The Official John Lee Jr Thread

[Sharps40]

Well, we got a new "Bullet" of info today. Took some pics, load em later. Motor was too advanced and perhaps a bit lean. Bang-O-Bad combination.

Pistons #2, #3 and #4 cracked. Piston #5 very likely cracked. All 6 piston tops look like they were attacked with a ball peen hammer by an army of angry bodymen. All 6 plugs are smashed, twisted, blackened and generally destroyed.

So.....we'll be starting the motor and breakin it in on the factory timeing settings and seeking clarification on the advance and carb settings. But I'm pretty sure we'll be running the advance around 10 or less.

Shop indicates with the exception of Exxon and Wilco around here all the gas is 15% alcohol regardless of what the sign says. It seems ya shouldn't be pressing higher advance curves unless ya have real gasoline and much higher octane.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by allaboutchevelles

hey sharps40, sounds like a real nice upgrade for your truck, maybe something I want to do to mine. Are you having a shop here in Sanford do the work for you, if you don't mind me asking? I hope to see some pics on this upgrade, thanks

Yes, the shop here in town is Gordon Paint & Body. Contact Chad Gordon. Told him this morning ya was askin. I think I said Chevelle but he can do a nice job on a truck too. Runs more than a few nice lookin jobs outta that shop! He's on 1903 Lee Avenue in Sanford. Stop in and say Hi.

[K98AL]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

Well, we got a new "Bullet" of info today. Took some pics, load em later. Motor was too advanced and perhaps a bit lean. Bang-O-Bad combination.

Pistons #2, #3 and #4 cracked. Piston #5 very likely cracked. All 6 piston tops look like they were attacked with a ball peen hammer by an army of angry bodymen. All 6 plugs are smashed, twisted, blackened and generally destroyed.

So.....we'll be starting the motor and breakin it in on the factory timeing settings and seeking clarification on the advance and carb settings. But I'm pretty sure we'll be running the advance around 10 or less.

Shop indicates with the exception of Exxon and Wilco around here all the gas is 15% alcohol regardless of what the sign says. It seems ya shouldn't be pressing higher advance curves unless ya have real gasoline and much higher octane.

Were you getting any pinging going up hills? (you're making me nervous, here, ya know?)

I'm running basically the same setup, luckily we can still get decent gas here, but I get some pinging on hills, if I run the cheap stuff.

..and you can stand on the Tree Lounge bow platform and pee just fine, with gun or bow resting safely in the rack on the side.....

[Sharps40]

Okay, we'll use the tree lounge.

Now, I backed off 18 degrees advance, light ping hard pull up hills. 16 was wonderful, no ping ever.

I just sent Mr. Langdon the below pics.

Shop says this could be as simple as one tank of gas. Runnin great, high end settings on the available and poor modern gasoline....get a tank of gas that's even worse and pow... Now he did say, not even nitro drag engins blow all six porcilins out of all six plugs at once or even break more than one piston at a time....

My guess is we had issues comeing home from the late Sept Hunt. That was my last tank of fuel before the failure and we were running 65 mph for about 4 hours steady. Engine noise, windows open, talking the whole time...coulda pinged all the way and we'd never know it and 4 hours of that would be enough to hammer tone finish them pistons I betcha.

I spect we're goin in back conservative on this round....That and I'll take the advice and run mid or high test from now on.

[Sharps40]

Pistons 1 and 2



Piston 4



All 6



Number 6 looks like Hell Had Its Fury on it....



Head looks decent.



All six plugs appear to have exploded at the same time.

[Sharps40]

But here is some happy photos....

That spot, and that one, and that one and the one back there in the corner and beside that and over there.....ain't been that clean in 48 years!



John Lee looks kinda sexy with his hat off.



One very leaky peanut out and never to be reinstalled!

[1963c-10]

Damn....pretty nasty looking plugs. Looking forward to seeing the engine in. Are you reusing the old flywheel?

[Sharps40]

Don't know yet. Gotta get measurements and see if it'll support the 11" Astro clutch pack. If not, prolly get a new flywheel. The clutch in there is a good Borg and Beck....looks pretty darn good.

The Ol Peanut is in tough shape....slings goo out both ends and whines like a Cheated on Drunkin Ho with a canceled tab at the watering hole.

[jayoldschool]

Damn. I just dropped by to see if there were new truck updates after hunting. Sorry to see these types of updates.

Good luck with the rebuild!

[Sharps40]

Its goin fine. Motor is in the shop. Tins cleaned and installed. Puttin on new water, fuel pumps and new starter. Paint is goin on the motor. Measurin the flywheel to see if the 11" Astro kit will bolt up, if not we'll get a new flywheel. Heim joint clutch linkage is ordered, boot/speedo cable, etc ordered. They are studyin the 66 ebrake assembly on their own truck for conversion on John Lee.....its in great hands. Break in will be factory timeing and they'll get busy tuning likely after consulting with Stovebolts. Engine man at the shop is a 30+ year veteran of chevy products....

[Sharps40]

Just pushin the envelope there I spose and no room left for error like a Tank-O-Piss and Blamo, plugs sploded, pistons cracked and most likely with that much force, I'd be thinkin the bearings and rod bushings took a flat spot or three in em also. So, out with the old, in with the new and retune conservative and use only Exxon and Wilco med or hi test. Spensive lesson!

[C@rnut001]

Wow, those are some amazing pictures of your pistons and plugs. Junk gas can cause a lot of problems and I have seen some crazy stuff caused by it over the years. Good luck with your new engine and transmission setup. It will be great seeing it back together and on the road again!

[fleetweld47]

I would bet your rod bearings have a story to match the tops of those pistons as well .

[Sharps40]

Yep. Rod and mains are highly likely damaged

[Sharps40]

Well, Looks like Old Blue beat me to the T5 install...here is his in place and by all indications shiftin like budda and changein the entire 230 I6 driving experience!

Way to Go Blue!!!

[Old Bleu]

Well dang, I couldn't have said it better myself! Now I'm waiting for you to get yours in so you can engineer a really clever cupholder so I can shamelessly copy it.

[Sharps40]

We will ROCK the cupholders!!

[Sharps40]

Its really hard, not bein in the shop every day, putting my hands on it and watchin it come together! Maybe I'll have to stop in today for a quick peak!!!

[shok]

Might be worth a cheap narrow band O2 sensor setup to dial in the carb or go to a shop with a dyno and tune the carb with their wide band setup. To me the best way to have the carb dialed in right with no guessing. I know it's overkill to some.

[Sharps40]

Talked with the mechanic today, they checked with builders and race builders, all came to same conclusion.....

Settings close to max for engine capability (both fuel lean and advance early) yielded fantastic performance as long as the gas was good/strong. Bad tank of gas, with settings at max ability (i.e. little or no margin for error), a long highway ride home at high speed (wind noise, can't hear ping and the next day the ol pistons just gave up....the abuse from poor/alcohol gasoline induced failure in #4 that cascaded then to 2, 3 and 5.

All three engine builders agreed, the only time they see similar failures is engines tuned tight and alcohol blended fuel. Get a bad tank and the sparks explode into the cylinder with the detonations and stuff gets tore up from there. The recommendation is run mid grade/hi test, carry octain boost and use as needed, do not tune for max mileage.....rather keep a safety cushion for piss poor modern gasoline which mostly ain't gasoline anymore.

Considerin which O2 sensor and gages I like right now....mean time we'll set it conservative for the first fire next week.

[Sharps40]

Motors in. Nearing readiness for first fire.

Plannin to re jet the carb a bit richer on top of the main. Also still searching for a flywheel that'll mate up the Astro clutch pack. Contrary to popular writings, if you have a 10"ish factory flywheel and clutch assembly in yer 65 C10 truck.......ya may NOT be able to bolt up the 11" Astro clutch w/o a new flywheel even though SOME early flywheels were drilled for the 11" set up.

More to follow, we're gonna try an Astro Flywheel and if that aint a working solution there is a 10.5" T5 conversion clutch plate that may work with the 65 pressureplate and flywheel. But, per the shop, right flywheel and the Astro clutch pack can be test fitted inside the bell housing.

So, the motor.....bell housing went over to the shop steam machine for a 2+ hour bath. The motor got scrubbed of all the preservative oil and removal of all the factory paint in preparation for a nice coat of GM blue. Even got rid of the gaudy Mr. Gasket water neck. All the tins cleaned and pretty and back on. The mechanic is havin a ball....says its like workin on his pops truck when he was younger....I think its memory lane...sure is rollin slow and easy and careful....John Lee couldn't be in better hands. New water pump and new starter too....no sense in messin around under the hood....clutchfiregasclutchGGGGGGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!



Well, might as well hike up this floozies skirt a lil more and show ya what she's got......all blue and itchin to buzz. Droppin off the richer jets for the carb tomorrow. (Theys some heim joints peakin out thru the floor where the ol clutch down rod used ta be, lower right.....)



Short of a flywheel that they can bolt the clutch assembly to, we are hopin to fire the motor and break in the cam on Tuesday. Owner wants to use that time to go over gear shifter length, bend and final assembly. The thought is to have this dude runnin on factory settings Thurs for me to drive a bit. Considering only going to 8 or so degrees advance and we will be using mid grade or better fuel from now on. Also, will be carrying a can of 104 boost in all my vehicles in case the gas is bad or just get stuck with 87. Learned my lesson....heck the jeep even picked up nearly 3 mpg goin from 87 to 89!.....



Oh yeah, we ain't goin the 1966 Ebrake route. Its lookin more and more like a simple lowering of the ebrake xmember from inside the frame to outside on some small spacers will free up the space needed for the brake mechanism to function just like 1965 factory. Very cool....simple and goes to keepin as much factory in the ol truck as we can yet still drive it daily on modern roads.

[Sharps40]

Oh yeah, the heim jointed clutch linkage from lmc looks BAD AZZZ in there. Can't wait to feel it work on that new clutch....smooth as the polished boobies on a Gotta Get A Man reality show I hope!

[Sharps40]

So, tally so far.

Astro Van Clutch pack could fit......if the flywheel to support it is located and we'll check the bell housing....more to follow.

The LMC heim joint clutch linkage is a go, clears exhaust, etc.

The 1972 chevy 4x4 83" long speedo cable and housing is a good fit for the T5 swap.

It appears, with stock exhaust pipe (single exhaust) running along the inside of the DS frame rail that dropping the ebrake xmember under the frame with some shims will allow retention of factory ebreak assembly for the T5 swap. More to follow.

So once its all in and fired, we'll check on driveshaft, complete the shifter mod, etc, etc.

[Sharps40]

Tonight's supper was a variation on a meal wncdeerhunter prepared for us all at camp in the Low Country this month.

I cut off two 1 lb chunks of backstrap, removed the fat and the silver skin.

Marinade them in Worcestershire sauce and olive oil with black pepper and salt for about 30 hours in the fridge.

Cut a single groove down the middle, nearly thru and not so far in either direction as to open the strap, just a central pocket running with the grain. Butterflyed a pocket on either wing created by the central groove....again, with the grain and make a pocket so don't come out the bottom/sides or ends.

Fill the three pockets with cream cheese.

Added a full handful of mixed chopped Vidalia onion and jalapeno peppers and press into the pockets full of cream cheese.

Wrap each strap in five slices of thick cut bacon, secure with tooth picks.

Bake in the oven, in an uncovered roasting pan, 450 for 15 minutes.

Back off to 350 and bake uncovered in the roasting pan about another 40 minutes or so for meat that is just barely well done (nearly fork tender), bacon will be soft not crispy, cream cheese and onion/jalapenos are warm but not runny/soft.

Whole house smells sweet from the Worcestershire sauce and the meat comes on with a sweet flavor and the cheese and onions/jalapenos make it all awesome.

We served it with salad, green bean casserole and baked sweet taters (in the husk) with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Right now its lookin like it'll be a regular meal as long as the roasts and straps hold out!

[C@rnut001]

Aw, your supper sounds so great. I am going to have to try this dish using caribou. Thanks for posting it!