Build Thread: Project Rusty Hulk

Discussion in 'Members Rides' started by sriley531, Feb 16, 2015.

  1. 1972Mach1

    1972Mach1 Just some M.M.O.G. guy.....

    Hahaha.....I remember the camoflauging the tears in my Mustang's driver's seat at car shows. I always did like you, put the little fliers they'd leave on your car over it, magazines, whatever was handy. It's nice when it's finally fixed and nothing to be embarrassed about anymore. Looks like you did a great job, especially for your first attempt!
     
  2. SmittyDawg

    SmittyDawg Need another garage....

    Looks great, Shawn! And it's always kinda satisfying when you do something new and it turns out well. :)
     
  3. moleary

    moleary GOD Bless America

    double tasty Shawn!

    Cheers!
     
  4. Taulbee2277

    Taulbee2277 Silver Level contributor

    That one wasn't me.
     
  5. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Haha, no, you're innocent. We both know who the culprit was though... o_O:eek::confused:


    Next up, the headliner started coming apart at one of the seems (which really sucks because it's the original and still looks great otherwise) so I bought a new one and am going to dive in head first (as I always seem to do for some reason) on that one.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2017
  6. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    The back corners suck, rest is easy...but them back corners... I wanted to destroy everything around me ha
     
    Smartin likes this.
  7. 64 skylark mike

    64 skylark mike Well-Known Member

    A Buick guy I know told me about a '64 Skylark he had once with the silver headliner. Evidently it is one color that nobody reproduces. My '64 has that color in it, and it is a beautiful color where you can see the original fabric that is tucked behind moldings etc. that hasn't been damaged.

    Anyway, he was trying to do a correct restoration on that car and he had the same problem you do with some seams splitting and good condition otherwise. So he took the headliner out and had the seams re stitched and re installed it. Might be worth considering.
     
  8. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Coming soon, to a Rusty Hulk near you.... :cool:

    IMG_20171218_160822957.jpg
     
  9. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Nice, that will be cool! A friend of mine has a Camaro with Fitech and a turbo and it has been running 8 second quarter miles all self tuning and fully steetable.
     
  10. SmittyDawg

    SmittyDawg Need another garage....

    Very nice, Shawn! A friend of mine up in Montana put one on his wife's 71 GS, and they love it! He was the service manager for a Buick dealership back in the 60's and 70's, and he and his partner campaigned a '70 GS for years on the racetracks of Idaho and Montana, and held class records. So he knows what he's doing, and I think you'll love the EFI unit based on his experience!
     
  11. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Thanks Cole, I'm looking forward to it! I popped into some of my old stomping grounds recently, a local engine builder/speed shop that does some pretty serious business. They had a few engines in the shop with fitech systems going on, and had built and tuned a good number more already. Had a good chat with them, and their input has me pretty optimistic (as well as other members I know with first hand experience). The owners been doing this since the 60's and has an insane amount of experience, even he said he's been very impressed with them. I'm intrigued to see how it does considering I really do have my carb dialed in nicely. It'll probably be spring before I really get to it, but it'll obviously be documented right here! Stay tuned!
     
  12. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    I finally got to go spend a little time in the barn!! (It's the first time either of the cars have been uncovered since October or November). It felt great to get back at it! I didn't get to go real far, but at least got the throttle body mounted up and started plotting. I'll probably order my tanks inc tank and pump setup in the next few weeks.
    IMG_20180224_150911389.jpg IMG_20180224_162034824.jpg
     
  13. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Long over due update time!!

    So I've been chipping away at the fitech install an hour here and and hour there as time will allow. As some of you know, in December the wife and I welcomed a bouncing baby boy who has kept us busy. On top of that, I left my job of 7 years at P&G when he was about a month old to explore a new venture. That too has taken a lot more time.

    But enough excuses, on to progress! So I got the tanks inc tank and pump installed, very nice pieces. I also installed a little access door in the trunk floor for any future access needs.
    IMG_20180331_133203207.jpg
    IMG_20180331_134809976.jpg

    With the lines all run (using an LS filter/regulator combo), the plumbing was done.

    Ok, full disclosure, that made the plumbing sound easy. And I thought it would be easy. The way I had my fuel system set up, I thought this would be a very easy retrofit. I ended up replacing 60% of it due to length/fittings/routing being different. But alas, all is well now.

    After finishing all the wiring for the fitech, I did an electric only dry run. The hand held controller powered up, but that's where the success ended. It wouldn't let me enter any menus saying "it couldn't find the control group". Oh boy....now I get to deal with the notorious fitech customer service department.

    To be continued....
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
    Donuts & Peelouts likes this.
  14. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    You worked at proctor and Gamble?, my friends wife does too in Cincy, she got relocated to Minneapolis few weeks ago tho
     
  15. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Yes Ethan, I worked for an engineering division of the baby care gbu for 7 years designing high speed paper lines for Pampers. Not a bad gig, but decided to explore other opportunities. I'm now working at a small industrial automation (custom robotics integration mostly) company and am really enjoying it. I feel much more at home than I did in the big corpo world. It just wasn't for me.

    But enough WORK, let's talk about Buick stuff!

    So while on a mini road trip coming home from a meeting with a customer, I decided to call up the vaunted fitech tech line to see if they could shed some light on the problem. After about 20 minutes on hold (I was driving on a very straight, very rural stretch of highway so it's not like I had anything g better to do) a fella answered the phone, mumbling his name and had enthusiasm somewhere between "I'm really hungover" and "I hate this job, where's the nearest bridge to jump off of". But hey, I'm not looking for entertainment, just answers.

    So after explaining the issue, he suggests I pull the SD card out, make sure there is no debris hindering it being read, and reinsert it making sure it's fully latched in place.

    Did that when I got home. No change. Needless to say, I was bummed. So I called back, and after about 14 minutes on hold, my call was answered by Bryce. Bryce was much more enthusiastic, and quite friendly I must say. I gave him the cliff notes, and he said I could either send the unit for them to diagnose and tinker with (great....down time) or if I was comfortable with the procedure, he would send me all new programming and I could wipe the unit and load everything my self. Now we're cooking! I told him to hit me, he said if I had any issues email him, and that was that. 30 seconds later, I got an email from him.

    The wipe/reload/reflash/relearn procedure was pretty simple, took about ten minutes combined computer time plus hooked up to the throttle body time. Wife had to work, so I had help with the car portion.

    IMG_20180430_190338575.jpg

    Baby Bjorn for the win!!! (I hope she doesn't see this, she'll kill me....)

    Anyway, kicked it on, and I'm in the menus doing the initial setup. WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER! I then flipped on the fuel pump, it buzzed to life and immediately and without prejudice showed me the fitting I forgot to go back and tighten!! A 400lph pump can really make a mess out of a loose AN fitting I tell ya....

    So let's skip the details and get to the good part! Today I had a little time between getting home and having to take over baby duties when the wife goes to work, so I went out, tightened said fitting, gave everything a quick once over, and turned the starter over with the fuel pump off till I saw some oil pressure. Once I did, I hit the pump switch, and hit the key again.

    Here was the result after 5 months of sitting:



    Great success!! After about 4 or 5 minutes of babysitting it (been doing a lot of that lately), it settled down and started idling much nicer. Once warm, I gave it a few light blips of the throttle, and I will say the throttle response is definitely different over my trusty Holley.

    Exibit B



    So that's where we stand at the moment. Going to do a little tuning in the garage, then knock a few more things off the list.

    Next up for RH, a new TA timing cover, my midwest muncie built autogear supercase M23 should be here any day, line lock install, and purge valve.

    Stay tuned, lots more fun coming soon to a Rusty Hulk near you!!
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2018
  16. 67skylark27

    67skylark27 Brett Jaloszynski

    Glad to hear the EFI went well! Great thread, I've read it a few times now.
     
  17. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Good stuff on the EFI instal and great to see the little guy out there with you!
     
  18. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Did a little more tuning today, think it's about ready for a road test! Getting the IAC steps and DFCO dialing in has made a huge difference in idle quality and rev characteristics.

    Now I just gotta decide if I want to do a road test this week or be patient and go ahead and install the new TA cover first.
     
  19. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Well, as expected, I'm not that patient....

    Had a little "me time" leftover after changing the oil in my truck (wifey took the kiddo shopping), so I headed back to the barn to play. Got the car down off the dollies, fired it up, and the temptation was too much! So they gate was opened and the hulk said hello!

    IMG_20180507_192620683_HDR.jpg

    So out we went for the first shakedown run on the FiTech system. I gotta say, even though the tune is far from dialed in, I'm pretty darn impressed. Yes, butt dynos are subjective, but the car did things it's never done before. The throttle response is very noticeably more snappy (to be expected), but a couple very abbreviated WOT blasts really surprised me. The thing is proper quick, just a much more violent accelleration than before. It also made the tires bark in pain in all 4 gears with not the most aggressive shifts (no power shifting or anything, just a quick shift around 5k). Yep, that includes 4th gear rubber!

    Now, I'm pretty confident I had my trusty Holley tuned up pretty good. Perfect? I'd say no. Better than your average bear? Yeah. No stumbles, good cold starts, afr was happy across all rpms, plugs looked really nice, just an all around happy carb once I spent a good chunk of time tuning on it. But it's a very noticeable change with this fuel injection. Moreso than I expected.
     
    HeavensDevil and 300sbb_overkill like this.
  20. jzuelly1

    jzuelly1 Jesse Zuelly IV

    Congrats on the kiddo and all the upgrades man. What FI Tech kit did ya go with?
     

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