Ditto
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.
The Original Jaws Blazer Build
- Thread starter Chief Brody
- Start date
Ditto
But I think my tank is almost empty...guess I won't know until I drop the tank and actuall remove the sending unit.
Ahhhhh.....the beauty of a digital camera with a wide angle lens....solved the mystery of the choke lever removal, but the picture looks like it has waaaaaaaay more room than it does....I will have to remove it by feel:
Here are my findings for the overheating issue:
I started driving it cold and drove it until it heated up. At one point it hit about "210" and I saw the thermostat open when it dived back down to "190". I stopped and let it idle. The temp started to rise and it got to "220"...I started driving again to force air through the radiator and it did seem to cool down about 10 degrees but not back down to 190.
I drove it home and parked it. At one point it read "250". I ran and got my camera and the IR gun.
In the first picture the temp gauge reads 235.
The IR Gun reads 218.
At lower temperatures the gun was consistently 7~10 degrees cooler. With the engine off, when the gauge read 250 the IR gun read 230.
Then I noticed where the Temp sending unit was placed....do you think it is too close to the header? It may be picking up heat from the headers?
I started driving it cold and drove it until it heated up. At one point it hit about "210" and I saw the thermostat open when it dived back down to "190". I stopped and let it idle. The temp started to rise and it got to "220"...I started driving again to force air through the radiator and it did seem to cool down about 10 degrees but not back down to 190.
I drove it home and parked it. At one point it read "250". I ran and got my camera and the IR gun.
In the first picture the temp gauge reads 235.
The IR Gun reads 218.
At lower temperatures the gun was consistently 7~10 degrees cooler. With the engine off, when the gauge read 250 the IR gun read 230.
Then I noticed where the Temp sending unit was placed....do you think it is too close to the header? It may be picking up heat from the headers?
texas4x4rebel
1/2 ton status
If you pull the wire off the sending unit and check it with a ohm meter it should be close to zero ohms if the truck is low on fuel and around 90 if its full. If you pull the sending unit out u can also test it with an ohm meter the same way just sweep it from full to empty and then back to full and make sure the ohm meter reads continuous through the full sweep.
The overheating problem turned out to be a bad fan clutch...replaced it and it is running at 190 now 
more common than you might think... did you go with the HD version?
Keep a close eye on your waterpump....
I think I recall that a bad fan clutch can take the waterpump with it, so watch for signs of weeping coolant from the back side of the pump or any little puddles of bright green fluid on the ground when you park.
I think I recall that a bad fan clutch can take the waterpump with it, so watch for signs of weeping coolant from the back side of the pump or any little puddles of bright green fluid on the ground when you park.
I went with the standard because I read somewhere that I should not put a HD clutch on it....how does the HD work better?
By the way I found a 1974 Chevrolet Official Repair Manual....it is indespensable...more detailed than any aftermarket manual.
Keep a close eye on your waterpump....
I think I recall that a bad fan clutch can take the waterpump with it, so watch for signs of weeping coolant from the back side of the pump or any little puddles of bright green fluid on the ground when you park.
I'll keep an eye open for that...you know the strange thing is that all tests I did showed that the fan clutch should have been good....it gave resistance when I tried to spin the bladed by hand. THe problem is that it was stuck at that same resistance the whole time. It never varied speed and that's what I keyed in on. I watched it as the truck warmed up and when the thermostat opened and the radiator filled with hot water, the fan clutch didn't change speed...
When I took it off I tried spinning it by hand and it it did with resistance but that resistance never changed even when it was cold.
The new clutch felt entirely different...
usually the clutch rears it's head at slow speed/idle stuff, highway speed temps come back to normal.... ime, the HD's are MUCH more durable....
does the gauge appear to be accurate now compared to the IR?
does the gauge appear to be accurate now compared to the IR?
I'll check it with the IR....I was ecstatic when I couldn't get the temperature to go above the Thermostat..195 degrees...that's what the gauge was showing no matter what I did...a/c on and idling...and has just pure water in it right now...going to fix that today.
Well, after a couple of heli-coils in the thermostat housing she is bolted back down to factory torque.
With highway driving it is now running around 205 or 210 with the a/c running. That's not too bad.
I never did get the factory temp gauge working...although I did install a new temp sending unit in the thermostat housing and I found the wire that goes to the factory temp gauge in the dash. I grounded it and the gauge goes crazy spinning all over the place. But I am broke at the moment so it has to wait.
I got bad u-joints...one of them is squeaking real bad...that also has to wait...where can I buy Spicer U-Joints at a decent price...they want $60 each online...I hear some people can get them for $26...I don't know them people...
Meantime, while broke, I am setting up a top-hoist system patterned after Artzner's...
With highway driving it is now running around 205 or 210 with the a/c running. That's not too bad.
I never did get the factory temp gauge working...although I did install a new temp sending unit in the thermostat housing and I found the wire that goes to the factory temp gauge in the dash. I grounded it and the gauge goes crazy spinning all over the place. But I am broke at the moment so it has to wait.
I got bad u-joints...one of them is squeaking real bad...that also has to wait...where can I buy Spicer U-Joints at a decent price...they want $60 each online...I hear some people can get them for $26...I don't know them people...
Meantime, while broke, I am setting up a top-hoist system patterned after Artzner's...
The sender wire shouldn't be grounded (at least not directly). The sender wire goes to between the sender you just installed and the sender connector on the back of the gauge. There is usually an additional ground wire that goes from the gauge to a chassis ground.
When you deliberately short out a sender wire (to ground) the needle should swing to the low side of the gauge, and if you remove the sender wire it should swing to the high side of the gauge. It sounds from your description like the gauge is functional and you might just have the wires crossed-up.
When you deliberately short out a sender wire (to ground) the needle should swing to the low side of the gauge, and if you remove the sender wire it should swing to the high side of the gauge. It sounds from your description like the gauge is functional and you might just have the wires crossed-up.
I haven't got to the back of the gauge yet as I haven't took the instrument panel apart...I found two wires wrapped inside a wireguard coming through the firewall out under the hood and they were just laying there disconnected to anything.
The ends were melted on both, so I stripped the ends and touched one to ground and noticed the Temp gauge flutter and spin wildly. When I grounded the other wire there were sparks....it was a hot wire for something.
That's the only time the gauge will do anything is when I ground the wire...it doesn't work when I attach it to the temp sensor.
For what you plan to use this truck for, go to your local auto parts store and get a replacement u-joint. Preferable with the grease zerk in the end of the cap for easier greasing. With grease at every oil change it should last a long time. If you were going to wheel this truck moderate to hard I would suggest better but a $15 joint will work for you and get you back on the road to enjoy your truck. I don't suggest driving it with that squeak, it could fail in miles or feet. Mine failed in feet.
I finally got the top off...I modified Artzners design and made mine with a seperate wire fore each corner that comes back to a spindle that cranks all 4 at the same time.
All I could find for a spindle was a 4x4, apparently you can't buy round posts anymore:
All I could find for a spindle was a 4x4, apparently you can't buy round posts anymore:
Sweet!! looks like the 4x4 post works just fine too. 
Rene
Rene
Sweet!! looks like the 4x4 post works just fine too.
Rene
Yea...it was creaking when I first rolled it up...the wire rope digging into the corners for the first time. If I had to do it again, I would have used bearings on the spindle, but since it will only be used maybe twice a year, I didn't go out of my way to make it super nice.
I know everything is rated way above the actual weight limit, but I too am going to use some safety chains just in case the cable were to fail...those cable clamps and ferules just don't give me the security I like...i feel funny walking under it...
"Never saddle a dead horse...."
The clamp saddle goes on the "live" end of the cable, not the "dead" end. It's a minor point, but something worth fixing when you have a few extra minutes.
The clamp saddle goes on the "live" end of the cable, not the "dead" end. It's a minor point, but something worth fixing when you have a few extra minutes.
