E-Bodies.org Cuda Challenger Forum

OK..Here's the thread where I document all the dumb little fixes and things I've found wrong and want to change with my car.

Since I haven't had time to receive any parts yet, I'll start with the list of things I want to fix. No specific order.

Tachometer - bought 6/4/17. arrived 6/6/17

Accurate temp gauge - arrived 6/6/17

Fuel gauge - sending unit probably, but could just be the float. I'm going to try the brazed wire trick and replace the float first. Depending on the condition of the sending unit when I remove it.

Fix the oil leak in the intake/pcv/valve covers - ordered gaskets 6/5/17. received 6/10/17. installed (correctly this time) 8/24/17

Make the wipers work better - Funny thing, they only work on high speed and only go about halfway across the windshield

Bypass the amp meter in the dash - something clicks when I'm driving it and making the meter twitch. I'd like to have a regular volt meter in it's place.

Rebuild the shifter - I didn't say this in my original post because it made me feel dumb, but whatever. I thought I was cruising in second all the way from Indiana to Tennessee. Why? Well... "neutral" position for my shifter is the 3/4 shift and not 1/2. So I thought if I pushed left, I'd get reverse. As it turns out, I have to push left for 1/2 and SLAM it left for reverse. So that hurst is going to get pulled and probably replaced.

The driver's door handle quit working on the trip back and had to open the door from the passenger door. The mechanisms in both doors are screwed. Door lock doesn't work on the drivers door (no rods, but I bought them), the handle rod is detached (bought a full clip set for the doors) and the passenger door opens whether or not the lock lever is up or down. I've got to get in there and figure out what's wrong with all of it. received lock rods and door clips 6/10/17

Late EDIT: I've got a water leak directly above the rearview mirror. No idea why, but I'm going to remove that trim piece and hopefully I'll be able to find it.

That's the short list right now. I've got a Temperature gauge, tachometer, lock rods, and clips for the door on the way. I also want to get the windows tinted, but I need to get a new window clip kit and new window felt kit/weatherstripping so the tint won't get screwed up. It's just money, right?  :haha:

6/12 EDIT: Got parts! Door clip kit, lock rods, intake gasket, valve cover gasket, pcv valve, thermostat, fan clutch, tach, and temp gauge. All I need to buy now is a little gasket sealer and some automotive wires and I can get to work!

7/1 EDIT: Clutch safety switch doesn't work. Need to fix that. Brake lights aren't bright, so I'm going to get some LED bulbs. Also need to replace the passenger windshield wiper as it flew off in the rainstorm last night.  ::)

8/23 EDIT: Got wiring in the mail this week. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I'll be able to replace the intake gasket again and install the tach and new temperature gauge. The list of things I want to do to this car keep growing and growing. Now looking into a power steering with hydroboost setup when I do the 4 wheel disk brake conversion.

8/30 EDIT: Temp gauge installed and working, Tach installed (kinda) and working. Valve cover and intake manifold gaskets installed and sealing.

Looks like a very doable list of things to work on.  Good luck and let us know if you have any questions.  This might be of some help for the fuel gauge:

This has some good info on the shift linkage that might be of some assistance.


Section #13 and #14
https://www.e-bodies.org/resources/service-manuals-parts-catalogs-tsb/

Direct Link: http://www.e-bodies.org/Resources/Service_Manuals/1970_passenger_car_service_highlights_transmission_linkage_adjustment.pdf
Direct Link: http://www.e-bodies.org/Resources/Service_Manuals/1970_passenger_car_service_highlights_transmission.pdf

I will definitely be using those resources Cody! Thanks!

Bought some parts this week. Edited OP. Also bought a shed for my back yard that's going to hold all the junk I have to remove from the garage so I can keep the car in it. ha! Looks like the next few weeks are going to be spent putting together a shed. yaaaaaaay   ::)

Also noticed that it feels like my car excessively twists when I take off. Driver's side feels like it's trying to take off. I don't know..could be normal. I did see that the car has traction bars installed on the leaf springs. Was that a factory option?

No tractions bars from the factory. You might have some weak shocks.

Sounds like the shifter is normal to me
it is supposed to sit between 3/4 in neutral , it is spring loaded so if you push the straight forward out of 2nd it will go into 3rd not 1st , there isa second spring to compress to get into reverse ,clean it & lube it , should be all in needs .
I have often modified the rear leafs by adding 2 or more 1/2 leafs going forward only then clamp them tight with a square top U bolt this can seriously aid traction .

my thought on the leak: e-bodies are notorious for rotting out the lower front and rear window frames. since you'll have the trim off and possibly the glass, it might be a good time to assess those corners and make sure they are solid too. 

As soon as I get my garage cleaned out and get the car in there, I'm going to pull the shifter and have a look. I didn't realize that neutral is 3/4. Either way, the thing is sloppy as hell and precision is looooong gone. I'll probably replace the linkage bushings too. I noticed it kinda pops when shifting into 3rd. I'll figure it all out when I get it apart. I'm not even going to hide it. I'm scared to put my foot down in the thing. I feel like I'm gonna break it. Wouldn't need traction bars with the way I drive it.

That's not what I wanted to hear about the leak. It's bothering me, but I don't want to take the glass out at all. I guess if I have to to replace the seal, then I have to. Hopefully pulling a few of the interior trim pieces will tell me everything I need to know.

Thanks for the help, guys.

I looked under the dash yesterday when I got my temp gauge. That was a mistake. There are loose connectors, random loose wires, nasty wires, etc. I think I saw some audio wires stuffed under the carpet. What a mess  ::)

I need to run a wire to the tach from the coil so I can hook it up when it gets here. I need to locate the temp gauge sensor and replace it with the new one that came with the gauge I bought..hopefully I can reuse that wire and splice into the one at the dash. I also need to rewire the charging system and put a volt meter where the amp meter is. I'm probably going to do all of this at once while I'm feeling up to playing with electricity. I'd like to put a radio in, but there's no way I'll hear a radio over that freight train of a car at 70mph. Where does everyone get their auto wires? Do you guys buy spools of red, black, and white? And would it make sense for me to buy a new harness for the dash on this side of the bulkhead connector? I'm going to eventually put a modern hemi in it, so I'm not sure if I want to get a new harness or limp this one along until I can make the swap.

On to cooling. It's got a clutch fan, but I think the clutch is broken. It spins all the time. I noticed while driving it in 90 degree weather last Sunday that the temp stayed on C, then rose to middle, then crept above middle and didn't look like it was going to stop. All happened within 30 miles traveling at 75mph. First thing I'm going to do is replace the temp gauge and brass sensor so I can see if the stock gauge is messed up. If the new gauge reads too hot, I'll look at a new clutch fan or dual electric ford contour fan setup, but not after I replace the thermostat when I replace the intake manifold and valve cover gaskets.

Another thing I noticed is that my oil pressure gauge pegs at zero when I stop sometimes. I think it's because the oil is a half to a full quart low and dipping just below the sump so it sucks in enough air to read zero for a second. I didn't hear any valve chatter to indicate the pressure is indeed zero and I checked the oil before I left on that trip so I know it had oil in it. Don't know what to do about that other than fix the oil leak and hope it stops happening.

Haven't actually done anything yet. Still collecting parts and building that stupid shed in the back yard so I can fit the car in the garage.

EDIT: The horn and left turn signal both don't work. Just adding it to the list.

Fan clutches are pretty cheap and that's an easy fix. 

I don't like the oil pressure going to zero.  That would be my goal to fix.   :alan2cents:

Quote from: Cuda Cody on June 07, 2017, 10:44:11 AM
Fan clutches are pretty cheap and that's an easy fix. 

I don't like the oil pressure going to zero.  That would be my goal to fix.   :alan2cents:

That makes the most sense. I'm going to replace the intake manifold gasket, the pcv valve, and the valve cover gaskets in hopes of fixing the oil burning/leaking problem. It's fine when the oil level is up to the "full" mark on the dipstick. Any less than that it seems to get finicky.

I'm not sure if I want a clutch fan or an electric fan setup yet. I guess the absolute easiest and cheapest option out of the gate is to find a clutch and replace it.

Clutch fans are FAR more efficient thanany electric fan , grab a clutch from Rock auto use discount code ebodfrm

ebodfrm?  Where did you get that code?   ;)  It's "EBODIES" for 5% off...  http://www.rockauto.com/?a=ebodies

Quote from: Chryco Psycho on June 07, 2017, 09:24:46 PM
Clutch fans are FAR more efficient thanany electric fan , grab a clutch from Rock auto use discount code ebodfrm

Ebodies expired
used Ebodfrm 2 days ago nowI cannot find the where the updated code is  :bricks:

I couldn't find a code here that would work. EBODIES hasn't worked last two times I've tried, so I had to use one from a Chevy site. Sorry I forgot to ask @Cuda Cody (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/cuda-cody_1). If you have to ban me ill understand :lurking:

Quote from: rebelyell on June 08, 2017, 07:50:38 AM
I'm totally ignorant when it comes to electricity. It's voodoo and I hate it.

:haha:  :rofl: I completely agree!!

The clutch fan moves a ton more air & unouples when not needed , by far the best solution .
Cooling Depot from Rock Auto is what I would use 
You can buy spools of wire anywhere

Edited OP

Quote from: rebelyell on June 04, 2017, 09:49:42 AM


Make the wipers work better - Funny thing, they only work on high speed and only go about halfway across the windshield

Thats what my wipers did also, never got to it, before I took the whole car apart. And they made a lot of noise.

Welllll..

Got the driver door fixed. Lock and handle both work. I think someone replaced a lot on the passenger side. When I pulled the door off, the inside was blue (car was purple) and the lock cylinder won't turn with the key, so I assume that was replaced as well. Explains why the locking plate was bent outward so it wouldn't engage.

Does someone make locks based on the key?

Also, the clutch fan I bought is too long. Have to take it back and find another one. Yaaaaay.

Take the lock to any autol ocksmith with the key you need it set to & it will take a few minutes

 :iagree:   :bigthumb:

Quote from: Chryco Psycho on June 12, 2017, 06:10:36 PM
Take the lock to any autol ocksmith with the key you need it set to & it will take a few minutes

I didn't know they did that with old cars. I'll look into it today. Thanks!

In other news. I topped off the oil last night while working through the fan clutch debacle and I notice this little puddle here this morning. I'm assuming it's an oil pan gasket leak. If it's not that, it's a rear main. I'm leaning toward oil pan gasket because it's sitting on a rearward incline and I haven't started it in a week. What do you guys think?

Quote from: rebelyell on June 13, 2017, 05:29:39 AM
I topped off the oil last night while working through the fan clutch debacle and I notice this little puddle here this morning. I'm assuming it's an oil pan gasket leak. If it's not that, it's a rear main. I'm leaning toward oil pan gasket because it's sitting on a rearward incline and I haven't started it in a week. What do you guys think?

I hope its the pan gasket because the rear main is a PITA to change.  Check the pan bolts first before you pull it, sometimes they just work their way loose.

Is it motor oil? looks like it could be right under the brake master cylinder. Doesn't look far enough in under the car for an engine oil leak.

Should be easy to see where it's coming from once you get under it.  Hopefully not a rear main seal.   :fingerscrossed:

Definitely motor oil. I added a half quart last night and the puddle appeared this morning.

I hope it's not the rear main. First thing I'm going to do is tighten the oil pan bolts and pray. If it's leaking that much over night, I should be able to see a visible leak.

Becareful not to overtighten I think oil pan bolts torque to 16 ft lbs

Finally found a clutch fan that will work. Rockauto had it cheaper than anywhere else. Hayden 2947..the low pro model. Hopefully this helps.

Crawled up under the car today and the oil leak is coming from the middle of the transmission where the shift rods connect to the housing. No idea how oil is getting there.  :notsure:

Got the clutch fan installed today. Wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Seems to be working fine. Now I need to get my oil issues figured out.

I deleted my previous post, you have a manual right?, not an automatic, I read the thread from the start again. 
But if the oil get that far from the engine it might come from somewhere higher up, like the valve cover or so, my tranny was all oily from a leak in the oil pan gasket though, probably got back there while driving.

Where the speedo cable attaches is a common leak area.

Could be trans oil, do you know how much & what is in the trans ?

Quote from: Chryco Psycho on June 18, 2017, 04:57:20 PM
Could be trans oil, do you know how much & what is in the trans ?

No, I don't. Doesn't smell like gear oil.

I know two things.
1) The puddle appeared the morning after I put in a half quart of oil. That tells me it's engine oil.
2) I need to replace the intake and valve cover gaskets. I know they are leaking.

It doesn't make sense to me that those gaskets are what's causing the puddle unless the oil is draining to the back of the engine first and out of the busted intake gasket before running down the trans.

I find it best to clean everything really well and take it for a drive.  Once it's parked you can put a clean piece of cardboard under it then when it leaks you'll be able to see from where because everything is clean.

Quote from: Cuda Cody on June 19, 2017, 10:00:44 AM
I find it best to clean everything really well and take it for a drive.  Once it's parked you can put a clean piece of cardboard under it then when it leaks you'll be able to see from where because everything is clean.

Right. I can analyze it for days behind a keyboard, but this is the only way to really understand what's going on.

Edited OP

If I can help while I am there next week I am happy to  :cool:

Quote from: Chryco Psycho on July 01, 2017, 08:34:25 PM
If I can help while I am there next week I am happy to  :cool:

:unbelievable:  Wow, that's incredibly generous of you. Thanks for the offer.

If I was in Savannah with my car this week, I might take you up on it. I'm actually in Monroe until the 4th.

Let me know !

Quote from: rebelyell on July 02, 2017, 07:49:19 PM

Quote from: Chryco Psycho on July 01, 2017, 08:34:25 PM
If I can help while I am there next week I am happy to  :cool:

:unbelievable:  Wow, that's incredibly generous of you. Thanks for the offer.

If I was in Savannah with my car this week, I might take you up on it. I'm actually in Monroe until the 4th.

He will be in Loganville starting on the 4th. Do you have your car in Monroe?

You know.. I think I knew what he meant. I don't know what I was thinking when I replied. I knew he was going to be up here. Anyway.. sorry to say that my car is in Savannah. Let me look around a bit to see where/when you guys are meeting and I might be able to drive by.

I screwed up the intake gasket install this weekend. Put on the gaskets with the belly pan in between the four of them, put rtv on the block, bolted the pan in place, put rtv on the top of the gasket, and when I went to set the intake on the car I noticed that the new belly pan gasket was different from the old one.

See how there's a hole in the middle on each side? WEEELLLL, the one I just bolted to the car didn't have it.
(https://forum.e-bodies.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jegs.com%2Fimages%2Fphotos%2F300%2F312%2F312-P4286826.jpg&hash=2f666a5660a13c6058b8b06660a704875070e96d)

Cleaned off the (dried) rtv as best I could, used the old belly pan gasket, slapped some more rtv on there and bolted it up. Needless to say the car won't run right anymore, so I'm going to take it apart again when I get the new gasket in. Seems to have developed a miss and the exhaust just sounds wrong. Time consuming lesson learned in checking parts before bolting them on.

Since I have to replace the gasket again, I'm considering buying one of these...https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-7193/overview/make/dodge


Also, I have to drill and tap the head for a new valve cover bolt seeing as the previous owner broke that one. But it's ok... it's in the back up under the firewall.

You can usually re-use those gaskets, maybe it's been done before. Had you considered drilling the new one? It sounds like the heat crossover passage was missing, that is a common mod for warm climate cars but the automatic choke won't work correctly.

That's exactly what it was. Heat crossover passage was missing. I've read that it almost needs to be blocked off for an aluminum intake and it essentially makes it a warm weather motor. Didn't know it affected the auto choke.

I used the old belly pan gasket to get it back together, but it doesn't run right.

The choke well coil is heated by the air in that passage, when it gets warm the coil expands and pulls the choke off. I would just drill the hole in the new gasket but it sounds like you have one coming anyway. Did the old gasket you took off use the paper gaskets? I wouldn't bother with them if it didn't use them before.

I'm going to pull the paper gaskets, RTV the hell out of everything, and reuse the old gasket.

Old gasket was just RTV, but it leaked.

That is exactly why I gave you that part # it blocks the heat crossover & the engine will run better except got eh first 2 minutes while it warms up , you can use an electric choke if you feel you need a choke .
I basically always block the crossover , it is hard enough to get these car to start with todays junk fuel  when they are warm anyway without overheating the carb with exhaust heat running below them .
Also silicone is not good around fuel either , I will use a little below the ports to keep the oil out but do not go crazy

Guess I freaked out over nothing. That's good information to know. I had read somewhere that an aluminum intake gets the most from blocking that off. I'm tempted to just spend the 315 and get a new intake, but then I have to make sure the rest of the setup is matched to it when all I want to do is put in a new hemi. May just buy another gasket and be done with it now that I know it's supposed to be that way.

Sorry I did not give you more info upfront , I gave you the part # because that is what would work best but if you do not understand why I made the mistake .
If you need help installing a 3rd gen Hemi I have done that & I am glad to help .

Nothing to be sorry about! I appreciate the help. Looks like I'll get the new gasket next week and get to it a few days after that.

This week is going to be installing the new temp gauge and tachometer as well as replacing the intake gasket. Here goes nothing.  :fingerscrossed:

Also edited OP

Temp gauge installed and functional. Tach kinda installed (need to fab a bracket so I can mount with a hose clamp) and functional.

I think the valve cover gaskets were the source of my oil leak. I'll run them through one more heat cycle tomorrow on the way to work and tighten everything down at lunch. Everything is working great and I'm having a bit of fun now. Turns out the "miss" was one of my spark plug wires grounding on the exhaust manifold.  ::)

Now I'm going to Fix the water leak on the windshield and trunk while saving for the Dakota Digital rallye gauge conversion (new dash wiring harness?) and maybe get the shifter rebuilt.

Edited OP again.

I'm going to go ahead and tackle this problem. Drove the car yesterday and again noticed that when I come to a stop, the oil pressure gauge drops to zero for a few seconds. After the oil has a change to settle back down, the gauge comes back up again. Outside of getting a new oil pan and pump, do yall have any idea how to fix this? The dipstick still reads on the high side of safe, so to keep from getting the pressure drop I fill it a little higher than usual.

It's normal for hot oil pressure to drop to a lower PSI when idling compared to running at higher RMP.  Before you change anything mechanical, are you sure the oil pressure gauge is accurate and you have the correct dip stick length?

Right, I wouldn't have even brought it up if it weren't dropping to zero when I stopped. Oil pressure works with rpms. I'm not sure I have the right dipstick, but I'm fairly certain the gauge is correct. Says about 75 psi running 75 down the interstate at 3500ish rpms.  I guess I could go pick up a new one and confirm it.

First thing that popped into my head is what oil filter are you running?  I have seen fram oil filters fail internally and read zero oil pressure. But you say you have 75psi at 3000rpm so I doubt that is the issue...?  If you had zero oil pressure I'd think you would hear a noisy valve train assuming your using a hydraulic cam.

My 67 GTX did that, the oil light would flicker when coming to a hard stop. That car was missing the windage tray, when I installed a windage tray the problem went away. So it was obviously uncovering the pickup on a hard stop. That oil pan didn't have baffles either so I am betting you have no baffling in the oil pan or windage tray either.

Quote from: Brads70 on September 25, 2017, 05:02:32 PM
First thing that popped into my head is what oil filter are you running?  I have seen fram oil filters fail internally and read zero oil pressure. But you say you have 75psi at 3000rpm so I doubt that is the issue...?  If you had zero oil pressure I'd think you would hear a noisy valve train assuming your using a hydraulic cam.

I have no idea what's been done to the motor. All I've been told is that it's a 413 RB motor, but the casting number on the intake manifold tells me it's a 440, and I can't find any references on the cylinder head casting numbers.

I "tested" it by letting the motor run a little low on oil and coming to a hard stop at a stop sign. Once the oil pressure dropped to zero it stayed for a little longer than a few seconds and then I heard valve chatter. I immediately pulled over and added oil.

Quote from: RUNCHARGER on September 25, 2017, 05:42:10 PM
My 67 GTX did that, the oil light would flicker when coming to a hard stop. That car was missing the windage tray, when I installed a windage tray the problem went away. So it was obviously uncovering the pickup on a hard stop. That oil pan didn't have baffles either so I am betting you have no baffling in the oil pan or windage tray either.

I'm leaning more toward something like this being the culprit. I think there's something in the oil pan allowing the oil to remove itself from the pump. When it briefly drops to zero, what's left in the pump (valleys?) is still getting to the top of the motor until the oil can settle back to where it should be and be picked up again.

I have to buy another valve cover gasket set, so I'll add an oil pan gasket set to the order.

What's the "eye" in the bottom right of my switch panel? I've seen some with and some without. Doesn't look like it does anything.

Quote from: rebelyell on September 28, 2017, 05:43:44 AM
What's the "eye" in the bottom right of my switch panel? I've seen some with and some without. Doesn't look like it does anything.

That's where the rear defroster or convertible top switches would be.

Right... so this thing doesn't do anything?

Quote from: rebelyell on September 28, 2017, 04:04:10 PM
Right... so this thing doesn't do anything?

nope, you could tell your kids it's the ejector seat and to never press it! :D

Quote from: Brads70 on September 28, 2017, 04:24:59 PM

Quote from: rebelyell on September 28, 2017, 04:04:10 PM
Right... so this thing doesn't do anything?

nope, you could tell your kids it's the ejector seat and to never press it! :D

                                        :haha:     :rofl:

Quote from: Brads70 on September 28, 2017, 04:24:59 PM

Quote from: rebelyell on September 28, 2017, 04:04:10 PM
Right... so this thing doesn't do anything?

nope, you could tell your kids it's the ejector seat and to never press it! :D

:haha: This is exactly the kinda dad I'm gonna be.

Looks like the perfect location for a switch for cutouts!  :yes:

Quote from: Rev-It-Up on September 29, 2017, 06:41:47 AM
Looks like the perfect location for a switch for cutouts!  :yes:

I did that but for my A518 Over Drive switch although added my exhaust cutout switch further to the right

I acquired another switch and will be using it for my fog lights. 

Any update on the oil pan pull / oil pressure problem ?

I got the car on stands in the air last week and started loosening bolts. Couldn't even access the front bolts. No way to get up there. Tried 3 different angles and 5 tools. Gave up and decided I would be best served topping the oil off every time.

1/4 drive ratchet & short socket should get it
unless the mounts are shot & the engine is sitting lower than normal

Figured I'd post an update since I haven't been on here in a while. Had to spend money on other things, so the Rallye gage conversion has stopped for now. With the oil issue being the main one, I have gotten the oil to stop leaking around the valve cover. I have not, however, gotten the oil to stop coming out of the valve cover bolts.  :rofl: I guess I'm going to buy some rubber grommets and seal the bolts on the low side.

Does 75 psi at 3k rpm seem high to you guys for a 413RB motor?

No , 74 psi is normal

 :iagree:   :yes:

What are you guys using for fuel sending units? I see the one from classic industries, but I have zero concern for it being original. If there's something better, I'd rather use it.

Still haven't fixed the valve cover bolt oiling issue. Just too cold to mess with it.


Also, since my car doesn't have any horns, is it possible to hook up a single horn from a new car? Again, I don't need original. Just want something that works and looks good.

 as always contact Dave @ Roseville for the sender
any horn should work fine

 :iagree:  @MoparDave (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/mopardave_10)  is the man that will take good care of you.   :yes:

Quote from: rebelyell on July 12, 2018, 04:46:37 PM
Tailpipe is definitely sucking air, which indicates a burnt valve. Don't think that's going to be a cheap fix. Going to test compression this weekend to verify. Need to do a leakdown test, but a compression test plus these symptoms should be all I need to know.  :crying:

Wishing you the best of luck, keep us posted.

Guess it's time to update this thread. Lots have happened since the last update. Had the heads rebuilt by Carolina Machine Engine. Man.. having heads that actually seal made a HUGE difference in the sound at idle. https://flic.kr/p/2c7FUMt (https://flic.kr/p/2c7FUMt)

Got new heads, which means I needed new pushrods..which required new lifters...which required a new cam. So now I have a slightly larger than stock cam and matched lifters, and new pushrods. While I had it all off, I found a used but brand new Edelbrock 7193 intake manifold. Learned a LOT about putting an engine together this summer. Last couple of weeks taught me a lot about timing. I still need to fine tune the idle and timing and this thing should really scream. I'll do that once a fix another few things.

As I was breaking in the cam, I noticed the lower radiator hose was collapsing. Almost certain this is why it overheated in the first place. Two trips to the auto parts store and that part is fixed. Still runs down the highway at 190deg with a 160 t-stat. Probably related to timing and that I hadn't installed the fan shroud yet. Either way, I have to use thermocure and the prestone stuff I bought to clean the rust and stuff from the block. The filtered water I put in looks like ground up cheeto's.

Now on to the list. Sending unit I replaced last April leaks...bad. I'm thinking I need a thicker gasket to seal it. While I'm on fuel duty, I might have to replace the tank. The fuel filter gets orange very fast.

I have a busted brake line over the rear axle that needs to be fixed. I'll crawl up under it in a few days and figure out if it's a rubber line or a hard line. Neither will be difficult to replace...part of owning a 47 year old car.  Once I fix those two things, I'll fine tune the timing and idle. Now may be a good time to look at adding a brake booster into the mix to make braking less like leg day at the gym.

Since all my oil leaks are fixed, (Moroso valve cover gaskets are amazing, by the way) I'll start on this rat's nest of wires called a "harness." Finally bought the last dash piece I need to convert to rallye gauges. Going with the Dakota Digital unit, but I won't buy that until I follow Mad Electrical's amp meter bypass and charging system upgrade, including moving the battery to the trunk. This winter is as good a time as any to learn Voodoo.

There's the short list. For the TL;DR crowd..

1. Heads rebuilt, upgraded cam and intake. Sounds amazing...runs ok. Needs timing adjusted.
2. Fix busted brake line and sending unit leak.
3. Remove cooling system of rust.
4. Clean and rewire engine bay...install dakota digital gauges with rallye conversion.

Big thanks to @Chryco Psycho (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/chryco-psycho_4) for the pep talk as I was breaking in my cam on Sunday. Really good guy and great to talk to.

Quote from: Chryco Psycho on October 02, 2019, 09:30:53 PM
The Only reason to move the perches outward would be a different diff housing so they didn't have to move the seats on the housing ... Lazy
Please don't waste your $$ On an Eddy Carb , Anything else is better

Noted. I'll replace it with another Holley

Or better yet a Proform or Quickfuel , Mancini used to have great prices on Proform but I have not checked in a while

Haven't touched the car in weeks after this latest development. I noticed a faint smell of gas in the oil right after I got it back from the shop, but dismissed it as I had just been fixing the fuel sending unit leak.

Well..it turned out to be gas. When the car was idling in the driveway burping the system, I put a temp gun on each exhaust manifold tube to see how hot it was getting. Cylinder 6 was over 80 degrees cooler than the other 7 cylinders. Pulled the valve cover to make sure the rocker arm was on the push rod and put it all back together when I confirmed it was. Now the car is sitting in the garage with time to think about what it's done.

Theories: 1. Spark plugs are new, but could be a bad plug. 2. Wires aren't new, but hooked up my timing light to confirm current flow. Could be the connection between the wire and the plug. 3. Now that the cylinder heads are sealing, I blew a piston ring. Going to do a compression test on that cylinder to confirm/deny. 4. Something came loose when installing the cylinder heads and banged around in that cylinder long enough to punch a hole.

My best guess is that the spark is somehow not happening in that cylinder. I'm just too frustrated to do anything with it for the moment.

80* compared to what 400* on the other cylinders ?
Could be over fueling , think Oxy Act torch , more fuel is cooler , you said the carb was not good , might have a fuel leak running into #6 cylinder could be just rich  :thinking:

Now thats an idea I havent thought of. How would I test for that?

All other cylinders are 380 and #6 is 280-300.

compare plug color  :thinking:

Going to check the plugs tonight. In the meantime, I'm looking at buying this carb..https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pro-67214/overview/

Left plug is from the bad cylinder. Right one is from #4.

Gap was all screwed up and I dont know why. I regapped it and put it back. Going to change the oil soon and try to run it again and see what happens.

There you go , improper gap will cause misfire = less heat  :twothumbsup:

All seems to be well on the test drive today. Temp hit 200, then immediately came down to 180 where it stayed. Engine runs better on 8 cylinders than 7. Who would have thought? It's pretty quick. Afraid to drive it hard though, so I'll just cruise in it for the time being.

So I'm going to let it ride for a bit until I can check out black friday deals on car parts that I'm looking for.
Carb OR Fitech
Lokar throttle cable and bracket
Headers with 3.5" collectors. OR find somebody to fix the ones I have.
valve covers
Aeromotive fuel tank
MAD Electrical's rewiring kit
battery relocation kit
front suspension parts

Often a plug gets dropped & then the gap is not checked , likely what happened
I am happy it is now working well for you .  :cooldance:
Holley Sniper is another option , it is hard not to go to EFI these days , the price is getting far more reasonable & it will run better than a carb / any carb  :bigthumb:

Thanks! And you're probably right about the plug. Good chance I overlooked the gap in my haste or frustration in getting the plugs around the exhaust manifolds.

Just going to get the Proform 850 carb for now. I need to upgrade the entire wiring and fuel system before I go EFI.

Anyone have tips on how to get collectors to seal? I smacked the edge of a trailer with the headers and now they won't seal. Tried copper gaskets, but that didn't work very well. Next step is to check the exhaust flange face with a straight edge and hammer into compliance then reattach with annealed aluminum gaskets.

I would try that too flatten the surface as much as possible . use Alum gaskets with Copper silicone you could cut the flange off & use clamps also like these

Update:

Leaky breather looks fixed to me. Drove it a little yesterday and there's no oil coming from that side.

New carb is on. Holley 4160, 750cfm. Drove it to the gas station and back and it needs some tuning. At cruise, it pops like it's misfiring and isn't smooth at all. It starts and idles fine. WOT is fine. Cruising is bad.

Going to buy one of those tailpipe O2 sensor adapters and borrow a wideband from a friend to figure out what's going on. Knew it wouldn't be as easy as bolting it on.

I give up. I'm over this damn thing. Ready to burn it to the ground.

Replaced the spark plugs. Compression check on all cylinders says 110+. Replaced the spark plug wires. Ran them all pretty and nice. Got the car warmed up in the driveway, then set the idle mixture on the carb. Highest vacuum, then back out 1/8th of a turn. Drove it to the gas station last night and it ran better than it ever has before.

Drove it to work this morning and about 5 miles into the drive, it won't idle. It pops and acts like it's on 2 cylinders. I KNOW the plugs are fouled again. Probably several of the electrodes are bent too. Don't know why that keeps happening.

But I quit. I'm over it. Taking the damn thing to the speed shop near savannah and letting them fix it.  :pullinghair:

Quote from: rebelyell on January 17, 2020, 05:41:24 AM
Probably several of the electrodes are bent too. Don't know why that keeps happening.
  :pullinghair:

If you're getting bent electrodes on the plugs, you have something more than just a bad tune. I would look to make sure there's not something(screw, nut, etc.) in the cylinders. Are you sure you're using the right plugs and they're not sticking too far into the cylinder or something? It pretty much takes something physical to bend them.

Corey

I bore scoped all the cylinders this weekend after pulling and checking the plugs. There were no obvious dings or scratches anywhere and no more bent electrodes. Only left to assume that whatever was there and bent the electrodes went out the exhaust sometime. The plugs are BLACK from fuel fouling. I'm beyond my abilities in carb tuning at this point. 

Don't give up on carb tuning.  You have a great carb to do it with.
Keep asking questions, maybe make a new post just about the specific problem.  Maybe more comments.
Carbs suck but it's all a turn here and a turn there and take this apart and change this and that and back and forth again and again. Eventually it tunes out.  Takes me forever to get a carb tuned.  YOU CAN DO IT !!!

Thanks @cuda hunter (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/cuda-hunter_176)

I'm just going to have to either send it off to someone who has the stuff or spend $200+ on an AFR setup to find where I'm at plus whatever other carb parts I'll need.

What are everyone's thoughts on un-fouling plugs fouled by fuel? Can I wire brush them clean so they'll spark again?

Quote from: rebelyell on June 28, 2020, 02:57:02 PM
Thought I'd update.

Put the new Holley up for sale. Tuned it and tuned it until both idle mixture screws were 1/8 turn from all the way in. Still fouled plugs. So I put the old carb back on and am going to run it as is until I can get the funds to do a 6.1 hemi swap. At least I can drive it now.

I tried cleaning the plugs. Even burned the ends with a torch. Just didn't trust it. Put in new plugs and it ran fine on the few trips I've taken it on.

Did you ever try changing out (down sizing) the primary jets on the Holley, or was adjusting the idle mixture screws the extent of your tuning?

Mixture screws is the extent of my know how. And that was a reach.

It's fairly simple to change out the main jets on the holley.  I'm sure some of us here can guide you through it. There are only 5 screws to remove to get to that main jet. 
I'm sure that would help change what's happening. 

Thanks guys. I'd have to go down to a 68 or 70. And at $9/a set, plus plugs if I foul them again..

I'm a little sick of tuning it. The headers make swapping plugs a pain and I'd need a wideband to do it right.

I'll have all the money saved up for a hemi swap in a year. Rather cruise and enjoy it now while the weather is nice. Might deal with it again over winter.

Next up is a call to MAD electrical so I can upgrade the wiring and start installing supporting hemi mods. Mainly move the battery to the trunk, install the electric fuel pump/new tank, and dakota digital gauges for fun..maybe AC. I don't trust the factory charging system to handle all of that.

I don't know the specifics on your combo, but would guess that the primary jets on a Holley 750 are too big for what you need.  Holleys are generally set up rich right out of the box, which makes sense.  Its better for them to err on the rich side than to burn things up running too lean.  You are correct though, a wide band meter makes the process a whole lot easier.

It's just a 413 short block, 440 heads and a edelbrock performer RPM intake. Comp cams little beefier than stock cam. Absolutely nothing special. I'm afraid to even floor it.

I don't doubt that the jets are too big, but I don't want to put any more money into that engine unless I absolutely have to. I'd rather sell that carb and use that money to pay for the new wiring and some of the gas tank.