Rebel's Fix Thread

[rebelyell]

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. 

[CudaMoparRay]

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. 

Wishing you the best of luck, keep us posted.

[rebelyell]

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

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 for the pep talk as I was breaking in my cam on Sunday. Really good guy and great to talk to.

[js27]

Ahh the fun of owning/restoring an old car. Sounds like you got most things taken care of. Good luck with the rest.
JS27

[rebelyell]

Thanks! I've got a solid plan moving forward. Nothing too expensive either, so that shouldn't hold up anything.

[rebelyell]

ohhhhhhhkay. Here we go boys.

Since last year, the car has basically sat in the garage with brake issues. Ended up replacing the master cylinder and every hard brake line on the thing. Ran into an odd issue where the jumper line from the drivers hard brake line to the rear distribution block on the axle touched the exhaust. Couldn't replace the line and gave up trying.

So I took it to a speed shop in Savannah. They fixed the brakes and set the distributor timing for a great price. They also told me I needed a new clutch, new carb, and two rear shocks. Whatever..I'll get to it when I get to it. I can get an 800cfm edelbrock carb for $350 at summit, so no big expense there.

Story time. Got the car back last saturday. On the way home it overheated again (posted the fixes to that in the coolant flow thread) and the shifter that I replaced fell off the trans. Had to tow it the last 10 miles home. Like an idiot, I didn't loctite the countersunk screws in the hurst mount to the trans and they vibrated loose. Lesson learned.

Once I get the overheating issue under control, I think I can just enjoy driving it for a little while.

The speed shop also told me that someone has moved the leaf spring perches outward a little toward the tires. Anybody know why this would have been done? Accident maybe?

[DeathProofCuda]

Why does the speed shop say that you need a new carb?  Can't the current one just be rebuilt or are they suggesting that you change the size of the carb?

[rebelyell]

The secondary butterfly is leaking. Yeah, it can be rebuilt and he said that, but for $350 it's worth my time to get a bigger CFM carb and not deal with rebuilding one.

[Chryco Psycho]

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

[rebelyell]

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

[Chryco Psycho]

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

[rebelyell]

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.

[Chryco Psycho]

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 

[rebelyell]

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

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

[Chryco Psycho]

compare plug color