Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

Originally Posted by 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.

Thanks! Its a $80 lesson learned!


I got the driveshaft shortened by about 20 inches and installed. I checked the U-joint angles afterward and to my surprise I didn't have to change any of the shims and the angles got better than before. With a .5 degree on the front, 1 degree in the middle, and .5 degree at the rear. I could believe it so I went through the whole process twice.
Then the E-brake strap needed to go as it no longer had anything to bolt to. (4th photo)

In the last photo the GV switch panel. Double sided tape is holding in place for now as I'm not satisfied with how it looks.

[HO455]

I forgot to mention that I had to slot the transmission mount holes in the crossmember towards the rear of the truck about 3/16" to get things to line up. (Photo #1)

I mounted the GV controller to the bottom of the glove box. (Photo #2) I wish it had been smaller. After all the years GV has been offered this controller around I'm sure that this box could be significantly smaller with modern electronics.

The hook up of the wiring is really simple. One RCA jack for 12v positive, one for 12v negative then one phone jack each for the speed generator, for the solenoid on the gear box, for the dash switch panel, and for the manual control switch (foot switch).

After reading the manual several times I'm not sold on the whole foot switch operation. I know if this was being installed in a car with a floor shifter I would mount a switch on the shifter. Their description of how to shift makes it sound awkward at best. So I decided not to do a permanent mount of the foot switch, no sense in drilling extra holes in the firewall for nothing if I change my mind about the foot switch. So on to alternative mountings.

First I mounted the foot switch to an electrical box cover. Then I stuck Velcro to the back of the cover. I marked where I thought I might like the switch to be on the firewall. When I stuck the other half of the Velcro I offset the 2 pieces so I can have the ability to move the switch if I need to. It has passed the initial test drive so the Velcro is a go for now.

That pretty much wraps up the GV installation. Now on to the Th350C part.

[HO455]

First thing done on the TH350C was to put a drain plug in the pan. (Photo 1) There should be a special place in hell for the bean counter who decided that it wasn't necessary.

The TH350 I installed is an early 80's version which has a lockup converter like a 2004r or a 700r4 would. There was no computer control of the earliest versions so it is a simple control circuit to operate the lockup. The transmission will automatically lockup the converter in 3rd gear once pressure rises high enough. Usually around 45 MPH. There is also solenoid inside the transmission that has to be energized to allow the lock up to occur.
The lock up needs to be released when braking and when accelerating. To get braking cut out I replaced the factory brake switch with a brake switch for a 72 C10 with cruise control. Amazingly this switch is still readily available at NAPA. (Photo #2)

The acceleration cutout comes from a vacuum switch that opens a set of contacts at about 6 inches of vacuum. So the contacts are closed when at cruise when manifold vaccum is high. Then when the throttle is punched vacuum drops and the lock up is released. I found that the original GM switch has been discontinued for quite some years and there are 2 aftermarket options available. TCI makes one and since I needed to order a new O2 sensor and Summit had both of them I got the TCI version.

It was much smaller than I imagined from the photos. It also doesn't look to be robust enough to live under the hood without some protection. This necessitated finding some sort of box to put it in. (Photo #3) I robbed the box off a set of under counter lights I was planning on putting in the kitchen but didn't. There were a couple of holes to plug with snap in plugs with some 5 minute epoxy to seal the gaps and keep them in place. 5 minutes with a Dremel and I had modified the original power jack so the vacuum hose and wires would pass through.
To mount the switch I used double sided tape. I noticed that there is a small hole in the back (Photo #4) that if I were to cover with the tape might prevent the switch from working properly, so I used 2 pieces of tape to leave a gap for air around the hole. If you look close at the front of the switch you can see a small Allen head that gives some adjustability of the set point of the switch.

I should have painted the box before I mounted it. Dhoo! The PO''s rattle can paint job of the firewall expired over the winter. So things are really looking sorry under the hood.

The box got bolted to a metal plate that got bolted down using 2 of the brake booster bolts.

For power I used the 12v positive lead that originally was used to power the TH400 kick down. It was ran to the brake switch then out through firewall and down to the transmission. There is a 4 prong plug on the transmission but only 2 of the pins are used in this application. The forward driver's side pin is the 12 positive from the brake switch. The back driver's side pin is hooked to a good ground. Before going to ground I ran the wire through the vacuum switch. I ran a vacuum line from behind the carburetor teeing into the line that goes to the modulator on the transmission.

[HO455]

Went out Overdriving today! There were a few hiccups. I've never had a vehicle with a TH350 before and I wasn't aware of the whole kick down cable adjustment thing. I had to remove the bracket on the manifold and pull the cable as far out on the passenger side of the engine compartment to get a good look at the cable before I figured out that you have to lift the tab, then floor the accelerator, then push the tab back down to get it to set to the right length. Kind of like a 700r4 TV cable. Needless to say before I did all that my first test drive was quite short and never got out of 1st gear.

I also had to readjust the new brake light switch. I set it to the same distance the old one was at, but in that position only the brake light contacts had continuity the 2nd set for the lock up were still open. It took 20 minutes with a voltmeter to fix that little detail. And the last item to correct was that I had overfilled the transmission by 3/4 of a quart. Fortunately I had my MityVac and it was easy enough to remove the extra fluid.

Once on the road the GV shifts into overdrive at just above 40 mph. It shifts into overdrive quite firmly although it may feel harder as it appears that the converter is locking up before the GV shifts up. There is a hook up on the GV controller that will unlock the converter momentarily as the GV shifts. I may look into using that function since it's there and would only require me to add 5 or so feet to the existing ground wire on the lock up circuit

I need to rig a way to hook up my hand held tachometer to be able to get some accurate RPMs to post. The factory tachometer in the dash reads approximately 7-900 RPMs high. So for now with about 20 miles of testing the RPM at 55 mph is about 2000. The old TH400 was turning about 2700 at 55 mph. The lock up drops the RPM at 45 mph about 200 RPM.
I didn't do much messing around with the manual shifting. I just left it in auto and paid attention to all the noises with my fingers crossed I didn't hear a bad one.

It will take some time to adjust as I noticed myself driving faster. The truck is definitely quieter with the lower RPMs and I apparently keep my speed by listening to the truck.

More to follow.

[crakarjax]

It seems to me that the carrier bearing may be too stiff, causing the failure. If the broken tailshaft naturally wants to spin at an angle and is forced to remain parallel to the bearing mount surface, it would be continuously under stress. The only way to avoid this would be to have the carrier bearing at the same height as the transmission output.

[HO455]

Thanks for the information. The shaft is at the shop now and they said I could talk to the foreman when I pick it up to determine the cause.

[HO455]

The repair of the driveshaft has turned sour on me. I took it back to Potter Webster's Driveline Express. The same place that built it originally and then shortened it. They absolutely denied any responsibility for the failure. They said the only thing that would have caused this kind of failure would be excessive torque and abuse from the engine. Which never happened as my generic 350 doesn't have that kind of power. They dismissed anything I said.
So I had them go ahead and repair the shaft. They called me the next day to pick it up. They said it was $280.00. Ouch I thought, but maybe they had to replace the carrier bearing.
It's on the counter when I walk in and the first thing I see is that it has one of the $35 factory style carrier bearings on it now. I said your kidding right? Why would I go back to that style bearing? He says they use them on lots of vehicles without problems. I said "Remember yesterday when you would not warranty the driveshaft with less than 200 miles on it, as I must have too much horsepower, and now your saying I should use this because it has worked for other people? Why didn't you call and ask if I would be ok with the substitution I told him that I wasn't going to accept the driveline with that carrier bearing. So they said they would get another billet one, but it would be 3 or 4 days.
Uggghh....
So Friday rolls around and they call and say it is ready. As I walk in the guy is carring it out to the counter. By this time they recognize my truck. He says it will be $580. Jaw drops. Uhhh... I told him no how no way, so he goes into the back and talks to someone and 5 minutes later he takes me back to talk to the sales manager. After a couple of minutes of he said, I said, I pointed out that they want to charge me more to build half the drive line now than than they did to build a complete new one 3 years ago. Then it was the old song about how much prices have gone up. (They were charging me $171.xx for the new billet carrier bearing plus shipping. Obviously they haven't heard of Jegs.) But they could give me a $50 break. I thought about it for a moment and said "No I won't pay that. Give me my parts back and I will go elsewhere. Time for his jaw to drop.
So I stood around 30 minutes while 3 of them disassembled it and hunt up the old pieces. Then I asked the manager if he understood why I was this angry? He said "Uhhh you don't like the price." No I told him was pissed because I didn't like the refusal of any kind of responsiblity for the failure, and it was obvious that they had jacked the price the second time to make up for their screw up the first time with the wrong carrier bearing.
So maybe Monday I can find somewhere else to build a shaft.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by HO455

The repair of the driveshaft has turned sour on me. I took it back to Potter Webster's Driveline Express. The same place that built it originally and then shortened it. They absolutely denied any responsibility for the failure. They said the only thing that would have caused this kind of failure would be excessive torque and abuse from the engine. Which never happened as my generic 350 doesn't have that kind of power. They dismissed anything I said.
So I had them go ahead and repair the shaft. They called me the next day to pick it up. They said it was $280.00. Ouch I thought, but maybe they had to replace the carrier bearing.
It's on the counter when I walk in and the first thing I see is that it has one of the $35 factory style carrier bearings on it now. I said your kidding right? Why would I go back to that style bearing? He says they use them on lots of vehicles without problems. I said "Remember yesterday when you would not warranty the driveshaft with less than 200 miles on it, as I must have too much horsepower, and now your saying I should use this because it has worked for other people? Why didn't you call and ask if I would be ok with the substitution I told him that I wasn't going to accept the driveline with that carrier bearing. So they said they would get another billet one, but it would be 3 or 4 days.
Uggghh....
So Friday rolls around and they call and say it is ready. As I walk in the guy is carring it out to the counter. By this time they recognize my truck. He says it will be $580. Jaw drops. Uhhh... I told him no how no way, so he goes into the back and talks to someone and 5 minutes later he takes me back to talk to the sales manager. After a couple of minutes of he said, I said, I pointed out that they want to charge me more to build half the drive line now than than they did to build a complete new one 3 years ago. Then it was the old song about how much prices have gone up. (They were charging me $171.xx for the new billet carrier bearing plus shipping. Obviously they haven't heard of Jegs.) But they could give me a $50 break. I thought about it for a moment and said "No I won't pay that. Give me my parts back and I will go elsewhere. Time for his jaw to drop.
So I stood around 30 minutes while 3 of them disassembled it and hunt up the old pieces. Then I asked the manager if he understood why I was this angry? He said "Uhhh you don't like the price." No I told him was pissed because I didn't like the refusal of any kind of responsiblity for the failure, and it was obvious that they had jacked the price the second time to make up for their screw up the first time with the wrong carrier bearing.
So maybe Monday I can find somewhere else to build a shaft.

Wow!. I wouldn't have accepted that either. That is insane. You would have thought they would have at least give you a break on it.

LockDoc

[Ol Blue K20]

Wow!!! That shop sounds like they're crazy.

[HO455]

Thanks guys it's good to know I'm not the crazy one for once.

[HO455]

I did some seat spring repairs yesterday. The drivers side bolster spring was only half there. I got some what I call S spring and reconfigured it to sort of match the spring on the passenger side. I had to make new attachment bands as one I tried to remove flew off to never, never be found land. And the other one had gone there long ago. I cut up a Simpson Tie nail on reinforcement plate to make the connection bands.
Rebending the spring wasn't too tough. One needs to be careful though as it is a spring and it will throw the tool your using to bend it across the room. Don't ask!
I used a small vice and probably spent as much time looking for a better tool to bend the spring for each different bend than actually bending the spring.
The first photo is what was left of the broken spring. The 2nd photo is the intact passenger side. The 3rd photo is the S spring I used as a base material. And finally the finished repair.
Hopefully it will pass the test of time.

[Beach-Burban]

Originally Posted by HO455

I did some seat spring repairs yesterday. The drivers side bolster spring was only half there. I got some what I call S spring and reconfigured it to sort of match the spring on the passenger side. I had to make new attachment bands as one I tried to remove flew off to never, never be found land. And the other one had gone there long ago. I cut up a Simpson Tie nail on reinforcement plate to make the connection bands.
Rebending the spring wasn't too tough. One needs to be careful though as it is a spring and it will throw the tool your using to bend it across the room. Don't ask!
I used a small vice and probably spent as much time looking for a better tool to bend the spring for each different bend than actually bending the spring.
The first photo is what was left of the broken spring. The 2nd photo is the intact passenger side. The 3rd photo is the S spring I used as a base material. And finally the finished repair.
Hopefully it will pass the test of time.

Nice job HO455...I had so many broken springs on my front bench that I only thought about fixing it myself for about a half second, then realized that the upholsterer would have everything needed to pull it off. Seeing everything else you have done yourself, I'm not surprised you took on the challenge! Have a happy 4th!


Woody

[HO455]

Thank you sir. You have a good Independence Day yourself and be careful out there.

[crakarjax]

I was thinking similarly re: ride quality vs pressure and height. How did you come up with an optimal pressure figure?

[HO455]

In 2 words Freemont Bridge.
I commute across it and it has large expansion joints as well as traffic grooves worn into the surface. Before I cut the cups I would be at 80 psi at ride height. But to comfortably drive across the bridge I needed to raise the pressure about 10 psi. By comfortable I mean without the front end bouncing up and down excessively on each joint. (The shocks are fine I just don't like the 1960's Cadillac kind of ride.) Bumping the pressure up cures the up and down action, but too much pressure and then the truck starts to wander in the grooves. I believe the wandering is from the alignment no longer being correct with the front end raised. That's the reason I didn't remove more than 1/2 " I want to see how it behaves before committing to a full inch.
This is one of the things I never realized about air bags. The range of pressures you can drive on is fairly wide but the pressure where works well is very narrow. In my truck 3 psi off of optimum makes a big difference on how it feels to me. So I feel the trick is to figure out what that optimum pressure is then adjust the bag mounting to get that pressure at the ride height you desire.

[HO455]

Today I started the new bench seat project. That broken spring hasn't mended itself so I guess action must be taken. Several pages back I posted a picture I found in one of the seat threads (It might be Already Gone's truck but I'm not sure.) So after more research I found out that the seat was used in 92 to 96 Ford pickups. After a lot of looking (It's the top option bench seat so not real common) I did on located one on Craigslist and it ended up being only $40!
Under a 1/4" of dog hair was a fairly decent seat. Thank goodness for car wash vacuum cleaners. The first thing I did was tear it apart. It came with working lumbar support air pump and bags. After a quick check with a tape measure I tossed it in front of the back of the current seat in the truck and amazingly it seemed like it would be fairly easy to swap the seat backs and be done. For reasons I will explain I decided not to go that route.
Once the seat back was completely disassembled (That was super easy! The upholstery fabric is secured with the white plastic extruded hooks you can see in the last photo.) the Ford: Job One Quality started to show. The seat foam metal supports were broken in several places and they are so lightweight I don't think welding them would be a long term cure.

[HO455]

Besides the broken pieces the big deciding factor was the shape of the Ford seat back. It is the same width across the bottom but it narrows up markedly. I decided I didn't care for that look (Photo #1 Ford seat frame on top of 71 frame) and came to the decision to transfer all the pieces i wanted from the Ford seat to a 67-72 seat. This included the head rests, arm rest, and possibly the lumbar supports.
The current seat in the WMB is the most comfortable and pain free seat I have in the fleet. So changing it out is being done with some trepidation. I bought a 71 seat off of Craigslist for $25 dollars a while back with the plan being I could duct tape it in to submission and use it as a temporary seat while the current seat was being reupholstered. What I discovered is that 71/72 seats have a taller seat back than earlier trucks but shorter seat mounts. One of my dislikes with the current seat is the back is too short for me. So by swapping the 71 seat back on to the 69/70 seat that is currently in the WMB I get a taller seat back and get to keep the taller seat mounts without a bunch of modifications to the seat mounts or the bottom frame.
It took 30 minutes with a pneumatic cutoff wheel to strip the pieces from the Ford seat. Then it took another 30 minutes to remove the 2 screws that held the arm rest to the frame. More quality work. Both screws were cross threaded (Photo #2) and one of them had the Philips head completely blown out. Great more unobtainium to obtain.
Another possible problem area is the guides for the head rests. All 4 of them are broken. The top is supposed to have a disk about 1 inch in diameter and a button that releases the detent on the head rest to allow adjustment. The button and detents are gone and the disks were captured by the head rest posts but otherwise disconnected. (Photo #3 shows what is left of the guides.
Once I had everything I wanted stripped from the Ford seat, it was time to start laying things out. First thing I did was measure the current seat in the WMB as to how far it is from the edge of the seat to the center of the steering wheel. I want to have the head rest centered with the steering wheel. That came to 12 1/2".
Using a tape and a big square I was able to lay out the head rest center line. (Photo #4) If you look close I have the center line marked in silver on the top of the frame.
Up next was to modify the bracket that holds the head rest guides. The Ford seat was flattened across the top and our seats are round. Fortunately the guide brackets had lots of material and it was a matter of removing material on each side and then notching the lower edge to allow it to fit over the 71's wire foam supports. (Photo 5)

[HO455]

The first picture shows an unmodified and a modified guide bracket. To get one side to fit up properly I needed to reposition one of the vertical wires in the foam supports (Photo #2 blue arrow.) There will be more on repositioning the wires later.
Once the guides fit in place I scribed a line to mark the center of the top of the bar where the head rest guide brackets mount. Then I held the guide brackets in position and scribed the holes the plastic guides fit into. With a limit of measuring I figured out where the center of each guide hole needed to be. After center punching and pilot drilling I used a 5/8" hole saw for the basic opening. (Photo #3) The guides are an odd shape that required me to use a die grinder to get the correct shape. (Photo #4) The holes in the Ford seat frame have at least 1/16" of play so need for much accuracy here.
When everything is done it looks like the last photo.
Sorry for the poor quality of some of the photos I just can't seem to get the camera on my new notebook to work as perfectly as my old one.

[HO455]

First off big Hurrah for djeCST and his thread on turn signal switches!

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=711090

Yesterday I noticed the turn signal lever seemed kinda floppy and vague. Well today it was loose enough to start randomly honking the horn. I had to pull over and unplug the horn relay just to get home safely. With all the disgruntlement in Portland these days one doesn't want your horn honking randomly.
My first thought was the screw had backed off, which was partially true. It had gotten loose but, it was because the threads had pulled out. (Photo #1)
I have to apologize for not getting photos from start to finish on this little repair. But I have harvested some from djeCST's thread and others. Hopefully they don't mind?

I used djeCST's thread to figure out how to disassemble the switch from the housing.

So the turn signal cam pivots on a pot metal pin. (Photo #2 & 3 blue circles) The end of that pin is threaded and the screw that secures the signal lever in place goes there. To repair this I cleaned the hole out and filled it with JB Weld (Did you know a farmer in Iowa fixed a tractor block with JB Weld?) Once it had hardened I filled it smooth (Photo #4) and drilled and tapped it for an 8-32 screw.
The screw that was in mine was the black self tapping one. (Photo #5) I have no idea if it is the correct screw. Although it look like the one in the photo I found. I replaced it with a regular screw with a square end and used a bottom tap to get more threads to the bottom of the hole. All this was iin hopes that with more threads it won't pull out again, or won't pull out before I find a bad switch with a good pin. I also considered drilling oversize and tapping it for a 10-32 screw but the wall thickness would not be very much and I would also have to oversize the hole in the cam and the lever too.
While I had the wheel off I greased the upper bearing and cleaned and lined the switch. It is amazing how much dirt and debris gets inside of the housing.
Once back together the switch works so much smoother than before and it doesn't honk either.

[HO455]

I rolled out this morning to do more tuning of the front suspension. Earlier I had trimmed the cups to get more air pressure at ride height to make the ride better. It helped but it wasn't enough. After I pulled the driver's side cup out I marked the centering ring height and how deep the cup was on a piece of metal. (Photos #1&2) Then I measured the difference to be removed. (Photo #3) The ring I had welded in the control arm to keep the bag centered was just under 7/8", so I made the cup depth 15/16".

In addition to this I wanted to cut the bump stops down a bit. Currently when you hit a deep pot hole the wheel drops and then before the shock can catch the weight the bump stop slams into the crossmember and the whole truck is jarred. Photo #4 shows the bump stop bottomed out. (Ignore the green circle) As you can see there is not much room and that short bumper doesn't have much in the way of cushioning. I should have engineered it better from the beginning.

Once the driver's side cup was reinstalled I removed the bump stop and the jacked the truck up on the control arm to see how much of the metal base I could remove and still have the bumper stop the arms before the airbag became the bump stop. Something all the air bag manufacturers say is to be avoided. I used a drill bit to determine that the gap was now 7/64" (Photo # 5)

Once numerous measurements were taken I decided that I could safely remove 1/4" of the bumper mount. I am hoping that this 1/4" and a higher psi at ride height will reduce the tendency to bottom out on everything but the worst bumps.

During all of the up and down with the bags the driver's side front valve started not shutting and allowing the bag to keep inflating. I have had this happen before and I had to tear down the valve and replace the O-rings. It will take about 2 to 3 hours to replace the bad O-ring and get everything back on line. Well that's going to be a job for another day as it now is working correctly and I need to get the rest of this done.

[HO455]

Now I had a developed plan it was time to do the passenger side. This time I removed the shocks to get easier access to the cup. When I went to remove the shock from the I discovered this! (Photo # 1.) The bag has been torn up in 2 places. I had been maneuvering around in a friend's back lot a week or so ago and must have gotten something jammed up in there.

Sorry to say but this is the last straw. These damm bags are coming out. The problems never seem to end, and I really do not like whipping the truck into a turn a 55 mph and it not handling as expected as one of the bags has lost 5 psi.
I didn't see any need to finish the bump stop modification or to cut down the passenger side cup. I buttoned it back up and will hopefully I can drive it until I get the springs.

Time to figure out what springs I need.

[crakarjax]

Yep that's a bummer, and also why I decided on my truck to tear everything down 100% and replace anything suspect with new parts. I really want to be able to drive my truck without worrying about issues cropping up mid-drive like my other classic car.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by crakarjax

Yep that's a bummer, and also why I decided on my truck to tear everything down 100% and replace anything suspect with new parts. I really want to be able to drive my truck without worrying about issues cropping up mid-drive like my other classic car.

I thought that's what I had done with the rear end 2 years ago. I had it gone through from end to to end. One new axle new ring and pinion, all new bearings, but they apparently missed the bad spot on the yoke when they bolted it all back together.
As I said "If it was easy..."

[FLYNAVY30]

I think when it comes time to rebuild my junk in a few years, I'm going to go CV joints and a carbon driveshaft from The Driveshaft Shop....super spendy, but all the pro touring guys swear by them and with the CV joints, you dont have to worry about pinion angle.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by FLYNAVY30

I think when it comes time to rebuild my junk in a few years, I'm going to go CV joints and a carbon driveshaft from The Driveshaft Shop....super spendy, but all the pro touring guys swear by them and with the CV joints, you dont have to worry about pinion angle.

My only encounters with CV joints has been with a 74 Dodge power wagon 440 w200. That truck would eat the CV joint every 20-30 k miles. Ended up replacing it with a regular drive shaft with U-joints. It didn't last any longer but it was only $30 to fix instead of $175.
The drive angles aren't hard to measure and usually they aren't too tough to bring in to line, unless you have veered way off the factory playbook.