Needed something out of the truck anyway, so I took a tape with me, I measure ROUGHLY 3-3/8" on that sleeve. YMMV!!!! If it's like everything else on the front end of my engine, it could be anywhere from 3" to 3-1/2"