lectric80
3/4 ton status
Yes they are 31's still, so I will take a look at the tags. I just know they are way too hard for this little truck, although I might bump the rears when I load some sandbags up for the winter drive.
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
My new toy!!!
- Thread starter lectric80
- Start date
Yeah, 55psi is FAR to high. When I got my Blazer it had 50ish in the 31's on it and the thing rode like a roller skate.
Dropped to 30psi and all was good.
Dropped to 30psi and all was good.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Ok, so I put off dropping the pressure in the tires, mostly because I kept forgetting to do it. On my way into SLC today, I hit a small patch of slush on top of the rain that had been falling all night.
The only thing I can figure is the high pressures in the tires, combined with a relatively light weight truck, caused me to slide and nearly hit a stopped Sheriff's Impala. I was only moving about 35 MPH and this wasn't a sharp corner. Tires have good tread on them, and they are AT's so it shouldn't have been like this.
All this in mind, I lowered the pressures much closer to the tag on the door. The door tag shows 26 front and 35 rear, but I went to 32 all around. Ride is noticeably better, far less bouncing down the road. It still rides like a truck, but it always felt like it was barely in contact with the road before this. I may actually go down a bit lower in the front, but I am going to give it some time to see how things shake out. It is supposed to snow some more tonight, and my wife reported it was snowing earlier at home, so I am interested to see how this thing does.
I will be adding weight to the back of it, but I didn't expect to need it quite so early in the year. Plan right now is to build a carpet kit for it, put the shell back on, then load up about 3-400 lbs of sand bags. The carpet kit and shell have to be done before the end of the month, so my wife and I can do some camping for our anniversary at the end of the month.
The only thing I can figure is the high pressures in the tires, combined with a relatively light weight truck, caused me to slide and nearly hit a stopped Sheriff's Impala. I was only moving about 35 MPH and this wasn't a sharp corner. Tires have good tread on them, and they are AT's so it shouldn't have been like this.
All this in mind, I lowered the pressures much closer to the tag on the door. The door tag shows 26 front and 35 rear, but I went to 32 all around. Ride is noticeably better, far less bouncing down the road. It still rides like a truck, but it always felt like it was barely in contact with the road before this. I may actually go down a bit lower in the front, but I am going to give it some time to see how things shake out. It is supposed to snow some more tonight, and my wife reported it was snowing earlier at home, so I am interested to see how this thing does.
I will be adding weight to the back of it, but I didn't expect to need it quite so early in the year. Plan right now is to build a carpet kit for it, put the shell back on, then load up about 3-400 lbs of sand bags. The carpet kit and shell have to be done before the end of the month, so my wife and I can do some camping for our anniversary at the end of the month.
Yow. Yeah, too much pressure! Any damage? Glad no one was hurt.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
No damage, but I can't say no one was hurt, the Sheriff was stopped because there was a car on it's roof in the ditch. I wasn't the only one sliding around that corner, but I was doing a reasonable speed.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
I was going to post that the Camaro runs, but I would be lying. However, it does turn over now.
I am removing the excess emissions vacuum stuff that I won't be needing, and have removed all the smog pump crap. Engine bay is looking much cleaner, although I still need to removed the computer harness and get a vacuum advance dist installed.
Time to get back to work, I am hoping to attempt to fire it up tonight.
I am removing the excess emissions vacuum stuff that I won't be needing, and have removed all the smog pump crap. Engine bay is looking much cleaner, although I still need to removed the computer harness and get a vacuum advance dist installed.
Time to get back to work, I am hoping to attempt to fire it up tonight.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Now I can truly post that she is a runner! My blog will have more info, but after some work this weekend it fired up and ran. I haven't moved it yet, and still have a bunch of things to do before she is road ready, but I have a total out of pocket of $205 and it is running.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
So the next steps are:
1. Replace choke housing on 'new' carb. The new one has a divorced choke, my old carb has electric and the car is set up for electric. Should be a quick swap.
2. Replace carb gasket. I reused the old one to test if it would fire, now it is time to grab a new one and swap it.
3. Replace computer HEI distributor with vacuum advance unit. My buddy is looking for the one that came with the carb he gave me, but worst case scenario I will steal the one off Krusty.
4. Install set of Edelbrock aluminum valve covers. My buddy sold me these for $50, and they are in really good shape. Should solve the oil leak issues from the cheap tin factory covers.
5. Drain oil and refill with break in oil. This is more for insurance, since I didn't tear the engine down to get it running.
6. Replace plugs.
7. Install plugs in exhaust manifold since AIR tubes are all removed.
I think that is it for engine side, I do still need body panels, but I should have a fender and headlight panel this week. Need to find a less expensive option for the front bumper cap, since Classic wants like $350 for it, not including shipping. Finally, once this stuff and some minor steering column work is complete, I need to get a set of tires installed on my 'new' Z28 5 spokes, and she will be ready for the road.
1. Replace choke housing on 'new' carb. The new one has a divorced choke, my old carb has electric and the car is set up for electric. Should be a quick swap.
2. Replace carb gasket. I reused the old one to test if it would fire, now it is time to grab a new one and swap it.
3. Replace computer HEI distributor with vacuum advance unit. My buddy is looking for the one that came with the carb he gave me, but worst case scenario I will steal the one off Krusty.
4. Install set of Edelbrock aluminum valve covers. My buddy sold me these for $50, and they are in really good shape. Should solve the oil leak issues from the cheap tin factory covers.
5. Drain oil and refill with break in oil. This is more for insurance, since I didn't tear the engine down to get it running.
6. Replace plugs.
7. Install plugs in exhaust manifold since AIR tubes are all removed.
I think that is it for engine side, I do still need body panels, but I should have a fender and headlight panel this week. Need to find a less expensive option for the front bumper cap, since Classic wants like $350 for it, not including shipping. Finally, once this stuff and some minor steering column work is complete, I need to get a set of tires installed on my 'new' Z28 5 spokes, and she will be ready for the road.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Going to rebuild the carb this weekend. This was caused by an attempt to start the car earlier this week, which resulted in needing to dump a small amount of fuel into the carb. Once the car starts it is fine, but it isn't getting the fuel to do the initial start. I looked down into the primaries, and see only a weak single stream from the accelerator pump, so I am fairly sure the carb is plugged up a bit.
I am also going to grab some pics of rebuilding it, and the old carb to show how bad it really was. Obviously I will throw on the electric choke and the new carb gasket at the same time. If it goes well I will drain the oil and refill with fresh break in oil. I am getting with my buddy to try to find the dist, and fight off more offers to buy the car from me. He has already offered to triple my money at $600, but I politely told him "HELL NO!!!".
I am also going to grab some pics of rebuilding it, and the old carb to show how bad it really was. Obviously I will throw on the electric choke and the new carb gasket at the same time. If it goes well I will drain the oil and refill with fresh break in oil. I am getting with my buddy to try to find the dist, and fight off more offers to buy the car from me. He has already offered to triple my money at $600, but I politely told him "HELL NO!!!".
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Got a few things accomplished:
Carb is rebuilt, but what a pain in the ass! I removed it Saturday morning and spent most of the day attempting to get it put back together. The only real problem was getting the primary metering rods into the primary jets, the spring makes it a royal pain and you can't see anything. After many attempts, and breaks to reduce frustration levels, my buddy came over and gave me a hand. Turns out it is easier if you have 3-4 hands. Once that part was in, it was a cake walk to get it put back together. I of course swapped the electric choke into place, but I assembled the secondary choke pull-off wrong, so I need to make a quick adjustment. It will be done later today. The plus is the car now starts/runs directly off the carb without requiring a splash of fuel. In fact it starts with little to no pumping of the gas, not even the 'normal' one to two pumps.
Replaced the fusible link running to the alternator, and confirmed that the alternator is working now. However, I found that the post on the back of the alternator was loose, so I need to pull it and tighten that down. I also found out it is a 94 amp diesel alternator, not the stock 85 amp that would have come with the car. Output is 14.4 volts at idle, so I am in good shape once that post is tightened down.
I installed the little spring wire that connects to the horn button, but found out that the horn itself is bad. I can hear the relay click, and I tested at the horn and I get power there, but no horn sound. I will grab a new horn when I get a chance and get it installed.
I grabbed a set of rubber valve cover gaskets, but haven't installed them yet. I have a set of Edelbrock aluminum valve covers, but I need to get a proper PCV valve grommet before I can use them. I also need to knock the baffle out of one so it can be used to fill the engine with oil. I have a K&N breather to use as an oil cap/vent, but haven't been able to find a grommet that will work. Just need to do a bit of research to find the right one. I will also be reversing the PCV valve side to the passenger side valve cover because of the routing of the heater hoses which makes it impossible to have a breather or oil cap on the back of the passenger valve cover.
Brass plugs are installed in the holes left from removing the AIR system. The car sounds much better without massive exhaust leaks from those manifolds.
Worked with my buddy to locate the vacuum advance distributor, and I will get it installed this week. Hopefully the ignition module is good on it, but I am sure I can figure something out if not. At least I know the engine runs now, so I can easily find the issue after swapping this out.
While we were looking for the distributor, we found an old cast iron water neck that only has one opening for temp stuff. It already has a plug installed where the opening is, which helps me not need to buy too many more plugs. I will install it with a new gasket and replace the t-stat with a new 160* unit.
I am waiting on the little follower that goes in the column to push the high beam selector rod, it was missing when I got the car. Once I get that, I can tear the column down and install it, as well as fix the sticky lock cylinder. Right now I need to manually turn the key back to run from start because it sticks.
So, a few things solved, and a few more issues found, but it is still forward moving progress since each step gets easier to solve.
I will post up a pic of the old carb later today, it was much worse than I had thought, the float was rusted and the interior of the carb was badly corroded.
Carb is rebuilt, but what a pain in the ass! I removed it Saturday morning and spent most of the day attempting to get it put back together. The only real problem was getting the primary metering rods into the primary jets, the spring makes it a royal pain and you can't see anything. After many attempts, and breaks to reduce frustration levels, my buddy came over and gave me a hand. Turns out it is easier if you have 3-4 hands. Once that part was in, it was a cake walk to get it put back together. I of course swapped the electric choke into place, but I assembled the secondary choke pull-off wrong, so I need to make a quick adjustment. It will be done later today. The plus is the car now starts/runs directly off the carb without requiring a splash of fuel. In fact it starts with little to no pumping of the gas, not even the 'normal' one to two pumps.
Replaced the fusible link running to the alternator, and confirmed that the alternator is working now. However, I found that the post on the back of the alternator was loose, so I need to pull it and tighten that down. I also found out it is a 94 amp diesel alternator, not the stock 85 amp that would have come with the car. Output is 14.4 volts at idle, so I am in good shape once that post is tightened down.
I installed the little spring wire that connects to the horn button, but found out that the horn itself is bad. I can hear the relay click, and I tested at the horn and I get power there, but no horn sound. I will grab a new horn when I get a chance and get it installed.
I grabbed a set of rubber valve cover gaskets, but haven't installed them yet. I have a set of Edelbrock aluminum valve covers, but I need to get a proper PCV valve grommet before I can use them. I also need to knock the baffle out of one so it can be used to fill the engine with oil. I have a K&N breather to use as an oil cap/vent, but haven't been able to find a grommet that will work. Just need to do a bit of research to find the right one. I will also be reversing the PCV valve side to the passenger side valve cover because of the routing of the heater hoses which makes it impossible to have a breather or oil cap on the back of the passenger valve cover.
Brass plugs are installed in the holes left from removing the AIR system. The car sounds much better without massive exhaust leaks from those manifolds.
Worked with my buddy to locate the vacuum advance distributor, and I will get it installed this week. Hopefully the ignition module is good on it, but I am sure I can figure something out if not. At least I know the engine runs now, so I can easily find the issue after swapping this out.
While we were looking for the distributor, we found an old cast iron water neck that only has one opening for temp stuff. It already has a plug installed where the opening is, which helps me not need to buy too many more plugs. I will install it with a new gasket and replace the t-stat with a new 160* unit.
I am waiting on the little follower that goes in the column to push the high beam selector rod, it was missing when I got the car. Once I get that, I can tear the column down and install it, as well as fix the sticky lock cylinder. Right now I need to manually turn the key back to run from start because it sticks.
So, a few things solved, and a few more issues found, but it is still forward moving progress since each step gets easier to solve.
I will post up a pic of the old carb later today, it was much worse than I had thought, the float was rusted and the interior of the carb was badly corroded.
Put in a hotter thermostat 160 is to low, car will never get to operating temp.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
The lack of airflow on these cars almost requires a low temp thermostat. There is only a few square inches of opening on the front, and I know for a fact that they have overheat issues. I may only go down to 180, but I may find that isn't low enough to keep the engine cool. I guess the biggest thing right now is just to get her back on the road and find out what happens.
They have a big air dam in the front to direct the flow to the radiator. i think from the factory the would have been in the 195 range. 160 does not get hot enough, thats like drag car temp.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Yes, when it is intact, but it is usually missing or broken, as is my case. It is also not available, so I would need to create something. The other problem lies in lowering the car, since the air damn is behind the bumper, as you lower it you loose airflow to the dam. All this is moot though, since I really need to see how she performs on road, and I can't do that until I get some body work done and finish this engine work.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Ok, I have been mentioning the carb that came with the car, and although I have it partially torn down I did grab some pics.
Throttle body looking at the base:
Float bowl and internal passages:
As you can see, it was pretty much just a junk carb. I can't imagine that much water got into the carb while it sat in the back of the Camaro, without having any water stains on the carpet or rear seat. Either way, I now have a carb that came off a 79 Vette, that ought to be good for 100 hp easily.
In all seriousness, I got the choke adjusted today and the car will start from cold without any pumping of the gas. The idle is a bit high at cold, running around 1500 RPM, but I don't want to change it until I get the distributor in and timing set.
Throttle body looking at the base:
Float bowl and internal passages:
As you can see, it was pretty much just a junk carb. I can't imagine that much water got into the carb while it sat in the back of the Camaro, without having any water stains on the carpet or rear seat. Either way, I now have a carb that came off a 79 Vette, that ought to be good for 100 hp easily.
In all seriousness, I got the choke adjusted today and the car will start from cold without any pumping of the gas. The idle is a bit high at cold, running around 1500 RPM, but I don't want to change it until I get the distributor in and timing set.
congrats... 
haha, looks like a marine carb!
I'll have to take a pic of these 2 carters at work... things actually ran and they are HUGE piles of corrosion...
haha, looks like a marine carb!
I'll have to take a pic of these 2 carters at work... things actually ran and they are HUGE piles of corrosion...
lectric80
3/4 ton status
I was blown away with how bad that looked, and I just don't know how long it would have taken to do that. I do know that the carb I put on sat on a shelf for at least 6-7 years before I picked it up. Aside from some bugs, that's the brownish stuff next to the carb in the pics, it showed no corrosion at all. I know the shed it was in is not watertight, so how long did this take to really corrode that far? This carb would have been on the car prior to the ethanol mandate, so it would never have been exposed to ethanol fuel, so it is just baffling.
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Ok, getting more work done, but I manage to make it not run anymore...
First up was the alternator fix, which was really not needed, the nut could have been tightened without removing the belt or the alternator. Not a big deal, got it fixed and the belt back on, then started and made sure I had charge flowing.
Next was installing the AC compressor. Went smooth and I restarted the engine to make sure I hadn't screwed anything up.
Finally it was time for the distributor swap. First up I removed the old controller for the EGR stuff, since it is no longer used. Then I pulled the cap and made a mental note of the position of everything. Pulled the distributor out, dropped the new one in, then replaced the retainer. Once that was done I installed the cap, plugged in the cables, and attempted to start it. It will crank for days, but it won't even sputter. Hooked up my timing light and watched for any sign of spark and didn't see any. Then I pulled #1 and grounded it while cranking, but still no spark.
This is the reason that I started the engine at each step, makes it much easier to troubleshoot at this point since the only change is the distributor. I reused my cap, coil and wires, so it can only be the pickup, ignition module, or something really simple. Going to work on it more on Friday, and I may just go grab a module later tomorrow to see if that's the issue. It may be since we didn't know if the module was any good on this distributor.
Also need to slide underneath and remove the last of the computer wiring harness connections. I don't know exactly what is down there beyond the lockup wiring, but I will find out once I get under there.
First up was the alternator fix, which was really not needed, the nut could have been tightened without removing the belt or the alternator. Not a big deal, got it fixed and the belt back on, then started and made sure I had charge flowing.
Next was installing the AC compressor. Went smooth and I restarted the engine to make sure I hadn't screwed anything up.
Finally it was time for the distributor swap. First up I removed the old controller for the EGR stuff, since it is no longer used. Then I pulled the cap and made a mental note of the position of everything. Pulled the distributor out, dropped the new one in, then replaced the retainer. Once that was done I installed the cap, plugged in the cables, and attempted to start it. It will crank for days, but it won't even sputter. Hooked up my timing light and watched for any sign of spark and didn't see any. Then I pulled #1 and grounded it while cranking, but still no spark.
This is the reason that I started the engine at each step, makes it much easier to troubleshoot at this point since the only change is the distributor. I reused my cap, coil and wires, so it can only be the pickup, ignition module, or something really simple. Going to work on it more on Friday, and I may just go grab a module later tomorrow to see if that's the issue. It may be since we didn't know if the module was any good on this distributor.
Also need to slide underneath and remove the last of the computer wiring harness connections. I don't know exactly what is down there beyond the lockup wiring, but I will find out once I get under there.
Did you put a rotor in it?, it doesn't say that you did so that is why I am asking 
