Project Beast Car - My 73 'Cuda Restomod

[rdf]

Horse apiece.  I would bend the tubes, but I wouldn't have it bolted to the carb.  I'd drill a tube size hole through the middle of two stacked pieces of wood or plastic to form a holder/die for the tube in the vise.  Clamp it, then grab the tube and bend it up 1/4" or so to clear the boss on the inake.  repeat on other tube so they are in line.  You may be able to use the carb with the tubes mounted as the holder, but be careful about damaging the bowl.  If it is steel tube it will take a bit of effort to bend that short arm.

There are probably a few other ways to accomplish it too. 
Adding a carb spacer should get the pipe out of the way.  Edelbrock makes a 5/16" insulating one in versions for single or dual plane or if you have the hood clearance a 1" wood/phenolic would help top end HP in most cases.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-9265?seid=srese1&gclid=CjwKCAjwsO_4BRBBEiwAyagRTTHgVDAKVbJoNkeWRNrlVIm6i6IBNObz-xDEuEfcZtZEf8PnW1FvHxoCyX0QAvD_BwE

I thought about the spacer late last night and tried it out (wife thought I was nuts for getting up out of bed at 11pm to try it, lol) and it does work but I'll have to see what's the smallest size I can get and still do what I want to do.  I have a 1" and it sticks out too much.

[rdf]

I ended up grinding the edge off just enough to get the tube to fit.  Didn't interfere with the threaded hole and once touched up, it looks pretty good.

Also ran into an issue replacing the motor mounts...took the passenger side off and noticed the mount was welded to the bracket   so initially I was just going to order a new set of brackets but after looking at it, I felt I could grid off the welds and be ok.  So that's what I did...I think it came out ok, what do y'all think?

Also ended up calling AutoMeter for my ops unit and they sent me the right one for my gauge so I'll be putting that in tomorrow along with a few other things.

[rdf]

Another solid weekend of work in the books.  We were able to get the transmission dip stick installed along with the headers, spark plugs, starter relay (thanks to those that answered my question in another thread), and gas tank.  Got some of the brake lines in but ran into fitting issues with the Wilwood proportioning valve.  The lines are new from Inline Tube and are bent to be like from the factory but the valve doesn't line up at all.  We would've had to cut and flare the lines and I didn't think it was worth it at this point.  So we ended up using the old valve but I'm in search of a replacement in case anyone knows where I can get one.  Mine looks like the pic below.  Also, in the last pic....what is it and do I need it?  It came off my old gas tank but I'm not sure it was even used when the car was running.

Got some more parts on order and probably won't be back at it for another week or so but I'm excited to see the car getting closer to being started!  I have more questions but can't think of them right now.  I'll be sure to post when I can remember them 😂😂

[rdf]

That is called a vapor separator.  It's what vents the gas tank.  The tank needs to be vented.  Don't throw it away.  There is a valve inside that lets the fuel vapors travel to the charcoal canister in the engine compartment.  If the charcoal canister is removed, the tank will still vent but the vapors will be open to the air.

Soak your vapor separator in EvapoRust to clean out the inside.  The valve(check ball) inside only allows air to pass through it in the middle of its travel.  It will block air flow when the check ball is against its seats.  You can block all but two of the nipples, then suck/blow through it.  You should hear/feel the check ball moving.

After installing the new tank I remembered we had this discussion a while back.  Thanks again for the images and advice.  I got some EvapoRust and will let the separator soak in it then try your method to see if the check ball is working properly.  One question I had was the one line that comes off the separator usually goes to a charcoal canister under the hood but I do not have a canister and I don't have any plans on having one....so what to do with that line?  Just run it up the passenger side and let it vent out the bottom near the front fender?

[gzig5]

If you aren't going to have the canister, I don't think it really matters.  I've seen recommendation to leave it alone, put a short section of tube and a fuel filter, and OMG you are going to die if you don't have a charcoal canister connected. 
Mine was actually connected to the feed tube for the manual windshield washer pump when I got the car, so it went from the tank to the engine bay, back along the firewall, into the cabin to the pump bulb, and then back into the engine bay where the tube was laying along the driver side fender.   I corrected that and was just driving it with nothing connected to metal vent line.  I have obtained a canister and washer bottle, so I probably will put it back to stock. But if I didn't, I'd put a fuel filter on it and get on with life.

[YellowThumper]

Addition of fuel filter on it will be to keep out debris while still venting ot atmosphere. Plumb a line up high bend a 180deg and install filter facing down. Filters other fitting is just left open.

[rdf]

Only got to work on the car once this weekend  but it was probably for the best.  Had some setbacks that pissed me off but it is what it is.

Got the vapor separator cleaned up and installed along with the fuel pump, radiator hoses, belts, etc.  Also finalized all the brake lines too but ended up getting new calipers and pads because both bleeder screws snapped off.  I got a new gel battery with 800ca and 1000cca and this was where things started to go downhill.  The terminals were too small (see pic) and looked like shit but I couldn't find any other ones locally and we had planned on cranking the engine so I wanted something for now.  As I was installing that, a friend tried to get my MSD wires installed but because I have headers (Headman Headers) the long boots wouldn't fit and were smashed up against the headers.  So we moved onto the driveshaft and that didn't turn out well either.  It's too long and the yoke doesn't fit into the transmission....ugh.  I knew I was probably gonna have to shorten it but I didn't realize I'd need a new yolk too.  We then moved onto the transmission cooler.  I bought the Derale Performance Hyper-Cool Remote Cooler (PN: 13960) with the intent on fitting it behind my grill...yep, that didn't work.  It's only 5 & 1/8" thick but it was still too thick and blocked the grill from sitting properly (by a lot too).  With it being a remote cooler (with its own electric fan) I could install it anywhere but I really couldn't find a spot.  I thought about the trunk but I was worried about air flow and overall it just didn't look good no matter where I put it.

By this time it was dinner time and, in my opinion, a good time to stop.  Cooler, wires, and battery terminals all need to be returned and I need to find replacements.  I've got the cooler and terminals but still having issues with wires.  I need both sides to be 90° boots and I'm not having any luck finding them.  I did purchase a set locally that you have to finish yourself but the instructions were difficult and I didn't have much luck getting the wires into one boot let alone 8 of them.

Gonna figure out the driveshaft thing during the week and do some small stuff this weekend.  Does anyone know how many different yokes there are for a 727?  I'm not even sure what to order if I have to.

[rdf]

Got all the loose ends squared away and it's cranking now!  I just can't get it to stay idling.  I've tried adjusting the distributor but nothing is working.  If I go too far in one direction then it barely cranks (like a dead battery), if I go too far the other way, then it just cranks away and doesn't even fire.

Here's a short video of what it's doing when it fires:
https://youtu.be/GU70u-5gOtg

At this point I'm thinking it's not getting fuel.  It's a brand new tank, lines, and electric fuel pump so I'm wondering if the line isn't purged.  I put about 8 gallons of gas in it and let the fuel pump on for a bit but doesn't seem to be helping.  Anyone else run into issues like this?

[rdf]

I ended up getting a syphon and got fuel from the fuel line...so back to the drawing board for me...tried a few different things but nothing was working.  I decided to double check the TDC and rotor position....took the cap off and looks like the rotor was pointing to #2 instead of #1 (see pics below)...so I pulled the distributor out just enough to turn the rotor 180° so it would be facing #1.  Tried firing it up but still nothing.  At this point I had to call it a day but tomorrow I'm gonna check all the plugs to make sure they're not soaking wet.  I also have to take my driveshaft to get shortened.

[JonH]

You DO know that the rotor turns counterclockwise? Check firing order, make sure distributor is on #1 with that cylinder on the compression stroke. (not exhaust) Your original video appeared to be just slightly out of time, not 180 out...

[rdf]

You DO know that the rotor turns counterclockwise? Check firing order, make sure distributor is on #1 with that cylinder on the compression stroke. (not exhaust) Your original video appeared to be just slightly out of time, not 180 out...

Forgive my ignorance on the subject but it's been a long time since I've had to do timing work on any car.  I believe it was the compression stroke because I took out the #1 spark plug and put my finger over the hole while my son tapped the ignition and felt the air come out....can that happen on the exhaust stroke as well?

[anlauto]

You DO know that the rotor turns counterclockwise? Check firing order, make sure distributor is on #1 with that cylinder on the compression stroke. (not exhaust) Your original video appeared to be just slightly out of time, not 180 out...

Forgive my ignorance on the subject but it's been a long time since I've had to do timing work on any car.  I believe it was the compression stroke because I took out the #1 spark plug and put my finger over the hole while my son tapped the ignition and felt the air come out....can that happen on the exhaust stroke as well?

No that happens once per cycle and your plug should be sparking roughly the same time.

[rdf]

Took a break from the ignition issue and got my driveshaft done.  I had to drop it off at a local driveshaft/rear end shop and they installed a new yoke, shortened it, balanced it, and put new u-joints in it too.  I had some difficulty getting the yoke to go into the transmission but after using some grease and a little nudging, it slid right in.  Now my issue is the transmission is in park so I can't freely move my car in and out of my garage.  The column shifter is not hooked up (nor do I have the hardware) because I will be moving it to the floor and use a B&M Ratchet Shifter.  I've got another post going which I hope someone can answer my questions.

As far as the firing issue, I'll be trailering it down to the guy who built the motor next Wednesday.  Vic is a great guy and said he'd help me figure it out and get it running.

[rdf]

Well I took it down to Brevard Cylinder Head to see if guy guy who built my motor could help me out.  Went through all the basics first and when we got the fuel, we realized it wasn't getting any.  You could hear the pump "click" when the ignition was turned on but the motor never ran...so we chocked it up to a seized fuel pump.  I never would have guessed that because the pump is less than 3 weeks old!  At any rate, got it back home, bought a Holley pump from a local store and put it in and it fired right up!!      BTW, that's my daughter taking the video and the last time she heard it run was when I took her for a ride in it when she was 6 (she'll be 17 in a few days)...so she put that text on the video 

I still have to break in the cam but for some reason my AutoMeter tach isn't working...the needle is pegged over 10k even without power to it.  Oh and the smoke you see at the end of the video?  That's just some ATF burning off the headers and block.  My son wanted to help with the car one day so I had him pour the transmission fluid into the cone while I held it but his hand slipped and it spilled everywhere.

After that,  the task at hand is getting the shifter installed on the floor.  I've got a few guys I can call to see if they can give me a good price on doing it.  After that it's pretty much buttoning up loose ends (power steering hose, oil and coolant change, interior, etc.)

Here's some pics of Vic's place...very old-school but I love it!

[Dakota]

Congrats on getting your engine started.  I know from recent progress on my car that this is a very sweet experience.   

We're having different issues, but much of the work. Is seems to be about problem solving vs. building.   Keep after it.