1949 Chevy 3600 into a daily driver

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by sqrlnts

Too loud, you know what they say about that!!! Where did you exit your exhaust? If you have turn downs they can have a bit of a drone. If you have not welded your exhaust up solid you can try rotating the tips around bit. I don't know that a crossover will help quiet it down, maybe different mufflers??

I was once told your lean if you backfire through the carb and rich if you backfire throught the exhaust.

On your alternator, Terminal 1 is your field excite wire (white?) should be switched hot. Terminal 2 is remote voltage sensing, try jumping terminal 2 to the big red battery wire on the alternator stud, might also cure your run on.

Here is some better info on the 3 wire, about half way down the page.

The exhaust exits through turn downs right in front the of the rear dif.

Thanks.......I will look into the alternator wiring before I buy new.

[sqrlnts]

Originally Posted by Coach529

The exhaust exits through turn downs right in front the of the rear dif.

Thanks.......I will look into the alternator wiring before I buy new.

No problem. I am running a dual exhaust dumped in front of the axle as well. Originally my dumps turned straight down into the ground. I found that if I rotated them outward they were a bit quieter.

It also acts to blow burnout tire smoke much greater distances.....

[dubie]

I think we need some video proof of such claims

[Coach529]

Well, today I was working through my punch list of stuff while waiting for the UPS man to deliver my driveshaft.

I got the alternator to charge which was awesome.

Next step was to investigate the starter and why it was occasionally making noise.

Digging in a little deeper....it appears I have made an error when I installed the flex plate.



View looking towards the transmission.



I am now trying to figure out if I can get enough room between the tranny and motor without pulling the motor. Hmmmm.

Any advice??

........and the damn driveshaft never showed up.......

[Coach529]

OK, so I pulled the tranny back and R & R the flexplate in the correct orientation. I bolted the tranny back up and have about 3/8" of space between the flex plate and the bolt pads for the converter. Is it OK to slide the converter back out to the flex plate and bolt up?

[Tx Firefighter]

My tranny guy told me that 1/4" is okay. Anything more than that, add a washer to take up some of the gap. You don't want to pull the converter any more than 1/4" out of the pump.

[Coach529]

Another huge hurdle has been crossed!! Henry is BACK on the road.

I finished buttoning up the torque converter and flex plate issue and bolted on the brand new driveshaft. I double and triple checked everything and dropped him down on all 4 wheels.

Fired right up and I checked the tranny fluid. After adding some I backed him out of the garage!! Huge smiles!!!

A couple spins around the neighborhood and more checking of nuts and bolts and I advanced the timing to get rid of a pesky miss right off idle. By the end of the night I had it running really good......I am hitting up my local repair shop tomorrow and check the timing and take a look at the carb. They specialize in hot rods and race cars.

Still not 100% sold on the exhaust.......It is a little loud and I get a resonation at certain RPM's that will drive me nuts. Hoping some dynamat on the floor will help.....other wise new mufflers.

[sqrlnts]

Originally Posted by Coach529

Another huge hurdle has been crossed!! Henry is BACK on the road.

I finished buttoning up the torque converter and flex plate issue and bolted on the brand new driveshaft. I double and triple checked everything and dropped him down on all 4 wheels.

Fired right up and I checked the tranny fluid. After adding some I backed him out of the garage!! Huge smiles!!!

A couple spins around the neighborhood and more checking of nuts and bolts and I advanced the timing to get rid of a pesky miss right off idle. By the end of the night I had it running really good......I am hitting up my local repair shop tomorrow and check the timing and take a look at the carb. They specialize in hot rods and race cars.

Still not 100% sold on the exhaust.......It is a little loud and I get a resonation at certain RPM's that will drive me nuts. Hoping some dynamat on the floor will help.....other wise new mufflers.

Congrats man nothing like playing around with a small block. IMHO dynamat will help some but the drone will stay as long as your running dumped exhaust in front of the axle on these old metal cans.

If you can, run some additional tubing out of the mufflers and not pointed at the ground, fire it up and do some un-scientific revving research.

[Coach529]

We timed this thing originally with just the open headers. Now that I have added the full exhaust system, the timing is pretty far off.

I am just timing by ear, but I have advanced the timing quite a bit, and still do not have any pinging under load. The more I advance the timing, the better it idles and the quieter it is.

Just got back from a drive and am pretty damn happy with the noise level.

[Tx Firefighter]

Remind us again what mufflers and exhaust size you chose. I looked back a few pages and didn't see it.

[99 to Life]

congrats, let the fine tuning begin!!!! What I'd do is get yourself a vacuum gauge, hook it up to the manifold or if your carb has another port go there. It will be your best friend. Play with the timing until you get the most vacuum and set it there, try it out, bet you'll love it. Also warm up the engine bf you tune the carb.

as for exhaust I run true duals that dump bf the axles with tips pointing down. I run flowmaster 50s and I have no problems, if anything I want more sound sometimes!!!! but really it does have a nice idle, you can talk in the cab etc. I run padding under my carpet and have put sound barrier where I could. The wind and any gaps in doors or windows will create the most noise. I even put foam padding in my doors.

good luck and have fun, glad your back on the road.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Remind us again what mufflers and exhaust size you chose. I looked back a few pages and didn't see it.

I went against my original thoughts. Before this whole driveshaft debacle, I was running out of time so I bought some mufflers and pipe local. As it turned out, I ended up waiting for the driveshaft....so I could have waited for the Brockman's.

At the advice of my local shop guy, whom I trust, I bought some mufflers and 2-1/4" pipe. The mufflers are similar to a Thrush Turbo sounding.

[NEWFISHER]

Awesome! A cross over pipe should nock the sharpness and drone from the system. Those muffler look SHORT and may be your issue.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Awesome! A cross over pipe should nock the sharpness and drone from the system. Those muffler look SHORT and may be your issue.

The bodies are 18" long, so maybe. I am not making any decisions until I get the floor back in the truck and get it fine tuned. It is almost acceptable right now in town.......

[Coach529]

Solid weekend in the garage.....despite other responsibilities!!



Swapped out my junkyard alternator for a new rebuilt......now we are charging.

Chased down a noisy vacuum leak.

Bolted on the hood and front bumper.....looks much better.

Every errand this weekend ended up being a mini cruise session.......took the LONG route everywhere!! :-)

I think my battery is junk......I cannot get it to take more than 12VDC even after sitting for 12hours on a trickle charger......last winter was tough on it.

Motor pulls good off the bottom, but needs some tuning in the midrange. Should pull harder I think. Really please overall though. Runs awesome......so happy!!

Ended the weekend with a long cruise with my oldest and youngest......good times!!

[99 to Life]

sssaaaaaawwweeettt. I'v lately made a pact to drive my 51' friday-monday when I'm with the truck, rain or shine. Its a great feeling. Getting so caught up in other builds and life its easy to back burner the rig.

congrats man, that tuning part is a catch 22. real fun figuring out your engine and what it wants, not fun not getting it right. I'd get a vacuum gauge man, really will tell you the most. Make sure your balancer is true TDC with your tab. Run piston up till it stops, mark your balancer, run it other way till it stops, mark balancer, split the two marks and thats your true TDC on your balancer.
don't always assume marks are right till you check. Play with the timing a little and if you know your cam specs that will help out.

Tune carb when your warmed up.

[whitels1]

On my K10 project I'm going to try your CLR / carnuba wax and see how it works out. I love the look of your truck.

[Coach529]

Still tinkering and cruising daily.

Spent some time at the local repair shop. My timing was right on, but I had the vacuum line to my HEI on the wrong port on my carb, so I had no vacuum advance except at high rpm. That woke it up.......runs like a scalded cat now!!

[nvrdone]

Glad to hear yours runs like a scalded cat. The sbc sure makes a difference. After 30 years with mine, I still have fun smoking the ricers

[99 to Life]

nice man, little tuning that turns out for the better is great. Not sure if you run a carb spacer, but I find the 1" phenolic spacer helps out alot with heatsoak and to keep the fuel a little cooler, esp with an aluminum intake. I also insulate all my fuel line in the engine bay.

If you know what cam you have, you can really dial in the timing. at anyrate, pop and plug your vac advance rev it up to 3-3500 rpm and see where your
marks are at, if you have a timing tape. Really helps to know you all in timing
vs just setting it at initial timing. if your guy hasn't done that already. if you don't have timing tape you can use a preset style timing gun.

[Coach529]

[NEWFISHER]

Mike, what are you doing for mirror heads?

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Mike, what are you doing for mirror heads?

I need to hit the junkyard and find a head that is properly aged and get a mirror cut.

[NEWFISHER]

I have some new rectangular ones if you cant find what you are looking for. Maybe set them out behind the new shop and pee on them for a month?

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

I have some new rectangular ones if you cant find what you are looking for. Maybe set them out behind the new shop and pee on them for a month?

I am actually hoping to find some small rounds ones.