A '54 named Busty

[Gregski]

so here's an update Good News / Bad News style

first the Good News

she all back together, pardon the rubish throttle pedal, my LM7 5.3 will sport an electronic throttle pedal so no sense spiffing up this one, this is just for once around the block

she starts, the procedure is pedal to the floor and crank it and she fires up in 2 to 3 seconds (another reason to do an LS Swap, the starts are magnificent)

[Gregski]

now the Bad News aka "Cry Me a River"

I wanted to take her for my first maiden voyage but she was not having it, she would die in reverse.

Couple observations:

I think she is idling too low and I started trying to up the idle speed first by twisting the Idle Speed screw on the good ol' Holley carbie but after a few full turns I thought that was getting rediculous

The other option for increasing idlebility is obviously more timing, well I tried to advance the timing some more but I'm giving her all she's got captain as the suction canister on the vacuum advance dizzy is now hitting the intake manifold

Tried to actually see at what RPM she be idling and what her initial timing is set to but my fancy digital timing light leads won't reach the battery in it's stock location

I can't hook up the timing light leads to the alternator cause I don't think it's charging at the moment since I yet have to wire in a lamp to the L terminal on the four pin connector to excite it. I have no idea why GM went away from the proven self exciting alternators of the square body era to these on the Vortec engines.

Throttle pedal aint got the full range of pull on the cable, but I think this was already pointed out to me and a pedestal is in short order.

I aint got a breather in my fuel sending unit nor in the fancy fuel cap, so I loosen the fuel cap when I run the truck, not my proudest moment.

And I still have an oil leak from the front of the oil pan, but it wouldn't be a Chevy small block otherwise.

[Gregski]

when's the last time you all rotated your sparkulator wires huh! highly recommended once every 3 front end swaps and or once every 2 frame swaps, ha ha

[texxxan]

I'm really liking that carpet and dash. Interior is looking good.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

I'm really liking that carpet and dash. Interior is looking good.

thanks man it has me motivated to do the same level of clean up in the engine bay instead of just tossing that 5.3L in? it sure makes tinkering afterwards much more pleasant

here's something crazy, I am still finding dead bees or wasps or what ever they are now on the newly installed carpet every time after I start her up, where the hewk are they falling out of, I mean I wire wheeled the bejezus out of the underneath of that dash?

[joedoh]

mud daubers here looooove to build nests in the defrost vents. could be the source of your bugs.


carbon added to iron is what makes steel. iron isnt very flexible, but adding carbon makes it flexible, high carbon is strong but brittle. quenching is heat treating and then dipping in oil to "set" the molecules. I worked at beech aircraft and the heat treating was right out the office door, neat neat neat, think of a big oven 15ft off the floor with a bottom door, and a giant tub under it. when the temp got to a certain point, the bottom door opened and dropped the basket of parts into the tub, which had been pumped full of oil. fully automated, very cool!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by joedoh

mud daubers here looooove to build nests in the defrost vents. could be the source of your bugs.

ha ha, thanks, but mine are bagged and tagged!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by joedoh

...carbon added to iron is what makes steel. iron isnt very flexible, but adding carbon makes it flexible, high carbon is strong but brittle...

thanks I appreciate that simple explanation very much, you had me till the last part, how can it be flexible and brittle, I must have missed something? not questioning you just asking to learn

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Gregski

thanks I appreciate that simple explanation very much, you had me till the last part, how can it be flexible and brittle, I must have missed something? not questioning you just asking to learn

well I am not a mechanical engineer, EE, but its my understanding from the one materials class I took that carbon mixed with iron makes very high tensile strength steel, much higher tensile strength than iron which bends under pressure and dents on severe impact. the higher the amount of carbon the less deformity before failure and impacts on high carbon steel break easier than iron. "flexible" in this case is able to deflect, not deform.

edit: have you ever seen a broken leaf spring? like when one breaks at the spring eye from axle wrap or one that breaks in the pack. It breaks cleanly, doesnt show much bending at all, just snaps in two. leaf springs are made of spring steel which is high carbon. very flexible, but when the flex is past the limit it snaps. flexible, but brittle.

[LT7A]

That floor mat fit nicely. That's a really good idea. I wonder if Joe's Upholstery can get them in tan. You mentioned the strength of the hardware for your seat that you tossed out. I'm under the impression that stainless is okay as finish fasteners, but that you need graded steel in areas of potential load.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by LT7A

That floor mat fit nicely. That's a really good idea. I wonder if Joe's Upholstery can get them in tan. You mentioned the strength of the hardware for your seat that you tossed out. I'm under the impression that stainless is okay as finish fasteners, but that you need graded steel in areas of potential load.

Talk to me Goose! So I ought to should have gone with something like Grade 8 bolts which is usually my go to hardware? The previous owner was running 5/16s bolts of various weaknesses some galvanized even, some had no notches on the bolt heads what so ever, and from what I know 3 nothces may mean at least Grade 5, six being Grade 8. I think the washers she used were so weak they were dome shaped, so like I said previously I tossed them. So at least I went to bigger bolts I am using 3/8ths bolts now.

I appreciate your feedback and advice, especially in the safety arena, I am thinking about seat belts as we speak so I can gladly revisit the hardware issue, thanks again. Come to think of it, I may have weldered up some holes under the seat that may have worked perfectly for the seat belts, but I am not going to admit to that on an open forum.

Wow, just found this great article: About Fastener Materials

"It is a common misconception that stainless steel is stronger than regular steel. In fact, due to their low carbon content, many stainless steel alloys cannot be hardened through heat treatment. Therefore, when compared to regular steel, the stainless alloys used in bolts are slightly stronger than an un-hardened (grade 2) steel but significantly weaker than hardened steel fasteners."

I am including a chart below to impress you all, however I have no idea what alloy, carbon, quenched, or tempered mean!

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by Gregski

...but I am not going to admit to that on an open forum.

Haha, always cracking me up

I have only a rudimentary understanding of the terms you mentioned. What I think I do understand is that the bolts get stronger as you scroll down, haha. So I think grade 8 is your answer especially for the seatbelts. One could theorize that in a vehicular altercation that the seatbelts would be doing the work and the seat would would just be required to hold the seat in place which shouldn't require too much. However, the seatbelts ought to be holding you firmly to the seat which may increase the load on the seat bolts. While I have raccoon-like glee with stainless steel hardware, I think the short answer for me is grade 8 all around.

[texxxan]

I can't wait to see Busty sporting a nice clean 5.3L in an equally nice and clean engine bay.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

I can't wait to see Busty sporting a nice clean 5.3L in an equally nice and clean engine bay.

pack light, but bring a can of elbow grease, a box or two of tenacity, and a face shield

[texxxan]

Originally Posted by Gregski

pack light, but bring a can of elbow grease, a box or two of tenacity, and a face shield

Ha ha!! Will I need to bring my drill?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

Ha ha!! Will I need to bring my drill?

This is not a drill!

[Gregski]

so I may have fried my HEI distributor ignition module by not knowing how to properly wire the Vortec alternator. I hate to use this phrase "one wire alternator" because we all know that means something else, but seriously check out the pig tail on this thing, it's just a single brown wire at the L terminal. At this point I can only assume the "L" stands for "Looser" aka me.

I'll be honest with you though I ranned the Vortec late 90s engines before, I always used the old star looking external fan alternators on them, and then I graduated to the LS engines and skipped these suckers all together

Question is, can you still get spark with a fried ignition module? I tested for spark at the #1 plug and I get a spark, not very frequent though

In case you are wondering I wired up a light bulb to that brown wire and ran the other end to the ignition on pink wire, as per some random YouTube video, thats what I think fried my Proform (pronounced: "aftermarket cheap") ignition banana.

[Gregski]

first of two 100°F+ days ahead here in Cali (how you all doin' in the state that can only afford one star and them otter humid regions? ha ha)

Wrenching Motivation Level (WML) = Low

[8man]

Yesterday was 92 with 94% humidity. Still wearing sweaters here.

[texxxan]

Originally Posted by Gregski

first of two 100°F+ days ahead here in Cali (how you all doin' in the state that can only afford one star and them otter humid regions? ha ha)

Wrenching Motivation Level (WML) = Low

Low 80's in my neck of the woods.

[Gregski]

so she won't start, and I don't blame her, ol' girl's been a sittin' in the hot dry Nevada desert for quarter of a century, she a bit skierd to go back out there that's all, but before we throw money at the problem we shall do some simple troubleshooting things

0. I put the spark plug wires back to their original location on the distributor cap, thinking I messed something up by re wiring it, and I checked the firing order (1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2) 19 times, but still she will not start

1. used a spark tester to test for spark at the plug, and we got spark, seems lazy but we got spark

2. I already swapped my "bad" ignition module for another "used" one that I had laying around, and that made no difference, she still refused to start, then it struck me, why would I have a used ignition module just laying around, it's probably also bad, ha ha

3. after charging this Super Start EXTREME battery over night I took it in to O'Really's where I bought it a year ago for a proper test, and it tested good, so that can't be it (by the way I like this battery for two reasons, one it does not have those stupid GM side terminals that strip out after one month, and two it had recessed top terminal posts that are flush with the top of the battery and do not protrude out beyond it

4. I yanked all the sparkulators out on the assumption that the jugs might could be full of petrol at this juncture after stumping that gas pedal like an idiot while trying to start it for the last 5 days, so we will allow them to air out (note the towelettes so we don't scratch up the spark plugs, lol - Semi Pro baby, SemiPro!)

OK, alright, thus far this cost us nothing

[Gregski]

so here's an update, status, and a cry for help

firstly non of the things I did allowed the truck to start, finally what did it was swapping the HEI cap for another which suggests the coil went bad in my estimation

so now I am able to read the base timing (vacuum advance disconnected and no mechanical advance kicking in yet) but it's super uber high like 55° at ilde of only 800 RPM

I checked my Top Dead Center marker twice now using a stopper in the #1 plug the the factory mark is spot on roughly at the 2 o'clock position as it should be (I learned some marks were at noon)

since I rotated all my plugs counter clockwise (ie to the right one post) is that throwing me off by 45° hence my timing only being 10°? I am honestly lost on the when the cylinders fire doodlie doodlie and appreciate your help

[nvrdone]

are you sure you have the #1 plug wire lining up with the rotor inside the cap? set the timing mark on the balancer at tdc & attach the #1 wire to the terminal that the rotor lines up with and then add the additional wires in the correct order. if you have compression, fuel and spark it should start. when it does then the timing will need to be adjusted

[joedoh]

hmm. 55 sounds high for 800 rpm, but not atmospherically high. is your diz twistable? 55 at 800, no, but 32 at 1100, is more likely.

do you have an engine vacuum gauge? my bet would be on a vacuum leak, hard starting and needing lots of advance.

try this page for some tips too

https://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/...EI_distributor

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by joedoh

do you have an engine vacuum gauge?

I do, but even putting my thumb over the rubber hose that runs from the bottom manifold vacuum port on my Holley carb yielded no suction

Originally Posted by joedoh

my bet would be on a vacuum leak, hard starting and needing lots of advance.

yup brother, that's the route I went and ripped off the intake manifold expecting to find a crusty gasket or deteriorated goop on the China walls