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CK5
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1969 Buick Wildcat Custom build. Sold it.

Spent Tuesday under the dash trying to get the heater working. The blower switch was getting power and not sending anything out. Cleaned it an checked continuity through the 5 stages. Blower only works on "de-ice" setting. High. took 2 hours to get to the switch. Guess I need to pull it to check it again. I need to order the wiring schematic for this car. Chasing wires is taking forever.

Last night the battery went dead. 1.6 volts in it???????? The "GEN" light glows very faint when the key is off. Checked for drain at the battery. 0.762 amps with nothing on. Removed the 2 wire plug from the alternator, 0.460 amps. Both the plug and the power out wire removed, 0.460 amps. 2 wire plug only connected, 0.762 amps. So obviously, something through the alternator is drawing amps. Had it checked and it passed. This is an externally regulated alternator. Put it back in and hooked everything up. No amp drain at all now.??????????? The "GEN" light still glows faintly with everything off. How is that not drawing amps. I turned my meter all of the way down. Checked it with a second meter. I guess I will let it sit and see if the drain is still there. But why is the "GEN" light slightly on when not running. Turn the ignition on and the light comes on bright until the car is running.
 
Have you tried unplugging the regulator itself? I can't remember for sure, but aren't some of the old regulators mechanically engaged?
 
I think I figured it out.

Checked the regulator for stuck or no functioning coils. Everything checked out. Main constant power was 12.2v, been messing with it for a while so the battery is draining. The 10ohm resisted wire from the key shows 9.8v all the time. this is the issue. Should only be on when key is in ignition or accessory. Not sure why it feeds from accessory and not the ignition pole. But that id the way the schematic shows it. The radio, heater and wipers are fed from this same pole. The radio was feeding power back for some reason. Have not found that yet, but when I pulled the radio fuse finally, everything was working correctly, except the radio.

now to go find some glass fuses, as I do not have any and they were all corroded in. Broke one.
 
I forgot how much of a pain the old glasses fuses can be to pull until I had to change one in the 73. Of course I broke it. Decided I need one of those plastic puller deals.
 
mrk5 said:
I forgot how much of a pain the old glasses fuses can be to pull until I had to change one in the 73. Of course I broke it. Decided I need one of those plastic puller deals.
Click to expand...
I use a small screwdriver and pry each side at the clip on the metal part.
Broke a few before I started to do this
 
This was some nasty plasticizers migration. Could not touch it without getting it everywhere. Cleaned it with some lacquer thinner, then painted it black. Hopefully it will last until the car is sold.

DSC_0033.JPG

Power seat did not work. Relays clicked, but nothing happened. Pulled the motor and solenoid unit out. It was just stuck. Cleaned everything and it works.

DSC_0035.JPG
 
Wouldn't have occurred to me that a 69 might have electric seats.
 
It has power everything.

Put everything back together and the seat did not work. Weird feed back through the relay. Found a ground wire for the seat that was tucked into the springs. Was perfect length to go to a seat bolt. (Which there are 8 of on this car. That threw me for a bit.) Still did not work.

Pulled the relay and found it to work but not put power out. One of the rivers for the output post was not making good contact. Tap it down a bit and it worked. All back to gather and goes rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Works great.
 
The Buick does not like today's gasoline. Will have to try a tank of 91 octane. Run on is bad after a drive. Or it has a catastrophic amount of carbon build up in the cylinders. I am shutting it off in gear right now. I wish I had my old water injection system. Used to clean the cylinders in no time.
 
Please tell more about how the water injection works.

I heard a story one time about a guy pouring a quart jar of water through the airway of a carburetor.
 
TuckerK5 said:
Please tell more about how the water injection works.

I heard a story one time about a guy pouring a quart jar of water through the airway of a carburetor.
Click to expand...
I've done it. Ran a cat 3406 on the Dyno with garden hose water injection.:whistle:
Also did it to a 305. Wide open quad-a-junk.
And a trickle of a garden hose. What do you want to know?
 
Roadkill garage did the same thing using a hole poked in athe lid of a water bottle. Allows it to suck in water such that it can still burn
 
beags86 said:
I've done it. Ran a cat 3406 on the Dyno with garden hose water injection.:whistle:
Also did it to a 305. Wide open quad-a-junk.
And a trickle of a garden hose. What do you want to know?
Click to expand...
What does it do?
How does it work?
 
TuckerK5 said:
What does it do?
How does it work?
Click to expand...
Short answer. Buy putting some water through the cylinders you effectively steam clean the cylinders of carbon build up.

Different ways to do it, but basically you run a small amount of water through, enough to burn out, but little enough to not hydro lock the engine.
 
Had it on my 78 1/2 ton with a 383 SBC running 11.2:1 compression. Would heat up towing the travel trailer, with 2 Jet Skis in my truck, across the dessert in 110 degree heat with the A/C on. I was talking with Vic Edlebrock at his shop one day, told him about the issue. He handed me a prototype water injection system. I gave him a really weird look. "I am not spraying water into my engine. It will kill it." He said, "just follow the directions". One issue was, I had to log every mile and every setting for their study.

Went home and showed it to my dad. He was Vic's friend, that is how I new Vic. Dad said "about time he got it done".

So we installed it. Had a nozzle plate that went under the carb. A vacuum line ran to the controller under the dash along with wiring. Had a small pump, like a windshield washer pump that was controlled by the dial and some electronics. Controller had a vacuum gauge in it. I already had one on the truck, but whatever. Filled the bottle with deionized water. Needed a filtered water of some kind. It would not come on under 1000 rpm. And I could turn it off also. Ran it around town just playing with it. You could turn the water up from 0 to 10. At 3, around town it had a little more pull once the truck was moving a little. ????????????

Loaded the truck with 2 440 Jet Skis on the lumber rack over the cab. 2 Jet Skis in the bed of the truck and the 20 feet long 1964 Forest River travel trailer behind it. Left at 8 am on a Friday. Was 95 degrees out. When we hit the dessert, it was over 105 degrees. Ran the water at 3 and the truck stayed right at 180 degrees. A/C blasting running 70 mph passing people. First hill was Jack Rabbit pass. 10 miles for 2500 feet of elevation change. not a big hill, but the truck heated up to 200 degrees in the past. Ran at 180 degrees the entire way.

Next hill was Chiriaco Summit grade. Long steep pull. Most semis are doing 25 mph at the top. I am in the left lane at 70 mph. Engine starts warming up 10 derees. I turned the water to 4. Cooled down 5 degrees. Ran the water volume up until it started dropping horse power then backed it off. Pulled over that hill so strong I burned the transmission up. Also went from 8.5 mpg to 10-11 mpg towing like that.

Brings the compression up, cools the fuel and the air going into the cylinder. Completely cleans the intake and cylinders. I used it for 6 months. Did all of the paperwork requested. Then he wanted the truck. I gave it to him for 2 weeks to do dyno pulls and other testing. He said the engine was spotless when they pulled it apart.

I ended up with new tires on the truck and a 510 rwhp engine in the truck for my work. They never did produce it because people were paranoid about adding water to the engine.
 
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I saw those a long while back when they were developing it. They started out doing propane injection for semi's.
 
Does anybody make a system? I have 15 semis on the road. Would it have the same affect on them?
 
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