Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

Originally Posted by CG

I love the fold flat back seats you did. I had always wondered when they folded flat with the seat bottoms folded up could you still put 4x8 sheets in there and close it up.

You definitely answered that question =)

Thanks. I need the other parts of my life to settle down so I can get time to finish them up.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by CG

I love the fold flat back seats you did. I had always wondered when they folded flat with the seat bottoms folded up could you still put 4x8 sheets in there and close it up.

You definitely answered that question =)

I will give credit to AverageJoe for definitively answering that question with his photo.

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by HO455

I will give credit to AverageJoe for definitively answering that question with his photo.

Any new milage data? Still playing with the tune on the qjet?

[HO455]

No new data at this time. I am looking to change distributors before doing any further tuning. It has been tough to find time lately for the truck and at this point my focus is on upgrading the defroster. Up to this fall I never had a problem with the windows fogging up. Now they seem to start fogging up the minute I close the door. My guess is the old wood floor allowed so much air flow it was like a fan blowing in back. Now that things are sealed up I need a new way to move air.

[HO455]

Some follow up on the door panel wetness issue. I thought all was good but the 4th door panel started showing water after some particularly heavy rains as of late. So off it came and after examining the seal it was clear it was pretty deformed (see photo). So I cleaned it up and used some shower sealant to build the old seal back up so it will make full contact with the door panel. Once again I waiting for rain to prove my theory. Good thing that this time of year it won't be a long wait.

I got time today to get my test defroster finished up and installed. (Photo #2) I'm using a 12 vdc computer fan. The air is drawn in the front rectangular hole and blows out of the rectangular opening in the back and out of the hole in the side. (Last photo) The idea being it should defog the back window and the driver's side window. During the quick test after I got it installed I could feel it blowing on the back of my neck while sitting in the driver's seat. I believe that's a good sign. I used some double side tape and some more shower sealant to glue in position. (Thus the ceiling jack in the picture) I didn't want to go drilling holes if it doesn't work as well as I want it to. The plan would be to have 2 units like this one with one on each side.
I just can't wait for the rain to start!

Posted to some vintage Steve Earle.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...nv1XtYt4dvy3H_

[HO455]

Here is a link to a good overview of a Gear Vendors unit.

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/eng...evrolet-camaro

[HO455]

And on that note I took the nylon block I scored at the Rebuilding Center (I love that place.) and cut it to size and then flycut two pieces to the proper thicknesses (One .800 & one .700) to replace the spacers I had to put under the 2nd row seat bottoms to make up for the curvature of the floor. The two bolt set up and the spacers had a tendency to wobble. Next step is to get some material for doublers underneath the floorboard.

[HO455]

Two steps forward one step back. Spent the morning searching for the leak in the air supply to my air control valve. I used about a quart of leak check with no results (Well I did find a small leak on one of the rear bag lines. Went in at lunch to see the old lady off to work and she said "why don't you use my stethoscope and listen for the leak?". So I did and it was slow going as I had to take them off every time I shifted position to keep from blowing an ear drum, but they were the ticket to success as I found a pretty good leak on the desiccant cartridge. I'll see in the morning if the tank is empty again.
And as so often happens one thing leads to another. Since I decided to remove the front seat to get to the leaking cartridge i decided it would be a good time to swap in the drivers side of the new set seats I got from a 2015 GMC. I wanted to try out the driver's side first just to be sure it wasn't going to cause my back to act up. (The seats in the old ladies Lexus start to bother me after about 20 minutes and the longer I ride in it the worse it gets). The old bench seat in the WMB doesn't bother my back at all but I certainly would like to have a taller seat with a head rest.
Anyway after mocking the seats in position it was apparent that they were slightly wider than the original seat but I'm pretty sure I could modify the inboard mounts to get things to narrow up about 1/2" and then the driver's seat would pretty well centered on the wheel and the passenger seat would not crowd the seat belt retractor too much. All was looking good until I thought to lay the rear seat down and see how much clearance I would have. Well it turns out that I don't have any clearance to fold the seat bottoms up and then flip the backs down. (See last photo) Even after trying several different placements the fact is I won't fit behind the steering wheel if the rear seat is down. There is too much material on the back of the seats compared to the factory seat. So the seat swap is a no go.

[pwdcougar]

Damn I love reading all the cool stuff you do to your burb. I spend my time putting on filler and sanding it all off!

Keep up the good work!

Paul

[CG]

Originally Posted by pwdcougar

Damn I love reading all the cool stuff you do to your burb. I spend my time putting on filler and sanding it all off!

Keep up the good work! Paul

I totally agree with this. I have re-read his thread from start to wherever he has left off many times.

[HO455]

Aww shucks guys. Thanks!
I guess I should go get busy now the weather has turned better.

[pwdcougar]

Great detective work there!

[Average Joe]

Great info!
Thanks again for sharing.

Thats too bad the late model front seats didnt work out. I have no doubt that you will find, build, or modify something that does though!

[HO455]

Thank you gentlemen.
The hunt is on for one of the seats I posted earlier (#625). Well, by hunt I mean looking at craigslist. The old lady doesn't want me traipsing around the country yet.

[Mike_The_Grad]

If you find that you have drilled to large an orifice in the choke pull off you can solder or braze it closed and try again. In fact it may be easier/faster to just drill it out completely then soldering it or brazing it closed as it's easier material to drill out than the metal housing material is.
I had the original factory quadrajet on my 72 c10 for years. I researched so much info about quadrajets it's crazy. I got really comfortable with taking it apart and cleaning it and rebuilding it. At first it was a nightmare because I had no idea how they worked or what was even inside. Anyways, long story short is I had to replace it. I learned that the main body casting of the carb had tiny hair line cracks in the venturi booster walls where the vacuum chambers are for the manifold vacuum signal port on the passenger side of the carb.(directly behind the choke pull off canister.) My truck ran great for about the first hour of driving. Then it would have a weird kind of hunting idle speed and it was leaking fuel into the vacuum chambers that it eventually leaked fuel into my distributor vacuum advance canister and rotted the diaphragm giving me both a vacuum leak and a malfunctioning vacuum advance. Oh man, it took me literally months to figure that whole mess out. It's to bad because I really liked my quadrajet. I actually miss it.
Another thing to check is the power piston spring tension. There is a way to measure the spring rate based on inches of vacuum. It's similar to the step up springs in an edelbrock. You want a stiffer spring so that the metering rods lift up out of the jets sooner(higher vacuum signal) vs. Later(lower vacuum signal). of course you need to match your timing curve in the distributor to the fuel demand of the engine and the flow of your carb. Fun stuff once you get it all dialed in. oh, one other thing I found out with my quadrajet is that they dont really like having any other fuel filters inline. Only the small paper one inside the carb body. They are finicky carbs and they know what they want and what they need. As long as your tank/pickup/fuel lines are clean. You shouldn't really have a problem just running the small filter inside the body. I didnt have any problems with mine. But it didnt like a filter between the pump and carb inlet. That's for sure.
You want 7/8 of a turn of preload on your secondary butterfly spring tensioner. That's as soon as the spring arm contacts the carb body 7/8 turn more and lock it in with the set screw.

[HO455]

I know the feeling when you get a good carburetor you hate to lose it. Good job on figuring out the problem with your Qjet. It is unfortunate that it was one of those un-repairable problems.
Its interesting that you have found Qjets to be finicky where I have the opposite opinion of them. They are usually pretty easygoing compared to lots of other carburetors I've come across. Unless you try to bolt one off of a 230CI on a 454CI engine. Then you got your work cut out for you trying to getting it to idle
We have had some folks at work get sick (NON COVID) this week so I've had to work straight through since my last post until today and I've had a bunch of catch up to do just to keep the home front happy. But will I have some more Qjet information to post when I get some more time to tune the WMB.

[Mike_The_Grad]

The issues with my carb are the reason why I had a hard time getting it to hold a tune. My truck has been driven all over the u.s. for a number of years because it was a tow rig for a 5th wheel. The original owner bought it as a retirement gift to himself back in 72. Him and his wife drove all over the place. So by the time I got hold of it. The carb was on its last leg. Dont have a bad thing to say about the quadrajet. Other than it having a bad rep with people that dont understand them. Lol.

[HO455]

Some more Qjet information. In the previous carburetor posting I said that I loosened the air flapper to the minimum tension. I knew this to be too loose for the motor in the WMB but I like to test and then make a change. So out to the freeway i went. Once things were warmed up I slow to about 45 mph and then punch the throttle. If the flapper is too loose it will bog. I then repeat the test several times to get a good idea of what is happening. Then pull off the highway and tighten up the tension on the flapper 1/4 turn and go for another test. I repeat this until I no hesitation. I will have to loosen the tension spring when I go to far. Which is always the case.

MiketheGrad said that 7/8th of a turn was where he set his. I don't know if that is where mine end up as I've never gone back and checked the setting that way.

Next for me is tuning the choke pulloff bleed off rate. Earlier I had drilled the orifice on the pull off and warned about drilling it too far and making it too fast and ended up with the dreaded Quadrabog! I did end up with an over sized bleed off orifice once I was finished.

Once again MiketheGrad told how he solves that problem. By soldering the orifice and then redrilling the hole. At one point years ago I had a plastic pulloff which is very difficult to solder and I had no luck using epoxy to get a long term repair. For whatever reason JB Weld never seemed to stay stuck inside the the pulloff. I ended up stumbling on some brass aquarium air valves and then light went off in my head. I installed one of them in the vacuum line and now I had an adjustable pull off. Which was very handy back when I was bracket racing. One setting for the street and another setting for at the track with the slicks on. These days brass aquarium valves are impossible to find so a friend made me one. See photo #1. Photo #2 shows how I install the valve.

When tuning the pulloff I open it too far and close it in 1/4 turn increments. And again I will start with a bog and reduce it until it is gone. I test for this differently than the flapper, but once starting again with the engine warmed up. I punch the throttle from a dead stop and tune the bog out. Now with the WMB and the current engine excessive wheel spin isn't an issue. But if it were I could slow the opening of the secondary flapper with the valve making it easier to hook up off the line.

Now these adjustments do require the engine to have a good basic tune before starting. Changes in timing can cause these adjustments to need some tmore weaking. The more you do the more you learn and the easier it gets.


On a separate project I forgot to post a photo of the nylon spacers I made for the rear seat mounts. (Back on post # 617)

[crakarjax]

I love nylon for spacers -- no squeaks, no rust, easy on paint, and durable. I used HDPE to level out my bed!

[Mike_The_Grad]

Never seen one of those valves, that's pretty cool.
Another way to solve the over drilling on the plastic type of choke pull off is to get some delrin round stock or similar type material and cut it to fit inside a piece of vacuum tubing, then using a pin vise or jewelers drill set, drill the orifice you want in the round stock and insert it in the tubing that feeds the choke pull off. Cool thing about this is that you can have different pieces for different setups like at the track or the street.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Mike_The_Grad

Never seen one of those valves, that's pretty cool.

Thank you sir. You used to be able to walk into a pet store and buy an nice little brass valve for a couple of bucks and be good to go. But now there all plastic and they aren't very happy under the hood.

Been busy working on the WMB. I though I would post a teaser photo. I will post more after I get the metal sliver out of the end of my finger.

[HO455]

That's the TH400 out of the WMB. Looking at the ID tag on it reveals a bit of a mystery. It shows a a 1968 truck transmission. (Photo #1) . I would have not been surprised if it was no longer the original transmission after all these years.
The mileage on the truck indicated 95k which seemed correct. Although the rear gears had been swapped from 3.73's to 3.07 s but, the speedometer was not recalibrated so the speedometer said 45 when you were doing 55. So it the mileage would have been low but the rear end had been replaced relatively recently so my guess is that the error would be less than 10k miles.
The mystery part is did it have to get a replacement transmission under warranty in 1968? Or did the transmission get swapped and for no real reason a 1968 get put in?
As far as the actual work being done it has been straight forward. I pulled the passenger side header for clearance and the old one was on the ground in about 2 hours.
Then it was time to remove the crossmember bolts and see if I could slide it back far enough to get the new TH350C and Gear Vendors overdrive up in place and then slide the crossmember forward into place. I might have made it happen but those hard lines I ran up through the floor for the air bags got in the way.
Okay now the plan was unbolt the GV from the TH350C and install the transmission first. This went well and I had the transmission bolted to the engine and held up with a stand. Now the fun began. I had to really fight to try and get the crossmember forward enough to put the bolts in the frame. Once I realized that the truck being on the lift was the problem, I dropped the truck back on the ground. Then with the bags fully aired up I crawled underneath and the crossmember slide right into place. Once the bolts were torqued I put the truck back up in the air. Lifting the truck from the under the frame on a 2 post lift was causing the frame rails to twist and prevent me from getting the top holes on the crossmember to line up. Once the pressure was gone the twist disappeared and everything lined up.
Then I tried to bolt the transmission mount on the transmission and once again found damaged threads. Uhggg! Not again! The first 1/2" or so of the threads in the driver's side hole looked as if someone had tried to Helicoil them and failed. I was able to get most of what I thought was the Helicoil out. Fortunately the holes in the case are about 1 1/2" deep so there is still a lot good threads but I had to do some serious searching through the bolt box to find the right length bolt so I would feel confident it would stay put. The passenger side hole wasn't as bad but none the less I was careful with my bolt selection. Once I am happy with everything the last thing I plan on doing is putting some blue Locktite on the 2 bolts and carefully torquing them down.
Once that was figured out the GV slid right into place like it belonged there. (Photo #2 & 3)
I knew that my exhaust pipes may not still work and boy was I right. Photo shows with the crossmember in position how far the pipes are off from lining up. More work for tomorrow that's for sure.

[HO455]

Before I reinstalled the passenger side header I noticed that the insulation on the starter's jumper from the solenoid to the starter motor was cracked and falling off. (Photo #1 black wire next to red line.) So I took some time to put some heat shrink tubing over it. Not very good quality wire as the starter only got installed last July .
After the header was back in place I then threw myself into getting the exhaust connected back together. Basically I had to shorten the collector's about 5/8" and the corresponding tube about 1 1/2'. Unfortunately that only got me close. I had to put a pretty fair sized dent in each tube to get it to clear the crossmember. (Photo # 2) The tube is pulled back from the crossmember to show the dent. When in place it gives about 1/4" of clearance between the tube and crossmember. I hope it will be enough when the exhaust is hot. Of course the other end had to be extended. So I used a coupling that I welded on one end and clamped on the other end. (Photo # 3 & 4 blue arrows show where clamps goes)The idea being that if the dented areas end up hitting the crossmember and vibrating I will be able to unbolt things instead of cutting it apart with a Sawsall.
As part of the making the tube clear the crossmember I also moved the where the O2 sensors are installed in the exhaust. I had originally installed the bungs in the exhaust pipes months before I had received the Innovate guage set. During the installation of the Air/Fuel guage I had to read the directions and that is when I learned I had put the bungs in the wrong location. They needed to be in the top of the pipe to prevent water damage and mine were in the lower part of the tubes. Sure enough the lower of the 2 failed after several months.

[Average Joe]

Quality work!

That OD is gonna be awesome. I just installed a poor mans OD in mine last week. 31/10.50's lol

[FLYNAVY30]

Looks good. Those O2 sensors definitely need to be installed at least 10 degrees above level so that any moisture or condensation runs off the sensor.